When I called the marina a few days ago to see about dockage I requested to be on the inside of the face dock which parallels the Beaufort River. Having been here before I knew what the outside could be like when the wind opposes the tide. Even on the inside it gets a bit lumpy but not so bad that you want to jump ship. We're both very glad that they had 1 space left on the inside. I shot a couple of short videos to show the difference between the effects of wind & tide in the same direction and wind opposing the tide.
Same Direction.
Wind opposing tide.
Since Sandy is forecast to make landfall above Norfolk we checked in with Bru & Sandy in Deltaville, Va. to see what preparations they were making. When contacted they had already had Coconuts hauled out of the water and were stripping off anything that could tear loose. At that time the forecast was calling for high winds and a 5' storm surge. The best place to be is on shore in those conditions. Hope all goes well for them and everyone else in the path of Sandy.
Coconuts on the hard.
Shifting gears, a few weeks back we had bought some lump crab meat while on the Chesapeake. Today Pam made a delicious crab stew out of it that we had for dinner. Yummm!
10/28/12 Sunday Still windy here although Sandy is now to our north. The trailing winds look to be around for the next few days. We'll keep an eye on the various forecast sites we monitor to see when it's prudent to get moving again. Meanwhile Pam expressed an interest in doing laundry today while I watch football up at the bar. Works for me!
10/29/12 Monday
10/30/12 Tuesday
The only way to start this day is by wishing daughter Reba a Happy Birthday! Hope it's a great one!
Sandy has moved on shore pummeling the Northeast as we all know. Our conditions here have been and remain windy. As the storm passed offshore we saw a few gusts in the upper 30's with consistent winds in the 20's and no rain. It's still blowing in the low 20's with occasional gusts to 30 mph and the temperature has been struggling to reach 60 outside. The wind has shifted from out of the north to coming from the west which has made the river here calm down.
Mostly we've been doing boat projects here on Tourist while we wait for the winds to abate. There have been a few boats pass by but very few. The reports all indicate 4' to 6' waves on Port Royal Sound just a few miles south of us. Could we go? Sure. But why get tossed like a salad when you don't have to?
One big job that I was able to accomplish while here was an oil change on the main engines. With the availability of a courtesy vehicle I was able to pick up the 16 gallons of oil I needed for the job. The marina staff ran me to the end of the pier in a golf cart and even helped me carry the oil to the boat. When the job was over they took the used oil back up the long pier in the cart and said they would dispose of it for me. Talk about accommodating!
I was also able to download the latest updates for our Garmin chart plotter and install them. Pretty good for a guy that barely knows how to turn on the computer! One thing for sure is that you never run out of projects on a boat but I am getting tired of just sitting. It looks like maybe Thursday the winds will back off enough for us to get out of Dodge. If not I think we'll be applying for South Carolina residency.
10/31/12 Wednesday Our stay here has been pleasant with a very friendly and accommodating staff. A fun little bar/restaurant here at the marina and the use of a courtesy car to run downtown or to the store. Their dock rates are good too with specials like pay for 2 days and get the 3rd day free and a Boat US discount too. All in all if you have to be hunkered down this is a good place to be. We'll tidy up a few things today. Do any remaining laundry and get ready to make a run for Florida. It's time to get moving again!
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