Day One!

We cast off from More Head City, North Carolina for Day 1 (December 5) of our trip south on the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) at 10:30 AM, destination Swansboro, North Carolina. The day was beautiful, upper 60s with a light breeze. Bob was thrilled as we motored around Sugarloaf Island and headed south…well west on the ICW. We had a goal of 24 miles and made it easily in four hours with only one grounding (I was driving) which fortunately we were able to back right out. There is still some debate as to whether we were out of the channel or if there was a shoal in the channel. ..perhaps a little of both? 

What Anna says about the day:

We were sailing along and my Dad said ‘dolphins!’ Finn, Mom and I went running up to the bow.  The dolphin came to at least two feet away, I could have reached down and touched it. When it breathed out I got wet!  It was fun today. Our first day out was even better than expected because we saw 11 dolphins.   

Finn says:

“I went up to the Bow and then the dolphin came close to our boat! That was cool!

Here I am figuring out how many feet there are in a hundredth of a minute, using the GPS method of determining if the anchor is slipping.  There was quite a current but we were holding. Bob had gone to bed early, expecting several strolls around the deck in the wee hours.  Unfortunately, he only got a little sleep as a real front went through swining us wildly. We bumped ground and decided to move the boat. In pulling the anchor I jammed the windlass.  Bob manually pulled the anchor and I drove (nasty wind, tide and current) and then we really grounded. The grounding was a little alarming, the kids were really scared, but it did give us a chance get the windlass back in order, the tide came up and we drove out. We anchored again, somewhat closer to the channel.  We stood watch all night and left as early as we could in the morning. Ready to say good bye to that beautiful little town we hope to never have to anchor in again.

I have to admit, we have been quite lax in the homeschooling realm in the past few weeks as we struggled to get the boat in the water, made five last shopping trips, and dealt with all the little last minute details before departure. Dropping off the car for storage was a big step and felt quite liberating.

We met a lot of neat people in More Head City including Russ from Russell Yachts, a real artist with boats, and Craig, who brought us fresh, warm bread by kayak one morning. Everyone we met was warm and friendly from the UPS man to the onlookers as the mast went back up at the boat yard. 

 

 Here is Anna at one of the great playgrounds we found!

 Finn, upon realizing we were finally "Sailing Away" (well...motoring away, at least)

Bob chasing down the $200 dinghy connector. When asked why I only got one picture, I told him he gasped so loudly when he went in, I put the camera down in case I had to save him.  

Anna in the front row for the More Head City Christmas parade!

Fun at the beach.