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)!!!

New Smyrna Beach, Florida - that's where we are. Dave's parents live here. The boat has been put in a marina for a month to get some love! The boats get love, the parents get love, the dogs get a yard to run in and I get to take a shower till my fingers wrinkle!! Everyone is happy!! ( I am VERY happy to also spend the month with my in-laws! It is like a second set of parents! I am lucky!!)


I left the boat in Melbourne and swapped places with my father in-law. He sail the 2 days up the ICW with Dave and Charlie and I got some R & R back at the house with mom.
Cat's Eye took good care of the boys and they safely sailed up to New Smyrna Beach.

Dad at the helm of Cat's Eye!!

3 weeks has passed since we landed here.

We are now getting ready to start moving again! Palm Coast is the next stop. We are headed to the NY/NJ area to visit more family (mainly mine!!)
Staying on land has been nice but I miss my floating home! And as much as the dogs love to run in the yard - I know they do not love the fleas and ticks that are found on land.

So the sailing blog will be continue again!

A Lot of First!

We made it!! Cat's Eye for the first time is in the states! This is the first time Smokey our island mutt has ever been stateside too! First time I have seen water this brown. First time Cat's Eye has gone under a fixed bridge. First time Cat's Eye has gone through a bridge that opens! I can say that I stop traffic today!! I always knew I could!

Brightling Star going throught the bridge right before us.

We crossed  the Gulf Stream yesterday (April, 28th 2011) The ride was choppy in the beginning but evened out as the day went along. The crossing was only 70 nautical miles. At this point in the trip if we are doing less then 80nm in a day I think of it as a piece of cake! And we where lucky again yesterday. The only twist in the trip was the Gulf Stream. Just like crossing the Mona Passage there are a lot of stories about what will happen when your boat crosses over the water... I was expecting some big traffic sign or billboard that said "Hold on you are in the Gulf Stream!"Since I did not fine the sign I had to rely on Dave, and his "Yea! Cat's Eye is doing 11 knots!" (at one point we did 12 knots) We normally can do 8 knots on a really good day but more like 6 or 7. I mentally pictured my own "Welcome" sign - Cat's Eye was heading to AMERICA!
We travelled across from the Bahamas with another boat named Brightling star. After dropping the anchor in about 4' of muddy water (brought back some bad images!!) in St.Lucie, Florida we all headed into to shore for some good old American food!! I was thinking Maine Lobster was in order for me!!

A Little R & R. New friends on Brightling Star!

The Millers!! Kirsten & Jim! Cat's Eye has a great cockpit for a party!!

At this point in the trip we have come about 1400 nm. We have a long way to go to reach the goal of Maine. But everything changes from here. No more nude sailing, no more wondering what we will find when we go ashore, wondering what the locals will be like. We know what we will find - Target/Walmart/Old Navy/Olive Garden - traffic - lots of rules. Good thing? bad thing? Not really sure. Another thing that is a first, is sailing these waters for Dave and I too. We might not be looking to learn about local way of island life anymore but I am sure we can learn something from this half of the trip. I know there are still plenty of nice cruiser/boaters to meet. We will also be around family for a while and that is a nice thought. The land is not new or the people but it is always and adventure on Cat's Eye!!

Vero beach is the second stop. Dave and I are going to go explore - see if we can find a Burger King or Taco bell - amazing the things you miss when you do not live in America!

Know to tackle drive on the right side of the road!! oh boy!!

Haven't Been Around Till You've Been A-Ground !!!

Dave and I had a great time in Nassau. We hit Hard Rock Cafe - then enjoyed dominos on the boat at the marina with neighbors. The next day we were off to the Berry Islands. At this point the Bahama part to this adventure is coming to an end. We have 3 stops left before we hit Florida. We sail about 50 nm to Little Stirupp Cay. we knew the beach there was a stop for cruise ships to bring in their passengers. And I can see why. The beach is beautiful and made to look like a Caribbean wonderland with big side and water toys everywhere. We had no intention of leaving the boat here on this island, we just stopped to rest. We planned on heading out first thing the next morning (noticed I am using words like "we did not plan!") I cooked us a nice dinner - we watched a movie and went to bed - we really enjoyed playing dominos the night before so we where keeping it mellow. As we are getting ready to go to bed Dave says " I am going to put on the anchor alarm - when the tide goes out it gets shallow." I say "OK"  To bed we go!
We have clocked around 1100nm miles since leaving St.Thomas in February. We have also except in Nassau never went to a marina. Every night we dropped the hook - and every night I (and I am sure Dave too) wonders if everything will be Ok. Most of the time it is just a passing thought. I trust my anchor - most nights!!
Around 11:00pm I hear a beep beep beep beep - What is that I ask my sleepy self - then it all clicks - "Dave the anchor alarm!!!!"
Yup we are dragging around the harbor like Neptune himself grabbed our anchor and was swinging us around his head like a lasso. It is also very very dark. Dave starts the engines and the chart plotter to see if we can figure out where exactly we are heading. We also try resetting the anchor. Then as the wonderful brand new chartplotter/radar springs to life we see something that just really sucks. As the tide came in and the current changed and the wind decided to switch directions our anchor could not take all the new things happening and decided to just quit instead of holding Cat's Eye down. We headed for a part of the harbor that our chartplotter says "dries at low tide" - this means there is NO WATER when the tide is out and our chartplotter has a picture of a little boat that resents Cat's Eye sitting right in the middle of this area. When tide is high it can be anywhere from 2' to almost 4'. This is not alot of water. To get the tide to 4' it has to be a Full Moon. It will only happen once then you would have to wait for the tides to cycle through again. So if you did not figure it out it was the one time the tide was high, after tonight it was going to get lower and lower every high tide - and lets not forget that at low tide there is no water. Cat's Eye has a 3.5' draft. We slide right on to that little sand patch of land with no problem - all of the right elements added up - the moon the wind water! (REALLY!!!!)
Dave and I realize pretty fast that this is not good. We where a little unsure of the tides so at this point we thought we still had a chance of pulling off. But apparently as soon as tide gets to its high it starts quickly going down.
Now we are JUST in sand. There is no damage done to the boat. I want to say this now - and I can say this know beacause it is all over - but this is what happened to us when the tide went out.......

Cat's Eye High and Dry.

Ok so this looks as bad as it is. We wait all night not really sure what the morning low low tide will bring - and as you can tell it did not bring good news. But knowing that this could not be the the way Cat's Eye was going to be forever (or was it!) I just kept saying at high tide we will simply pull back out. We learned another lesson at high tide, which was around noon the next day. Not all high tides are the same, just because it was deep enough for the boat to get to the middle of this lovely lil sandy spot it did not mean at the next high tide it would be the same level . Dave at this point had  gone into the amazing beach resort looking for help. Like they did not notice a catamaran a few hunderd feet from their fun bouncy water slides and toys. (we where really right off the beach). We got lucky. The friendly (wonderful, sweet, amazing) people that worked and lived on the island offered any kind help they could! We thought that the next high tide (noon that day - 12 hours stuck so far) We could just slide back. The water would rise and pick us back up and we could just back out the way we came. Not so. The keels were stuck TWO feet into the sand & mudd. Michelle sent out a team of wave runners to hook up to us and pull, tug and push - Cat's Eye was not moving. The tide was coming up short about 5". When did you ever think 5" could be that BIG of a deal!! After the tide  left us high and dry I started to panic. The next time tide was going to be as high as it was when we slid in was 12 days. I wanted to throw up. Dave was ready to set up camp at Cat's Eye new dry home for 12 days. I was NOT willing to give up for anything. I made a call to someone I knew could read tides and would guide me in the right direction (Thank you again John) I was told the next highest tide would be at 1:06am that night but would still be coming up short. This was starting to look really bad.
Then I swear a mircle happened. Out (walking) to the boat is a wonderful and smart man named Stephen. He is a captain for the lil island. He thinks by stacking floating docks on top of eachother and putting them under the boat it will give us the extra inches we need (INCHES again really who thought only a few inches could make or break your whole day!!). We had nothing to loose. Out came the floating docks. Dave and Stephen and Alex (another amazing kind person from the island) stacked and secured the docks under the boat. I felt like I was stuck in a bad dream with really nice people.

Yup - all our eggs in one basket.

Does not look like much but the thought was when tide comes in the docks will push up under the boat and give us the stupid 5 extra inches!! Now all we had to do was wait for midnight to come and bring the tide with it. If this did not work I was going to go (walk) into the happy lil resort and ask for a job because we where going to be stuck for a while. We had all day to let the shock of one minute - be floating happy around the bahamas to now being totally no funcational. It was a long day. But the rest happens really fast. We sit and wait. Tide comes up. Dave gets in the dinghy and starts pushing Cat's Eye around. I had the job of pulling on the long anchor lines Dave set out as a guide to get out. Since it is the middle of the night again!! Do bad things always have to happen when you can not see anything!?

Dave walking out the anchors.

Tide comes in - Docks go up - Cat's Eye gets at least 5 more inches!! (at least!)!! Wheee!! Yea!!! We are floating!!

We couldn't believed it worked!  Those lil docks did the trick!!
Steven, the man with the plan!!! 

We do not know how we would have gotten off of this sand bank if it was not for the nicest people on Coco Cay. We would have been making camp till the next new moon almost 2 weeks later. We spen the day getting the boat back together. I then asked Dave if he was up for a night sail to The Grand Bahama Island. This would be the last stop in the Bahamas. We both felt that we did not want to push our luck with one more night in the same harbor.  So we took off. We are now sitting in a nice marina on Easter Day. We arrived this moring around 7:30am. We tied securuly to a dock. the marina has a nice pool and beach bar. Dave and I are thinking dominos by poolside with an adult beverage are in order and well deserved!

 I can look at this whole bad bad situation a little lighter now that it is over. It is easy to say it is not our fault. Is it? maybe. Sometimes things happen. On the postive side we had increased our friend list. Coco Cay will ALWAYS be a stop on our Bahama list so we can say hello the new friends!  I learned that the floating docks can float anything! Dave is very patient when I want things down NOW!! John Jacob still proves to be one of the most reliable welth of information! The dogs know when to stay quiet and behave. Cat's Eye is an amazing vessel that is stronger then I ever gave her credit for. I feel safe on her. And 5'' is A LOT!!

Now it is off to the states!! Florida here we come!!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter!!

Catching up!

George Town was a fun little community of people and we enjoyed the time we where there. George Town is know for its abilitly so suck boats in! Lots of cruisers go there with hopes of sailing further south and never leave (why it is also called Chicken Town!). We also found lots of cruisers who do not want to leave. They have made a nice little community there and they like it! They have scheduled volleyball everyday at 2:00pm, yoga and arts and crafts in the mornings. Since Dave or I had no desire to play volleyball or do yoga we had no trouble leaving after 2 nights at anchor there!

Some beach time in George Town!

We left George Town and headed to Fisherman Cay. Nothing exciting here. We just stopped for the night to rest. The next day we hit Norman Cay. Now this was a big stop on Dave's list. The man who used to own this island -  Carlos Lehder was very well know drug Lord. Dave had a chance to be involved with his trial back in the early 90's and wanted to see the island that ran the Drug world back then!

Just a long forgotten dirt road on Norman Cay. Lots evidence that this used to be one busy place! Lehder's old house and several trailers for his employees and that famous runway that had the entry covered by tree limbs to make a tunnel for the planes to land through.

In the Norman Cay bay there is a sunken airplane. Dave went down and snorkeled around the plane. I have the very import job of making sure the dinghy did not drift away! As Dave snorkeled he grabbed five conch for dinner and I had a Lemodka (Crystal Light Lemonade and Vodka - Yummy!) and layed on the soft pontoon of our dinghy - I took my job very seriously!!

De Plane

We left Norman Cay and headed for Nassau. The big city!! The capitol of The Bahamas! This Islands houses 60% of the population. All the supplies that the smaller islands receive come from here. Even the Bohemin babies come from here! When a woman on a small island that offers no medical care gets pregnant they fly over to Nassau to give birth. (wow really!) We arrived here yesterday April 19th. We put Cat's Eye in a marina for the first time since we took off from Frenchtown Marina (where I worked and we called home in St.Thomas - Miss you guys!! xoxo). Cat's Eye is getting a well deserved bath and Dave is STILL scrubbing the mud off the anchor chain from Luperon, DR. We are going to go check out the Hard Rock Cafe and Starbucks soon. We are taking off first thing in the morning. We have 3 more stops then we will arrive in AMERICA!! Wheeee!! Target here I come!! When you have been forced to only shop in a K-Mart for 8 or 9 years you would understand my excitment! The first stop is West Palm Beach Florida! The second half to our cruising adventure!