Morehead City, North Carolina

October 31-November 4

We left Aurora early in the morning on Halloween so that we could traverse the rest of our part of the ICW and arrive in Morehead City in time for trick-or-treating.  We had been so busy with Hurricane and passage preparations that we hadn’t even thought about Halloween costumes!  Luckily, Reese knew she wanted to dress up in her dance costume from her spring recital, so we brought her outfit with us on our trip.  I just had to dig it up from the deep recesses of the boat!  My mom gave us two sheets, so we conjured up a ghost costume for Bryson and a mummy costume for Porter while we were underway.  The kids had fun with it and I accepted the fact that I have had finer Martha moments.

I was feeling sad about missing Halloween in Ho-Ho-Kus.  Our street and the couple of streets around us are an amazing place to be on Halloween.  We get over 400 trick-or-treaters from 3:00-6:30pm each year.  It is quite a scene.  The homeowners sit outside on their steps or in lawn chairs and dole out candy to a steady stream of ghosts and goblins, who are, at times, literally lined up the driveway.  Parents roam the streets with wagons to carry children, candy, and some refreshments for themselves… I look forward to this holiday as much as the kids do.  Unfortunately, the hurricane forced Halloween to be delayed back in Jersey, so it was even stranger to take the kids out knowing all our friends were stuck without power.

Once we secured our lines, we hit the docks and were surprised at how many people were on their boats and ready for trick-or-treaters.  The sailing community is such a small world, and we were only half surprised to run into s/v Viento, a boat we saw in Seal Bay, Maine.  Doug is here in Morehead City also getting ready for his passage south.

I was so happy when our friends Jenny and Wil from Full Monty invited us to trick-or-treat with them.  We are both in Morehead City/Beaufort, getting our boats ready to go south, and we have enjoyed spending time with this great family.  They said they knew of a neighborhood with great trick-or-treating and they had a van to take us all there, which was perfect.  It ended up being an amazing evening.

 

 

 

We arrived at the neighborhood community center, where volunteers had organized a little party with hot dogs, beverages, and Halloween cookies and cupcakes.  Just as we finished eating, a man invited us all to hop on his tractor and trailer for a hayride through the neighborhood, with stops at every house for trick-or-treating.  Wait a minute.  We get lots of candy?  And we don’t even have to walk?  The hayride was great.  The adults sat together and the kids hopped on and off at each house together.  At one house, the adults really got into the spirit and dressed up, trying to scare all the kids.  It was great.

At the end of the ride, we stopped over at Jenny and Wil’s friends’ house.  They were hosting a Halloween Chili Cookoff Party, which was so much fun.  They had 5 different types of chili set up with all the fixin’s.  The hosts were a fun couple who clearly have a penchant for entertaining.  We had a great time listening to music, meeting new people, and eating lots of chili and treats!  In the end, I relearned a wonderful lesson about life.  Sad to be missing what was known and familiar, I risked not being open to an experience that was just as wonderful in a different way.  I’m glad our friends from Full Monty included us in their celebration.

Most people, including us, would give anything for a day of rest after the 80 mile sail and whirlwind Halloween celebrating, but we woke up on November 1^st and got right back to it.  This day marked the start of our fifth month at sea and our biggest challenge was only days away.  We worked all day and rented a car for our multiple West Marine runs.  Chris and I both plugged away at our To Do lists while the kids played and worked on schoolwork.  We were staying at the Morehead City Yacht Basin, which had a nice room for the kids to relax, play, and even watch some television.  They were well-behaved, so I let them do whatever they wanted since it allowed us to get a lot of work done.

On Friday, Chris drove to New Bern to pick up my dad.  He arrived full of excitement and ready to help.  But first we had to store all of his candy.  He thought he would get in trouble for bringing too much stuff, but we were more than happy to have Mema’s peanut butter balls, brownies, chicken and rice, macaroni and cheese, and lots of other treats.  We set him up in Reese’s cabin, and Reese moved in with Bryson and Porter for the trip.  My dad got right to work helping me to clean the dinghy and getting it stored up on the cabintop.

The next 36 hours was insane.  We had been following the weather reports and doing our own weather research ever since the hurricane.  Like all boats ready to go south, we had to wait for an appropriate weather window.  The offshore weather tends to follow a general pattern, but Hurricane Sandy and the impending Nor’easter were throwing a wrench into our planning.  We are a part of the Salty Dawg Rally, which is a group of boats all taking this passage at or around the same time.  We are sharing weather services from a well-known and respected meteorologist.  Most boats in the Rally are leaving from Hampton, VA.  We are well south of Hampton, so we have had to adjust our route and plans accordingly.  The same goes for the weather.  As the week went on, suddenly, the thought was that everyone should try to leave by Sunday, in order to get south and out of the way of the Nor’easter.  Anyone who didn’t leave by Sunday would have to wait until the following Friday for the next possible weather window.  We looked at each other in a panic.  We thought we had until Tuesday to get everything done.  Sunday would be a major push, but we decided to start working like we were leaving on Sunday and continued to watch the weather.

As the hours went on, more weather reports continued to come in and we reviewed reports from other weather services to compare.  Chris also pulled in grib files and did his own analysis.  Grib files are a map of the ocean that show wind speed and direction at intervals across time.  Chris was convinced that we were starting far enough south to avoid the Nor’easter, especially if we left Morehead City and headed directly south, instead of starting off east, as the usual Caribbean route calls for.  In addition, the Caribbean 1500, another Rally, had made the decision to press on and leave over the weekend as planned.

We took a deep breath and committed to leaving on Sunday morning.  What was left undone would have to wait.  We had parts, provisions, and our crew.  At the last minute, we realized we did not have my dad’s passport.  With only hours left till our departure, we changed our destination from Tortola, BVI to St. Thomas, USVI, since you do not need a passport to go to the US Virgin Islands.  This little glitch is just a small example of the flexibility we have gained from living this lifestyle.  In the end, it would work out well and would allow my dad to fly home much more easily than from the BVIs.

 

We woke up on Sunday morning and I couldn’t get my favorite Mark Twain travel quote out of my head.  It struck me quite profoundly that we were following his advice to the letter, right down to the catching those tradewinds…  We hope!!

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” –Mark Twain (attributed)

 

(note: due to the storm, preparing for our passage, the 8 day passage, and sparse internet in the Caribbean, we are WAYYY behind.  Please stay tuned as we catch up on the exciting adventures of the past few weeks! Thanks for reading! -Erica, from the Bitter End Yacht Club, Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands)

 

Aurora, North Carolina, October 22-30

It was supposed to be a week of projects, getting everything done for our trip to the British Virgin Islands.  Instead, we spent the bulk of the week getting ready for Hurricane Sandy.  To make matters worse, we have no cell service here and no internet service.  Chris’ phone can make a call if he is on the porch.  My phone will pick up some sort of signal every once in awhile, if it is in the center of our bed and the wind dies down, and I don’t breathe while hitting the “send” button.  This made it difficult to track the weather with the absorption and intensity to which we are accustomed.  We relied on our every other day trips to “town” to download email and send messages (town is 45 miles away).

Thank you to all those who follow us on our Facebook fanpage and sent concerned messages.  It was so nice to know that so many of our friends, family, and even our new “never met in person” friends and readers are thinking about us.  I could not get enough of a connection to post to our website or return many of the emails that were sent.  It was so frustrating, but again, all of your thoughts and concerns were very much appreciated.

I tried to get the message out that we were, indeed, safe.  We were in a hurricane hole, on Campbell Creek, in Aurora, North Carolina.  We were docked at my mom and stepfather Sal’s neighbors’ dock and moved to anchor on Saturday afternoon (there was not sufficient room at the dock for both boats to be safe).  We set two anchors and checked and rechecked them.  We removed the bimini, dodger, kayak, paddleboard, cushions, winch handles, lines, fenders, and anything else that could catch the wind and be damaged or cause damage.  Chris fixed the leaky seal in the forward hatch and looked for other minor leaks that could be shored up.  Finally, we were ready for Sandy.

The rains started, the winds picked up, and we moved to the house to ride out the storm.  We had to trudge out in the dark and the rain and the quickly rising tide to bail out the dinghy every couple of hours.  By the 11pm trip, it was getting a little creepy.  I was alone, the water was half way up my new seaboots, and the wind was threatening to blow me off the dock.  Standing in the dinghy, flashlight between my knees, pumping out the water, I made sure to keep my head down and ignored the scary howling of the wind in the swamp weeds.  Getting out of the dinghy, I momentarily thought about what would happen if I fell in.  Almost everyone was asleep back in the house.  It would be hard to get out of the water on my own with my full foul weather gear on.  I was very, very careful climbing back out onto the dock…  On the way back, I was convinced that I was going to be attacked by an alligator or a snake.  I had a flashlight in one hand and my open knife in my other hand as I ran/hyperventilated my way back to the house.

Meanwhile, in between all the hurricane preparations, we have a long and crazy list of things to do for our trip!  As a reminder, we will leave the U.S. on or about November 4^th, with the Salty Dawg Rally.  My dad will join us for the trip so that we have a third adult on board.  We will travel approximately 1,200 miles from Beaufort, NC to Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands.  The trip will take approximately ten days, if all goes well.

We will stay in the BVI’s through New Year’s and will then travel directly to Grenada, which is the last island in the eastern Caribbean chain.  We opted not to visit Venezuela or Trinidad and Tobago, due to security reasons.  We will then travel north through the Windward and Leeward Islands, back the to BVI’s in April.  In May, we will visit Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas.  We will return to the states by June 1 and will travel north from Florida back to New Jersey.  Our complete Floatplan (itinerary) is located on its own page on our website.

On one of our trips to the town of New Bern, we started provisioning for this next, biggest leg of our journey.  We set out for West Marine, and spent a bundle on supplies to finish our projects.  We went to Staples for school supplies and printer ink and Big Lots for watertight containers and little “gifts” for the kids to open each day of our passage.  Then we hit up Lowes for more project supplies.  By the time we got to Harris Teeter (supermarket), American Express had put the kibosh on our card.  Two carts and $680 later, the cashier told us, “I’ve never seen anyone spend so much on groceries.”  Apparently, American Express thought we were the New Bern Nabbers, buying up all the marine supplies in town on a mad spree with a stolen card.  We paid for the groceries with our Visa card instead and had to rearrange the car in the dark to fit all of our purchases in.  On the long car ride home, I tried to avoid thinking about how I was going to fit all this stuff on our already stuffed-to-the-gills Patronus.

If you are at all interested in how we are provisioning our boat for this voyage, check out the Provisioning page.  I’m not sure why I thought anyone would want to read our shopping list, but I know at least Lisa will check it out.  (Hi, Lisa!!!)  In addition to stocking up on our favorite “American” foods, which will be expensive or non-existent in the Caribbean, we bought 7 pounds of chopped meat for meatballs and 9 pounds of chicken to make breaded chicken cutlets.  We will freeze and vacuum seal them so that we have meals ready to go for our voyage.  I also made three lasagnas.  Kathy just sent me a message that she is also making macaroni and cheese and another chicken dish to send up with my dad!

Of course, a 10 day passage is no time for gourmet cooking.  If the weather or seas are bad, it can be uncomfortable moving about the boat.  If the boat is heeled (tipped over) a lot, you have to brace yourself against the wall in the galley in order to cook.  The range gimbals (tilts to stay with the pull of gravity, instead of the boat) but the fridge and cabinets don’t, so food might fly out of them when you open the doors.  Staying down below and trying to concentrate on cooking is much like reading in a moving car.  Not a great combo.  During those times, we will hunker down and do only what is absolutely necessary: drive the boat, sleep, take care of the kids, and eat.

We will have lots of nutritious snacks available that are “grab and go”.  We will also have lots of foods that the kids can make and eat on their own as they get hungry.  But the night watches require a little old school energy.  Think about those college all-nighters, fueled by a pot of coffee, or in my case, a quart of Wegman’s sweetened iced tea.  Chris is planning on subsisting on Triscuits, Gatorade, Tea, and Circus Peanuts for 10 days.  He will probably also get about 10 hours of sleep the whole time.  My secret stash for night watches is two bags of Swedish Fish and two pounds of Twizzlers.  If I am feeling particularly healthy, I will try starting out with my Chinese herbs, made up as tea.  I am also stocked up on Hammer products, which is the nutrition-packed fuel that endurance athletes use.  (Little did we know that Mema had more food surprises for us, including her famous peanut butter balls!)

After all our Hurricane Sandy preparations and all our projects and provisioning, we somehow managed to enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner.  This is my mostest favoritist holiday, because it’s all about focusing on Gratitude.  This year, as always,  I am grateful for family, friends, my personal growth as a Bodhisattva-in-training, and the possibility that all beings, everywhere, may be peaceful, happy, and free.  I am also thankful for stuffing and sweet potato pie.  Chris even got to watch the Cowboys on our pre-Thanksgiving Day.

Following is a partial list of jobs we had to complete before our departure (minus one: today my mom helped me dye my hair).

Chris:

Aft head

Change engine oil

Change outboard oil

Fix leak in forward cabin

Install watermaker

Make bookshelf

Satellite phone data

Anchor locker

Install WiFi

Set up flags

Generator: move fresh water bottle higher

Generator:  secure exhaust to make level with downhill run, add clamp

Set up fishing gear

Install zincs

Fix macerator

Install Float Switch in bilge

Install U-Bolts and store delta anchor

Move anchor rode to bilge

Attach new snubber

Fix wetlocker

Splice new anchor rode

 

Sieze shackles to anchor

Set up storm anchor with shackle

Install Serpentine pulleys

Fix leaks in rail

Compass lights

Outboard gear oil

Water leak from after shower

Reroute 2 head siphons

Reroute  a/c siphon

gel coat port side

coolant leak

liferaft

floor board

oven gimbal

check for leaks, fix

mast leak

fridge fan

courtesy lights

check Ventilation – power ventilation operable (blower) and natural ventilations cowls open and clear

check Gauges – functional and reading properly

 

Erica:

Call Atlass Insurance to add Caribbean rider

Measure welcome mat area

Put pictures on flashdrives

Brendan/Rosemary: get stuff from home

Clean boat

Provision: food

Provision: HABA

Provision: school supplies

Measure companionway

Check for mildew in game cabinet/forward cabin

Clean railings (started)

Tape railings

Buff hull

Fill propane tanks

Fill SCUBA tanks

Check NOAA database for our EPIRB

Clean/treat/seal/tape forward hatches

Make cabin wall bags

Measure for aft starboard locker shelving

Install magazine racks

 

Clean/Buff companionway covers

Clean/buff all hatches/portholes

Post emergency information/label MOB and ER buttons

Phone meeting to review Floatplan with Tom, Rosemary, Kathy

reTraining: EPIRB

reTraining: Engine start/shut down

reTraining: SOS call

reTraining: Satellite phones

Dye Hair

Clean Vents

 

To order/buy:

Replacement PFD cartridges

Fridge fans

Railing drink holders

Freezer shelf

Bilge bins

Bin for forward dresser top

Book shelf supplies

Temperature sensors for fridge/freezer

McMastercar.com for electric motor mount for watermaker

French flag, Antigua flag

Tiger Cub Handbook, Misty of Chincoteague, Heal Your Body A-Z, Mitching/Beautiful swimmers

Camera Lens

Batteries AAA, C, D

Pelican hook for stern lifeline

2 brass flag clips

Bigger flag halyard

Potholders

Coffee Pot

Heel-Tastic

Seasick patches

Plastic page protectors

Bonine for kids

Ginger gum

Red/Black Scrubbies

 

And yes, we are supposedly leaving in 1 week…

Dear Friends,

We have been very busy preparing Patronus for her first long voyage and have not had a chance to completely catch you all up on our progress.  We left Aurora, NC on 10/31/12 and arrived safely in Morehead City, NC, where we have spent the last few days completing our provisioning and projects.

Due to changes in the weather forecast, our departure date has suddenly changed from this Thursday to TOMORROW.  We apologize for not giving our close friends and family a personal phone call, but it is too late and we have had to prioritize our time by completing all safety procedures.  We are sure you understand.

My dad is with us as a third adult crew member.  We leave at 0730 tomorrow and will be heading to St. Thomas (another unexpected change in plans).  Please follow our progress on SPOT.  The link is on the left margin under “Our Links”.  This will be the only communication you will likely get from us for 8-14 days.  Once we are settled and find internet service, we will send a message via Facebook and our website.

We hope you are all well.  Leaving the US is a big step for us and we are excited, anxious, and full of the knowledge that we will continue to miss you all very much.  Be safe and happy until our return, especially all of you so terribly affected by the storm.

Love, Chris, Erica, Bryson, Riesling, and Porter

s/v patronus

Morehead City, North Carolina