East Coast Update

I have been slacking on my blog updates!
sorry no picturs, internet is slow and will not let me upload :(
As we have been  heading up North along the ICW we have been stopping and enjoying places that we either just heard or learned about and some places are places we where returning to see good friends.

We hit Charleston, SC - we spent a couple of days enjoying the southern charm of the city.
we spent the next week or so stopping at night to rest and moving forward the next day. This deadline to make it to Maine during the summer is slowly (really fast!!) creeping up on us! We stopped in Myrtle Beach, SC to enjoy my birthday but then we kept moving. We still have tons of stops to make before we hit Maine and the further North we get the more friends we have to stop and see!
North Carolina just had 4 stops . We spent one night at each place. The one place that stands out the most to me was Belhaven Marina, It was just another case of southern kindness from a stranger. The owner of the marina asked if we needed anything, I said yes I need a taxi so I can go food shopping, Brenda (the owner) took me to the local Food Lion and waited for me as I restocked Cat's Eye fridge and freezer. That was just nice!
Next state on the list was Virginia, at this point we are also entering the Chesapeake Bay. Finally some open water!! We might even be able to sail again!!! But not really. We did the unthinkable to most boaters. We crossed the Chesapeake in 2 days. We did not stop to site see, we did not enjoy the lil rivers and cool boating areas that the Chesapeake has to offer (Maine summer is slowing disappearing and we are not there!!!) I also had a mission to get the Annapolis, MD!! I have been lucky enough to work the Annapolis Boat show the past few years. Over the years I have made friends that live there and I have also fallen totally in love with this lil boaters paradise of a town. I wanted to spend a couple of days there so Dave could also hopefully love it too!!
The time was spent in Annapolis visiting friends walking around and enjoying town, Dave has not said to much but I think he is looking forward to spending a month there in September/October (boat show time). I did stop in a real Estate office to see what they have around for sale. There where plenty of condos/townhouses for sale right on the water too. We are playing the lotto, that would be the only way we could make that work!

SO now here we are. We waved goodbye the Annapolis and headed to Chesapeake City, DE for the night. Here we meet up with friends for an afternoon of fun! Thank you again Ed & Lesa for dinner!!

As we speak we are heading in to the Delaware River. Now this is a whole new chapter in the cruise for us. We are in our old stomping grounds!! Finally the hailing port on the back of Cat's Eye will not make people call us Yankee's (or sometimes Damm Yankee's!). People will look at Bronx, NY at the back of the boat and we will just look like locals!
Cape May will be the fist NJ stop. Then we will spend 2 days with Dave's sister (can not wait to see you Sisssy!) in Beach Haven - Then a stop in Perth Amboy to see some of my NJ family and then... City Island!! Woohooo Cat's Eye finally meets the Bronx!! Having the hailing port Bronx, NY we get asked a lot if that's where the boat came from and Dave always says "No, she has never even seen the Bronx." Well not anymore!! (I am the one that set up the hailing port, if Dave did it the boat would have been documented in the USVI, probably St.Croix but that's not where I am from!! It is the Bronx!!) I think us New Yorkers can get a little over the top with New York pride but really how could you not!!
This next leg of the trip should be fun, but we are not in Maine yet!! Hopefully by July 15th or so we should finally get there, but hey who is complaining I can think of worse ways to spend my days!!

Banjos?

Jekyll Island is beautiful! The marina was nice and the restaurant had good food. We decided to make one more stop in Georgia before heading to South Carolina. We stopped at Kilkenny Marina.

 Now I have been in Florida (I was born in Florida!!) and I have lived in the Caribbean (very south!) BUT my only real exposure to the south has been meeting people from there. Some of my greatest friends are from the back woods of some southern state. I have not really spent any length of time in the south. I have to admit I did think that some of the redneck stuff was a little over exaggerated. Well I got a taste of a very strange lil marina. The nicest people (I really mean that!) I just had never really seen anything like it. Funny living in the Virgin Islands so long and travelling so far and seeing sooo many new places I am a little shocked that being in Georgia was a culture shock to me!!
Since the point of the trip is to sail and see new places and meet new people Dave and I deiced to do what any good red blooded American would do - We got out some whiskey - beer and Gator Jerky!!

We did have an early start the next morning so we did not get crazy with the Scotch. We headed up to South Carolina and stopped in Hilton Head.

Cat's Eye resting at Hilton Head Harbor!

 We took a short lil taxi ride to a fun marina bar called Skull Creek Boathouse

 - we had some yummy oysters and some sushi - a few drinks and we headed back to Cat's Eye.


We are now underway - on our way to Bohicket, South Carolina - We are still travelling to ICW. We have been seeing dolphins everyday - almost all day long. Smokey can spot them before anyone else can! The dogs have been wonderful on this whole trip.

We will hit Charleston, South Carolina tomorrow. I think we will take a few days to explore this city.

Doing the Ditch!

Bye Bye land! We are back on the boat and sailing!!!! YEA!!! Oh wait - we are in "The Ditch" also known as the Intercostal waterway (ICW) OK so we are not sailing, we are kinda motoring along. We are on flat, FLAT calm water just kinda going. Very different from all the open beautiful blue water we have be used to.

 I really thought that after our long the sail up from the USVI that I would want the calmness that ICW offers, I am thinking I was wrong. Instead of sailing in open water - we are motoring through brown murkie water. Instead of nothing around us to hit for miles we are in a constant look out for all types of things to hit - other boats - oh and lets not forget about LAND. It is also shallow. With the hard grounding we had in the Bahamas still fresh in our heads we are a little up tight when we are in only about 5' of water. BUT on a positive side we are still having a blast!!
After we left New Smyrna Beach (Bye Bye Mom & Dad!!) we headed to St.Augustine Florida. What a fantastic lil old town!! We meet up with a old friend did some shopping and had some lunch.

We may not be in open crystal clear beautiful blue tropical water anymore but we are still on the boat and still loving it!!

We left St.Augustine on Saturday June, 04 2011. we are now in Jekyll Harbor, Georgia. This is my first time in GA. Dave has fond memories (o.k. just memories) of being here 25 years ago when he was just starting out his career with Uncle Sam. He did his training here for 3 months. Funny the place it all started for him - his career that gave him a a nice retirement is the place where we sit today - the biggest decision of the afternoon is if we are going to go in the hot tub or the pool in the marina..Who would have know Dave would come back here 25 years later on his catamaran that he just sailed up from the Caribbean - I thank you Uncle Sam!!

We will be here for a couple of days. We are looking at weather. We both feel we might want to sail on the outside for a few miles! Maybe even get a good over night sail in.

Here are somethings that Dave did while on land!! Hehehe

Dave up on the roof!

Dave looks more comfortable up on the mast!!

Next stop is South Carolina (maybe)!!!