Wanted: Cruise Director !!!

We have now confirmed Mia's maximum time period to live aboard and cruise.  Although we have boated together for 16+ years, looked forward to an actual winter cruise south after retirement and planned this specific trip for 2 years, stocked the boat, forwarded the mail, and turned off the water at home...she left this morning with the "Girls" in a rental car for  Holly Springs.  No big argument, just had to get off the boat and back "home".....

32 Days, 10 Hours, 15 Min.....Just in case you were wondering.

The blogs may be less frequent and intertaining, but I'll do my best to keep them coming.  Alchemy will  be heading back soon.  Apologies to friends who we will not be seeing on the way North.

Captain Dave

Friends

We have made some friends here in the marina and last night six of us walked across the street to the brewery for a beer sampling. Carol and Rick from OH live aboard their sailboat and are headed further south after the holidays. So are Cindy Ann and Steve from upstate NY. It is very nice to have friends to spend time with and to wave to as they ride their dinghies back and forth to their boats in the mooring field. It was also lovely to stop by in our dinghy today and be invited to enjoy freshly baked cookies at Cindy Ann and Steve's! 

Today, boat friends Susanne and Les from NC stopped on their way driving north after having celebrated Christmas in Ocala, FL. We had a lovely lunch at the Tasting Room, which is by far the best meal and restaurant we have experienced in Saint Augustine! It was great to catch up with them and receive some news from home. Les is an author and told me he has been enjoying my tales but that it is the first cruising blog he has ever read that is about everything BUT cruising. You get to hear the truth from friends...

Tomorrow, Tracy and Chris are driving up from Stuart, FL to spend a couple of days playing with us here. We have stocked up with plenty of wine and tuned the guitar - Tracy can sing and so can Cindy Ann and Steve. We are lucky to have many and talented friends.

Nombre de Dios mission

Saint Augustine is the site of the first Christian mission established in what is now the United States. The original landing site is beautiful and open to the public and there are archaeological findings of early churches and graves. As you approach town from the ICW or from the ocean, this giant cross is visible for miles. It was raised in 1965 to celebrate the 400^th anniversary of the original landing of Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles and his followers. http://www.exploresouthernhistory.com/nombrededios.html

A woman's hands

I noticed her because she was sitting so close to the water on the beautiful Bridge of Lions. It was early evening and all the Christmas lights were lit. Both her arms were hanging over the thick chain that forms the fence, her once white pants grey, her winter coat and hat too warm for the weather and her orange plastic crocs black from wear. 
I turned and stopped, because her posture was communicating despair. Then I noticed her right hand. Beautiful and slim with long fingers and although her nails were chipped and her hand incredibly filthy – it was one of those hands you see in ads for diamond rings or expensive clothing. I had taken the girls for their evening walk and stood there for a while and watched her. Returning to the boat I made a tour of down-town to see if I could find a policeman to alert. Something about her sitting so close to the edge kept bothering me. We have seen other street people here in down-town Saint Augustine, but somehow, seeing a woman obviously by herself rattled me.

I kept thinking about her beautiful hand and the way it should be caressing a husband’s face, holding a child’s hand and preparing meals for a family instead of being red and dirty beyond belief from frostbite and sleeping outside. What happens in a human being’s life to make her end up in a situation like that? I saw her again today on Christmas Day. She was sitting on the icy concrete close to the water and I asked her if she was OK. I have seen her talk to herself before, so I was surprised when she actually met my eye and said “I am OK but I could use a cup of coffee”. Dave had a twenty dollar bill and I went back to her with it. That beautiful hand and my thoughts about what it could and should be doing instead of accepting coffee money from a stranger, is the picture I take to bed with me as I fall asleep this Christmas Day.

Let’s all be thankful for our warm, clean homes and loving friends and family.

Merry Christmas

Christmas Eve is "it" for Swedes. That is when presents, food and liquor happen - all at once. Here in the US it is all about Christmas Day. In an intercultural marriage and family, we get to do both - yey! This year, Dave and I will start Christmas Eve by Skyping with family and friends in Sweden, who by then are sitting in the dark of a December afternoon, watching vintage Donald Duck cartoons on public TV, opening presents, drinking mulled wine and eating oven baked ham and all the fixings. 

Dave and I are going to a candle light service at 7 pm in one of the many old and beautiful churches here in Saint Augustine. Then we'll get up and do a traditional Christmas morning with presents for the girls and fresh French croissants for breakfast. And THEN, if it is warm enough, we'll go hunting for shells and sharks teeth on the beach!

Merry Christmas dear friends and family! And thank you all so much for the very nice compliments I have received on my writings.

Dinner at Columbia

Dave's cousin Debbie and her husband Allan live in Flagler Beach south of Saint Augustine. They drove up to join us for drinks and dinner yesterday and brought a lovely Christmas basket full of sweet home made treats and wine. Thank you! It was wonderful to see family and spend time with you guys! Dinner at Columbia was yummie too.

What kind of boat would you like?

Now that you know that my husband is the nautical fanatical and I am not, I would like to share this story. We meet a lot of new friends boating and getting to know each other over drinks and appetizers, someone inevitably turns to me and asks “so what kind of boat would you like Mia?”. My answer always is “the model doesn't matter to me, as long as it can pull a horse trailer”. 

I am a passionate and life-long dressage rider. I don’t own horses right now but ride and care for my friends’ horses when they are out of town. It’s funny to see the expression on people’s faces when they get my unexpected reply, but it is even funnier when their creative sides start churning out ideas for how, in fact, this boat model or that, SHOULD be able to pull a horse trailer!

Great! Here is the extra little knot though: do you know how much hay and grain a horse eats each day? Or just how large a full size dressage arena and turn-out pasture is? Do you know how expensive and bulky saddles and tack are and where am I going to put the …..

If Southern Pines, NC and Beaufort NC were situated next to each other, that would be the PERFECT place to live! I don’t want another boat, I would like a farm.

Original City Gate Saint Augustine, FL

http://www.exploresouthernhistory.com/staugustinegate.html 

Architecture and other landmarks

"In Loving Memory of William Howland Fell of New York who erected this fountain in 1887. 

He was a winter resident of this city for many years and died here May 2, 1911. 

He loved nature and was kind to all animals".

What a lovely memorial. 

Saint Augustin is full of historic landmarks. The two largest ones, the former Alcazar Hotel, now the Lightner Museum and Saint Augustin City Hall and the former Ponce de Leon Hotel, now Flagler College are beautiful old buildings in the Spanish colonial style. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, wealthy people, including several US Presidents came here to party and live "the resort life".

A tan in December

The last few days have been gorgeous in Saint Augustin. Mid 80s, sun from a bright blue sky, balmy winds, beer on the sun pad in the afternoon. Not bad. My face and arms are starting to look golden and the Captain found a beach today which is accessible by dinghy, 15 minutes away. We are enjoying Saint Augustin.

A tan in December means I am wearing flip-flops which also means I needed nail polish for my toe nails, which I had not packed. I usually don't need it because in NC, at least I do not wear open shoes from October to April (but college students seem to live in shorts and flip-flops year round there). I am also someone who will not pay $9 for nail polish, which is down-town Saint Augustin price level, so today I walked to Target (no, no, not TArget - TarchEEE! Sorry Swedes, this is a purely American joke). That was a 45 minute hike, a 10 min shopping trip and then another 45 minute hike back to town. Yep, the cab ride would have been five bucks, but in lovely high 70s degree weather, it is only a pleasure to exercise outdoors.

Just in case you think you need some more Christmas lights, this is what the Hilton in Saint Augustin looks like! Merry Christmas!

Laundry Day

The marinas we stay in when on vacation or cruising usually have nice facilities. This means there are showers and bathrooms, laundry rooms with washers and dryers and sometimes boaters’ lounges with “take-one, leave-one” book shelves and Wi-Fi. The laundry facilities are usually coin operated and yesterday I went back and forth with several loads of wash. The last time, I had loaded the machine and realized that I had left my bag of quarters on the boat so I asked out loud who would lend me $1.50 so that I could start the machine. A nice gentleman and fellow boater named Dane graciously lent me the money. When I returned for my laundry I thanked him and repaid the loan (with interest!).

I then turned around only to realize that the machine I had used was open and my laundry gone. In this particular laundry room there are signs saying that if a load is finished and you are waiting to use the machines, you may remove the clean laundry and place it in the wire baskets provided or place it on the folding table. Well, my laundry was nowhere to be found… I finally told one of the dock masters who happened to come in that I seemed to have lost a load of laundry. Then the same man that had lent me money earlier jumped up from the chair where he had been in deep concentration with his laptop and said, “wait a minute…”.

When I needed to load my laundry, I had emptied a machine that was finished and placed the laundry in a wire basket. Well, Dane only remembered which machine was his, not what he was washing. So when my load was finished, he just emptied “his” machine and stuck the laundry in the dryer. So there it was; my panties and bras, nice and dry for me to fold. And his wash, still wet, sitting in the wire basket….

We meet new friends every day, but usually not someone who BOTH lends you money AND handles your underwear in the same day!

The beginnings of Saint Augustine

The King of Spain named Spanish Admiral Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles Governor of Florida and instructed him to explore and colonize the territory. In 1565 the Admiral and his men founded Saint Augustine, which is 42 years earlier than the English colony at Jamestown, Virginia and 55 years before the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts. This makes Saint Augustine the oldest permanent European settlement on the North American Continent.

The construction of the Castillo de San Marcos, the oldest masonry fort in the US, started in 1672. It is build of coquina, a type of shell stone indigenous to the area and quarried from Anastasia Island.

Beautiful Christmas Tradition

Some 15 years ago, a landscaping company in Maine had a large surplus of Christmas wreaths. The owner was pondering what to do with them and came up with the idea to donate them to the Arlington National Cemetery in Washington DC. For my friends outside the US, this is where a lot of war veterans are buried. Over the years, his wonderful idea grew into a non-profit and today donors and volunteers make, ship and place these wreaths on many military grave yards throughout the country. This picture is from Saint Augustine, FL. 

http://www.wreathsacrossamerica.org/

Men's Humour II

This one is for you Faye! 

All the men on the NC coast miss their "bun checker".

Ophelia Phanny

Philosophy

I have always enjoyed reading and writing. Nuanced words eloquently strung together mean the world to me. Growing up in a country with a language known by only some 10 million people, we were taught British English beginning at age 10. Like people from other small countries, Swedes are fluent in English and since we have been dependent on trade (and plunder) since the age of the Vikings, often in one or two more languages.

Landing in the US with a Swedish corporation in the mid-nineties, I thought I was prepared to communicate with the Americans. After 17 years I am here to tell you that British English and American English are not the same. And for someone who is fluent in English and French in addition to her native Swedish, that was “a bit of shock” (British expression, extremely understated, meaning a huge and abrupt awakening).

But I digress. What I meant to say is this. In preparation for long hours on the water while traveling south at “retirement speed”, I purchased a little book called “the Pocket Muse – Ideas and Inspirations for writing” by Monica Wood. That is exactly what it is and when I opened it yesterday, the first page stated:

“What are you waiting for? If not now, then when?”

Exactly. Do it.

Electricity

At home, the house has heating and AC, plenty of lamps, appliances and electrical outlets for hairdryers, computers and other necessities. The boat does too, but those outlets only work if you are hooked up to shore power in a marina. If you are under way, some things work off batteries, which are charged by the motors when we run. Or they work because the generator is running. Sometimes I feel that living on a boat you need an engineering degree to survive…

The captain showed me how to turn on the generator and shift from shore power to generator.  “And this switch is covered (by a flimsy piece of plastic) so that you don’t accidentally turn on shore power and generator at the same time. That will blow up the boat”. No kidding. I think I’ll stick to my candles lit by matches, so if you don’t hear from me in a while, I haven’t been able to charge my smart phone or my computer. I will never earn the title of Chief Engineer, that’s for sure.

Saint Augustine is a beautiful place, it is affectionately called Ancient City by the local marketing people. We have just begun to find our way around town, to sample food and drink and meet other boaters in the marina. Everyone is courteous, friendly and helpful. In my mind, I had decided to grocery shop "every other day or so" since I don't have a car and it's just the two of us, so I test-walked to the closest Publix yesterday. After 10 days on a boat, the walk felt wonderful, but at almost 3 miles one way, I will be calling cabs in the future.  

December 13: Lucia in Sweden

This is a beloved Christmas tradition every year. All schools, corporations, government offices, cities and even hotels hosting Nobel Prize winners participate. Early in the morning, the children, the prettiest young women, or in the case of each city and the Nobel Prize winners, the women who have been selected in a prestigious yearly national competition – gather, dress in white, sing traditional Lucia and Christmas songs and bring coffee and sweet baked goods.

One year, they scared a Hispanic Nobel Prize winner really bad knocking on his door at 5 am, because in his native country, the only time you bring lit candles is when somebody has died.

Cross-cultural relations have fascinated me since my teens; they still do.

Saint Augustine, FL

We have reached our destination! Today we traveled in rain for the first time. I didn’t really want to leave port in weather like this, but the captain has yet to let me down when it comes to judgment about what weather or conditions to boat in, so we went. The rain held up after a while and we traveled in the grey and mist. Beautiful homes along the waterway!!  

Approaching, Saint Augustine looked every bit as pretty as I had heard. The bridge of Lions under which we passed to get to the Municipal Marina, resembles  a cross between a bridge in Paris, France and one in Venice, Italy. The town is right across the street from the marina and tonight they light the Christmas lights for the first time this year. St Augustine was voted “one of the top 10 prettiest places to see Christmas Lights in the world” by National Geographic last year, so we are obviously looking forward to that! http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/top-10/holiday-lights-photos/ 

Fernandina Beach, FL

Fernandina Beach is a wonderful place. The very well preserved historic down town is just across the street from the marina. It is full of shops, restaurants, nice old buildings, homes and palm trees – very quaint. My first thought was that I had been here before and then I realized that it looks like old CA towns – it’s the Spanish influence of its past that shines through, just like in Burlingame south of San Francisco.

Known as the "Isle of 8 Flags", Fernandina Beach has had the flags of the following nations flown over it since 1562: France, Spain, Great Britain, Spain (again), the Patriots of Amelia Island, the Green Cross of FL, Mexico, the Confederate States of America and the United States. It is the only municipality in the United States that has flown eight different national flags.

This is a lovely place and well worth a visit. However, entering off the ICW you will pass a sprawling industrial complex spewing smoke all over the place. Then there is a second one, just as large on the other side of town. These two make Fernandina Beach look like Mad Max Town… The faint odor coming from these facilities isn’t exactly unpleasant, but it is pervasive. Paper and pulp are made here, and asked yesterday, our cocktail waitress said “you would be amazed to learn how many products contain pulp: hot chocolate, shampoo…”. Doesn’t that make you long for some processed foods?

Nobel Prizes and festivities

It is almost midnight in Stockholm Sweden and tonight was the big banquet at the Stockholm City Hall after the Nobel Prizes were awarded. Congratulations to all of the winners! 

See pictures and learn more at:

http://www.nobelprize.org/ 

Seafarer’s professions and ranks

You know by now that I am not enamored (nor even vaguely familiar) with the finer and more technical points of boating. Travelling 6-8 hours per day though, means having to take turns driving the boat. Then you can’t help but learn. And as it always is, when you learn about something it becomes more interesting. I have to say that the fancy electronics we have, which I have only given a cursory glance before, have shown themselves to be fabulous tools. I love the chart plotter; (almost) all markers are on it and surprise; the ICW is a magenta line – all you have to do is follow it! Ta, da!  And here I have been admiring all the captains out there and it turns out that all you have to do is follow the pink line. Piece of cake. Except for when the line we make on the chart plotter as we travel, is on what’s marked as land on the chart, not on water. Or when the line is drawn on the right side of a marker, and you KNOW that you are supposed to pass on the left side…  First lesson then in piloting a boat is to trust your eyes (i.e. reality) before you trust electronics. Kind of like everyday living in this day and age.

And then there is the autopilot; very cool. I press it and sit back and casually look out over the beautiful inlet to Beaufort SC, and 10 minutes later when I check the chart plotter again, I realize that the outgoing tide has dragged the boat way off the pink line I thought we were traveling on. Oops… So back to stand by mode, correction of course and then back to autopilot with waypoint set this time. Because then, as the captain explained, the boat will make automatic corrections to course and stay on the line.

I am proud of the Cruise Director and First Mate titles, and after this trip I think I will have earned the title of Wing Woman to the Captain as well.

GA to FL

We left Golden Isles in fog again this morning, but today it disappeared quickly with the rising sun. We’re at Fernandina Beach, FL (Amelia Island) for the next two nights.

There are several undeveloped Sea Islands along the GA coast. The largest and most southernmost is Cumberland Island. This island was inhabited by the Timucua Indians some 4000 years ago and was part of Spanish Florida during the 16^th century. Later, one of George Washington’s most successful officers during the revolutionary war purchased land here and his widow built an estate called Dungeness. Later, the brother of famed steel magnate Andrew Carnegie built another mansion on the burnt remains of Dungeness. This estate too, burned to the ground in 1945. The Carnegie family built several mansions on the island and when Lucy Carnegie died, she willed that her horses on the island be allowed to roam wild. They are still there.  The island is open to the public and there is day-dockage available.

Cumberland Island was also the setting for the wedding in 1996 of JFK Jr and his wife Carolyn. This famous picture of two beautiful young people is haunting, since their lives were so tragically cut short only three years later.

Just before entering FL, we passed the King’s Bay submarine base. The three huge structures which we had seen for hours across the flat marsh landscape are some kind of hidden dockage for submarines. The other structure is apparently used to de-magnetize the subs before the leave for sea. The ICW goes right by the entrance to this military facility and the Military Police boat guarding the entrance, made clear by his movements along side us, that he was prepared to fire first and ask questions later, had we decided to make a sudden turn…

What is a Cruise Director?

Preparing to marry a die hard boater many moons ago, I figured I’d better establish some boundaries. For all my young and unattached sisters out there, please realize that as negotiation positions go, they don’t get any better than BEFORE you say I do….

Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy the social life we have with our boat friends and I really enjoy being outdoors in the summer, in beautiful surroundings with the air blowing through my hair, my skin getting golden. However, owning a boat is a lot of work and I was not going to spend the rest of my life’s weekends scrubbing one.

After we married and boundaries were etched firmly in stone, I would sit in the back of the boat and read in the sun, frozen adult beverage in hand, when I realized I was getting ugly glances from the other wives in the marina. And the glances narrowed to tiny slits as the afternoons slipped away while they kept stripping paint off of sailboats, washing canvas or bleaching dinghy’s with their husbands. I kept reading and enjoying my drinks. So one day I came up with the following little saying which, my by then really good sailboat friend, asked to have a copy of. I printed and framed it for her to keep on her boat, but I am pretty sure her husband dropped it over board soon thereafter! (Let me know Bonnie).

“I am the Cruise Director. I am in charge of the galley and the chefs, the wine cellar and the wine stewards. In addition I oversee housekeeping, guest quarters, purchasing and entertainment. I am the Cruise Director – I don’t wash the boat”.

Back when we married, I agreed to take care of the inside of the boat. We had a 32 ft Carver then, but over the years the boats have grown and here we are with a 50 ft SeaRay. We both love to entertain, the Captain is an accomplished guitar, piano and banjo player and I enjoy cooking elaborate foods for cocktail parties and dinners, pair it all with wonderful wines and then watch our friends faces as they light up with pleasure over my efforts. If you think a Cruise Director sits around much, think again.

GA Waters: Thunderbolt to Golden Isles

We woke up to fog this morning and having a long day scheduled, left the dock before 7. It was almost light by then and the visibility wasn’t too bad. We figured the rising sun would burn off the fog. It didn’t, but our radar works really well, to the point were you can actually see a flock of seagulls approaching the boat.

This is the marker at the entrance to infamous Hell’s Gate. It’s foggy, the channel is very narrow and shallow. The captain, rarely requiring my assistance, asked that I stand beside him and read the depth out loud. It went quickly from 13 ft to 7 and then 5 and after 2.3 went to -------. I have never seen a straight-line depth finder before, it was an eerie experience. We draw about 4 ft, we never touched bottom but we must have stirred some mud back there! And then the depth reading came back at 3.3 and increased steadily. Dicey indeed, and low tide isn’t until 2 hours from now.

An hour later, the tiny power boat carrying a wheel chair in the bow and that has followed us closely in the fog, came up alongside. The three men aboard took their hats off, bowed deeply several times and waved their thank you’s to Alchemy, her captain and electronics. Nice touch, anytime gentlemen!

The captain told me yesterday that today would be a long day. “There is nothing in GA” was his words. Well, this is after we have traveled through NC Camp Lejeune area with nothing but brush and shot-up old tanks and SC low-country with marsh after marsh after marsh. My big-city girl self thought “how bad can it be”? He was right, there is nothing here. The only thing worse than travelling on the ICW through GA, is travelling on the ICW through GA in fog. Six hours of it. When we travel north into GA in the spring, we WILL listen to the weather report before we cast off.

SC to GA

Fairly short trip today. We are in Thunderbolt, GA at the Morningstar Marina on River Drive. We tried to go to Savannah for the afternoon, but bus service is not like in Europe were the whole point of public transportation is to be convenient, quick and not clogging cities with cars; "oh, it may come by every 2 hours or so". OK, so we called a taxi. After 30 min of waiting we called again and they said, "maybe another 15 minutes". Yep, that is my experience with cabs in the US - not reliable either. Guess we need to travel with our own car next time. So instead, we had beer and live music across the street from the marina. Life is good and Savannah is on the list of places to visit for a few days in the spring anyway.

Right Whales

This sign is the first thing you see when going ashore in Beaufort, SC.

“Only some 300 North Atlantic Right Whales remain. They are one of the most endangered of large whales. Right Whales migrate between their feeding grounds in the Northeastern US and their only known calving area, which is off the Southeastern US. They are usually seen here between December and March.” 

Beaufort, SC

There is a Beaufort in each of the Carolinas. The one in NC is pronounced Boe’fort and the town and surrounding areas including Cape Lookout is my personal no 1 spot on the US east coast. In SC, the town is pronounced Bew’fort. I have no idea why the difference is there, but the SC town is the second oldest in the state. Beautiful old mansions and live oaks full of Spanish moss line the downtown area along the river. Several movies have been shot here, e.g. Forrest Gump and The Prince of Tides. Noted Southern author Pat Conroy live nearby on one of the sea islands. We stayed for Friday night and the main street was shut down for a Christmas festival with live music, vendors, food and drinks galore. This is a beautiful place and I am looking forward to returning in the spring.

Boaters beware, though. They must have had some serious trouble in the down town marina, there are signs on the Lady Island Bridge that if you disobey the “idle speed” rule you are subject to "a $1025 fine or 30 days in jail". Wow, y'all....

Southbound out of Beaufort, SC, we passed Parris Island. The text on the water tower says “We make Marines”. We say thank you; to you for making them, to them for their service to all of us.

High Cotton

This is one of those very Southern expressions that you learn when you live in the American South. Cotton being one of the local crops, and the higher the growth the larger the harvest, it simply means:

“A state of good luck, good fortune, wealth, prosperity.”

“When things are more expensive or richer than your social status. Being High Cotton means you are rich or wealthy.”

Staying for a couple of nights at the “Mega dock” of the Charleston City Marina, we have certainly been in High Cotton! Docked right next to us, were two of the largest ocean going sail boats we have ever seen. These two yachts had crew only on them, young men scrubbing, washing and polishing all day long and we didn’t see anyone resembling an owner, sponsor or even “captain”. One was a J boat, named Hanuman, one of very few replicas of the classic Endeavour and 40 m long (yes, METERS, take that times three and you will get the approximate footage!!) (http://www.jclassyachts.com/hanuman/index.html). The other was an ORC named Ngomi (http://www.superyachttimes.com/sale/details/4083 . Both boats were heading to the Carribean were, apparently, in March every year there is a big race for larger-than-life sail boats like this. Amazing – and definitely High Cotton.

Charleston, SC

Charleston, SC is a wonderful town. Beautiful architecture, beautiful homes and gardens, amazing history and excellent restaurants. Like in any larger city, there is also an abundance of very well dressed men and women  – perfect for people watching. We stopped for two nights to do some housekeeping and to see former neighbors Lynda and Jeff Byrd. They moved to Daniel’s Island about 18 months ago and we miss them a lot. It was wonderful to catch up and to see how well they have landed and that they and their 12-year old son Finn are thriving. We had a gorgeous seafood dinner together at Hanks and Dave and I enjoyed lunch at S.N.O.B (“Slightly north of Broad St”) – both places were packed with locals; that is what I always look for when selecting a restaurant.

Charleston has a long and very interesting history. At the mouth of the harbor sits Fort Sumter where the first shots of the Civil War were fired. I love history and have read quite a bit about Charleston. An easy yet very good way of learning about history is to read novels based on real historical events but where the story line and people are fictional. Two authors who have perfected this genre are James Michener (e.g. “The Covenant” about South Africa’s violent and multifaceted history, “Chesapeake” and “Mexico”) and John Jakes (“North and South”, “Love and War” and “Charleston”).

We stayed at the Charleston City Marina which is a huge and very nicely run facility. However, it is not pet friendly. The walk from the Mega dock to shore is extremely long (unless you travel with a golf cart, vespa or bicycles) and when you get there, it is blacktop parking lot and concrete for as far as your eyes can see. The Girls were not happy…

Palmetto pictures courtesy of Lynda Byrd.

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Men's humour

Today we traveled through SC low-country from Georgetown to Charleston. This is one of my favorite cities in the US. Weather has been beautiful, gorgeous really, and the waters were smooth as a mirror. We arrived and have had a maintenance afternoon (yep, housekeeping, laundry, shopping, boat washing etc). On this note, the Captain asked me, no BEGGED me to post the following picture. See, this is a classy marina, you don't even have to bring your boat to the pump out station (and yes, for my non-boat friends, that is exactly what it sounds like, you are not allowed to pump out sewage on the waterway, that is done in port), here in very courteous and affluent Charleston City Marina, they have a little vessel that comes to you if and when you need this task taken care of. I'll let the picture speak for itself.

Beloved Pets

Our two yorkies couldn’t be more different from each other. Gaëlle, who turns 7 on New Year’s Day (so then, a first,  she will be older than I am) is the super sweet one who has yet to meet a stranger. Her approach to people and other dogs is cheerful and submissive and therefore we meet a lot of new friends everywhere. Gaëlle is also a gourmet dog. In addition to the Girls’ regular diet of human grade whole foods that I cook for them (I know, I know… but I don’t have any children and I am thinking I may prolong their healthy years by cooking their food from scratch), she eats fruits, vegetables, edamame, peanut butter, cheese and for cocktail time; a cheeto or two.

Cajsa will be 6 in early January and is the dominant dog. While she eats well at meal times, she is not interested in food otherwise. Gaëlle has never put her foot down with her, not even when Cajsa steps all over her while she sleeps. Cajsa is super sweet with us and with boys young and old, but is not interested in people in general and in particular has NO interest in other dogs. I think she is afraid really, and that makes her a bully. Her approach, if not kept on a very short leash (literally and verbally) is to stiffen all of her 6 lbs body and jump forward on all four legs, barking furiously. 

I can assure you that my two dogs were brought up, socialized and disciplined in exactly the same manner, yet they behave completely different from each other. Because of Cajsa’s behavior, we never let her approach other dogs, while we always let Gaëlle approach after asking the owner if she may great the dog we are meeting. Cajsa, because of her attitude, got into trouble this summer. She was bit in the face by a large dog and lost her left eye. It happened in a heartbeat and the aftermath was an awful experience I don’t ever have to go through again.

Yesterday evening, on Dave’s watch this time, it almost happened again. A large black lab off leash came up from behind and got on Cajsa who was on a leash. Dave had to beat the dog off and remained shaken for the rest of the evening. Now we both have the experienced almost the same.

I thought I knew enough about animal behavior to prevent a bad situation but it still happened. Please everybody; be careful with your pets.

Need a Delivery Captain?

These two gentlemen are professional and experienced US Coast Guard Licensed Captains. Together, they logged over 10,000 delivery miles in the last two years from Houston, TX to Ontario, Canada.  Good prep for Capt. Dave before taking me along for a cruise! Capt. Keith of CC Yacht Deliveries (on right) and his best "Wing Man" Capt. Dave. Contact me by e-mail and I will put you in touch with them.

It is getting warmer

We are docked in downtown Georgetown, SC. Definitely getting further south. Look at this, it’s December 4^th, Christmas Decorations are all over – but there are tables set outside on the sidewalk for dinner! AND we are running the AC inside. My family in Stockholm, Sweden say they have lots of snow and 15 F. Big difference.

Anyone wonder what we eat on the boat? Once we get to FL, I will be cooking like I do at home because good grocery stores will be available and accessible daily. For the trip south which will take about 10 days this is what I have prepared: Swedish meatballs – yep, the REAL kind!! (By the way, there are as many recipes for Swedish meatballs as there are mothers in Sweden. However, my recipe came from another Grandmother named Mia, in Skåne province in the south).  Mine always get rave reviews; I serve them warm for dinner with mashed potatoes, lingon berry jam (similar to cranberry jam, but less sugar) and homemade pickles. Or cold, with the pickles on a sandwich for lunch – mmm, mmm good! Meatballs are such a good meal, comfort food for sure and like many of the Swedish traditional recipes, very heavy. Not everyday food for today’s lifestyle, but picture working all day in the deep woods in the middle of winter, in the mines or on the waters of Sweden (Stockholm and Anchorage AL being on the same latitude, y’all), then you need all that protein, carbs and fat to survive. Then on to Boeuf aux Carottes – beef and carrots braised in red wine and herbs and served over buttered egg noodles. My past spent in France has left me with a life-long passion for French foods. The very American Corn and Shrimp chowder is one of the Captain’s favorites but I, eating more and more vegetarian food, love my very own black bean soup with jalapeños served with freshly baked, rich corn bread. 

My convection oven on the boat, along with the sun pad, was the two features I insisted on when we were shopping for this boat. The oven has definitely got a workout, more so than the sun pad! Having grown up in Europe, I simply will not live without crusty bread, so there. I love to cook and eat well every day and we do so on Alchemy as well as at home.

The beer was nice and cold on the Georgetown riverwalk this afternoon!

NC to SC

The NC coast is exquisite. There is so much open and undeveloped space both on the ocean and the sounds and waterways. This means we see a lot of wildlife all the time. The one thing that I never tire of watching is dolphins. We see them travel in large or small pods, sometimes two adults with their tiny progeny swimming between them. We see them circle faster and faster around a school of fish and then the frenzy when they all devour their lunch. And we see them mating – did you know that dolphins, in addition to humans, are one of very few species to have recreational sex?

Nope, wont post THOSE pictures! 

Last night we were treated to CC Yacht Deliveries Christmas Party. Thank you for a lovely Italian dinner Keith, we always enjoy seeing you and Gail! Today we went from Wrightsville Beach NC to Barefoot Landing marina in the Myrtle Beach area of SC - a seven hour day. 
That is plenty of time moving. All four of us were happy to get off the boat.

A Sunday in December

The max speed of our powerboat is about 30 miles per hour. We rarely run that fast but it is very nice to be able to get to port quickly when weather is coming up or catch a bridge opening when you want to stick to a schedule. For a couple of years now, we have been traveling at “retirement speed” whenever possible. This is not quite as slow as a sailboat under motor, but almost. For this trip south on the ICW, the captain has planned our days to be not too long and for us not to arrive anywhere in complete darkness. So, the first day took us from River Dunes to Swansboro, NC where we spent the night at Casper’s Marina, right down-town. This is a quaint and sleepy seaside town with nice shopping and restaurants and a lot of waters to be played on, including easy access to the ocean. 

On the way today we waved at Cindy and Gene’s home in Core Creek and Jim and Mary’s beach home on the ICW just west of Topsail Island. We will stop at the Wrightsville Beach Yacht Club and spend the night in Bill and Emily’s slip – thanks guys! I am looking forward to an hour walk on the beach and around the famed “loop” and the Captain can’t wait to visit his favorite store, West Marine.

Last days of preparations

The adventure begins. We woke up Thursday in Raleigh to splendid weather – sun shining from a clear blue sky and the first frost of the season glistening on the roofs; beautiful indeed, especially to a re-located Swede who occasionally misses cold and snow. But hopefully, that is all the winter we’ll experience this season.

We have stowed away the last load of perceived necessities and food cooked at home for the trip. Friday is logistics day – our car will live with Dick and Libby in New Bern while we are away. Thanks!

River Dunes has been our home port during fall 2012. This is a gorgeous resort just outside Oriental, NC and just off the ICW. It is a wonderful place to visit for a few days or a holiday weekend, whether you travel by boat or by car. Very nice pool, outside bar, club house and restaurant as well as workout and laundry facilities. Check out the guest cottages and the marina at www.riverdunes.com.