1 October 2012 Great Bridge, VA - Cedar Creek/Adams Creek - Morehead City, NC

Happy Fall on the first day of October.  It's still shorts and tee shirt weather here but we have felt a nip in the air on a few evenings.

Departing Tidewater Yacht Basin, Portsmouth, VA

We had a carrot dangling as we left Portsmouth.  Our taste buds are always craving a sampling of Tex-Mex and one of our favorite places is El Toro Loco in Great Bridge.  That's such a great place to be---a little burg that's a bedroom community for Norfolk/Portsmouth.  Whatever your needs might be in the sphere of retail, you will find it there.  Prior to Julie and Jim's departure from Great Bridge, I had the opportunity for a brief visit with them.

                       A long day of cruising necessitates an early rising

Coastal North NC has some beautiful anchorages so we put in a few lengthy days and took advantage of Mother Nature's exquisite gifts.

Lee and George live on Adams Creek and we had a relaxing evening with them in their home.  They are new owners of a magnificently luxurious motor home.  Bill'd already been thinking in that vein but it certainly ignited a spark in my interest.  Lee is so talented and creative and as she showed me her Work Room, I was bowled over by her talents.  We left with several packets of dried herbs from their garden and got to love on their Spanish Water Dog, Cammie.

Soon after leaving Adams Creek, we had a thundering surprise!  I was in our aft stateroom doing some work and being lulled by the purring of our engines when Bang!!!  WHAM!!!  CRASH!  My heart stopped and I flew up the steps and out on the deck to see that a sailboat was "up close and personal".  Luckily, no one was injured and damage to Kindred Spirit is minimal but the racket down below was terrifying.  I had no idea any other boat was near us so you can imagine the shock I felt.  I have absolutely nothing against sailors.  Some of our dearest friends own boats with sticks but if a boat name can't be seen or a radio goes unanswered, it's generally a wind-propelled vessel. So with love in my heart for sailors, I must say that they are notorious for (1) obscuring the name of their boat and hailing port with their dinghy which is either hanging over the transom/stern or towed so close behind that it can't be seen.  It's a LAW that you must have name and port on the stern--they have it but only the seagulls can see it.  Often their name, if it isn't covered up, is in such small graphics that it's impossible to read.  (2)  They either don't have a VHF radio or they don't have it turned on.  We were approaching the sailboat and needed to request that we pass him.  Bill prefers voice contact but couldn't hail the boat on the radio because he couldn't see the name.  The next choice is to blow the horn---1 blast meaning "I intend to overtake you on your starboard side" or 2 blasts for "I intend to overtake you on your port side."  Bill did that and the correct response is to reply with the same signal.  The only response the sailor made was to look back over his shoulder which indicated he still had a heart rate.  We are 3/4 of our boat length past him when he turned into us making contact.  He was so close I could've shaken his hand.  He was wrestling with his wheel so I asked if he had steerage problems and he said, "I think so."  Told him to turn on his radio and all he had was a little hand-held that crackled to life and cut out more of our transmission that it carried.  Told him exactly where we'd be in Morehead City that night and he said that was also his destination and that when he arrived, "we'd talk".  I asked his name, phone number, boat name, and copied his registration number off his dinghy before we got out of range.  We arrived at our destination and waited...and waited...and waited and he never came. He was lying low! So I called the U.S. Coast Guard and reported the incident.  Long story short, the authorities called the "bumper boat" who admitted to having his auto pilot on and was not in control of his vessel.  We're hoping he learned something from this incident and are also filled with gratitude that no one was injured and our damage is repairable.  And we've yet to see him since that moment!

    While we were watching for the imprudent sailor, we DID see this.

We'll be in Morehead City till this front passes.  Rain doesn't bother us but lightening certainly does so we're tucked in till it's safe to venture out.  We've been here 24 hours and have three serendipities!  Late afternoon yesterday we had a call from Tom who lives in the area and with whom we'd made contact from our trawler organization's List Serve.  Last night a couple knocked on our door and it was Bettie and Klaas whom we met week before last in Portsmouth.  This morning, Ted, another trawler owner, whom we also met in Portsmouth, saw us walking down the street and he called to see if he could come get us and take us to where ever.  After our grocery shopping trip we did take him up on his offer.  All this just reinforces what our Nordic Tug friends Bob and Emily have said numerous times----"The world is only as large as the water way is wide."  

Bill and Laura
Morehead City, NC