When a pirate looks at 50, what does he see?
It’s not a trick question. His (or her) life. The years that have gone by and how they were spent. Every time I scroll through old photos to compile the collage that will become my next HaveWind blog, I feel … well. Proud. Proud of how I’ve spent—and continue to spend—my time. It takes some sacrifice and commitment (and periods of uncomfortableness and unknown and telling friends and family “I don’t know when I’ll be back”) to embrace this cruising lifestyle, but the rewards are infinite. As my kaleidoscope past flickers by me, I’m always surprised at how much Phillip and I squeezed in—both work and play, exploring and enjoying, discovering and overcoming.
After we left our temporary buddy boaters—Peter and Patty on Serendipitous and Jimmy Buffett’s stomping grounds in the Long Island Sound back in September, 2023, Phillip and I got busy. In October-November, we laid down some offshore miles and laid Ubi up on the hard for some bottom (and other) work. We rounded Hatteras (making it another Happy Hattereen!) then pillaged Charleston in our Halloween costumes. And, we explored new territory for us on the eastern coast (Beaufort, SC), a sleepy, sweepy nostalgic southern city, which also allowed us to explore a place full of memories for Phillip: Parris Island. Oorah! Have any of you cruised this area? If not, come along with us!
October, 2023
After cruising slowly down the Long Island Sound, we stayed for a bit again in Port Washington—our absolute favorite port for exploring NYC. Port Wash is a safe, beautiful, convenient city for cruisers with a well-kept, affordable mooring field where Ubi can remain safe while we make the short walk and a 40-minute ($12) train ride to the City? Yes, please! When we leave Port Wash, our cruise through the East River is always an enjoyable day as well, taking in the City from a different angle and admiring the architecture of the bridges and buildings as we motor by, under, and through.
We had our sights set on Little Creek, VA where we planned to haul out (for the first time) at Cobb’s, a shipyard several cruisers had told us they had used and trusted. As relatively new east coast cruisers (it is only mine and Phillip’s third year to do it—compared to friends we have who have been doing it for 20+ years), we have had to find new trusted marine vendors along the way. To do this, we rely heavily on advice and recommendations from cruiser friends we trust. Several Outbound owners and other long-time cruiser friends told us they had used Cobb’s and were very pleased with their work and reliability, two of the most important elements of a marine vendor experience. In the end, I can tell you, Cobb’s exceeded our expectations on both counts.
We hauled mid-October in need of new bottom paint, maintenance of our Auto Prop, and a spiffy hull shine-up for Ubi, who certainly deserved it. We were thrilled to find the entire crew at Cobb’s was efficient, immediately responsive to our needs, and promised a timeline (just over a week) that really shocked us. Lurching out of the water, Ubi’s bottom had plenty of soft growth but otherwise looked really good after the high-pressure spray down. Some of her bottom paint appeared to be wiped off (particularly at the water line), but the team at Cobb’s advised us that was a sign of frequent cleaning and that the paint was performing exactly as it should, which gave us more peace of mind. The last time we’d had the bottom painted had been in August 2021 back at Jabin’s in Annapolis. Finding ourselves in exceptional hands, Phillip and I flew home to Pensacola, FL to take care of some work and personal things and visit with friends and family.
We called on Dr. Roderick with King Propulsion, with whom we had worked in 2021 when we rebuilt our Auto Prop (among about a-hundred other little projects) while we had been hauled out. Here is a pic of our prop in 2021.
Roderick was prompt and helpful again, and even personally delivered the kit for regreasing and replacing the zinc on our Auto Prop to Cobb’s himself, as he lives near the Norfolk, VA area. We were thrilled to see the tedious work the team at Cobb’s had done on our prop in our absence, also replacing the broken cutter on our shaft just as a matter of course.
Charles, at Cobb’s, was an incredibly lively fellow who spent extra time spiffing up Ubi’s hull with fantastic results. I could pick something out of my teeth, if needed, in her reflection! It almost makes you not want to splash her because she’s going to get salty, slimy, and dirty. Almost … that’s what she’s built to do. Splash that salty gal!
On October 25th we landed in Norfolk around noon and, as promised, Cobb’s had completed their work and were ready to splash us—that very day! Damn she looked good. As soon as we had slung our bags onto the boat, they removed the ladder, and the Travelift was ready to carry Ubi to the water for her splash. Cobb’s had made us a promise about the timeline and cost and they kept it. That, alone, is a huge mark in their favor.
We had a great experience at Cobb’s and really appreciate their attention to detail, our timeline, and our budget. They even found us a slip for the evening so we could provision up and get ready to round Hatteras … the next day. When Mother Nature grants you a weather window—particularly for such a treacherous part of the Atlantic—you take it!
We were expecting light winds. 12 knots or less, that would be just on the beam or slightly aft, allowing us a beam reach, but we figured we would have to motor a good bit. Never a problem when the goal is to get safely around Hatteras. That’s a motor passage we’ll take any day. In all, we had a great run and tucked in safely at Cape Lookout for a rest after our 30-ish hour trip. And, we had a pod of dolphins—whom we consider our personal good omen ambassadors—give us quite a show at the bow as Ubi sliced through the green waters, eager to make her way south!
We love that Cape Lookout offers such a big easy inlet to navigate and a huuuuuggge anchorage that usually offers plenty of room with little to no worry about other boats. I’ve talked more about our experienced at Cape Lookout here.
Not to mention it’s a beautiful anchorage and shoreline to walk and explore and find the coolest shells. But, the stop this past fall was just to rest and keep on trucking the next day (when we expected a bit more wind) headed to Charleston. We planned to anchor near the Yorktown where we typically land) with the exciting goal to spend our favorite holiday of the year there: Halloween! We already had our costumes packed and planned. Any guesses before I reveal?
Don’t look back at the title …
What? You did! That’s alright. We’ll still count your guess. You got it! I Dream of Jeannie!
Phillip was the genie (I’m kidding … although that would have been funny). I dawned the skimpy veils and silk, and he portrayed a spot-on Major Healey. Any hard-core IDOJ fans out there want to tell us where we went wrong? It took Phillip and I half the night, and a few strange looks from fellow costumers, before we realized we’d gotten it wrong. I guess Jeannie had strayed a little in our version and hooked up with Captain Nelson’s sidekick, Roger Healey. Ha! We got a good laugh at our mistake halfway through the evening and started playing it up. Had ourselves a fabulous time drinking our dressed-up selves through the lively streets of Charleston on Halloween night. Even found the whole Princess lineup from Disney and had a great time at the Cocktail Club with these vivacious ladies. Don’t you just love a holiday centered around skimpy costumes? We do!
After our festive romp through Charleston, we started making our way south and decided this year to try a couple of new spots to us on the coast—primarily Beaufort, SC, which we had always heard great things about but we knew it was a long haul deep into the coast (about four hours in, four hours out, which is what had deterred us before). But, this year, we decided to make an inland adventure out of it and take the ICW in for a bit, with a planned stop anchored near Monkey Island (aka Morgan Island). Here:
Any of you ever heard of this spot? The monkeys were quite active and came to the shoreline around sunset to explore and see what Ubiquitous was up to. We had fun listening to them over cocktails and enjoying the serenity of the anchorage.
I also decided to knock out a project I’d had on my list for a bit: sewing leather chafe guards onto Ubi’ davits where our dinghy (aptly named Ducky!) rubs when we cinch her up. We’d tried pool noodles and other chafe materials for years with mixed (often aesthetically tacky) results. Then I had the idea to use the “Boat Leather” kit we had previously ordered and sewn onto the helm of our old boat, Plaintiff’s Rest.
Tom at Boat Leather had a great kit that I simply cut in half (down from 15” to 2 x 7” inch pieces, roughly), with pre-made holes for the stitching and foam provided to provide Ducky that extra little cushion. I was very pleased with the outcome. A much sleeker, more aesthetic result, with a product that is infinitely heartier than pool noodles. They will also never budge, and they blend right in on our stainless steel davits. Win win. Thank you again, Tom!
After one night at Monkey Island (the monkeys finally quieted down after sunset), we weighed anchor and made our way inland on the ICW toward Beaufort, SC. That was a lovely day. These back parts of the ICW along the Carolina and Georgia coasts are quiet exquisite—lovely golds, browns, and blues. We felt a little like Huck Finn making our way down the Mississippi, snaking through golden beds of marsh grass and navigating old trusses and turn-style bridges.
It really was a lovely motor day. But, I have mentioned motoring quite a bit, haven’t I?
By the time we got to Beaufort, SC, we had run up against our Yanmar (Yannick’s) 250 hour mark for his oil change. We had picked up this nifty TRAC pump at the Defender store back in New London, CT the past summer that we were keen to use. It seemed like the perfect, small-quantity, pump with a long narrow hose (which we shove down the dipstick tube) that we felt would work perfect to suck all of the dirty oil out of Yannick’s oil basin and allow us to easily dump the nasty oil into an old oil container for safe transport to shore for disposal. Yes, we get excited about nifty little devices like this that make maintaining our lovely boat easier, and therefore our life aboard more enjoyable. In all, we were very pleased with the TRAC pump and look forward to using it again. As I write this, we’ve got about another 80 or so hours to go before we’ll whip that little prize possession out again for another suck session. Yannick deserves it!
With all of our chores done, it was finally time to set foot ashore this throwback in time we’d heard so much about: “Beautiful Beaufort,” SC (that little trick helps me remember Beaufort, SC is “b-you-fort”—like the word “beautiful”—and Beaufort, NC is “bow-fort”). For all my fellow blondes out there: You’re welcome.
B-you-fort. What a mesmerizing little city. I found I kept staring upward into the sweepy maze of Spanish moss that seemed to dangle from every single branch of every single live oak—and there were hundreds of them, just in the little 8-block radius we walked day after day. Most of the houses in the historic district look like they haven’t changed since the plantation days. Huge white columns on the front, long stretching lawns, oaks with branches that stretch out like an octopus. Some branches even dip back down into the ground, only to pop back out again like a Lochness monster. It was unreal. I could have walked those neighborhoods for three more days and still have found new things to look at. It was just such a different feel than so many other coastal towns. Maybe being tucked up so deep inland had helped to preserve the quiet heritage of the place.
When we travel to very historic cities like this for the first time, Phillip and I love to book a tour to learn more about the place, see things we wouldn’t have noticed without a guide, and expand our understanding of the development of the place, it’s history (good, bad, and ugly) and why it became the place that it is. This time we booked a horse carriage tour, as Phillip knows I absolutely adore horses, having grown up around them during my summers in Alabama and spent several years barrel racing, pole bending, and just romping around the backwoods with my Dad on the handful of horses he owned. This horse did not disappoint. We got a rare English Shire named Angus. He was sweet and gentle, but incredibly strong. He can pull more than 4,000 pounds. Amazing! The female horses all had their “nails” (their hooves) painted bright greens and sparkly purples. I spent approximately five minutes petting each one. It’s a good thing Phillip is patient. They’re such stoic, intelligent animals.
And, the tour was fabulous. We learned a lot about the architecture and the buildings in the downtown and historic area. I’m always impressed by how much more connected with the land and weather people used to be, building their homes and designing their gardens and domestic routines around the weather and rotation of the earth. What a much more wonderful world it would be if we (humans) were are still so intertwined and dependent upon the health of the earth. In all, it was a memorable visit to a jewel of a southern city. We also had one more really cool stop on our list. To visit Phillip’s training ground.
Phillip served as an enlisted officer in the U.S.M.C. (1992-1996). In 1915, Parris Island was officially designated a Recruit Depot, and United States Marine Corps Recruit Training has continued there since then. Phillip went to boot camp at Parris Island, so the place holds many irreplaceable memories for him. Phillip and I rented bikes at Beaufort to make the ~10 mile trek to Parris Island. Despite the bike shop guy’s skepticism that we could make it, we did! It was a glorious ride through canopied streets dripping with Spanish Moss, arched bridges that lifted us up and gave us incredible views of the “golden wheat fields” (that’s what they look like at least) with winding crystal blue rivers flowing through them. It was stunning.
In contrast, Parris Island didn’t offer much aesthetically, because that’s not its purpose. It’s a series of barracks and quads, climbing walls, ropes, and tire courses. Phillip was flooded with memories as he walked the paths from building to building. We did hear many squadrons chanting out while doing jumping jacks or jogging around the campus, and I could easily picture Phillip out there fulfilling every order, impressing his superiors. Phillip showed me the big field where they host Marine Corps graduation and my mind populated it with crisply dressed Marines, standing erect in their dress blues, in tight formation, all at attention. I could also see the dozens of family members, blinking back proud tears in the stands. It was an overwhelming experience. I’m glad I got to put a real life backdrop to the handful of memories from boot camp Phillip has shared with me. We both were really glad, and proud, we were able to make that stop.
In all, it was an incredibly memorable trek down the coast—made much quicker with our freshly painted bottom and the chores we were able to conquer along the way. After Beaufort, we were going to make a quick run to Ubi’s new home for the winter, as we had many work and family obligations to take care of back in Pensacola, FL over the holidays. For this reason we booked at a marina new to us, that I’m sure many of you have heard of. It is a marina many cruisers had told us was a very protected, well-appointed, friendly and fun marina on the Georgia coast. Any guesses?? Stay tuned!