Cape Lookout!

Had a great couple of days anchored in the Cape Lookout bight.....if you look hard, you can see the lighthouse aft of the boat.  The lighthouse is a mile or so away across the bight.

We took the dinghy to the "near" shore - to wander the ocean side a bit.  Anchored the dinghy - the boat is in the far background....we're the only boat in the whole area!

It's a bit of a hike over to the ocean side.

It was low tide - beautiful and peaceful!

It's sortof hard to get to Cape Lookout, so you are rewarded with solitude!

After several miles of walking, we ended up back at the dinghy - ready to head back to the boat because we didn't bring drinking water!!!

So, back to the boat - got some water and some snacks - and headed back to the other side of the bight - to visit the lighthouse! 

It's a National Park - other folks have to take a ferry to get over....but we are lucky!

A very long, slightly wet dinghy ride was all we needed.  Beautiful water!!

The lighthouse wasn't open to the public....so we just viewed from below.  Also toured the open caretakers house and grounds.

It's electric now, of course and doesn't require a caretaker.  But there is a lot of history about these desolate areas that brave souls and families staffed for hundreds of years.

Neat buildings dating to the late 1800's.

A fun visit!!

Trip to Cape Lookout

We're taking a break from boat-shopping.....

heading to Cape Lookout!

Breezy but pleasant cruise down the Intercoastal Waterway......some very nice boats passing....

And some really BIG boats....a barge....unfortunately, they were passing us a a really narrow section of the waterway....

But we both fit without mishap.....

Since our mast height is only 55', we can go thru the channel with the bridge now.  (With Glory Days we always had to be wary of the tides/wind with this bridge because the clearance was sometime only 64'....and Glory Days mast height was about 64'!  Too close for comfort then!)


Passing the phosphate plant - where the barges all end up....

Otherwise - it was an uneventful but long motor/sail out to Cape Lookout....

Here's a glimpse of what it's like for hours on end!  Fun for us!

Pillows!!

I found some green-ish-aqua-ish fabric in the "swap shop" at our recycle center the other day.....it looked like the perfect color for Island Girl....

I need some soft pillows for  the boat....so I just started with a big square "pocket".

Measured to fit this pillow that was actually on the boat when we bought it.

To finish the final seam of the "pocket" - I just secured the extra fabric - and sewed it closed.  (Not worth putting in a zipper, in my opinion!)

Sewed once - removed the pins and did a second, parallel seam.

And here are the pillows, very nice match to the sunbrella accents on the boat!  And comfy too!

Didn't buy this boat!

OK, hopefully, I'll be able to post some interesting sailing trip in the near future.....but this post will be about our trip to finalize the purchase of a Lagoon 37 TPI in Ft. Pierce.

Deposit was paid, surveyor hired and a 2 hour haulout window was arranged at Riverside Marina.

Current owner (in yellow) and the surveyor (Michael Cunningham) in blue going over the windlass/anchor system.

Since we had a deadline to reach the marina - off we went down the Ft. Pierce inlet to do a little "sea trial".  Boat handled well and sails in pretty good shape.

They let me take the helm - I called the bridge tender and asked for an opening.

The current owner took over the helm for the entrance to the marina.  Things are jam packed in this marina!  The haul-out operators are meeting us on the dock as scheduled.

The actual slip entrance for the travel-lift is mighty tight!!!  And very un-forgiving concrete! Boy, that doesn't look like a 21' catamaran will fit!

 But it does!  Ready to lift.

You know the drill -  up, slowly up out of the water.

And onto land so that the surveyor can inspect the underwater surfaces.  The fellow in white is actually driving the entire apparatus using a handheld joystick system. 

Now comes the part that didn't go so well.  In addition to visual inspection, the surveyor uses a mallet and taps the hull hundreds of times over the entire surface to make sure it "sounds" good.  A good sound is a sort of "Ping".  A bad sound is sort of a "Thud".   A "Thud" usually means that the fiberglass has somehow become wet or rotten. 

Unfortunately, he heard "Thuds".  And quite a few of them.....

So, after much discussion - he showed us and the owners where the problems were.  Nothing much more to do except go back in the water and take the boat back to the marina where they were keeping it.

Back thru the bridge - spirits were not so high on the return trip!

After sleeping on it....we decided we did not want to take on the repairs to fix the boat and rescinded our offer to buy the boat.   We enjoyed a fun day at the beach - then got back in the airplane and headed home!   We'll keep looking! 

Another Florida Boat Shopping Trip!

We needed a second look at the Lagoon 37 TPI in Ft. Pierce, so we scheduled with brokers to look at a couple of other boats on the way.  Landed at St. Augustine to look at a different Lagoon that had just come on the market. 

The St. Augustine boat was really not good in many, many ways.  We did not spend much time there- just got back in the plane and flew on to Ft. Pierce.

Always neat seeing the weird "ground formations" that are  really Florida housing developments!

Pretty coastline

After looking at one more boat, we made it back to the Lagoon TPI 37 that we had seen a few weeks ago.  We wanted to get another look at it, since it was on the very "short list".

Just did another walk-thru, comparing this boat to the others we'd seen.

Love the big galley!

And we left the marina to discuss our feelings out of range of the broker.

Our hotel was close to the beach - so we wandered along the coastline.  There was a "protected" area behind a breakwater where the kite surfers were having a good time!

Neat watching them - gonna try that some time!  I'm sure they made it look easier than it is!

Next day, we called the broker and made an offer on "Ahyoka".  

And the offer was accepted!  So now we're close to a two boat family until the Tobago sells.   We'll go next week for a sea trial and haulout.  If all goes well, we'll close in a few weeks and bring her to Oriental!

Happy day!  (The name means "She brought happiness" in Cherokee....not sure we'll keep the name.) 

Uneventful, but windy flight home.  What's with all the wind????

Boat Chores

We cancelled plans to go to Ocracoke over Easter....it just looked too wet and uncomfortable.  There will be lots of better weekends to go to Ocracoke!

So, we flew down to Oriental Saturday when the weather was decent.  Duane got to log an actual ILS approach at New Bern!

Foggy marina.....

Pat and Diane drove down to the marina to do some chores on their boat.

 Pat needed to go to the top of his mast to replace his anchor light bulb.  So, we obliged by winching him up in the bosun's chair!

Up, up, up!

He stayed up there for about an hour - we made several runs to the hardware store/West Marine to get the right bulb....and it drizzled rain off/on the entire time!  But, the winds were mostly calm and pretty warm temps.

A good, productive few days - we did a lot of cleaning on our boat.....since it's now for sale!   :-(

But, we're shopping hard for the bigger, better version!!!

Here's the cleaned up salon - and if you've been on the boat lately and seen all our junk, you'll be impressed!  Had to get it all spiffy for the broker's photos!

 We stuck around and did chores until Tuesday -  we pulled into the hardware store parking lot and saw this Tracker parked there.  I had to look close to make sure it wasn't Miranda!!! 

Uneventful but very bumpy/windy flight home!

Still shopping for that next boat, but will still have fun on Island Girl until we sell her!

Hatch cover repair

Doing a little chore that needed done on Island Girl.

One of the hatch covers had torn....the white sheath that holds the line had ripped.

So, I used a seam ripper and removed the torn material, pinning on a new sheath.

Easy to sew in place with UV resistant thread.

Re-installed and secure on the hatch!