Week of April 28th

At the Boat Hospital, Carolina Inlet Marina, NC

At anchor, Wrightsville Beach, NC

This will be known as the week that wasn't. As planned, we left Wilmington Marine Center for Carolina Inlet Marina to get hauled for a wheel tune. For the unaware, this means some pitch needed to be taken out of our props because there is too much "stuff" on our boat and it wouldn't go fast enough. By Tuesday, we were back in the water with full intentions of moving north after a delightful evening at Wrightsville Beach, a favorite anchorage of ours. But, that was not to be.

While sea-trialing the boat after the wheels had been tuned, we noticed a small vibration...not bad but irritating. But, we continued on to Wrightsville while Steve talked with our engine guru, Tom DeMann. The engine tech was to be on our boat in the morning, Wednesday, so we dropped anchor and prepared to enjoy the rest of the day.

There is a fresh fish market near where we anchor so after getting the dinghy down, we loaded Sidney and headed for the market where we picked up some Wahoo for the grill. As often happens, as we were leaving the market, Steve looks over at a nearby fishing boat and says "don't we know that guy?". Of course, I said no but after looking again, it turns out it was Daniel, a guy who attended Chapman's with us in 2002. Now, how about that as a coincidence! He was in the process of restocking his boat to head out for another few days of commercial fishing...by himself about 50-60 miles offshore in 4-5 foot waves. Not for us!! After dinner, we took Sidney to shore and walked him on the beach. Idyllic...sun setting, a nice breeze, and plenty of running room for Sid. Topped off the nite with a scoop of ice cream from a local outlet.

Wrightsville Beach is a major resort and vacation area in these parts so there are plenty of little restaurants, coffee shops and junk stores.

Wednesday morning we take Sidney to shore for his "duty". Off to the beach...so good to be able to walk him and enjoy the ocean at the same time...or so we thought. It seems we didn't read the sign correctly...not only are dogs not allowed on the beach April-Sept. but when they are allowed, they must be on a leash. Busted by a Beach Officer on both counts. We apologized, leashed him up, and headed back to town. Their signs are kinda strange in that they are big, for sure, but misleading unless you REALLY read them. They start out with a big NO followed by all the no-no's...including no dogs allowed. Well, all we saw was "dogs on the beach April-Sept" and "on a leash all other times". Completely missed the NO!! No ticket so the day was not ruined and we did have about a mile or so on the beach before we were "caught"!!

Duane arrived to finish the throttle repair and deliver our 2nd set of wheels. Further discussion regarding the vibration and we're heading back to Wilmington on Thursday...bummer big time! Another nite on the hook isn't so bad.

Arrived back in Wilmington and Friday Duane is back on the boat. Finds the alignment is just fine but there are bigger problems to come. Seems our port transmission is giving us fits. Final determination: replace the transmission. That process begins on Monday and if our travel Angels are with us, we should be back on the road, again, by Thursday or Friday. Remember, this is a boat and we're in a boatyard...anything can, and usually does, happen. While I'll try and remain optomistic, I'm also pragmatic.

The good things: we're healthy, we're with our engine guru and not in the wilderness somewhere, and the weather is wonderful.

So, while Steve digs through our holds cleaning and organizing, I clean and wax the stainless, a job I put off until it HAS to be done. Next is the cockpit, or the rear of the boat, since I haven't cleaned and waxed it in quite a while. It's our major living area outside so hard to do when the rest of the boat is waxed. Great way to get a tan! And, yes, kids...I put on sun lotion every two hours.

Once we do get out of here, we will be deadheading (major straight through) to Norfolk so we can get Steve on the plane May 17th. Hope all is well with each of you. Any comments on this blog are welcome...just email us at cdernie@aol.com. Happy Days.