SV Thaleia

Return to Ferngully

2009-05-11T07:42:00.000-07:00

We have a lot of catching up to do, I'm afraid.

We left Morehead City on Wednesday the 6th. We traveled 101 miles!!!! that day, making into an anchorage in Alligator Creek. This is the place where we fouled our anchor last time, but we were prepared if it happened again. We completed the long day by starting out at 6am and anchoring around 730pm. Whew! We were tired, but felt so accomplished. Since we've been sitting in so many places, we felt we needed to get some distance under our belts. Up early the next morning, we easily pulled up anchor and headed out. The sky was full of dark clouds and we were a little nervous about heading out, but we didn't want to get stuck somewhere again! We managed to get just through the bridge there in Alligator Creek when the sky threatened to open up. We decided to drop anchor and sit it out for a few minutes then head on again. Our anchor dragged though and we didn't have time to pull it up and try again before the storm came. Dad managed to drive the boat around, while Mom and I hid below. In a break in the storm, we pulled the anchor up and circled around some more. By now the visibility was almost nonexistent. Once the rain finally let up, we took off again. We crossed the Neuse and Pamlico Rivers and even managed some sailing! :) We got to Pungo Ferry that night. We planned on anchoring out, instead of risking the abandoned marina again. Unfortunately, we thought there would be more water to anchor in, but getting there we found it was all 7feet. Looking desperately for another place, we realized we were stuck in that area. The other anchorages were miles off either side and we would never make them before dark. I looked up and said, "Look Dad! There's an anvil in the sky!" Haha

With the HUGE anvil shaped cloud coming on, we decided the only safe thing to do was to risk tying up to the dock again. The VHF was saying this coming storm was clocking 60 mph winds, hail, lightning, and flooding. We decided it was worth any risk tying up the dock. No sooner had we tied up to the dock, the sky opened. It was a magnificent storm.

The next day we wound our way through Norfolk and all the Naval ships. I was just as excited seeing them again as I was the first time around. We made it to a little anchorage just outside Rebel Marina, Terry's brother's place in Willoughby Bay. We were going to stay there for the night, then head out for the ride up the Bay the next day. We listened to the weather though and it was turning rough the next day, with gales and the wind direction was all wrong. We did not want to face all that again. The Bay can get very serious. We came to a decision to leave right then and there and spend all night crossing up the bay. We pulled out at 3 that afternoon and headed on.

Having done an overnighter in the ocean, the Bay was completely different. In the ocean, you don't really have to worry about land on either side of you, shallowing waters, and confusing lights. On the ocean, if you see a light, it's another vessel. In the Bay, it could be a vessel or lights on shore, and once it's dark your depth perception goes to zero! We had quite a different experience this time around, but managed it quite well. As Dad said, not many cruisers have pulled overnighters on the Bay. We passed a small midnight regatta with several other sailboats out in the Bay. We saw several freighters and tugs. We even got into a little rain, but we were all too excited at the prospect of getting home.

On Saturday morning, we pulled into Herrington Harbour, just as the winds were beginning to pick up. We easily tied up to the dock, feeling like downright professionals and all hugged for our return. Almost 6 months have gone by since we've last been home. Mom and I couldn't wait any longer. Dad rented a car from Enterprise, we hopped in, leaving the boat as is, and went to pick up the dogs and sleep in our own beds. We were home by the afternoon and all sleeping by 6pm, we were so tired.

It's great being home again, even though we face the dirtiest, dustiest house ever! We also still have to wrap up the boat, collect the mail, and have a million chores to do. We're happy for them though. We made the journey of a lifetime. We accomplished that which we had only dreamed about previously. As a family, we have overcome barriers and crossed mountains together and I'd have to say it's brought us closer. Even though the entire trip wasn't quite what was expected (weather, ahem) it was magnificent. Given the opportunity, I know each of us would jump for it again. This experience has been one of learning, relaxation, healing, and fun. I could not imagine having done anything more exciting.

Thank you everyone who read our blogs and wrote us emails. I am sad to see it come to a close. Thank you to everyone who helped us out with things at home; the Thornhills for taking care of our mail, The Wilsons for taking care of the house and pool (we'll be opening shortly for your revenge), Elaina for taking care of Luigi, Heather for taking care of Jack, and Jeff Urbansky for taking care of the goons. Thank you Mike for allowing us to leave our cars with you. Thank you Jen for saving our gardens from those pesky deer. And thank you to everyone for all your support, love, and friendship. Without all of you, my family and I would never be able to heal and continue on and especially would have never been able to take this trip. With still a long way to go, I feel that we have come quite a way from just 6 months ago. I feel so blessed and so happy.

We are still getting settled back in to the house. We promise to call and to visit people once we've manged to get ourselves organized again.

Love you all! Thank you again! Without you, this would not be possible.

As always, we wish any and everyone Good weather and happy sailing!

The Hilscher Family

The Saga Continues

2009-05-02T12:25:00.001-07:00

Well... it was no hurricane, alien abduction, or anything crazy like that.... and it wasn't anymore fires.... it's a bridge this time around. Oh jeez.

We are staying in Morehead City, NC for a few days because a bridge coming into VA is getting removed and they're closing the ICW. There isn't really a way around it and so we have to wait. Getting home is not easy, but hey! We had a great day with the sails up coming into Morehead City. And we went to a wooden boat show today and the maritime museum. We're planning to find a place with a TV for the Kentucky Derby today. We hope everyone enjoyed Gold Cup. Beautiful weather here, so we hope so there too.

Well... stay tuned for the next in the exciting adventures of the Hilschers. :P

Blazing a New Trail

2009-04-23T11:46:00.000-07:00

Well. Only the Hilschers. Only we would get stopped along the ICW, not allowed to motor any further because of fire. Yep. Fire has stopped us on the water. South Carolina is currently under attack from a wildfire, near Myrtle Beach. They've closed off the ICW all around us and we are trapped in the middle. We have a perfect front row view of all the smoke as it covers a wide expanse, already claiming 40 houses and several miles of woods. Luckily, we were able to find a marina and are stuck here. For the first time ever, we put down in the log... weather: smoke. The sky is filled with varying colors of smoke, from black to white. The wind continues to increase, restarting fires that have been put out and spreading the fire further north and south. We're sitting here, praying the wind doesn't start to blow our way and keeps the smoke across the way. The fire hasn't stopped the golfers today, even though holes 11 and 12 are on fire. We imagine their putting birdy down for those holes and moving right on around them.

So with our good luck, we finally got showers and some decent internet.

Good weather and happy sailing! Pray for rain.

2009-04-22T05:33:00.001-07:00

Posted some new photos, including the alligator ones. We have a couple more but I have to be very quick here today.

Moving North (and it's getting colder)

2009-04-22T05:30:00.000-07:00

Hey ya'll!

I'm writing from the depths of the South Carolina swamps!!! You read it right!! We are no longer in Daytona or Florida for that matter! We've hit the road again and are slowly making our way north to home!

We left out of Daytona on the 16th and headed north through St. Augustine and anchored in a little isolated place. It was a beautiful day even though we fought some strong currents. Going through St. Augustine and St. Johns there are some heavy currents because of the outlets to the ocean. Coming down this winter they terrified us. This time around we were prepared. We handled them very well and were proud of ourselves for getting through them just fine. What these strong currents can do is affect your steering immensely. It can spin your boat around on you faster than a blink of the eye if you're not ready. We spent the 17th motoring further up the ICW to Fernandina Beach. We had strong winds all day and were worried about finding a good place to stay. We spent a crazy night in a very popular anchorage just outside a paper factory (Peee ewwww!) where all the boats were swinging in different directions. It was a sight!

We were supposed to leave out for SC on the 18th, but the weather was atrocious, so we spent the day sleeping, reading, and playing Monopoly. Mom kicked our butts!! Dad motored in and found some shrimp right off the boat and found a 6 pack of Kaliks! We had a wonderful meal. The 19th, it was up and adam. We motored out the St. Mary's Inlet and hit the wide open ocean. Once out of the inlet, we heard the now familiar Coast Guard voice on the VHF give warning that a Naval Vessel was incoming on the St. Mary's Inlet. We turned around and there was a submarine coming into port!!! It was so cool! But I wish we could have been a little closer.

The ocean passage went very well! This was our 4th time out in the ocean and we seem to have gotten the hang of it. We were much less worried and more relaxed throughout the day and night. We had fairly good winds and were able to carry some sail. Venture Forth, another boat making the same passage, radioed over every once in awhile to check on us. He had radar and would be warning us if anything came up on it. Of course we appreciated this, but also kept a good eye out for ourselves.

I decided before we left St. Mary's I wanted to see a submarine, a whale, and a turtle. Well, as you know, I got the sub checked off! Along the way we saw several turtles!! They were soo amazing and such graceful swimmers. We also had several dolphin, both bottlenose and spotted, find our boat great fun. We had one do a Flipper style jump out of the water a couple times, while we cheered him on. Another one decided to swim sideways directly on our bow. He was so close I was a little worried, but dolphins are so intelligent, he knew exactly where he was. We also saw several schools (about 20-30) stingrays go past our boat. They would flock together then quickly disperse as the boat got closer. We never did see a whale, but we were so excited to see all the wildlife we did.

Coming into Charleston Inlet was a little blustery, but we managed to turn the corner and get through the Ben Sawyer bridge before she closed it. If we hadn't made it, we would have had to wait 2 hours! And that is no fun! We got very lucky.

We were going to putter up the ICW for the day, but thought the weather was going to be bad again, so we opted to anchor and get some much needed sleep. The weather turned out to be gorgeous (silly weathermen) but at least we were rested. Yesterday, we plunked up the ICW towards Thoroughfare Creek (a place we stayed before with the duck hunters). Along the way we saw 3 alligators!!!! Two were sunning themselves on the banks and the third was swimming alongside the boat! How cool!!!! That had been on my list of things I wanted to see! YAY!!!!!

Today we are once again headed up the ICW. We are stopped in a marina right now refueling, as yesterday we ran out of fuel in the middle of the channel. It was a little crazy at first trying to figure out what went wrong, refilling the tanks with our jerry cans, throwing the anchor down, and letting people know around us that we were ok. It was a little hectic, but we managed just fine. Thank goodness there is a place to refuel so close by. I believe we'll head up somewhere around Myrtle Beach today and continue to Wilmington tomorrow. We hope to get in touch with some friends that live there.

Love you all!

Good weather and happy sailing!

Taking Up Residency

2009-04-07T09:27:00.000-07:00

Hello out there! We're still hanging out in Daytona. The trip isn't officially over yet, but we are getting to a close. At the moment, we are in search of a weather window to leave. We must go out to the Atlantic around Georgia because of too shallow waters, but the weather is not cooperative. The winds today are 25-30 gusting upwards of 50!!! I don't think it would be a good day to leave and unfortunately our next few days look much the same. We may have a window coming up the end of this week. :) VA here we come!

I apologize for lack of photos. The only new ones we have that are not yet posted are from our tour of St. Augustine, but the internet has been most uncooperative as well. Grrrr... it's a sensitive point on this boat. Photos will have to come later. Other than those, we have not been anywhere to take any. Sorry folks!

Hope everyone is doing well!

Good weather and happy sailing!

St. Augustine

2009-04-03T09:56:00.000-07:00

We took a day trip up to St. Augustine and walked the sights. It was a cloudy day but cool. We wandered the main streets and saw all of the old Spanish buildings, the first school house in America, and tons of beautiful architecture. We passed by Flagler College and went to the Fort. It was a wonderful day. We went to this little resutarant that Mom says reminded her of Spain. We ordered tapas and tasted wine.

Other than our little day trip, we've been hanging out in Daytona still. We are looking for a window to leave, but the weathermen keep talking about the dreaded g-word... gale! We are destined for gale storms through Monday. We've visited the beach often, perused all the used books stores and even Barnes and Nobel, visited Wal-Mart, Target, and the flea market (thanks to Kaitlynn). :) It was full of fun stuff.

We are looking forward to coming home.

Good weather and happy sailing to all!

Space Shuttle Launch!

2009-03-15T15:40:00.000-07:00

We had a front row seat. We could see all the NASA buildings and would have seen first hand how the shuttle would have taken off. We were too many days early. What with the constant delays they've had, we feared that if we stayed it would get delayed and we'd run into a problem either with weather or losing our slip at the marina we booked. Sadly, we moved on.

We're in Daytona now and got to see the launch from here. It came up above some nearby apartment buildings and headed our direction in the sky. We saw the boosters leave the shuttle and the shuttle disappear into the sky. It was pretty amazing. The stream left behind it was caught by the setting sun and reflected a rainbow of colors. Unfortunately the camera could not quite capture the exquisite color range. We did not get to hear any sound, but were so happy to get to see it take off.

Good weather and happy sailing!

PS. There is a video of what we could see posted in photos, under the FL section.

Homeward Bound

2009-03-12T17:08:00.000-07:00

Well… we had a wonderful time. The weather wasn't always the most cooperative, but the idea behind the trip was fulfilled. And that was to go to the Bahamas, sail around, see some new places, meet some new people, and spend time together as a family. Accomplished!

We met some wonderful people that we hope we will continue to keep in touch with and would love to see and visit again. The Bahamas, more specifically the Abacos, were a beautiful place. The people were so friendly and welcoming, the views were astonishing, the architecture unique. We of course enjoyed several meals of conch and lobster (different from the Maine lobster) and grouper whenever we got the chance. We will miss that now that we are headed home.

The time came to leave when we realized we had seen most of the Abacos and time would not allow us to go further into the Bahamas. Once the idea of home was mentioned, we all jumped on the bandwagon and began to look for a window to cross the Atlantic. Our window came with a beautiful week of mild winds, clear skies, and warm temperatures. We jumped on it with the knowledge that if we waited we could be there another month easily. Crossing the line between the Bahama bank and the Atlantic ocean, almost brought a tear to my eye. I had such a wonderful time the Bahamas and enjoyed it so much, I almost didn't want to leave. Our crossing went very well. It was so smooth, the winds so light, and the waves so flat, we flew across. We came into Cape Canaveral Inlet this morning. We are now anchored in Titusville, with hopes of moving up the coast a little for a week or so to hang out. We're ready for home, but not sure we want to head back to the cold just yet. So home for now is Florida. :)

Living on the boat has just been a completely life changing experience. We have gotten used to a much more complex system of going to the bathroom, very limited shower ability, small kitchen space and a not so hot burner for cooking, a very tiny fridge, small personal space, and pretty much living outdoors 100% of the time. We joke that going home will be a luxury and realize that now we will be way more appreciative of endless water, good tasting water, hot showers, flushing toilets, laundry abilities, a huge fridge, and Mom's favorite… the AGA. J The boat has provided us an opportunity also to regroup as a family. After losing Emily, things went a little haywire… with work, with school, and in our personal lives. This trip has allowed us to think about things, not think at all, and to spend time together that we may not get in the future. I believe it's been the healthiest and best thing for us… not to mention, we've had a blast! It's sad to see the trip come to an end, but there are exciting prospects for the future. Mom and Dad will be going back to work and I'll be headed off to a new school.

This will not be the last trip for the crew of Thaleïa. :) Thank you everyone for all your love and support and friendship!

Good weather and Happy sailing!

Back to Manjack!

2009-03-10T04:50:00.000-07:00

We hung out in Guana Cay for a few days and were joined by our friend Terry Briggs. He rented us a golf cart and we all cruised around the island hoping to check out the new Baker's Bay (a brand new/still in construction) resort and marina. It is very controversial on the island, as it wants to build a golf course. Most of the locals are completely against this idea, because of what it will do to the island and the reef surrounding the island. Unfortunately, we found it gated off and because we weren't "guests" we were not allowed. What riff raff we are. So we went to the other side of the island and found that Orchid Bay Resort and Marina was gated as well. Our trip around the island was cut short, but didn't stop us from cruising the "back roads" one of which I got the golf cart stuck, backed into a poisonwood tree, and then found some hose hanging down. WHOOPS! Thank you Terry! It was a lot of fun.

Barefoot Man was fun. There was a good opening band, Stone McEwan, lots of people and good friends. Our friends from Ripple made it down, the first time in 2 years they've moved their boat. We're kicking them out of the No Sailing Club! But happy to have them on the seas again! J After Barefoot Man, we headed down to Hopetown for the Heritage Festival. It was pretty neat… the town is so small and quaint. It has the classic New England style homes and small narrow roads that you would think impossible to even drive a golf cart down. We got to go up in one of three of the last kerosene hand cranked lighthouses. We saw Thaleia in the anchorage and had a wonderful view.

Yesterday we headed back up around the Whale and spent the night in the beautiful Manjack Cay. Mom caught a fish!!! We believe it was a small amberjack! She was so excited!!!! Of course the camera battery died part way through. Bummer. When we anchored, we were able to swim! And we saw 2 sharks, a baby ray, some cool fish, and 2 dolphin! We saw all the wildlife yesterday! It was so amazing!

Good weather and happy sailing!

Guana Go Back

2009-03-04T11:55:00.000-08:00

Well... we just couldn't stay away. We're back at Guana Cay and loving it. We went up yesterday after getting (on our same mooring :) with Troy at Dive Guana) and saw Suzanne, Edner, and Christine at Nippers. We were good though and only had a quick lunch.

This morning we went and tried out Grabbers, another bar and grill. We had a wonderful lunch, probably the best burger in all the Bahamas, and a beautiful view. If the internet were doing better, I would post pictures, but I'm afraid you'll have to wait for those.

We're here and ready for the Barefoot Man concert. We were joking that we couldn't get a spot but came to find we had a pick of the litter. :) Only a few more days!

Also, I would send out personal emails to let people know, but the internet is really really really really slow, so I'm going to post it on here. I just got word today that I have been accepted into VCU's Rehabilitation Counseling program!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) :) :) I now have a choice between social work or rehab counseling and will have to make my decision by April 30th. YAY!!!!!!!!!!

Good weather and happy sailing!

Man of War Cay

2009-02-27T14:04:00.000-08:00

Green Turtle is a wonderful island, truly a place that can be called a home. We spent the past few days collecting food and stocking up on wine and other miscellaneous items.

Last night, we invited all the boats around us for wine and cheese and filled our cockpit with good cheer and friends. We are so blessed to have met so many kind and fun people on this trip. Thank you all for coming! :)

Today we woke up early (earlier than normal that is) and slipped our mooring line. One more time, we left Green Turtle Cay for new ground. We made it around Whale Cay today with ease and even a little fun. We had about 3-4 foot waves with an occasional 5 foot wave. The smooth rocking motion of the boat and my combined sound effects with the bow waves put us into giggles for most of the Whale.

I napped on the deck while the parents drove and we eventually got to Man of War. The entrance, as we have been warned, is very narrow and at times, shallow. It looked downright scary coming into Man of War. Until we got through, we were sucking in on our sides and praying we didn't hit ground. We made it in and with a little aid from a neighbor gathered a mooring line. We already dingied around the harbour this afternoon, but plan to explore the land tomorrow. We hear this place is absolutely beautiful and from what we have already seen, are really happy we got here. Man of War is where the old boats were built, now replaced with fiberglass power boats, and an old sail maker's shop, which now only makes souvenirs out of old sails. We've heard about their products all over the Abacos though and hope to make a stop at their store.

Good weather and happy sailing!

Countdown to Barefoot Man: 7 days! :)

Stranded Naked....

2009-02-23T06:54:00.000-08:00

Blogging has become a more and more sporadic thing. Since we aren't moving around as frequently as we were before, there haven't been many new things to share and even fewer photos.

Green Turtle has been a lot of fun to come back to. We've really enjoyed running into friends we met the first time around and meeting lots of new people. I feel that I can walk anywhere on the island and at least see 1 person that I've met. Everyone here is so friendly and accommodating, greeting you with a good morning/afternoon every time. On Saturday we went to Stranded Naked's Cheeseburger in Paradise Party. Stranded Naked is that house boat in one of my photo sets that traveled all the way from Florida and now resides in Green Turtle. They sponsor a big party in July every year to kick off the big Abaco regatta. Saturday they threw a party with cheeseburgers and rum punch to raise money for the Green Turtle Fire Department. Mainly tourists came out to enjoy the festivities, but there were a few locals there. Everyone made it a good time. They sold out of all their burgers almost right away, but I am not sure what the total came to be. I hope they raised as much as they were hoping to.

We've been spending the last few days lazing about on the boat. Dad threw his back out again somehow and has been in great pain. Therefore, we've decided to sit quiet until he feels better. I got sick the other day. A friend told us a stomach flu was going around the island. She got it and figures I got it hanging around with all of them somehow. I am feeling better, but we're still working on Dad.

Mom and I are talking about going to the beach today. We need to move around some. Another front is coming through, but we hope to be able to sail on Thursday. Upcoming is the Barefoot Man concert and we couldn't be more excited. It's at our favorite, Nippers, on Guana Cay. We are thinking we will have to get there early to get a mooring.

Good weather and happy sailing!

Green Turtle Cay

2009-02-17T13:33:00.000-08:00

We enjoyed Munjack so much! It was such a beautiful island. Leslie and Bill are a couple who live on the island and have created a Mother Nature wonder. They use solar power, hydroponics, and grow all their own food. They have a created a small paradise there. There are trails all over the island and a "Yes, Trespassers!" sign that begs people to come on their property and look around. We were able to dingy around the island and scope out some excellent snorkeling spots. We saw our first turtle!!! And tried to capture a conch. We all 3 almost went over the edge of the dingy with excitement. Mom finally grabbed it, but after all that, it was too small. We tossed it back. We'll save the conch catching for another day.

We moved back over to Green Turtle on Valentine's. We were welcomed home by Donny, Tom, Jan, and several new friends with a cookout and dancing at the Green Turtle Club. The band, Gully Roosters, are a wonderful local reggae band who had us dancing the night away. Well actually... I danced a lot. :) The next day, everyone was teasing each other as we were all in recovery mode. Poor Donny said that his back was hurting from too much dancing and I have to admit, mine did too.

We've been enjoying the scenes and love that we're back here. Mom and I ventured to the local museum and got a wonderful tour and stories about the island. A hurricane in 1932 devastated the island and ruined most of the historical buildings dating from the Loyalist period. What was left standing have been restored several times and are holding on. There were some relics from the Lucayan Indians. Relics from this culture are rare. The Lucayan Indians were established throughout the Bahamas (pre-Columbus), about 10,000 of them. When Columbus came to the islands he enslaved most of them and those who didn't die from enslavement, died from disease. They were completely wiped out at an alarming rate and are now an extinct people. They were almost completely wiped off the charts as very few relics even remain to say they even existed.

We hope to get back over to Munjack for some snorkeling. We also here there are opportunities for lobster :) and hope to check those out too.

Cold fronts continue to blow through, one as recently as yesterday and another to come on Thursday. The winds, more than anything, are a pain, but we are well protected and use the time to read, write, and relax.

Good weather and happy sailing!

Running on island time...

2009-02-13T05:42:00.001-08:00

Finally we've left Marsh. We enjoyed spending our time there, even though it wasn't our favorite part of the islands. We traveled back to our beloved Guana Cay and visited our friends up at Nippers. Already, we talked about the new bathroom installations and other changes around the place. We will be back, especially for the Barefoot Man concert on March 6th. We're so excited.

We had a wonderful visit, but hopped back out to sail up to Munjack Cay. It was a slow but nice sail yesterday and crossing back around the Whale seemed so easy. Mom and I both had out trolling lines, but to no avail... where are those fish?!

We've had several friends tell us the best snorkeling is at Munjack and we hope to test that out today. We also heard the sea shells here are amazing. I am certainly hoping to collect some more.

Good weather and happy sailing!

A long and delayed update!

2009-02-04T09:15:00.000-08:00

We spent a couple of days in Guana Cay, home of the famous Nipper’s Bar. The island was beautiful!!! The town, small and quaint, and the beach absolutely gorgeous. We snorkeled for a little bit one day. We walked the long beach, picking up sea shells and spent afternoons enjoying Nipper’s view of the ocean. We left Guana Cay with intentions to go to Hopetown. The wind was all wrong and we ended up coming into Marsh Harbour.

Marsh Harbour is the 3rd largest city in the Bahamas, and we were able to use this to find some brass fittings for our broken water heater and provisions for the boat. We got showers!! And did some laundry. Marsh Harbour is unlike most of the other towns we have been too. It’s dustier, dirtier, and more commercial. The beautiful, classic island homes are replaced by concrete buildings that appear to be falling apart. There are no golf carts and we are back to the land of fast paced cars and even a stop light. It seems a little odd, coming from small little towns where there is hardly even a stop sign and only golf carts whiz by. Still, the area is full of neat little shops and lots of interesting people. Watch out in the grocery store though, they'll run you right over! haha

We attempted to leave after a couple days here. We had a beautiful sail down to Hopetown, came into the harbour and were shocked!!! It was packed with boats, all on moorings, that were so close together that we couldn’t believe people would be comfortable. As long as you are all facing the same direction it’s no problem, but when the wind changes and the boats swing… will you make it? We managed to find one mooring and scooped it up. We had tried to get in somewhere safe for the next upcoming cold front with its gusty winds. Unfortunately, the owner of the mooring ball came out and told us it was reserved (no mark on it whatsoever) and that we needed to get off. Bummer! Being that there were no other mooring balls and you can’t anchor inside, we turned around and had a beautiful sail back to Marsh.

Marsh Harbour! It’s become our new home. We’ve been almost stuck, but enjoying it here for over a week. We have become familiar with the town, the local bars, and even met several other cruisers and locals. We enjoyed the Super Bowl on a huge projector screen at our frequented Snappa’s and cheered along with the other Cardinals fans (rooting for the underdogs). We have had several cold fronts back to back, bringing each heavy winds, choppy waters (even in the Harbour), and even some downpour rains. We’ve been trapped mainly in the boat, it being too cold to sit outside and too windy to walk around. To top it off, the dingy motor has been acting up, either not starting period or cutting off part way. Since none of us like the idea of rowing, we have found a Yamaha dealer and are going to get it fixed. That puts us here for a few more days at least. We have read several books, Dad has polished almost all of the brass (soon to finish as I type this), and I have been making mats, coasters, and hot pads for the boat like crazy. I have cranked several out now and consider myself a professional. HAHA.

Good Weather and Happy Sailing (what little you can do today)!

Guana

2009-01-25T05:39:00.000-08:00

Whale Cay... we made it! Actually, we had really wonderful weather for it and we were wondering why people get so worried about crossing it. Actually, we could see where if the weather were bad, it would be a little scary. Whale Cay is an island between Green Turtle/No Name Cays and Great Guana Cay. You can't go inside of the Cay because of major shoaling, so you have to go ocean side, out and around. It's not a far distance; only took us a couple of hours, but it can be treacherous in bad weather. We had seas "3-5" feet, that seemed more like 2 feet and calmer winds. We were to Guana Cay before noon. We decided instead of anchoring in Baker's Bay, we would come down to the Settlement Harbour. Settlement has the grocery stores, internet(!), and Nippers!!!! A famous local bar/restaurant, overlooking "the world's 3rd largest barrier reef."

We spent much of yesterday wandering down the beach looking for seashells. We found some sea glass even, mostly greens, some brown and clear, and even an occasional blue. We also saw a Lionfish washed up on shore. The Lionfish is a beautiful creature, not native to the Bahamas. It is from the Asian seas, but was somehow brought here. The Lionfish moves very slow in the water, which makes it a great spectacle if you are snorkeling or diving. But beware! Do not touch this fish, as it is very very poisonous and as our friend says "a guaranteed visit to the hospital." The only predator it has in these waters are the Jewfish. We found it odd that this fish was washed up on shore, seemingly recent too, but was too far up the beach to have been brought in on a tide. hmmmm.... no clue there. Even dead they pack a punch, so we just looked and passed on by.

We passed away the afternoon at Nipper's enjoying a grillled assortment of tuna, grouper, and mahi mahi, and tried their sweet potato fries, of course doused in hot sauce! :)

Today is the famous Nipper's Pig Roast. They roast a pig and put on a huge buffett of local foods. It starts at noon with loud music and tons of people. All you can eat! (Dad likes that part) We hope to go check this out this afternoon. We may have to walk more beach this morning to prepare for all this food.

Good weather and Happy Sailing!

Time to Go

2009-01-22T14:54:00.000-08:00

Well, it's sad, but it's time to move on from Green Turtle Cay to new places. We have been here for almost 2 weeks and have enjoyed every moment. We have met some wonderful people while here and are sad to leave them behind. We felt like we had the daily living groove down around town. We did our last Thursday of produce shopping and will miss the celery tomorrow. We hope to move on around Whale Cay, a tricky part where we have to go ocean side and apparently if the weather isn't juuuust right we could see very nasty waves. We hear that while it is a short passage around the cay and you aren't in the ocean long, it can be the worst. We hope to get to Great Guana. If we don't make Whale Cay, we'll go to Munjack Cay. We'll see how time goes and weather. Hey, island time.

Good weather and Happy Sailing!

Laundry and Showers

2009-01-15T15:55:00.000-08:00

YAY! We finally got to do some laundry. You know its bad when even you can't stand the smell of both yourself... and.... your sheets! Hahaha Mom knew it was bad when she caught me avoiding the v-berth. Dad took a couple loads to the one of two places on the island to do laundry. Mom and I "grocery" shopped, which is basically a much smaller scale shopping than in the states. Thursday is delivery day for fresh produce. We quickly learned that celery wasn't considered in this and was delivered on Friday, thus another trip into town to retrieve that item. It is really funny how it works. You go to one store for the tomatoes, one store for the lettuce, another for the bread, and wait until Friday for celery. We get some fruit too, but they again are all imported; apples, grapes, and bananas. We did find an avocado the size of a football (almost) and are waiting in it to get ripe to enjoy it. We are thoroughly enjoying cracked conch, a fried conch delight, and grouper at the moment, eating it every chance we get.

We spent the day today walking the beaches looking for seashells. We found some wonderful sea urchin remains. That was pretty exciting for us. We also found several beautiful shells. I was amazed looking out how many different colors the water is. At first, it is almost white, reflecting the close sandy bottom, then it turns almost green, then turquoise, then a royal navy blue. It's utterly beautiful. I was also amazed at how much trash lined the beach, but I tried to avoid that thought and kept looking for awesome shells and critters. We saw several crabs running along the beach, and even 1 dead Portuguese Man O War, a very very toxic jellyfish. Even dead the Man O War can sting and put you in the hospital. The beaches here are lined in huge clumps of seaweed and grasses and hiding in those are the shells. Hiding in them are also the Man O War. We decided, upon seeing this guy, we would wear our shoes the rest of the walk. It was a beautiful walk, ended with a wonderful afternoon of more cracked conch and grouper at the local bar and grill, Pineapples.

Things are wonderful here. We wish the States would keep their cold weather. We keep getting cold front after cold front. Of course cold here is mid 60's. It's amazing how your body adjusts and suddenly believes that is cold.

Good weather and Happy sailing!

Map of the Abacos

2009-01-12T13:54:00.001-08:00

I borrowed this map from the Bahamas Website to show where we are spending most of our time.

Green Turtle Cay

2009-01-12T13:29:00.001-08:00

It's a beautiful place to be. We are currently in the Black Sound tied up to a mooring from a guy by the name of Donny. We had the pleasure of meeting him, since we are tied to his mooring. Our first introduction of him was the blaring ZZ Top music. The next was the speedy driving of a golf cart and out popping a skinny man who calls everyone Mama and Papa (I was Sister) and handles all his friends as though they were his children. He truly made us feel welcome and comfortable in his presence. He took us and fellow cruisers aboard Namaste on a sundown cruise, screaming above the 150 HP engine, "Bet your sailboat doesn't go this fast!" He showed us the place where Gilligan's Island was shot before turning us around to head home. He has kindly allowed us to use his mooring for as long as we want it.

We have met a wonderful friend in Terry Briggs, whom we met at Great Sale Cay, and have caught up with again here at Green Turtle. People may recognize the name, as his Dad was the one who founded The Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race. Terry has become a welcome friend, stopping by in Great Sale to introduce himself and ask us to please join the schooner race next year. He brought us a Spanish Mackrel that he had caught on his way over here and we are very excited to cook it, though Dad was far from enthused about cleaning it. I think he needed David here to help him. :) Thank you so much Terry!

So far Green Turtle is great. We have managed to walk almost the entire island today, seeing all sorts of interesting plants, fish in the water, and colorful homes. There are a few grocery stores, a couple of restuarants, and souvenier shops. We also ran across.... Longwood University. Turns out Longwood does a study abroad course at Green Turtle Cay. There was a sign with the famous blue rotunda marking. I called for someone and wandered around the garden until someone came out. Unfortunately, I missed all the Longwood students and professors by a day. They left here yesterday to head back to the States for the new semester. Bummer. But really cool!

We think we are in for a bit of a storm and are happy that we are in the safest place, as the lady at the museum told us. The power went out on the island today for most of the day, letting the school out early, and closing up the restaurants. Our hopes of getting some conch today have to be put aside until tomorrow. They must have gotten power back, because I finally got internet again.

Good weather and Happy sailing!

Still working out the glitches

2009-01-11T14:08:00.000-08:00

Ok, so because the computer is new to me, it doesn't have my programs to fix my website just yet. Give me a few days there. So here's the deal. There are more photos than the website says there are. Click on any of the photo links then exit out of the slideshow. At the top of the page, you'll find something that allows you to look at all of my public photo albums. There are 2 more. One is from Daytona to Fort Pierce and the others compiles what we have so far of the Bahamas. As soon as I can, I'll get proper links on the page.

We’ve made it to the Bahamas!!!!!!!!!!

2009-01-11T13:31:00.001-08:00

I know it’s been awhile, ok so an entire week! And we haven’t updated anything or even said that we’re here!

But we just finally got somewhere where we could access the internet though iffy and only for a minute or two. We crossed over last Saturday evening, heading out a day earlier than expected. We had the weather, the energy, and thought, why wait another day? Weather only changes more frequently then and we didn’t want to get stuck in Fort Pierce. Because we had the wind on our nose the whole way, it took us much longer than expected, and was a little bouncier at first. Surprisingly the Gulf wasn’t that bad. We came into the Bahamas the next morning and crossed that beautiful line between navy blue Atlantic to turquoise blue Bahamas! We only made it to Mangrove Cay because of our time delay, which it was fine by us. We’re on island time now!! We spent the night there and then headed over to Great Sale Cay the next day. We tried to sail it, but the winds were way too light, so we decided that we better motor to make some headway. We stayed at Great Sale for an extra day to wait out a cold front that was coming through, bringing with it some substantial winds and light rain. Dad and I even tried swimming a little bit! Fancy that! A bathing suit in January! We told Mom to join us, and she promptly told us that we had lied, the water was cold! Well, we thought it was warm, especially when thinking back to the water back up in VA. We made it over to Hawksbill Cay the next day (near Foxtown) and then tried to clear customs in Spanish Cay. We had a really nice sail today! It felt great to stretch those sails out and cut the motor noise. The customs agent was sick and so we had to backtrack to Allans-Pensacola Cay to stay for the night. Mom was a little disappointed at being in the Bahamas and not being able to fish yet. There were other cruisers who were out and about in their dingies and one brought back fresh caught conch for dinner. We salivated and were extremely jealous. We had a hard time anchoring at Allans-Pensacola in the sand, and Dad had to go handset it (ie swim) but it was beautiful and the water not too cold. Yesterday we have made it to Spanish Cay to check-in! Mom can fish now! And we can step on land for the first time in 7 days. Boy that was a weird experience. Spanish Cay is a privately owned island, but also has a customs check-in. We have not been to an island yet where we can purchase anything, and couldn’t have anyway, since we couldn’t get off the boat until yesterday.

We made it to Green Turtle Cay today after staying at Powell Cay yesterday. We are moored on a ball next to some of our friends we met back at Great Sale Cay and are happy for the company. There are several other boats moored here as well and I am sure we will get a chance to meet some of them. Green Turtle is a great place for protection and we are expecting another big storm in a day or so. It also has a little town that we can wander around, but we haven’t gotten to yet.

It’s beautiful here and we are having a wonderful time so far. Pictures and more descriptions will have to follow later.

Good weather and Happy Sailing!

Game Plan

2009-01-03T11:22:00.001-08:00

We have made Fort Pierce today (Jan 3rd) and have decided to go ahead and cross tonight. We will hang out here for a couple of hours at anchor and then head out. The weather is looking perfect and we heard from a couple who just came in from the Bahamas, that the Gulf Stream if FLAT! We couldn’t ask for better than that. We do hope to sail some, but the main objective is just to get there. We hope to do just that. So no worries if you don’t hear from us for awhile. We might not have internet regularly. We will let you all know we are there when we can, but again…. Don’t fret! We plan to come into Great Sale Cay, anchor, then head over to Spanish Cay in the Abacos to check-in with customs there. That’s the game plan.

Love you all!

Good weather and happy Sailing!

On the Road Again!

2009-01-03T11:14:00.001-08:00

We left Daytona on January 1, 2009! After being there for 15 days, we decided it was time to keep moving, despite the wonderful friends we made while there. (Watch out Yancey, we got some stories now!)

We spent the past several days working on minor projects around the boat, fighting bad internet, my computer dying (getting sent a new one, thank you Jane!), going to the beach and hanging out with friends. It was so relaxing! It was amazing how easily we slipped into staying one more day here and there. With help from our friend George, we were able to get around to provision our boat and make ready to leave. We spent Mama’s birthday and New Years on the beach! It was a wonderful day. Dad and I threw the Frisbee for a little while, only having to retrieve it out of the water once! Mom sat on the beach and people-watched, one of her favorite things to do. Believe me, if you like watching people, Daytona Beach is THE place to go. There was all matter of people. There were several speedo sightings, some “that ain’t right” sightings, and some awesome awesome collectible car sightings.

Granny! There was a 1967 Chevy Chevelle Super Sport, in perfect, I mean perfect, condition!!! Mom reminisced about that screaming red car from way back.

We traveled down the ICW now for 2 days and are now in Melbourne (actually just south of there) and will head to Fort Pierce tomorrow. Our trip down was fairly calm and quiet, but a little chilly (still not as cold as you all at home though). We saw several dolphin on the way down. I am always excited about seeing them, no matter how often they come around. We even believe we saw 2 manatees this morning!!! I wasn’t able to get a clear picture of them, but we truly believe we saw these magnicificent creatures. They are in severe trouble, as they only really live in Florida. They are slow and therefore suffer terribly from run-ins with powerboats. I believe there are only 4,000 in existence today. So when you do get a chance to see one, it’s a rarity but so cool!

Ugh

2008-12-26T15:48:00.000-08:00

Bad news... only the blog will be updated for now (meaning no new photos or changes in the web pages). My computer has officially died. Won't even start. I am debating going to the local Best Buy and getting a new one, butttttt I really need to think about that $$$ expenditure first. We'll see. In the mean time, we will make do with Dad's laptop and see what happens.

We're still in Daytona, but will be leaving soon. We will miss the many friends we have made here.

Good weather and Happy sailing!

A little late!

2008-12-26T15:44:00.000-08:00

Due to some severe difficulties with our internet/my computer, this is a little late!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE!

We certainly are missing not being with our family and friends for the holidays, but we are having a good time nonetheless. We spent Christmas Day on our bikes riding down the sand on the beach. Of course, those of you who know the Hilscher Weather Curse.... it poured! We hid under some roof for a time, before it cleared enough for us to ride back. It was a beautiful day though and we had a lot of fun. Hope everyone had a wonderful day! We love and miss you all!

Good weather and Happy sailing!

Part-time Residents

2008-12-23T16:09:00.000-08:00

We are slowly becoming aware how easy it is to find a place and never leave. One of our friends here has been here for close to 10 years now. We have bumped to the monthly rate already for our dock (though may not really stay that long, but it worked out that way in the payment dept), and have gotten to know several of the people who live aboard here. It has been such a pleasure.

We have been continuing working on several projects. We have our new radar reflector, worked on new rot on the cross tree, and various odds and ends. For the first time, we headed out today to see more of the Daytona area. We got a very interesting ride into the shopping area by taxi (nooooot the brightest crayon in the box). We walked most of the way home. Those who live here will know how crazy far that is. Our feet hurt now. We did get into a little trouble at Boaters World and then Barnes and Noble. We are now stocked up. We bought our Christmas presents today and put up our lights on the boat.

We plan to be here for Christmas, moving on sometime afterwards. The weather has been remarkable, except for the wonderful cold front that came from the North. Thank yall, but you can have it back! It's cold! (Granted cold is like 50, but still! That's cold!)

Ocean Voyaging

2008-12-19T15:15:00.000-08:00

If it isn't too late to tell about the ocean voyage we took... I will try to tell all now. We left mid-morning from Charleston and headed out the inlet to the Atlantic. We left about 2 hours after our friends Snowaway. We heard them say on the radio that the weather was a little stinkier than was predicted. We immediately put on foulies and life jackets. We already had the tether system setup, so we hooked into that as well. Before crossing the jetty, we decided to raise the sails, something I would not recommend to anyone else in that weather pattern. The wind was right on our bow and the waves 5-6 feet causing Thaleia to crash and boom. Mom and I had eyes the size of saucers and were clinging on for dear life. Mom actually grabbed the back of my jacket at one point. After struggling to raise the sails, we hurried back to the cockpit. It was until we were very clear of the jetty and surrounding shoals that we were able to turn south and put the wind at our backs. Once we were able to do that, the ride got much smoother and nicer. The sun tried to come out, but was mostly cloudy all day. We took turns sailing. Our system was 2 hours steering, 2 hours navigating and observing for the helmsman, and 2 hours rest and relaxation. We followed this pattern all day and thru the night. The ride was wonderful and exhilarating, an experience that I will never trade. If you looked behind you, you could see the waves coming and prayed that the boat would flow with them. They certainly looked like they could swallow the boat. I had to keep looking forward. It was so beautiful. We went well out of sight of land, but no more than 20 miles from shore and that was only for a little bit. That night, we were very lucky because there had been a full moon the previous night, and being still very large, the water was lit up. We could see for a fair ways all around the boat. It made for a pleasant evening and night. The weather was supposed to change from North winds to East winds and wax and wane throughout the night. At some points, we would crash more and others would be much smoother. It always seemed that when it was my turn for some rest, things would go flying. We obviously hadn't secured everything. Things were flying that we had never expected would. Nothing broke though and we are thankful for that. The only damage done was to our dorade vent which got ripped off by the foresail line in a moment of light winds and a gust, a repair that was quickly and easily managed. We did find out just how bad our deck leaked into our engine compartment as wave after wave crashed into the cockpit through our scuppers. When morning came, we were just off the Georgia/Florida border. We came into St. Mary's (Amelia Island) inlet at about 0830. We were met by a shrimper going out near the jetty fishing. Most boats anchored right inside the inlet (back on the ICW) but it was right next to a large factory. We decided that we didn't want to stay there and moved onto the next anchorage a couple of miles away. It turned out to be the most beautiful and peaceful spot. When we awoke the next morning, our friends aboard Snowaway were anchored near us. We are so happy they made it too!

The next day we moved to just above St. Augustine. It was a quiet and quick day. We enjoyed our first real day of Florida sunshine and warm weather. We lazed about on deck well after we anchored, a luxury not afforded to us earlier. I made us our first Painkillers with the real Pussers rum (thank you Saddlers). We had a wonderful evening.

We moved onto Daytona the next day. It was a long day but it was full of things to see. We saw several more odd and other beautiful homes. We saw palm trees, new birds (we have yet to identify some), and St. Augustine (one of the oldest cities in the States). It had amazing architecture. I was astounded. It also has some of the worst current conditions, but we were too in awe at the buildings to let that ruin it. We had several bridge hailings to make and luckily made the last one just in time before it closed down for rush hour traffic. It was our day!!!!

We are now sitting in Daytona. We have been here for a few days and will probably be here a few more. We recaulked the deck, have installed a new radar reflector, fixed the dorade vent, done massive laundry, cleaned the boat through and through, and are working on provisioning before the Bahamas. We still have plenty of work to do, but are making sure we are playing some too. Mom and I got our hair cut (really really short too), a much needed event. We have also met so many wonderful people here. We truly understand how someone could get stuck some place. This is our favorite marina so far. We might just spend Christmas here. We still plan to be in the Bahamas for New Years (Junkanoo, a celebration much like our Mardi Gras).

Good weather and Happy Sailing!

Meet Gwen!

2008-12-19T14:44:00.000-08:00

Meet Gwen the Penguin (pronounced Pen-gwen)! Haha. By now I am sure you will have seen her in some of the most recent photos.

I have been meaning to introduce our new addition to the trip but my internet has been iffy at best and I forgot when it was holding for us. Gwen is an emperor penguin (stuffed animal) we bought to be our mascot for the trip. She has been with us since Charleston. She symbolizes the freezing cold climate that we were in for quite some time. We felt that a penguin was more suited than a flamingo. My cousin Declan has this really neat thing he does where he takes a sock monkey wherever he goes and takes pictures of it next to really cool sites. We thought we would borrow that idea and have Gwen. I hope that is ok Dec! We just thought it was a way cool idea.

I guess Gwen is more of a joke between the three of us. I slid her into some the pictures online seeing if anyone would notice. Since I have been getting some emails about her I felt it time to introduce her. She too was sick of being cold and now sports a cocktail umbrella.

Just a quickie for now

2008-12-16T15:51:00.000-08:00

I am sorry I haven't written sooner. This is the first we have had internet.

We made it! We are actually in Daytona now, having traveled down the ICW. The sail across the ocean was amazing! We had a good time, although I get a little grumpy without sleep. We made it into Amelia Island around 0830 the next morning, found a place to anchor by 1030 and were napping until 1600. :) We then traveled down the ICW and are in a marina tonight in Daytona. We have several repairs and things we need to do, so we will be here for a few days. I will be brief right now, more to let you all know that we are safe, and will fill you in on the details later.

Good weather and Happy sailing!

A Stray from the Usual

2008-12-12T18:08:00.000-08:00

Ok, I am going to be bad... and not follow my normal format. I am just way to behind and so much is going on.

We made it to Charleston a couple of days ago. We had a fairly good motor in, with the threat of rain the entire way (it held off just for us, :D ). Our great laugh and enjoyment that morning was the bridge operator at the Ben Sawyer Bridge. She in no way, like our friends on Bristol Rose say, displays the stereotypical southern hospitality. We were at the front of a line of boats (thank goodness!), waiting for a bridge opening. Three boats back, someone calls in for the bridge to wait for them. The operator promptly tells them (in a loud, punctuated, and more than unhappy voice), "I was waiting for you, but you are just going entirely too slow!" We enjoyed a great laugh, mainly because we weren't the ones getting in trouble. She did wait for them, but gave them hell the entire way. She was closing the bridge right as they were coming through.

Coming into Charleston, we tied up at the City Marina and began our normal routine of... diesel up, get plugged in, charge everything, empty trash, etc. We spent the past couple of days visiting with my Mom's high school friend, Mark Blalock and his wonderful family. We cruised around downtown Charleston enjoying the restaurants, shopping, and the beautiful homes. For those architectural fanatics, Charleston is the primo place to see some amazing buildings. We walked all over the place!!! Mark (thank you so very much) lent us his truck and we were able to shop at Costco, Lowes, West Marine, and Wal-Mart, gathering various supplies, most importantly more warm socks for Mama. We bought ourselves a grill and I am personally very excited to see what Dad will make, Mr. BBQ Guru. The weather has been wonderful here, although slightly rainy at times, but HEY! I wore a t-shirt! A t-shirt! It felt amazing! We had the craziest winds last night, that kept Dad awake the entire time while all the boats slapped against the dock. It didn't bother me a wink. :) I slept soundly, a wonderful trait I have developed (I figure, when things go bad, I'll be woken up, but in the mean time, why not sleep?). Haha. We enjoyed a wonderful time, meeting lots of new people and seeing old friends. Thank you so much for all the wonderful hospitality! I will enjoy the leftover mac and cheese and banana pudding!

Alas, we must hit the "road" again. Tomorrow we head not down the ICW, but out... yes! We are venturing out to the deeper water. We have close to a 28 hour trip from Charleston to Amelia Island, Florida. If we were to stay in the ICW, it would take us 5 days. So we opted for a little more excitment, possibly some more sailing (vs motoring), and a shorter time period. From Amelia, we will hop around until a weather window opens to cross the Gulf Stream into the Bahamas. We are still hoping for Christmas in the islands! We are very excited and can't wait to see what it is like. We will let you all know when we have arrived in Amelia, but probably after a little sleep. We will be doing shifts, so it won't be a constant awake. I will blog asap!

Hope everyone is enjoying the full moon! It is gorgeous here!

Good weather and Happy sailing!

Day 23: December 8, 2008

2008-12-10T08:27:00.001-08:00

Port: Whiteside Creek (32.5N/79.4W)

Weather: The weather today was much the same. The sun was out and we were ecstatic! The winds were out of the NE about 10-15 mph. I do not have a recording of what the temperatures were, but they were warmer than we’ve had before!

There isn’t much to write about today. I was sick today and didn’t feel much like doing anything. In fact, I went below and slept most of the day. We planned on stopping for the day in Awendaw Creek near the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge. We had good wind pushing us and a current of about 2.5 mph as well. We were flying. It seemed that we would reach our destination early! We wanted to get to Charleston, since they were calling for rain tomorrow, and maybe could have but for a bridge that closes from 1600-1800 for traffic. We made it to Whiteside Creek, about 2 hours North of Charleston. I missed most of today, but do know in the short time I was up there was a lot of flatland grassy swamp and shallow waters. We hit a sandbar but thankfully were moving enough to keep sliding over. It scared us though and we wondered what a barge would do if it came through there. We anchored in one spot, but didn’t like the sudden shallowness around us, pulled up anchor and reanchored a little ways down the creek. Dad came down from one of his occasional checks and told me that birds were walking on water next to the boat. Within a couple of hours, an entire island formed next to us, promptly named Mount Elizabeth (in great honor of course). That island kept us company all night and we prayed the wind didn’t change putting us on the island.

Hope to feel better tomorrow.

Good weather and happy sailing.

Day 22: December 7, 2008

2008-12-10T08:26:00.000-08:00

Port: Thoroughfare Creek (33.51N 79.15W)

Weather: The winds were N-NW at about 5-10 mph. The seas (well more like river) was calm and flat. The temperatures were in the 40’s. The skies were clear and sunny!!!!!!!!

We traveled 43 miles today from Myrtle Beach to a little place called Thoroughfare Creek. Today’s motoring was a little trickier than we have had before. We entered the South Carolina swamp land. The trees were thick and there was seemingly no sign of civilization or life. The little creeks we went through were often narrow and always shallow. Because of several other little creeks and rivers coming together, there was a lot of shoaling, causing one to always be on their toes. For being so monotonous, the motoring requires constant attention, or one will be grounded. It was beautiful though, a different scenery altogether. We were amazed at how little life we found in this area. We hardly saw any birds, though the trees were lined with astounding nests. A trawler that we had met before, Humdinger (their dingy was called Humdingee; GRREAT!) stopped in front of us and allowed us to catch up. They pointed out to us, in the middle of this deserted swamp forest, 2 white goats. They weren’t tethered or attached to anyone or anything; just out for a stroll. I promptly named them Frank and Lola. A very large and colorful ferry boat popped out of nowhere as well. It fooled me! I thought it was a building. We motored all day and threw an anchor down at Thoroughfare Creek. It was a beautiful, isolated place, but frequented by the duck hunters. Duck hunting season had just opened the week before and boy, was it busy.

Good weather and happy sailing!

Day 21: December 6, 2008 YAY for South Carolina!

2008-12-06T14:48:00.001-08:00

Port: Myrtle Beach (33.51N/78.38W)

Weather: The winds were out of the NE at about 5-10. Seas were 1-2 feet. The temperatures were mid-50’s with partially cloudy skies turning to sunshine! We hope this keeps up.

My finger is doing a lot better. Still swollen and a little ugly. It will be fine in no time.

Up early this morning, we pulled up the anchor covered in…. well that was the debate last night. Did we think it was sand or mud? Mom and I bet. She said sand; I said mud. Well… it was the blackest, gooiest mud! I win! We left Carolina Beach and ventured through Snow Cut (a literal cut in the land to connect us to Cape Fear River). We moseyed on down the line all day. We saw plenty more houses, several other boats (one sailor going the wrong way; said something about skiing; he’s nuts). All in all, I’d say it was uneventful and that was just grand with me. At about 1330 we crossed the NC and SC state line!!!!!! That makes 3 states down and only 3 more to get through. Whew! We hailed one bridge today; a pontoon. It literally was a floating pontoon that floated/swung away from the road so that we could pass through. It was pretty neat. Of course, there was construction of a huge ugly bridge going in, so I doubt we will see that neat one again. We pulled into Myrtle Beach Yacht Club for the night and are hurriedly taking showers and doing laundry before we head out again in the morning. Pray we keep getting this sunshine! Looks like rain for our entire visit to Charleston and we don’t like that idea.

Love you all!
Good weather and happy sailing!

Day 20: December 5, 2008

2008-12-06T14:38:00.003-08:00

Port: Carolina Beach (34.02N 77.92W)

Weather: Winds were 0-5 out of the North with seas less than 1 foot. The temperatures hit the 50’s again today, but with partially cloudy skies.

Leaving our anchorage early this morning, we headed down the ICW from mile marker 245. Coming into the anchorage in the dark, we weren’t able to see just where we were exactly. The morning light showed that we had a lot more room than we thought at first, and confirmed the military presence with ramps, boats, and several trucks. Taking turns steering, we passed through a lot of housing developments, seeing more of the North Carolina mansions today. We could not believe the sizes of some of these homes. Who can afford these places?

We saw a guy standing in the water with a stick today. We could not believe who would want to stand in that water. Turns out he was claming, and as the day wore on, we saw several more people doing the same thing. Again we were drooling with the thought of fresh seafood. Surprisingly, we have not had any yet. We also saw some kids standing on their surf boards with paddles. They paddle like this to keep up their balance during off-season. One kid looked like he had taken a dive already. He was wearing a wetsuit. His friend, on the other hand, was wearing shorts and t-shirt. I looked at him and then looked at myself (decked in full winter gear) and thought something was wrong here. Either I was dumb or he was.

For all you nature lovers, we have seen various kinds of pelicans and have come into seeing egrets. They are hard to miss, being so snowy white. We saw one stalking something in the tall grass. He would crane out his long neck then step and slide his neck in and repeat. It was a neat thing to actually observe. We cut the engine at one point today, allowing the staysail to maintain speed. A family of 3 dolphins, 2 larger adults and 1 baby, came up and swam all around the boat. They swam around us for the better part of an hour. It was pretty amazing. A testament to how smart dolphins are… every time I brought the camera out, they disappeared. When I would put it away, they would come out again.

So three bridges hailed, variably sunny skies, and several weird and strange houses later, we approached Carolina Beach. We have done 51 miles today and are calling it quits here. We have anchored and are taking the night off, hoping to hit South Carolina tomorrow.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAURIE!

Day 19: December 4, 2008

2008-12-06T14:38:00.001-08:00

Port: Mile Hammock Bay (34.68N 77.33W)

Weather: Winds were 10-15 from the West today. Seas 1-2 feet. It was 56 degrees F with clear and sunny skies! Yippee!

Good news, and bad news. Last night, as Dad and I were having a conversation (over our new bikes) about the safety and use of knives; I commented that I was careful and had never cut myself with my knife before. Getting a little big-headed, I guess, I worked on removing a zip-tie holding packaging on the bike and sliced through my pinkie finger on my left hand. I am now wrapped up with a throbbing hand. My hand is out of duty for now, but I am ok. It was sheer stupidity, as most accidents often are, but hey! I got off dishwashing duty. It’s too ugly to post pictures, so here’s a tame one.

Today, we left Oriental, and I took the helm for the first time leaving a slip. Dad talked me through how to steer a boat out of a slip. We took off for Adam’s Creek. We had great weather today and were happy for the sunny skies! Our new heater took it’s first run and was amazing! If we got cold, we would hop below (not for an hour) but for only a minute or two and be completely warmed up again. We passed some shrimpers, tongues out and drooling wishing we had some fresh shrimp ourselves. Being with an interior designer and a contractor, we checked out each and every house we passed. Most of the houses received an “ewwww” or “geez, that’s ugly!” Haha, we took several pictures of houses and I plan to compile them as “The Ugliest Houses on the ICW.” Some houses seemed in competition with decorations or paint color choices. One had an enormous plaque of a sea horse on the front. The sea horse was red and the house was painted coral (you tell me that’s pretty). Another one had a dolphin and another had an anchor. We passed several typical beach homes and other larger homes. Just outside of Morehead City and Beaufort (Bo-fort in North Carolina), we ran into our first dolphins. We got some videos of them playing around. They didn’t seem interested in our boat or following us, so once we passed them, they were out of sight. It was pretty amazing though. You could tell, not only from the presence of dolphins, that we were closer to the beach, because the water changed from a brown, tea color to a light green. The dolphins were easier to spot. I wouldn’t say that Morehead City is a beautiful town, but it was quite large, and had a lot, a lot of fishing boats out. Later in the day, we came up to Camp LeJeune, a Marines training base. Often they close part of the ICW because of live firing exercises. We attempted to find out if it would be closed today and learned that no, it wouldn’t close. We could go through. That was, until we came up to the edge and a Naval Patrol boat radioed we would have to anchor and wait for an hour. We anchored in sand, so it didn’t catch at first, then sat and waited. Though we couldn’t see anything, we were able to hear various guns. The typical dit-dit-dit echoed. An hour later, they let us go. As we passed through the area they were exercising in, we noticed a smoky haze, the classic smell of burnt ammunition, and even saw some specific areas smoking. It was all really neat. Various planes and helicopters flew over the area. As the sun was setting, we followed three other boats through towards our anchorage. At the Camp LeJeune bridge, the bridge master laughed when he asked if we were anchoring at Mile Hammock Bay. When all 3 boats said yes, he told us we were in for a night; the marines would be playing games until 2200. Oh geez. By sundown, we were turning into the bay to find several other boats already anchored. After turning down an offer to raft up, we laid anchor and settled in. Sure enough, we heard various boats whiz by, planes, and helicopters. They must have closed the ICW again, because in the distance you could hear live fire again. Dad, in the middle of it all, heard the dolphins near us again. They would break the surface and blow air up, making a humpfing sound.

Day 18, December 3, 2008

2008-12-03T15:39:00.000-08:00

Port: Oriental (35.02N 76.66W)

Weather: Sunny! Warm! Light winds!

And we decided we needed to stay at dock. We are crazy! I know! We know! We couldn't believe it! We were almost mad that we weren't out there chalking off more miles. Instead though, we were preparing ourselves so that we will no longer be cold. I mean a person can only handle so much coldness. We have been freezing our butts off for days and days, often a damp, chilling cold too. We are tired of it. We are trying to get south to get to warmer weather, but so far the journey has been taxing. It is just too darn cold. It would be different if we had one of those biminis or one of those dodgers that cover your cockpit and help keep you warm, but we got nothing! We stand in the freezing cold all day, open to all the elements. I feel I can identify with an Eskimo. All I need is a pet penguin on board.

So enough complaining. We did something today to solve this problem. We bought and installed a heater that runs off the engine. Yes, it only works when the engine it on, but its when we are moving that we lose most of our heat. This heater will work to keep the cabin warm while we are moving, then at night the little kerosene heater can maintain that heat (given that it will continue working, shhhhh don't jinx it). We spent most of the day doing this project. I worked mainly on all the electrical; I am becoming quite the electrician. Dad installed the plumbing parts that connect to the engine. Mom enjoyed a day of catching up on news, emails, and relaxing.

For the most exciting part of the day (one should never let Dad and I out with money alone), we bought 3 of those really awesome fold up bikes. We can fold them up for easy and small storage, then pop them together for a ride into town. The past few places we have stayed, we have found transportation around town to be interesting and having a bike would really be cool. They even come with a rack on the back so you can strap a basket down or a bag.

Tomorrow we hope the weather stays as nice as it was today! We are headed out towards Swansboro, past Morehead City, then hope to make it to Wilmington the next day.

Good weather and Happy sailing!

The story of the Pelican…

2008-12-02T15:19:00.000-08:00

We find birds to be a very special animal and believe that they have some connections to things. On Dad’s birthday, he called Mom and me up, just to look at the water and sky. As soon as we pop up, a large pelican lands right next to us on our mainsail. Mom and I are standing in the cockpit and Dad is on the dock next to it. The pelican sat there for the longest time, cocking its head looking at us, and keeping us company. It let me walk around in the cockpit snapping a million and one pictures of it, looking at me for some of them. It was just amazing. It took off in flight, which I luckily got a snap of, and rounded around the boat and met Dad at the bow, where he had walked up the dock and stood. The pelican landed next to him and continued to watch him. Dad was able to walk up very close to the pelican and stand next to him. He sat there longer than we could stay out and look at him. We ducked below to get warm and by the time we could get back up, he was gone. It was Daddy’s birthday present.

Day 17: December 2, 2008

2008-12-02T14:59:00.000-08:00

Port: Oriental (35.02N 76.66W)

Weather: The weather today was overcast with plenty of rain, turning to partly sunny in the evening. Winds were 5-10 with gusts up to 20 mph out of the West. There is 75% humidity. The temperatures have been in the 30’s all day.

As you can gather from previous posts, we spent a bit of time in Belhaven. We had planned to stick in Belhaven until the weather turned better, ie no more rain, lesser winds, warmer temps. Well, they kept telling us that Tuesday would be beautiful. I am growing less and less fond of weathermen. They are always wrong. Needless to say, we left Belhaven today, with 2 other boaters early this morning. We were headed through the Pamlico River (sorry I said Sound yesterday) and knew that if it was windy, it and the Neuse River would be awful. We took turns all day steering, attempting to stay very warm below. At one point, I rigged my umbrella to my back, so it sort of resembled those umbrella hats. Haha, it didn’t last very long, before the wind almost blew me away like Mary Poppins. I had to ditch the umbrella and just get wet. Of course, we had on foulies, so wet was more like just our gear. The kerosene heater could not keep the cabin warm today and the inverter couldn’t handle the electric one. Dad decided he had had enough. Instead of anchoring, we pulled into Oriental to a Whittaker Creek Yacht Harbor and have ordered a new heater. Email for details, as Dad will have to fill in those. It will be here tomorrow, where we will rig it up and be headed out again the next day, hopefully a lot warmer. What is it with this weather! Once again, wherever the Hilschers go, there is unusual weather. Kind of like going to the Grand Canyon = desert and having it flood!! Yea that’s us. Or BVI and there is no wind, yea that was us again. We hope it will get warm and sunny soon. At this marina, there are bikes you can ride into town (only about 1 mile). Dad and I (as there were only 2) went in for some parts to get the heater setup. We are now attempting to stay warm and have some dinner. Tomorrow the heater goes in and we are off again, like a bunch of sea turtles.

We wish Sune a very happy special wonderful birthday!

We also wish Lorraine a wonderful time in Ft. Lauderdale for her birthday!

Good weather and happy sailing!

Day 16: December 1, 2008

2008-12-01T07:57:00.000-08:00

Port: Belhaven (35.56N 76.63W)

Weather: Crazy windy out there. Glad we are not out there today!

We have stayed put, due to very crazy windy weather. We had some friends leave this morning in hopes of making it through Pamlico Sound before the winds came. We dearly hope they made it through. If the winds are this crazy here, I hate to think what they would be like out there. We have never felt Thaleïa move this much while tied up before. We are rocking around like we were anchored or even sailing. We took this opportunity today to go to the grocery store and do some housekeeping. Yesterday, Mom and I did the laundry while Dad did our first oil change on the new engine. All went very well. I have decided after the experience we had at the laundry room, I am going to do a photo documentary of all laundry rooms. Boy, oh boy, was it a real treat yesterday. The machines sounded literally like rocket ships and I was scared they were going to explode. I was also worried if I was going to be getting my clothes back in one piece. Haha, it provided some great entertainment. Today, we borrowed a golf cart from the marina (they let you use them to get around town) and went to the grocery store. We learned the, hmmm, hard way that they brakes weren’t very good. Haha, let’s just say this place has provided us many many many laughs. The rest of the afternoon, we will laze about and prepare for tomorrow’s take off, which will have us crossing the Pamlico Sound. Pray for nice weather for us.

Good weather and happy sailing!

Day 15: November 30, 2008

2008-11-30T06:11:00.001-08:00

Port: Belhaven (35.56N 76.63W)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!!

Day 14: November 29, 2008

2008-11-29T13:31:00.001-08:00

Port: Belhaven (35.56N 76.63W)

Weather: Rain! Winds N-NE 5-10, with overcast skies, turning to rain this afternoon. Seas were 1-2 feet. Temperatures reached 51 degrees F here today with a low tonight of 48. We are getting warmer!

Today started with a little craziness! This morning, instead of waking up to the alarm, we woke to a halyard clanking. Now halyards clank sometimes, but not ours. We have been very careful not to let them bang around, partially because it will drive other people crazy, but also because it drives us completely crazy. Turns out, upon quick inspection, we were stern to the wind at anchor. For those who don’t know… that’s not good. We are supposed to swing so that the bow is always into the wind. Everyone else was bow to the wind. We weren’t moving. We guess we were caught on a stump, because once we let a little more anchor chain out, we moved forward and swung around properly. Whew! At least that wasn’t something too bad. We motored 33 statue miles to MM 135 and have docked in a small marina. The rain started coming down just before we came in and is supposed to continue through Monday. We plan to hunker down for a day or two here, not only because of rain, but also because the winds are supposed to reach 25.

GWHS!

Day 13: November 28, 2008

2008-11-29T13:30:00.000-08:00

Port: Alligator River (35.68N 76.05W)

Weather: Winds were SW-W 5-10 with overcast skies. Seas were 1-2 feet decreasing to less than 1 foot by the afternoon. The temperature was 60 degrees F, dropping to the 30’s in the evening. We had some sunshine late afternoon that was pleasant.

Up early, we headed down the ICW from MM 50 to MM 102. A long day, we traveled about 52 statue miles. Nothing very exciting happened today. We took turns steering through the channel, the landscape an endless mass of dead trees mixed with some shrubbery and an occasional live tree. We believe the land is all marsh. There were hardly any houses at all. We had to hail one bridge opening at the Alligator River Bridge (MM 85), but other than that… it was a chug chug chug kind of day. We anchored at Deep Point in the Alligator River, along with 3 other boats headed south.

GWHS!

Day 12: November 27, 2008 (Leaving our home, Good Old VA)

2008-11-27T15:24:00.000-08:00

Port: Coinjock, North Carolina (36.34N 75.93W)

Weather: Today was clear skies, calm wind coming out of the W at about 5-10 mph. The high for today was 58 degrees F!!!! YAY! And the low so far has been 41, but was much colder this morning. We actually felt warm! The humidity averaged 62%. Tonight, the weather is supposed to pick up with winds coming from the South at 6-8 mph and predicting the temperatures at 60 tomorrow!! Wish us that kind of luck! :)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! We miss not being able to share the holiday with our friends and family, but wish everyone a wonderful day! We are so thankful for all the wonderful friends and family we have and for all the help they have given to us this past year and a half. We love you all so much!

Also today, we are so thankful that we were able to have Emily in our lives for as long as we did and miss her so much! We know that she is with us today, and everyday, helping us to sail this boat south and get through each and every day. We love you Boo and miss you so very much!

Today, we left dock a little later than normal, around 740, with frost lining the paint on our boat and the planks on the dock. It was so cold; we could see our breath in the cabin of the boat. We had to be very careful not to slip. We were very happy to see that no one had bothered us, since the marina was abandoned and had posted “No Trespassing” signs. We felt that we could wiggle out of trouble if the need came. I mean, they did still have a sign posted (bigger, I might add too) that said “Transients Welcome.” I’d say that one took precedent in this matter. I would hope the law would too. :) As we were untying, Bedouin, a smaller sloop, also from Herrington, passed us. We haven’t actually met the owners of Bedouin, but we have seen the boat several times. It appears we will be hopping down the ICW together, which is pretty neat. Maybe we will be able to meet them at some point.

I made us some breakfast on the go this morning while Mom drove us down the narrow channel in North Landing River. North Landing River is a very wide body of water, but only has about 6 feet of water, getting less as near the edges. In the narrow channel, which is very well marked, you have about 10 feet, but know it quickly when you stray outside. Along the way we crossed the line from VA to NC!!! That makes 3 states we have sailed through! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!! While Mom was driving, we both perceived this marker to be a red triangle, meaning we needed to keep it to our right (starboard) side. It was covered with Cormorants, a small bird that actually swims like a fish. There were so many it had distorted the shape of the marker. Mom and I had the boat way outside the channel, needless to say. We fixed it without a problem and kind of laughed when we realized the mistake we had made. From then on, we used binoculars to confirm the shape of the markers and direction we were supposed to go.

The cormorants are a strange bird. They can swim like a fish, look a little a duck. They can actually dive and stay underwater for an extraordinary amount of time. Migratory birds, we have seen them in the spring and again this winter, but they headed north for the summer. Today, they stood on every marker watching us as we went by.

During our trip today, we officially switched over from using nautical miles and knots to miles and miles per hour. We will now, until we are out of the ICW being using miles and mph to record our distance and speed.

It is amazing the change of landscapes that we have seen in the past two days. We went from open bay to the city landscape of downtown Norfolk to the outback wilderness of the ICW and now back again into more populous places. We had grassy, marshy meadows, turning to sandy knolls with some low shrubbery. The beach is just East of us, though we cannot see it. I do not believe that we will get to at all, but just knowing it is that close gives us a smile! To aid in the landscape, there were several several sunken boats of various kinds. There was one with the curtains still in the windows. We were talking and could not believe that whoever went to all the trouble of marking the ship wrecks and posting warning markers about them, but not clean any of them up. We determined the owner of the boat wanted the insurance money, and the EPA hadn’t caught on yet. It was daunting to see so many scattered along the edges though… made us want to really stay in the channel.

We stopped in Coinjock at the Coinjock Marina, a nice stop and go kind of place. We were only going to stay for ice and a potty break then head onto Broad Creek for the night, but decided to just stay here for today. It was a really short day today. We only traveled 22 statue miles and ended by 1140 this morning. We wanted to have access to the internet, power, showers, a little general store (with amazing homemade hot dilly beans and relish), and have the time to enjoy an afternoon of relaxation. Tomorrow will be a long day as a result but we decided it was worth. Hey, it’s a holiday!

Instead of turkey, we will be having jumbalaya (no seafood, didn’t think it would make it). The weather was so nice this afternoon, we kicked open all the doors and allowed the fresh air to flow through, something we hadn’t thought about or wanted to do until now. Mom even took a seat in a small Adirondack on the dock and took a nice nap in the sun. Dad and I repaired the speaker wires and I cleaned the inside of the boat. You would not believe how dirty. EW!

Well, we are wishing you all a very warm, nice Thanksgiving! It’s up early tomorrow and off to the next stopping point.

GWHS!

Day 11: November 26, 2008

2008-11-27T15:23:00.000-08:00

Port: Pungo Ferry, the VA Pungo (36.63N 76.05W)

Weather: Today’s weather was clear skies, calm wind, and temperatures of 50 degrees, dropping to 27 degrees F during the evening/night. The humidity averaged 57%.

What a day! We made it through so many cool things today. It will take an hour to write this blog.

Today we left Little Creek and had to cross the Chesapeake Bay to the Elizabeth River. The cross over was very windy and cold, probably some of the coldest (other than the trip to Deltaville) we’ve been. We crossed over the Hampton Roads Tunnel which was a little strange, having drive through the tunnel. We passed Fort Wool, which after researching we found was built in 1826. Robert E Lee himself was one of the engineers of the Fort. It took a long time to build, but was never finished according to original plan. They put an experimental, supposed awesome gun at the Fort, which fired at the Confederates during the Civil War, but did no damage to them. All in all, it’s a pretty neat looking fort on a man-made island of rocks. After that we came to the Elizabeth River, which is covered on both sides with Navy and other government property. We started with all the large ships, coming to the sub pen, and wound down to more tankers and supply boats. It was so neat to see them all. I probably took 400 pictures today and they are all of Navy gray. Passing downtown Norfolk, we saw the Nauticus museum with the USS Wisconsin, which Scott and I toured on last year. We also passed a beautiful 3-masted schooner sitting at dock. To make this a little shorter, we came to the red buoy 36, which marks Mile Post 0 of the ICW. We officially started the ICW at Hospital Point in Norfolk. Shortly after that, we hailed our first bridge opening by VHF. It was very neat to see (there is a video). We hailed several more bridges today and completed a lock (Great Bridge). There are pictures for all the bridges and some video. My favorite is Great Bridge, which is the green one. Dad and I made a bet on the swing bridges as to which way they would swing. He won on the first bridge, I did on the second. We like it when we both win.

Now for the story behind the Naval powerboat with the guy who yelled at us. It was more a warning… that we were too close. Haha… we couldn’t help it. We wanted to see more, so we drifted, I guess, too close to some invisible boundary that marks the ICW from the Navy. He came zooming out and told us to back away and stay further out. The soldier riding with him glared at us for some reason. I didn’t think we were doing anything wrong. I was taking pictures of everything, so maybe he didn’t like that.

Also, another special treat… we saw the USS Simon Lake. For those who do not know, the USS Simon Lake is a submarine tender on which my grandfather, Gil, was an XO. The USS Simon Lake was decommissioned in 1999 and has been sitting here in Norfolk. It was so exciting to see the ship that Gramps had worked on. For my mom, it brought back many memories, especially a relevant one about a Thanksgiving dinner on board. Pictures are posted. For those wondering what the E means, it’s on a caption of the one picture.

Tonight, we managed to get to MM 28.5 and docked at an abandoned marina in Pungo Ferry, VA. There is a Pungo Creek and Pungo River in North Carolina, so it gets confusing. The marina was apparently the first marina established in the state of VA, but had since closed down. It was a little spooky. There was nothing around it, but trees and bare land. We couldn’t even see any town nearby. We docked at the still very stable dock for tonight. All in all we traveled 41.3 miles, a long day, and had a blast seeing everything.

GWHS!

Days 9 – 10: November 24-25, 2008

2008-11-27T13:44:00.000-08:00

Port: Norfolk (36.83N 76.3W)

For the next 2 days, we stayed in Norfolk to visit with John and Betsy Morris and Scott. It was a very nice visit and enabled us to get some things fixed around the boat, such as our kerosene heater. The heater had died in the craziness of the weather, we believe because the kerosene was dirty and when shaken up, clogged it. We were able to do laundry, thank you all for that, and get some warm showers!! We were also able to grocery shop and resupply on some necessities and pump out (a nasty little job of emptying the boat of *ahem* waste). I, hahahaha, got to miss this task. Luckily, there was a Carib dealer at the marina, so we were able to replace the lost oar. We looked for it on our way to Norfolk, expecting it was still floating around. Wouldn't that have been neat to actuall find it! We enjoyed the break greatly and are ready to get back on the water to head further south.

GWHS!

Day 8: November 23, 2008

2008-11-27T13:43:00.000-08:00

Port: Norfolk (36.83N 76.3W)

Weather: The weather today, while better than before, had winds of 9-13 mph from the East. It was sunny, clear skies, and therefore a lot warmer. The temperatures were a high of 43 with a low of 23 during the night. The humidity averaged 69%.

Today was fairly uneventful motoring, comparatively. We left Deltaville this morning around 700 for Norfolk, Va. Having had an exciting last day out, we decided to keep this day pretty cool, ie. not do anything crazy. The weather was a complete opposite of what we had coming into Deltaville, so we plunked down the bay for 43.5 nautical miles. There were light winds, small waves, and the sun was shining brightly. We just motored, keeping it simple. With the slight wind and currents pushing us along, we actually got to Norfolk a lot quicker than predicted. We worked our way to Little Creek in Norfolk and arrived at 1402 in the afternoon. We decided to stay at Cobb’s Marina, which is where John and Betsy Morris have their boat. They, thank you both so much, set it up for us to come in to the marina’s only T-dock for a few days. We hailed John on the VHF to let him know we were coming in. They would meet us at the dock to help tie us.

Right on Little Creek is the Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base. We got to watch 3 hovercrafts fly by us on the water and keep going right up the sandy beach and into the yard. It was so amazing to see them completely turn from water vessel to land vehicle. We saw so many naval vessels coming into the channel. I could have stared all day long. I love looking at all the ships and boats they have.

John and Betsy met us at the dock, we tied up, and relaxed for a bit. Mom and Dad went on with John and Betsy for dinner, showers, and laundry, while Scott came to pick me up. We will be staying here for a little bit.

GWHS!

Day 7: November 22, 2008

2008-11-22T09:55:00.000-08:00

Port: Deltaville (37.56N/76.34W)

Weather: Its really sunny outside today which is a bonus. As for the rest of the weather, I am not even going to worry about reporting it. We hear its nasty out there and are happy to be tucked in here. :)

Today is relax, recoup, recover day! We are holing up in Deltaville for an extra night due to the forecasted weather of continued gale warnings. We do not wish to repeat yesterday. The pads of my fingers still hurt from being so cold. We slept in, had a wonderful egg and bacon breakfast, and are drying out our clothes from yesterday. Mom and I are so excited about the heat in the bathrooms, that we make excuses to have to go and sit in there. It's amazing the luxuries we take for granted, such as heated bathrooms. :)

Of course I say this all in jest, because I really do love roughing it and the cold isn't thaaaaaat bad. It's just a little hysterical to us.

We plan tomorrow to head out for Norfolk, as the weather is supposed to turn.

Good weather and happy sailing!

Day 6: November 21, 2008

2008-11-22T09:54:00.001-08:00

Port: Deltaville (37.56N/76.34W)

Weather: Today’s weather predicted another small craft advisory. It was forecasted 15-20 with gusts up to 25 mph toward the afternoon. The winds were more like 20-30 mph coming out of the north with gusts upwards of 38 mph. The humidity was 51% again today. Scattered clouds with occasional sunshine. The high temperature for today was 45 degree F with a low of 31 degrees F. Not sure what the wind chill was, but I can tell you it was colder than 45 today.

Haha, I just got to laugh as I sit down and write about this leg of the journey. Of course, I can laugh now as I sit down below, tied to dock, warm clothes, and a hot cup of coffee.

Knowing the weather wasn’t going to be great, we decided we needed to get out earlier than we had the day before. Up at 600 and out by 700, we were motoring away from the beautiful Solomon’s Island. We had a longer distance to go today from Solomon’s to Deltaville, a 52.79 nautical mile trip.

The Patuxent River was quiet this morning, leaving Mom wondering if anyone worked on Fridays around here. There were no barges and no zoomies flying about for most of the morning. It was cold! We were bundled in thermal underwear and foulies on top. We raised some sail and headed down the bay. We passed the length of the Patuxent River Naval Air Base and some of their targets stationed out in the water. A pretty straight shot south, we moved along at an average of 7 knots, hitting 8 knots when the gusts blew. Unlike yesterday, we took turns sitting below to get warm every so often.

Mostly today was a mix of emotions. One minute I was so cold and stiff, the next elated with joy at being on the water, then back to miserably cold. The winds increased to the point where it was impossible to keep the sails up. Ditching the sails was a slightly exciting experience, holding on for dear life, while trying to lower the flapping sails, with spray flying over the sides of the boat, drenching you in cold water. Once the sails were down, we moved a lot smoother through the water, but still crashed bow down and up like we were a fast paced rocking chair. It was so cool! And a little intense! We found Deltaville and were trying to quickly get in before the gusts completely wore us down. By now, all I wanted to do was sit, which was no longer an option since we were bucking around so much you couldn’t be still.

I hesitate to write this… but our dingy setup, which had broken before and was repaired, broke again. We had it secured with other lines though, so she wasn’t completely lost. We did however lose an oar and almost completely lost the dingy trying to further secure it. We then had the engine “overheat” which wasn’t really true since the temperature wasn’t too hot, it was just steaming. Water got into the engine room from all the splashing and we believe it just caused a little unhappiness on the part of the engine. We got into Deltaville and grabbed a T-dock at the Deltaville Yachting Center. It is tucked back enough that the heavy winds were much calmer. We had the most horrible docking but we are going to pretend it went really well. :)

Listening to the weather later, we discovered that we had been sailing in gale force winds and had gusts up to 38 mph. No wonder!!!

We skipped dinner tonight and are going straight to bed, planning to bunk down here tomorrow as the winds will still be insane out there.

Good weather and happy sailing!

Day 5: November 20, 2008

2008-11-22T08:30:00.000-08:00

Port: Solomon’s Island (38.33N/76.43W)

Weather: Today’s weather predicted a small craft advisory. Winds were up to 23 mph with gusts of 30 mph coming out of the west. The humidity was 51%. The high for today was 54 degrees F with a low of 33 degrees F. There were scattered clouds with some sun occasionally peaking through.

Today was the day! We had checked the weather while doing laundry and found that the weather was supposed to be great for today! As you can see above, the weather wasn’t quite what they had told us it would be yesterday. We were expecting sunny skies and light winds. We left dock at about 845, a little later than planned, but quietly motored out. We had thought of maybe honking the horn and flying full colors, but decided to head out quietly, waving to the dock hands as we passed. The air was chilly and a small breeze was picking up. The excitement was almost more than, at least I, could contain. We were finally leaving! We started out motoring, adding a couple of sails later for balance and a boost in speed. Taking turns at the helm, we cruised down the bay towards Solomon’s, running alongside a barge and tug for quite some time. We passed Right Nut and Foolish Pleasure, fishing boats based out of HHN, as they rocked in the increasing swells. Midday, the wind had picked up to the mid 20’s and the white caps increased in size. It started to get a little more exciting onboard. We got her up to 8.07 knots (my record) and then to 8.16 knots (Dad creamed my record)! Coming around Drum Point and into the Patuxent River, we took down our sails. With 30 mph gusts, it was extremely difficult to take down the foresail, which has no boom to rest the sail on and therefore free hangs and blows. As if that weren’t difficult already, we also had to keep the sail from blowing onto the heater exhaust pipe. We motored the rest of the way in towards Solomon’s. We rounded the small island and were able to grab a T-dock at Solomon’s Yachting Center, thankful to be done for the day. We docked around 1415 this afternoon. The trip was about 33 nautical miles and about 6 hours 15 minutes long. That weather was not what we had expected or what had been predicted, but overall we did very well! Thaleia is so sturdy and makes for a nice ride even in high winds.

For those who have not been, Solomon’s is a beautiful place. The homes that line the river are astounding and the Naval Base provides some exciting sights, as jets and helicopters zoom around. Immediately after docking, we jumped off the boat and started walking around the small town. It was just beautiful. We discovered that it is an old, historic oyster town. The JC Lore and Sons Oyster House sits on their main street, having shipped oysters, crab, and fish from as early as 1888. Eventually, we found a small dive and slipped in for a beer and some wonderful crab dip.

Overall, today was exciting and monumental! We high-fived at our accomplishment! We’ve done it. We’re going south!!!

Good weather and happy sailing!

Day 4: November 19, 2008

2008-11-22T08:07:00.001-08:00

Port: HHN in Deale, Maryland (38.79N / 76.53W)

Weather: Today’s weather was much the same. The high for today was 55 degrees F with a low of 34 degrees F. The wind was roaring at an average of 21 mph with gusts up to 25 mph. We were very glad that we were not out in this weather. The wind is just a little too strong for our liking. It was partly cloudy, warming up when the sun was able to peak through. The humidity hovered around 53%.

Today we spent another day hanging around HHN. We took this opportunity to do laundry, raid the free book exchange shelves for some good quick beach reads, and relax. In fact, I was able to read one entire book today. It was a trash novel, but it was fun. Not much to tell about today, since it was just hanging around. We are definitely ready to go and are preparing our course for tomorrow. We will head down to Solomon’s Island for the first of 3 hops to Norfolk.

Day 3: November 18, 2008

2008-11-18T12:25:00.000-08:00

Port: HHN in Deale, Maryland (38.79N / 76.53W)

Weather: The forecast for today was for winds up to 20-25 knots with gales of 30 knots. We had a maximum temperature of 40 degrees F and a minimum of 31 degrees F. NOAA reports that our highest wind speed was 28 with a 38 knot gust coming out of the NW. We had slight snow fall and a humidity averaging 61%. In layman's terms, it was windy and cold!!

Due to what we thought the weather was going to be, we did not leave HHN today. We believed that the wind was going to be too strong. We did travel over to HHS (the other Herrington Harbour) to fuel up. The wind was brisk and freezing cold! But we made it back to dock within 2 hours. We have since then hid ourselves below, eating lunch, and getting warm. I've already finished one book. By the way The Secret Life of Bees, AMAZING!! I would recommend it to anyone as a quick, fun, and heartwarming story. It's also a new movie!

As always, something exciting has to happen... Our setup for our dingy broke today on the way to HHS. We didn't completely lose our dingy but suddenly it was held on with only 2 lines. Upon returning to HHN, we called Frankie (the designer/builder of the contraption) back at the boat, where he picked it up to reweld some parts and rework some design so this doesn't happen again. For some reason, when starting the motor we had also lost our tachometer and voltmeter. We continued to HHS, but again, upon return, we had Larry, our mechanic, was also down fixing that. Turns out it was really simple and easy to fix, as the alternator was accidentally turned off while working on some other part of the engine.

We were able to have some nice warm showers this evening, and hid in the heated lounge until our hair was somewhat dry. We spent the evening with some good friends of ours here at the marina, Danny and Sharon. We sipped on some wonderful Bermudian rum and shared some good laughs, despite being cold.

Mentally, we all are ready to go. It's frustrating to not be able to leave yet. We believe that Thursday will be our day.

Good weather and happy sailing!

Day 2: November 17, 2008

2008-11-18T12:21:00.000-08:00

Port: HHN in Deale, Maryland (38.79N / 76.53W)

Weather: Don’t have the full forecast from the day, but let me tell you…. It was COLD! It started out sunny this morning and slightly breezy. The sun was warm when the wind slowed. As the day progressed, the sky became cloudy and the wind picked up, turning colder. In the evening, it became crisp and cold, with no breeze, but a slight drizzle. The predictions are that we could get some snow!

Hello Everyone!!!! It is day 2 of officially living on the boat. A few days ago, in the pouring rain, we officially moved out of our house, into the truck, and made it to the boat. Slowly, and between down pours, we managed to get our things to the boat and start moving in. The trip has officially begun! Plus, we can’t go back now because Pat’s already moved in! Ha Ha.

We spent much of yesterday with family, saying goodbyes and eating some wonderful food. Thank you all! We planned on today being the day to wrap up the last minute details that we hadn’t gotten to as of yet, so this morning, it was coffee and straight to work. Mom and I worked on putting up the picture frames of Emily, Patty (our dear friend we lost back in August of last year), and the poem “The Ship” (a beautiful poem about a ship leaving the horizon and out of sight, but never really gone). Dad worked on shelving for their cabinets, and we worked on storing the last of our things. Dad went up the mast today and installed a new steaming light, the last of the necessary items before we could leave. Our man-overboard system is almost completely installed, left to finish later because of the cold temperatures and lack of motivation to stand up there freezing. We said goodbye to some good friends of ours from the marina, Danny and Sharon, today as well. We will dearly miss everyone we are leaving behind, but do know… we will return… someday. J

The plan was to leave out early tomorrow morning, but after hearing about the weather for tomorrow, I think we will have a day of rest and relaxation, something we have lacked recently.

Good weather and happy sailing!

Practice to the Choptank

2008-09-14T12:23:00.000-07:00

This past week, we decided to take Thaleia out for a couple days. We decided to sail out Thursday morning and head across the Bay for the Choptank River. Sailing was rough on Thursday as the winds were light and we discovered that Thaleia doesn't sail well close to the wind. hmmm.... As we say, "Sail her fat!" We ended up taking down the sails and motored for most of the way. Of course, while en route to our anchorage, we discovered that our engine was overheating and leaking oil!!!! Sails went up to aide the motor. Anchoring was no problem in the Bay, since the typical Bay muck sucks down your anchor almost every time on the first try. Our system for dropping the anchor went well. We are all working on our specific tasks and working out the communication between them.

The night was cool and wonderful and stars amazing! As for the poor dogs, they were in extremiss. Potty training on board has proved to be our most difficult task and the dogs went all night without any relief.

The next day proved wonderful sailing!!! The wind was strong and the current was with us and Thaleia loves sailing downwind. We hit hull speed averaging about 6.5 knots but hitting mid 7's in gusts. She was humming! We had a blast sailing her around in the Bay. Coming back in, we noticed that our staysail now has a HUGE hole in it. We believe it has gone through 2 panels, making patching interesting. Also makes us wonder how the rest will hold up.

Unfortunately, the trip showed a definite need for a new engine and has presented some worries as to the dogs ability to adapt. We have been told... when they have to go, they will do it! I guess they can hold it a lot longer than we all think.

As always, more projects to do before we go. We're down the 6-7 week mark.

Happy sailing!

Starting To Blog

2008-08-05T09:21:00.000-07:00

Hello!

This is the Hilscher family aboard the SV Thaleia. We are planning on going to the Bahamas for the winter and wanted to create a place where we could update people about our trip. We decided to join mainstream America and blog. Visit here often to see our progress.

For right now, we are still at dock in Maryland. We are continuing to repaint and work on repairs to the boat. Right now, its the transmi$$ion.

Wish us luck!