Light Weather, Heavy Boat, Off The Carolina Coast

The Admiral Enjoys The Warmer Atlantic Glow

Crystal Blues is heavy, real heavy. Absolutely stuffed with provisions, fuel, water and of course more than a little grog, she slid away from the dock yesterday after nine days in beautiful Beaufort, North Carolina. We  planned to stop in Beaufort for a week of provisioning, preparing for cruising the Bahamas and Cuba over the next five months.  It was a fine choice.

A Tough Career Choice -So Many Shrimp, So Little Time

Berthed at Homer Smith's Docks & Marina, we found ourselves in a family run marina that is relaxed and low key but with a great location and the support that only a family business can provide.

The berthing rate is only $6.00 per foot per week, including power and water. In US terms this is great value, but the deal gets better when they pass over the marina truck keys so you can do your shopping, then pass over a couple of pounds of fresh shrimp....

In fact the business still buys and processes shrimp and sea food direct from the trawlers, shipping fresh product to markets in the south. Within an hour of arrival I walked out of the marina office to find shrimp processing in full swing - where my questions lead to a quick stint on the production and sorting line.  Never ask questions.

Diane Tetreault (center) With Visiting OCC Cruisers

As members of the Ocean Cruising Club, there is another great bonus to being in Beaufort. Local OCC Port Officer Diane Tetreault is incredibly welcoming and supportive. There were several OCC boats in town, and nothing was too much trouble for Diane, who organised social events and repeatedly helped out with transport when needed. Hats off to Diane!

Amazon Calling

And then there was the shopping...

The admiral, with daily access to the marina truck, ran a fast provisioning schedule that saw Crystal Blues sinking lower into the water each day. Every cupboard and locker was audited and re-stocked, goods rotated, some thrown away and yet more purchased. To all that we added 900 liters of diesel and 900 liters of fresh water. She is now a seriously heavy boat.

We also discovered that Amazon was a great value source for bulk food supplies - tinned butter, milk powder. coffee, tinned foods and the like. All delivered to the marina within 48 hours at great prices.

Beaufort also provided us with another gem - while watching activity in the seafood processing area we met locals Libby and Jack Cox. Libby was up to her elbows in fish sorting at the time, and Jack was working with one of his boats that had just delivered the catch - they harvest bottom fish by line fishing. Next thing we knew they visited Crystal Blues, so we then joined them for Thanks Giving lunch. Libby & Jack are dreaming of a future on a cruising sail boat, so we had a lot to talk about. Friendships are born this way.

Crystal Blues should be in St. Augustine, Florida, by Thursday evening.

The Admiral & I At Dinner With Libby & Jack

Southbound For Winter Sunshine

With the thermometer dropping to Zero degrees centigrade in Reedville, Virginia, one evening, we really needed to head south for the sunshine. Local friends spoke of early season snow in New York and they didn't need to remind us that the creek we were in often freezes over in winter - time to move.

A Chilly Arrival In Hampton Roads

So ten days ago we fare-welled our gracious hosts in Reedville, Walter Keith & Mary Frazer, and sailed south down Chesapeake Bay towards the Atlantic Ocean. That was possibly the coldest daytime sail I've ever made, though we did manage to cover 60 nautical miles in the shortened winter daylight, anchoring overnight in Hampton to allow the weather offshore to swing in our favour.

The next afternoon we sailed out of Hampton Roads, around Cape Henry at nightfall and proceeded southward toward Cape Hatteras in 25 knot winds and boisterous seas. A useful counter current helped us along, staying inshore to avoid the Gulf Stream, and by lunch the next day we had rounded the cape and were positively zooming south west towards Beaufort, North Carolina.

So much for our carefully calculated voyage plans - it looked like it would have to be a night time approach into Beaufort....  Sure enough, midnight found us motoring toward the shipping channel while trying to decide on an anchoring point - for such a large port, this place has very few credible anchoring locations. We did find a safe place just west of the entry channel and caught some sleep before motoring into a welcome marina berth at 7:00am the next morning.  Beaufort will be our provisioning port as we prepare for the next few months offshore in the Bahamas and Cuba, and we're hoping it will be quite a bit warmer.

Returning To The Boat - What Do You Carry ?

After two busy weeks in Melbourne we returned to the boat with over 120kg of luggage - thank heavens for Qantas being generous on the allowances. The flight landed in Dallas, where we loaded the super-Chevy truck and proceeded to drive back to Virginia, via Little Rock and Nashville.

We're frequently asked what do we carry back to the boat, so for those who are serious about this, here are our answers for this trip.

12 x 0.5kg jars of Vegemite (yeah, 6kg in total)
New 26kg regrigeration compressor
New electric jug
New electric toaster
1 x green cow hide (we like to leather things)

The electric items cannot be purchased in the USA, as the supply voltage and frequency are different ....
The balance of our monster cruising shopping list is below.

Cruising To An Oyster Roast In Reedville

Mary, Ley & Walter Sharing The Good Wine

Our journey back to Reedville was planned around a critical date - the annual Fisherman's Museum Oyster Roast. No true cruising sailor could miss this!

The simple little affair was planned to allow just 1000 people to fess up 50 bucks and then eat all the oysters they could ...... which is a lot of oysters.

While it sounds like a simple concept, in fact it takes a lot of effort to cater for 1000 people, while also providing unlimited beer, wine, BBQ meats, clam chowder, hot dogs etc. This is the major fund raiser for the museum, so dozens of volunteers chipped in.

We were among them, doing our duty serving wine to the masses for an hour or so.  Before that we managed to consume our fair share of delicious roasted oysters, which are heated over hot coals until they are hot and almost ready to open.

The Reedville Fisherman's Museum is the social hub of Reedville village in Virginia, a town that welcomes visiting cruisers and provides peaceful, sheltered anchorages.

The Next Crystal Blues ?

Crystal Blue, Image Courtesy Rolls Royce

OK, so it's not very likely, but in their wisdom the guru's at Rolls Royce have named their new 62 meter concept super yacht Crystal Blue. The cheek of them. You can read the full story of this amazing design here, note that it's hybrid powered by LNG and batteries, and does't (normally) anchor anywhere - instead, the thrusters linked to a dynamic positioning system simply keep it in place. It's planned to be accompanied by a 42 meter "tender" that will carry the water toys and act as a refueling barge for the LNG. The best part is that it doesn't have a conventional bridge - instead the crew helm the boat from below decks, using a range of sensors and vision systems. Oh joy.

Cruising Families

The Langford Boys - Dean, Peter & Neil, Onboard Pete's Power Boat, Just Cruising Again

A Warm Welcome In Williamstown !

After 12 years at sea, coming home is precious. However just two weeks in Melbourne wasn't enough time to catch up with everyone - it felt like speed dating, though we did cover a lot of people, ground and water. And of course it was very social, from the moment we arrived.

We based ourselves in our home town and stayed close to family, while working through a busy social diary plus a long list of items to be purchased and carried back to the boat in the USA. On the list was a new refrigeration compressor (only 26kg!) plus a big spring for our rod-kicker, a toaster, and dozens of other specialty boat items. The final tally was over 100kg of luggage for the return flight.

The family time was joyful, specially seeing how fast the grand kids and nieces are growing up. So we chased kids, played with dogs, kissed parents, repaired cars, planted trees and drank more than a little wine .... what joy. A special treat was the "long lunch" at Rovina, the beautiful property owned by our friend James Farrell (check the photos below).

Then on Thursday it was back to Dallas onboard QF07, an A380 flight out of Sydney. Right now we're shooting eastward in the Chevy truck, having crossed the Arkansas border at Texakarna. We're heading for Little Rock tonight and Nashville tomorrow night. Bring on the music!

Three Young Rascals, Plus An Older One