Hello All,
It has been a while since I last posted a log. We had a busy season this year in St. Thomas. Teri rented a shore side studio space and Britt installed new countertops in the Galley and the Head in Sea Otter. He also decided to replace all the chain plates in the boat, so both of us were very busy for the 4 months we were in town. Teri had her art show at Gallery St. Thomas in late March, which was very successful. She closed down the studio in mid April in preparation for our trip North. We waited for wind for almost a week, relaxing in Brewers Bay, St. Thomas, and then had a Great sail to Florida. We sailed for 5 days to West Caicos and then overnighted, rested, and took off again for another 4 days to Ft. Peirce. With the exception of 12 hours of 35 to 40 knot winds, all was well. When we got to Vero Beach we visited with Family for 3 weeks and decided it was time for Sea Otter to have AIS capabilities. After many hours of thought and internet exploration Britt decided on a new Standard Horizon MatrixAIS radio hooked up to a small GPS. He priced the pieces on the internet and took the paperwork to the local West Marine and they matched the prices so he saved a few bucks and we didn’t have to wait for the parts to be shipped. After a few very hot days of cursing and contorting in small places in the engine room we are all hooked up with AIS at the helm. YEAH!! I got a chance to paint a picture of a Vero Beach sunset and was accepted into a small gallery on 14th street, Tropic Art. They now carry my small prints of tropical scenes and the original of the Sunset at Vero Beach. If you are in the area, check them out. Projects done, family well, we then started our way North on the 28th of May. The plan was to hop on up the coast using the Gulf Stream to get to the Carolina’s, going outside as far as Morehead City and then taking the intercoastal to Norfork from there. Well, the winds were VERY light, and we spent a lot of time doing 4 knots or less and we were afraid the we were using the engine too much and would run out of fuel before we got to Morehead City so, after 80 hours at sea we ducked into Cape Fear and overnighted at Southport Marina. WOW, what I difference 5 years make, the place is beautiful now, floating docks, nice showers, beautiful grounds. The only problem is like most of the intercoastal waterway there is NO WATER.. After getting fuel we tried to get to a T dock and went aground 10 ft from the dock. They said they thought they had 6 feet there, I guess we are 6.3 now. It took 20 minutes, a rising tide and 2 brawny dock boys to finally get Sea Otter into her berth. We spent the night there and left on a high tide the next morning to make our way up the Cape Fear river and then over to the intercoastal waterway to Wrightsville Beach, where we sit now, waiting for an afternoon slack water to exit Masonboro inlet and do an overnight passage to Beaufort/Morehead City. We will explore the city of Beaufort and see if we can catch up with any cruising friends before we continue on toward the Chesapeake on Sunday.
I hope to post this log more often this year, we are in a place where we can get frequent internet and we will be travelling all the way up the east coast to Maine. We would love to visit family and friends and have you out on Sea otter if we are in your area, just drop us a note and we will try to connect with you. I am excited to get a chance to paint different scenes and look forward to exploring more of the East Coast. I also am interested in finding galleries or gift shops that will carry my work and am open to suggestions from anyone who knows of possibilities. We will keep sailing, I will keep painting and I am sure Britt will find plenty of new projects to occupy him.
Keeping the dream Alive, Teri and Britt S/V Sea Otter
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