Abacos to Maine

All the\he kids at Green Turtle Cay

We can't believe that this blog does not have any mention of the great presentations that Jenny has been doing at schools along the way; its titled "How to make big problems small" and its an introduction to behavior science in a fun way with her guitar and the dogs.  Albert goes along and has a part, too.

One of several shows at Hope Town school

We went to all of the island schools in the Abacos-- Green Turtle, Great Guana, Man-o-war, Hope Town, and Grand Cay.  We also did a couple of shows on the mainland of Great Abaco Island-- Every Child Counts, a special needs school in Marsh Harbor, and the upper school at Coopers Town.  Jenny's website, jennyruthyasi.com, has some photos, but not much about the school trips, which were a blast.

Jenny with Tigerlily and Bee at Grand Cay school

Grand Cay, Bahamas

We dodged some weather as we took a few days to get to Grand Cay, and then stayed for about a week waiting for a (theoretically) good weather window to cross back to the USA.  We spent almost all of the time there at Rosie's Marina; what the guide books say is basically true.  The availability of food and most anything was terrible.  We happened to be there for their Homecoming weekend of parties.  Very loud music and plenty of alcohol.

Sailing in the Gulf Stream

 
We left on Sunday, April 16, 2017, with the plan to get seriously north by going all the way to Beaufort, NC, about 550 miles, taking 3.5 or 4 days.  We pushed it, and got up to that area in 3 days, and ran into a cold front, with rolly conditions, so we diverted to Southport, NC.  The total distance was about 536 miles in 73.5 hours, average speed of 7.3 knots, although we were only going 5 to 6 knots, but the Gulf Stream pushed us up to a speed of 9 knots at times.  The last 12 hours were miserable, and the dogs were not happy, either.

An ICW view from the anchor

We arrived before noon on Wednesday, April 19, at the Southport Marina and paid for a slip.  This allowed the US Customs people to visit us that afternoon (instead of us figuring out how to get to Wilmington about an hour away by car.)  The next day we motored a short distance to the little basin at the town, tying up to the dock at Provisions restaurant.  We had a really nice time in Southport, buying some good American food and beer, and even doing some general shopping.  Here is a link to a Facebook post.

Oriental, NC

After a couple of nights, we motor-sailed up the Cape Fear River and took the ICW to Wrightsville Beach/ Masonboro Inlet, where we spent a short night.  Up early the next morning, we went out the inlet and motor-sailed downwind to the Beaufort Inlet, staying at Moorehead City, NC.  We saw friends from the Bahamas here, but wanted to keep moving.  We stayed a couple of nights in Oriental, NC, which is a great little town.


I think it took four more days to get up the ICW into Portsmouth VA on April 29.  That's the short story, but it was all fun and good.

This boat was in Portsmouth harbor last fall,
and does not look any better now.

Theresa and Brian's farm in Dugspur

Cows at the farm

We learned about Zimmerman Marine in Southport, and we planned to go to their facility in Mathews, VA to have some transmission work done.  We arrived on April 31, staying a few days on the dock as we learned that more work was needed than we had anticipated. 

While we pondered our options, we continued with our plan to leave the boat for a week or so while we rented a car to visit our new friends from Manjack Cay, Theresa and Brian, at their 100 acre farm in Dugspur, VA, south of Floyd, which is south of Roanoke, if that helps.

 On the way there, we stopped in Charlottesville, and somehow arranged to meet all of our three good friends and partners there at the Sedona Taphouse. We then spent most of a week with Theresa and Brian in Dugspur, helping in their garden and being entertained and fed well.  On the way back, we saw Albert's brother Andrew and family, daughter Echo in Baltimore, and stayed with other friends.  Back in Mathews, we visited with Albert's friends Martin and Keith, who own Compass Marina, where we had spent the night before we got to Zimmermans almost two weeks earlier.

By this time, we knew that Magus would not be ready to sail north for a few weeks or more, because of the several repairs that were needed.  We decided to pack up and drive to Maine, planning to come back in August or September and sail Magus the rest of the way home.  Oh yeah, and Albert had to have a tooth extracted; he felt much better after that.  Did we say it was hot?   We finally did enough to prepare the boat for the summer, and then got back in the rental car for the drive to Maine.  We stayed with Echo again, then spent a nice night with Jenny's brother Ted and wife Fany in Freehold, NJ.  After a miserable day of driving through the city and Connecticut, we arrived at our house in Freeport on Thursday, May 25.  The trees had still not completely leafed out.

Walking in Baltimore

In the summer, there are usually a couple of hot days in Maine, and we also get a few days that are cooler than it ever got in the Bahamas, so the summer is very nice in Maine. That led us to thinking that Magus does not need to come back to Maine yet, but we should just go back to her in November and sail from there to the Bahamas again.

However, that decision is letting us enjoy the garden, and even the winters here in Maine at Bliss Woods Farm and Whole Dog Camp, where Jenny is making a career of dog training and having fun with people and dogs.  And Albert is having fun in the garden and enjoying life in Freeport.