Dogged by Storms!

We just can't get away from them! But today, we safely anchored in the Northern Pungo River Anchorage about an hour before we were hit. The 90Lb Delta Fast Set anchor and 120 ft of chain in 8 ft of water held us in the moderate winds. (Nothing like yesterday.) The canvas roof held on with our temporary repairs. So, we're relaxing with a good book. Tomorrow we have schedued an 80-mile cruise to Coinjock with a forecast of 30% T-Storms all day. The last 2 days have been 30%. Go figure!

Where's the Roof?

It was supposed to be calm, sunny, clear, cruise from Morehead City, NC to an anchorage on Broad Creek, north of Oriental, NC. The diver replace all of our zinc anodes and gave us an OK report on the wheels, shafts and struts. So, we were doing good. That is, until the last 40 minutes. We saw the storm building on the radar and Nexrad Radar showed it as well. We could also see the clouds building to our west. All indications were that they would be moving South--away from us. But that did not happen. Instead they turned East, right in our path. So, we turned around and headed to Oriental Marina. We lowered the antennas because lightning was all around us. Oriental was 30 minutes away and we just might be able to make it. Do we ride it out on the Neuse River or try for the Marina? We'll try for it. ( Vicki remembers the Lake Worth storm event and does not want to repeat it.) Just as we turned into the channel into the marina, it hit--hard. A squall with over 35 MPH winds and blinding rain. We heard a "roar" from up on the bridge as Tide Hiker listed a good 25 degrees to port. We normally drive from the flying bridge, but had moved from the flying bridge down to the pilot house. We were too focused on maintaining control to worry about it. A few minutes later I looked up top and saw that the canvas roof was half gone. The squall ripped out the wire ties from the grommets and the canvas was blowing in the wind. Rain was pouring in and the part of the canvas that was not flying, was collecting water. Can't worry about that now. Have to get back to the lower helm.

We were following a 75-ft shrimp boat in. But the shrimp boat, after unsuccessfully docking, returned into the channel right in front of us. I gave the NO/STOP signal with 5 horn blows, but she was not listening or couldn't hear over the sound of the wind. We put the brakes on and narrowly missed him just as he was listing at least 30 degrees to starboard from the wind. We tried to turn into the waves and had to use full throttle and the bow thruster to bring the bow around. We headed back out into the Neuse River to get away from the shrimp boat. We saw her turn around and make another attempt to dock, but this time bow in instead of trying to stern in. So, we turned around and made another attempt toward our marina. The winds were somewhat lesser now but not completely diminished. We continued to the marina and they directed us to the fuel dock. We normally dock stern in as well, but instead went in bow first. Trusty Joe, was there on the dock to help us tie up. He was soaked even though he was in full rain gear.

Lightning was still around us, so we waited to hook up the electrical power cord. The rains began to diminish so we attempted to secure the canvas roof with new wire ties. We got it as snug as we could and went below to get into some warm, dry clothes.

Next? You guessed it. Off to check in and have a drink at the tiki bar!

Still BeeLining North!

Hello Family and Friends,
We have been somewhat delinquent in our blog updates. Please forgive us, as we have been cruising long days and are quite tuckered out upon arriving at the marina or anchorage. Of course, the glass of beer or martini doesn't help either. But, after negotiating shallow and skinny cuts, low bridges, tides, currents and rain, a "bit-o-the-jolly" helps us settle down.

We are currently anchored in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. We have cruised North over 730 miles since arriving West Palm Beach. Only 480 miles to our home port in the Chesapeake which we hope to make by Saturday, June 20. (That's a friendly warning to our friends on Dock B!)

Our buddy boaters, Rick and Lynnie aboard Rickshaw took a slip in the marina tonight so they could have a nice private dinner with Matt, their son. Matt lives pretty close. We will cruise together tomorrow for the last time this trip. Rick and Lynnie hail from Morehead City, our next port o call. Then Tide Hiker will continue North for another week or so. We will miss Rick and Lynnie. They have been great buddy-boaters and more importantly, friends. We hope to be cruising with them again soon even if on land.

We have been getting some vibration at certain RPM's. This is new. So while in Morehead City, we will have a professional diver check out our hull bottom, running gear (props, shafts, struts) and zinc anodes. Hopefully, it's a minor item that can be fixed on the spot. More on this later.......

Bee-Lining North

It's Thursday, one week after landing on shore in West Palm Beach. And, because we landed on shore before anyone caught us, we get to stay and collect Social Security. What a country!! We reported into U.S. Customs as required and began our journey North.

Currently, it's now one week after our landing and we are docked in Fernandina Beach Marina with thunder boomers, lightning and torrential downpours outside. We intended to anchor out tonight, but this unsettled weather in the area directed us to this safe, comfortable night's sleep.

We hope to have good cruise days ahead and get outside (in the ocean) soon so we can avoid having to time tides to tricky shallows and timing bridge openings on the Intracoastal Waterway. We hope to be back in the Chesapeake by June 24. Wish us luck.

7-9 Ft Seas, Blinding Rain and Strong Winds

On Thursday, we made another 12 hour, 85 mile trek across the Gulf Stream to Florida. All was beautiful until about 10 miles off shore from West Palm Beach when we were hit with a severe storm. Strong winds, 7-9 ft seas and blinding rain. We altered course to put the bow into the storm and rode it out for about a half hour. When the weather settled, we headed for the inlet, anchored in Lake Worth and began consuming alcohol delivery devices aplenty.

We are now in Melbourne, FL having traveled to Ft Pierce, yesterday--again in late storms; then here. No storms today. Keeping our fingers crossed.

Comings and Goings

Rickshaw and Tidehiker pulled into Bimini Sands Marina (on South Bimini) after a long 12-hour 87-mile run from Chub Cay in what I would characterize as IDEAL cruising conditions. (Seas less than 2 Ft; 10-15 mph winds from the southeast and only a chance of a summer-thunderstorms) But as boating goes, even in those ideal conditions, something must happen to tense us up. Rick discovered a fuel delivery problem on Rickshaw. The RPM's on his Port engine would vacilate from time to time and the engine would almost die. The starboard engine was working fine. He changed filters while underway, but that did not fix the problem. He nursed the engine the rest of the way and was able to get safely to Bimini Sands Marina without losing power. We on the other hand only discovered a watermaker problem.



As we turned the corner into the marina who did we see? Steve and Di aboard Aurora, Mike and Allison aboard Pokey and Dennis and Nell aboard Dennel. As the association's saying goes--where 2 or more DeFever's gather--it is a rendezvous. Those guys are coming to the Bahamas from the States, making the run from Miami that afternoon. Rickshaw and TideHiker are going back to the States.

As luck would have it Steve is known throughout the boating community. He and Di are both USCG 100-ton captains. They deliver yachts all over Florida and up and down the Atlantic Coast and Gulf of Mexico. In fact, they just recently delivered a DeFever to our marina in Delaware. Additionally, Steve is an engine mechanic and all around expert boat technician. He and Di helped Vicki and me deliver Tide Hiker to the Chesapeake from Florida in 2006. Steve additionally has done a ton of work on our boat from time to time, the latest being the installation of our watermaker last January in Stuart FL. Steve and Di also own a sister boat to ours with hull numbers just a few months apart. So, he knows this boat like the back of his own, well, boat. Also, as luck would have it, Rickshaw also has the same engines. So, Steve very generously repaired Rickshaw's fuel lift pump and our watermaker. Fortunately, Rick had a spare lift pump. (You may remember we had to change the lift pump on one of our engines last March. When I ordered a new spare, Rick asked us to order one for him too.)
After the repairs and a nice warm swim in the Marina's pool we headed to the restaurant for dinner. (What did you expect?) It was a night of live island music, cranked conch, conch ceviche and adult beverages. The dancing started righ after din din and we all discoverd that Di Koch has more moves than United Van Lines. We all left at 9PM and Di and Steve stayed behind for the Karaoke--which we discovered the next day did not happen.


So, the comings and goings of DeFever cruisers are always a surprise. In this case a wonderful surprise! Thanks Steve for the repairs and thanks to everyone else for a wonderful time!

On our Way Home

We finally had a break in the weather and departed Nassau on Monday May 25 after 12 days. The day before though, Vicki told Norm he needed a haircut. So she did the deed.

We cruised up the Tounge of the Ocean to Chub Cay Anchorage. What a mistake. We were Rolly Polly so much we could not stand it. So, we went into Chub Cay Club Marina and paid the exorbinant prices there for a good night's sleep. My guess is that we were spoiled in Nassau and not quite ready for a rolly polly night on the hook. Anyway, we did get a good night's sleep and was ready at 7AM on Tuesday for the long 87 mile trek across the Great Bahama Bank to Bimini. We arrived Bimini Sands Marina late afternoon.