Charleston, SC – Elizabeth City, NC – June 10-17

Well we did over 400 miles since last blog, which included, stop overs in Charleston, Oriental, NC & I am writing this from the friendliest city in the south Elizabeth, NC.

Although we traveled a lot, we did it to stay cool as we have been in the middle of a 6 day heat wave. Excessive heat in 90’s and it has broken 100 a couple of times if you include the heat index. The evenings are no treat as often the wind has died, leaving the cabin like a sauna. We got a bit of relief last night as it was cool enough to sleep back in the aft cabin. We continue to have some fierce storms and lightning around us, but we have lucked out much of the time. We haven’t, however, lucked out with some heavy winds, that hits randomly at times.

We have jumped in the water a few times to cool off at the end of the day, but with the water at 83 degrees, not a lot of relief.

We have been anchoring in strong currents at times and as much as we think we know about how to do it, the current throws a strange twist, or the winds oppose the tide and current flow, creating a choppy sea and hence a bouncy boat. Go figure, how can the boat point in the opposite direction of where the anchor is or how can the boat swing on the anchor for 2 hours straight, first going 360 degree in one direction, then followed by a couple of 360 degree turns in the other. Needless to say the anchor has been holding, so we must be doing something right.

There have been a series of shark bites through the areas we travel. The locals have little concern for these creatures or at least they don’t allow them to interfere with their water activities.

The water in a lot of this area is the colour of root beer (brown) caused by tannic acid (decay of plant/leaves etc.) in the water and the consistent ocean going on of currents and tides. The farther we are north, the less we see dolphins and pelicans, but we have noticed a lot more rays.

We had a good stopover in Swansboro, NC, just south of Beaufort and another 1 day stay in Oriental, NC were we had to do some provisioning.

For the last 6 days we have experienced a significant loss of engine coolant. Funny thing, I can’t see any evidence of it in the bilge. I suspected the heat exchanger, and today when temps were high 90’s I did the foolish thing of taking the HX out, draining the coolant, cleaning out the tubes with some CLR and removing quite a lot of debris from the sea water, putting the HX back on, then purging the air from the system. A local mechanic came down and pressure tested the system, and said everything appears fine, Funny thing is that I only lose coolant, when the engine is not running. I am adding 6-8 oz. coolant per day. They are now suspecting head or block gaskets. They gave me some things to look for, so we aim to continue on tomorrow, doing what we have for the past several days… topping off the coolant each morning and diligently looking for leaks, and regular other maintenance.

One of the days during this week we managed 80 miles in 13 hours, which included crossing Albemarle Sound and Neuse River,2 large expansive body of waters.

I would be remiss to comment on the hospitality in Elizabeth City. On our journey down last October, I talked about a few characters of the official welcoming committee. Well they were here when we came in, and after a few minutes they recalled who we were and we picked up where things were left in October. Gus a 80 year old sailor and southerner and the guy with his monkey.

Well we have been driven inside the cabin by the mosquitos and flies,, sucks to be in a 90 degree boat with no wind,, but as I learned long ago, I don’t expect any sympathy. Cheers