Here We Go Again.....No Plans,,,Only Intentions!

 32 47.048 'N:79 54.57'W

2024-11-13

The 2 Outrageous crew is back at it again after taking a year off from the cruising life.  In March of this year, we welcomed our newest family member.  Our beautiful granddaughter Lola entered the world and made our world so much sweeter! We loved having Sarah home for a visit in March, she was home when Lola was born which I know was very special to Sarah!   In June, we took our RV on an amazing road trip through Labrador and Newfoundland!  If all that wasn’t enough, we sold our house while we were on the road trip and moved to our new home in July!  August and September were spent making our new house a home, spending precious time with Lola and making preparations for our trip south.  

I’m not going to lie.  It was really tough to leave home this time around.   Thank goodness for the technology that allows us to talk to the kids almost anytime we want to and to see our sweet Lola’s face.  We can see with our own eyes all her new accomplishments!  Courtney has been sending us pictures regularly, which we love and so look forward to seeing!

We left home on Oct 8 and spent the first night with Ken and Janet Reid as has become our send off tradition!  We had a great visit and set off for the US border early the next morning.  

We arrived in Topping, VA that evening and were welcomed by Greg & Glenda to our home away from home while we worked to get 2 Outrageous ship-shape.   

We hit the ground running the very next morning and spent long days over the next two weeks straight washing, cleaning, removing a giant (picture a bale of hay size) bird’s nest from the anchor locker, organizing, purging, trouble-shooting old batteries……decided they were NFG………ordered new Lithium batteries and started the conversion preparation and installation plan, including new wiring.   Sand the bottom, paint the bottom, hire peeps to wax the boat (yippee!), Starlink temporary set-up, fix the bow thruster and made several provisioning runs and on and on!  This is in no way a complete list but you get the idea.  It was busy!

I borrowed Glenda’s pressure canner and spent one day canning ground beef and turkey. This will free up freezer space for other items plus make for some really easy dinners while we are underway.

Glenda and Greg are so good to us!  Glenda’s kitchen was fully stocked and she is a fantastic cook!   We came home to delicious dinners each evening.  Greg was quick to offer assistance and support to Paul anytime he needed it.  We were tired and probably not great conversationalists but they were happy to hang with us and understood completely when we crashed early.   Oh, and of course there was our evening welcoming committee of Jaxon and Cooper (the family Yorkies).  They would greet us vigorously and then as soon as we sat down, we each had a dog in our lap.   Love that!

Our new batteries arrived Oct 17 and Paul had them up and running within a couple of days!  We launched the boat on Oct 23.  That evening we moved on board and spent the next 5 days at the dock finishing our preparations for travel.  Paul running and fixing our various systems.  Me, making more provisioning runs and stashing our loot in various locations. With all this going on Paul decided he didn't have enough to do so he managed to pump 38 gallons of fresh diesel into the bilge, but that is a beer story only to be told in person. 

Our friends, Bruce and Terry s/v Charisma, were also at Deltaville Yachting Center doing much the same.  They were staying on their beautiful new (1974) boat in the yard.   We celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving together as Terry cooked a turkey dinner on board!  

Time was approaching when we would finally be underway but in order to do so we needed permission from US customs and border protection.   In the past, we have always travelled on a cruising permit but since our permit expired earlier this year, we were not eligible for a new one.  Now, we complete a form 1300 which is known as a permission to proceed document.  We complete one form for entering a port and one for clearing from a port.  So far so good.  We complete the forms and email to an officer.  They stamp their approval and email it back to us and away we go!  It took a bit of getting used to as the forms are really designed for cargo ships not cruising sail boats! 

We received our permission, left the dock and pointed ourselves south on Oct 29.   Suffice to say the boat was a bit stinky for a while. Bright sunshine and calm conditions made for a very pleasant motor shakedown cruise all the way to Norfolk, VA.   Bruce and Terry, s/v Charisma, are travelling with us!  The next morning, we had a bit of delay at the Gilmerton Bridge as immediately after that bridge, the Norfolk southern railway bridge was closed waiting for not one but two trains to pass!   This was the 1st time we’ve seen that bridge lowered.  We spent about an hour bobbing around with all the other boats, waiting to pass through, then we were underway again.   Right-turn as we headed off the ICW and into the Great Dismal Swamp canal.  We had not taken this route since our second trip south.  We had been hearing mixed reports about the condition of the canal but by 3pm and after 1 lock, 5 light bumps, 1 solid bump and getting slightly hung up in a tree at the dock we were tied to the North Carolina visitor welcome center dock with Charisma rafted up to our starboard side.  Not too bad!  We made some pressure cooker pulled pork sandwiches and coleslaw for the crews!  The next day, Oct 31, was warm and breezy and we enjoyed a beautiful trip through the swamp.  The breeze was blowing pretty steady and knocking lots of leaves off the trees and onto us.   We may not have to rake leaves but I think we will be sweeping leaves off the boat for quite some time!  We arrived in Elizabeth City, NC and this time we rafted up to Charisma as they were tied to the free town docks.   The dockmaster greeted us with a rose and a list of shops and restaurants in the town.  It was an easy walk for Terry and I to pick up pizza for dinner.  We are amazed at the transformation the town has undergone since our last visit in 2016.   During that visit many of the businesses were boarded up.  This time the town is thriving with many funky shops, restaurants and artists.   We stayed another day and enjoyed stretching our legs in a couple of walkabouts around town.  Late afternoon we decided to check out the 7 Sounds Brewery along the waterfront.  It was a lovely spot for a cold drink!   We all agreed that this day it finally felt like we were in cruising mode!  Paul and I headed to Hoppin Johns for dinner on the recommendation of a local shop owner.  It did not disappoint, we had an excellent dinner!

Nov 2 was cloudy and blustery as we departed Elizabeth City to head across the Albermarle Sound.  We were ripping along on our headsail only.  The Albermarle was dishing it that day with big waves and 20 knot winds.  Things smoothed out considerably as we entered the Alligator River.  We anchored for the night at Tuckahoe Point with several other boats.  The next morning greeted us with bright sunshine and a nice steady breeze.  We had another day of headsail only sailing to the town of Bellhaven, NC.    

Nov 4 was another beautiful morning and we set off sailing again across the Pungo River.  We made a quick pitstop at R.E. Mayo seafood for fuel and of course some shrimp and tuna for the freezer.  We sailed the Neuse River to Oriental, NC where we booked into the Oriental Marina for two nights.  This was our first time staying at the marina we’ve only stayed at the town docks or anchored previously.  The first night Terry cooked a roast chicken and we enjoyed an excellent meal on Charisma.  Bruce and Paul were on a roll that night each laying blame to the other the next morning!   We met the Ragged Island crews from Blue Jacket, Solaris and Hi-Flight the next morning for coffee at The Bean.  It was fun to catch up with everyone and we look forward to seeing them all again later this season. Hi-Flight endured the crossing with us in 2023, Bahamas to Beaufort....still trying to forget that one!

  

Nov 6 we moved to Beaufort, NC and anchored just inside the inlet to make for an easy exit to the ocean the next morning for what was planned to be a 10 hour ocean passage to Wrightsville Beach, NC.   We departed Beaufort at 6AM Nov 7, the conditions were pretty settled and we decided to keep on going!   35 hours later we dropped the hook in Charleston, SC.  Charisma decided to stick with the plan and they headed to Wrightsville Beach but they will catch up to us in a few days.

Today is Nov 13, as I write this, we are still in Charleston at the Mount Pleasant anchorage.   SV Dagny joined us in the anchorage on Nov 9 and we’ve spent a couple of days together touring around Charleston on foot.  We enjoyed the brand new International African American Museum.  What an excellent exhibit I highly recommend visiting if you get the chance!  We are enjoying our anchorage as the harbour is busy with boat traffic, ship traffic, sailing school activity, dolphins and pelicans …..lots to watch.  Charisma showed up this morning and are anchored here as well!

A final note about the weather.   In past years we have been freezing on this trip until we hit Florida.  This year has been a much different story.   We’ve only had a couple of chilly days.  For the most part we’ve been in shorts and t-shirts.  The evenings are cool but the night of our ocean passage we were warm, in fact, we only needed light sweaters.  

Paul’s line this year is we have no plans only intentions.  Our intention is to head further south at the next opportunity which is looking like this weekend.  It is nice in the anchorage, maybe a bit bouncy when the tide is changing, but the winds and waves offshore are a little more that we like.  So we wait!

 30 51.036 'N:81 28.02'W

Fun times with Customs and Border Protection

We had a couple of very windy days in the Charleston anchorage before the winds died down enough for us to jump out into the ocean again for the 25-hour passage to Fernandina Beach, FL.  

The tides run very strong at Charleston and it can be very beneficial to catch an outgoing tide when transiting the inlet to the ocean.  Paul spent some time figuring out the best timing for us to catch an outgoing tide at Charleston and an incoming tide at the St. Mary's inlet for our arrival at Fernandina Beach.    We departed Charleston on 

Nov 16 at 09:30 and got a big flush out the channel!    

The seas were comfortable and we did some sailing and motor-sailing during the morning hours until early afternoon when the winds died off completely and we ended up running by engine only for the rest of the trip.

We spotted lots of dolphins and a couple of large sea turtles.   Another bonus on this passage was the help we got from the full moon to light our way.  Paul loves boating at night......me, not so much so anytime there is a full moon I'm much happier!

As we passed the Savannah, GA inlet there were at least 15 giant cargo ships anchored outside waiting their turn to enter the inlet.  We could go inside where they were anchored, outside where they were anchored, or, what the heck.....we'll go right through the middle of them!   That sounds bad but they were each anchored about a mile apart.   I can say we got a very good look at some of them!

Early in the morning we had the sea buoy for the St. Mary's inlet in sight and again we were able to ride the tide into Fernandina Beach.   We headed for the Fernandina City Marina to get some fuel and to do our customs and border protection form 1300 check-in.   Did I mention that was going pretty well?    Perhaps I spoke a little too soon!

While Paul was fueling the boat, I started making phone calls to customs.  First call was to Fernandina Beach but the office was closed for the weekend.   Ok, the next closest office was Jacksonville so I called them.   The officer I spoke with there was very nice but she had no idea how to proceed.  She took my info and said she would call back with instructions.   True to her word, she called back within 15 minutes and said we needed to call the St. Augustine office at Noon as they were the only office open on Saturday.  They would be able to help us.

I told her that our intention was to only take on fuel then proceed north to St. Mary's, GA and asked if it would be better for us to file our entry there?   She said no and that we needed to "sit tight" until we talked to an officer in St. Augustine.  Great, we are at a fuel dock, not sure we can just sit tight!  It was only 10 AM!   This is where I give the dock hands at the Fernandina City Marina a big high five!  They said we could stay on the dock until noon no problem!  At noon I called St. Augustine and this is where things took a little turn for the worse.  The officer was not happy with me for calling him instead of Fernandina (even though I told him I did call them and they were closed), he said we were very bad planners for arriving when we did and I could go on and on.  His temperament was rude and aggressive and I thought I better put him on speaker so Paul could hear the conversation as well.   Paul only listened to about 10 words out of the guy's mouth before he took over!   The officer continued to berate us but said that Jacksonville should handle our clearance.  Paul reminded him that we were only trying to follow the rules and we called him because we had been instructed by Jacksonville to do so.  Finally, the officer told us to wait 30 minutes then to phone Jacksonville back as he would have them straightened out by then.  The dock hands swung by to see how things were going and after hearing our story said we could hang out until 4pm if needed!  So great!

After about 20 minutes the St. Augustine officer called us back, he asked if we had called Jacksonville back yet.  We said no as you told us to wait 30 minutes and it's only been 20 minutes.  At that point his whole demeanor changed.  It was like talking to a different person.  He was actually nice!   He gave us his email address but said we needed to phone the Miami office to let them know we were here and to make sure they would be ok with him processing our forms.    Miami?   Ok... in the continuing saga of doing what we were told, we phoned Miami.   After another discussion with yet another officer we were told to send our forms to the St. Augustine officer and ask him to process them.  Whew!  We sent the forms and then waited patiently for officer Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to get back to us.  Well, about 2.5 hours later, with an hour and a half to spare on our 4pm deadline at the dock we were underway again with our approved forms in hand!  Total of 5.5 hours to report in. Jeez.... This whole travelling by Canadian boat in USA is beyond logic when it come to bureaucracy. No office of the homeland security (CBP) has the same process or rule adherence, none of them! If you crossed the border in your 40 foot RV it would be welcome to the USA, have a great winter! In a boat it defies explanation how completely fooked up it is. Any of our USA friends who think Bahamas immigration process is not up to par have little concept of how rude and ignoant many of the USA CBP officers can be! That said about 75% are very helpful, apologetic and reasonable. The other 25% should be posted to Fargo North Dakota to finish their careers.

We headed for Cumberland Island to meet up with the Dagny crew.  Normally we would be ready for a nap after a 25-hour passage, but not this day!   The CBP had managed to wind us up so a little decompression session was in order with the Dagny crew before we hit the wall!

We picked up a hay bale on our prop when sitting at the dock in Fernandina which we couldn't seem to shake so the next morning Paul waited for slack tide and donned his wet suit, weight belt and hooka set-up to dive into the very murky water to clear the prop (after he could find it!)    

There was some breezy weather headed our way so we decided to move to a more protected spot.  This would allow us to do a little more exploring on the island too!    Our trip was delayed a bit by an inbound nuclear attack submarine.  The channel basically gets shut down by the navy police while the sub transits the channel and docks.  We spent about an hour bobbing around waiting for the all clear.  

We spent three days anchored at Plum Orchard, Cumberland Island, home of the Carnegie family historical refuge .   The Dagny crew was with us and together we toured the mansion and enjoyed the trails!   Huge live oak trees dripping with Spanish moss and several kinds of palm trees line the trails making for a shady jungle like feel.  The wild horses were abundant and grazing the grounds as we walked by.  They are not the least bit bothered by people walking past them and just slowly move away if you step a little too close. We spotted one armadillo in the bush but that was it for the wildlife.

Next up, we will move to St. Mary's, GA.  Our friends Bruce and Terry on SV Charisma/ Fortuna gave us a heads up that CBP was not so easy to deal with there either and to expect to have to rent a car to drive to Brunswick, GA to do our Form 1300 check-in in person.  What?   Ugh, didn't think it could get much worse than the last check-in.