October 24, 2011 Southport, NC to Myrtle Beach, SC

Sunny days are always great to have out on the water. It's always cooler near the water and today was no exception! We are at Osprey Marina on the ICW with great docking rates. This is the friendliest and cheapest and yet the cleanest and most comfortable of any marina yet! We will visit with Tom and Marie Raia Wednesday and leave the marina on Thursday morning.

We are watching hurricane Rina and we will continue to seek shelter if need be. We will not be out on the ocean until after we return to Fiu from Christmas and New Years at home...more to come.

Captain Sid

October 23, 2011 Sunday Wrightsville Beach to Southport,NC

We anchored in Pipeline Canal near a boat launch and park with the Dead End Grill near a marina and ordered wings and beer. This is just south of Cape Fear in Southport, NC...more to come.

October 22, 2011 Saturday Beaufort to Wrightsville Beach, NC

An early departure from Beaufort, NC helped us get to Wrightsville Beach,NC before dark. Bonnie took command of the wheel while I went up on deck to raise the sails. We were still reefed and only a portion of the mainsail was exposed and ready to do its job!

We headed straight to the inlet and proceeded to the Atlantic where we needed to cover about 71nm to Wrightsville Beach. The northerly winds were 5-15kts and this pushed us along with ocean waves of 1-2 feet. Needless to say Bonnie was comfortable and even stated how enjoyable the day on the ocean had been!

There was a parade of sorts of boaters heading out to sea as the conditions were near perfect for a safe trip down the coast. Bonnie read and fixed lunch and at one point asked where land was. I explained we were out about eight miles and the shoreline was not visible. She asked if we could get closer to land and I said no since there were buoys marking obstructions we needed to avoid. and besides we were traveling in a straight line to Masonboro Inlet where we intended to anchor at Wrightsville Beach. She accepted that and she was fine for the rest of the trip.

We covered about 70 miles today and it saved us a whole day on land in the ICW! That part of the ICW has bridges and sand bars and we probably would have made maybe 40-45 miles. We anchored and a short time later we took the dinghy in for a walk on the beach and a quick stop for ice cream at Bob's Market that Captain Sid was craving!

Captain Sid