Home Sweet Home

 Well, as you can see, we are home after a rough journey up the Chesapeake Bay. We had big waves all the way from Norfolk, Virginia pounding the boat. Gary drove, I withdrew to the lower bedroom where I found it was not as rough if I slept where Gary slept (I sleep on the outside of the inside of the boat, if you follow my drift, Gary sleeps on the inside of the inside of the boat!!!).

Again, we travelled through the locks in North Carolina and Virginia. They feel like giant bath tubs as the water flows in all foamy and swirling around. One of the locks contained water with tannin in it from the cypress trees. Not only was the water foamy but it smelt of chamois leathers - lovely. As a young girl I used to help with stock taking at a hardware company I worked for and I used to love the smell when the "chammy" leather cupboard was opened. Gary said I'm "weird". Ahhh, to be young again!!!

 We passed the naval ship yards at Norfolk and there did not seem to be as many ships there as there was on our outward journey. We wondered if some had been deployed because of the problem with North Korea.

This is the "Comfort", a floating hospital which is deployed in areas needing assistance. I would have loved to have been an occupational therapist on her. She used to be docked in Baltimore.

We were not sure what this ship was used for, perhaps to carry equipment.

We passed the next photo and wondered what was going on. It looked as though people were getting ready to ski downhill. When we got closer we realised it was a pile of salt and the men were bagging the salt. I wonder if they described themselves as an "a salt" team!!!!

Trip tidbits:

We travelled 3100 miles on our trip. The warmest the water ever got was 78 degrees, the deepest was 100 ft in the Chesapeake Bay. The furthest south we got in the boat was Marathon on the Keys. This was the same latitude as Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, Karachi, Calcutta and Okinawa. The longest we travelled without staying in a marina was 11 days. However, the nicest thing about the trip was the "old" friends we met up with and the new friends we made. I would like to say a big thank-you to the following people:

Karina and David, Trudy and Jim, Wanda and Bill, Martha and Glenn, Rose and Phil, Elinor and Tom, Dave and Lauren and Bob. You all made our trip very special. A huge thank-you to our wonderful neighbors, Michel and Ed who cut the grass and raked up all my leaves (and I have loads of leaves) so that when we got home the garden looked so nice.

I would also like to say thank-you to everyone who read and followed my blog. I had people from Canada, Germany, Philippines, Ecuador and Russia "tuning" in so to them I say merci beaucoup, Dankeschon, gracias and Без перевода.

Gary and I are now planning our next trip after we visit our parents. We plan on doing The Great Loop which will take us up to and into Canada, down part of the Mississippi into the Ohio River, through the Gulf and back home along the route we have just accomplished. Because we did not kill each other, fall overboard or lose the cat, we know that we can manage this longer trip. We hope to have our nephew Eric, friend Alan and son join us for part of the trip

which will give Gary and I someone else to talk to. We are expecting to leave on or around the 4th June so please join us again for the second Johney Blog.

So, thank-you again for joining us and the nice feedback I have received. I have been asked if I "touch" up my photos. The answer is no, they are exactly as I took them for the reason I have yet to learn how to "touch" them up. See you all in June. Be happy, safe and caring of others.

We are now in North Carolina having spent the night near Wrightsville. We were quite a distance from the Atlantic Ocean but we could hear the waves crashing onto the beach all night. In the morning when we looked at the map we found out that we were near a town called Surf City  Near Surf City Bridge . No wonder we could hear the waves.

The cat continues to do well, still sleeps 95% of the day. She does make us laugh though. When one of us leaves the first mate's seat within seconds she is in it, curled up and ready for her siesta. Yesterday, she tried to get in behind me just as I lifted my bottom off the seat. Talk about you snooze, you loose.

Not much is happening except yesterday afternoon we had a thrill, no, not that kind of thrill!!!! Gary was driving the boat and I was reading downstairs when he called to me to tell me to bring my camera and come upstairs quietly. Because I am an obedient wife, always doing what my husband tells me!!! I came up with camera in hand. Lo and behold on the back of the boat sitting on the dinghy enjoying the ride was a pelican. He stayed there for at least 15 mins, did not mind me taking his photo and seemed quite at ease.

I was amazed that it looked like he had a finger nail at the end of his beak.

Gary took another photo of another hitch hiker. This time it was a grackle sitting at the front of the boat on the anchor. You can just see it in the photo next to the rope. Gary said he stayed there for about 2 mins. I am beginning to think we should charge these passengers. Although I do not want them to leave any "tips".

I also took a photo of a house that caught my attention. If I was a manly man and wanted to bring my friends home to have a drink and play poker, I am not sure I would like to bring them to this house!!!

Even the pier was painted purple.

We had a nice sunrise this morning. After getting bitten so badly the other day by "no-see ums" I lathered myself in bug cream, wore a jacket and Gary's sweatpants so the little b-----s could not bite me.

After leaving our anchorage and getting back into the ICW we saw 4 dolphins (2 pairs, Linda!). I rushed out with my camera but again was unable to capture a decent photo of them. One of the dolphins approached the boat, swam along side of it and then underneath to pop out at the other side. He then proceeded to do the same thing on the other side of the boat. He must have swam around the boat about 3 times before leaving us. The water was so clear you could see him clearly under the surface of the water.


Today, we saw two types of osprey - the feathered kind and the mechanical kind. The bird again would not leave her nest to reveal her chicks. She really glowered at me with her beautiful yellow eyes. What good, protective mothers they are.

The mechanical kind was the airplane which had taken off from Camp Lejeune. We were suprised by how long the propellers are. This airplane is built for vertical take offs by tilting both the engine and props upwards and then lowering them once in the air.. They have not had a very good safety record in the past but lately have not had any disastrous incidents.

 Tonight as we passed Morehead City we unfortunately passed a boat that had run aground on a sand bank. The channel we have to follow is exceedingly narrow and the water outside of the channel can be as little as 6" deep. As we got closer to the grounded boat, a Tow Boat came to its assistance. The two men on the grounded boat got off and walked to the Tow Boat for the rope showing that they were in water that was very shallow. It looked funny to see someone walking ankle deep in water beside a boat.

We had a nice lunch at a restaurant to give me a break from cooking and us both a change of scenery. As we pulled into the restaurant's dock we noticed it was for the handicapped. We have never seen handicapped slips on the water before.

The next photo we need help with as we do not know what it was. We thought it might be a weird looking house but it had no windows. Any suggestions?

Gary and I have been amazed at how adjusted we have become to the warmer weather. We have had temps in the low 70s and we have been cool. It has also been very interesting to see the arrival of spring as we venture north. The further north we get, the less we see of the azaleas flowering, trees budding. I am curious to see if my daffodils have finished blooming at home.

It is getting dark and it is time to find an anchorage for the night. We are hoping to go into Back Creek Back Creek.

April 15th, 2012. Tax Day

"When the Johney's come sailing home again, hurrah, hurrah"....

Well, not too much to tell this time. We are now in South Carolina having stopped at Beaufort early this morning. We had to find a docking place so I could go and find a mail box and mail our income taxes. So, once again it was at was the very last minute. Since we owe you cannot blame us.

We had a little bit of excitement a couple of days ago when we passed Daytona Beach. We had very strong back winds so we were bombing along at all of 10 mph when we saw an over turned sail boat. The 3 people in it were in the water. Two were trying to turn the boat upright and the girl was swimming to try and get back to the boat. We could not do much for the "boys" by the boat as they were in very shallow water (they all had life jackets on) so we went after the girl. When we pulled up fairly close to her to throw her the life sling (it is mandatory that our type of boat has one of these) we saw she was carrying the rudder. No wonder the boys could not upright the boat. We pulled her on board and took her nearby to the place they launched their little sail boat. She told us she thought it was too rough to go sailing but the "boys" thought it would be a good experience. What an experience it turned out to be. The boys and the sailboat were pulled to shore by a much smaller boat than ours that was able to go into shallow water.

Shrink wrapping of boats is very popular in Maryland for when you want to prepare your boat for the winter weather. So, how is this for shrink wrapping? I would like to have seen them do this. 

David M, was this the light house at St Augustine Larissa was telling me about?

We pulled into St Mary's, Georgia a couple of days ago for gas and saw this old steel schooner. I would love to have gone on board and seen what she was like below. Her name was "Steel Away" which I thought was cute.

We passed the degauser again and this time it had a submarine in it being de-magnetised. I caused the security boat some concern as you can see in the bottom picture as he followed us the full length of the degauser. There was another submarine docked over to the side. I took a photo but it did not turn out and Gary did not want to turn the boat around and give the security boat cause for concern. The water was very calm after passing the degauser so I shot a picture of one of the channel markers to show you how smooth the water was.

Yesterday, we were up before dawn to get an early start. We had a fairly nice sunrise but as the saying goes". Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning". We had strong winds yesterday with the threat of a thunderstorm. Luckily, wind and tide was with us and the thunder storm never materialzed.

We passed Jekyll Island yesterday afternoon and the really fancy Jekyll Island Hotel. To stay there it is $282 a night. If you are over 50 and have an AARP card you get a 10% discount. That would probably allow you to buy a glass of water!!!!!

I like the above photo due to the way the water glitters. In the middle is a pelican although you can hardly see it.

As you know I have fallen in love with the pelican. In the above photo of the white pelicans preening themselves you can see their black wing tips. Usually, you do not see the black on them.

We have passed a Mosquito Cove without anchoring as Gary said "We are not stopping here" and a man at Beauford said of the "no see-umms" that they were a first defense against over development. These "no see-umms" are exceedingly tiny (you can hardly see them on your skin) but you sure can feel "em when they bite you. They bring up a welt about 10 x the size of their body and boy oh boy, do they itch. I consider myself to have good restraint with not scratching mosquito bites but these "no see-umms" are up there with chigger bites. 

As many of you probably know, our son David donated a kidney to Britanie from California in December of 2010. Since then he has actively volunteered his services with the Kidney Foundation and is doing a sponsored walk on 11th May to raise money for the foundation. David says he walks for Britanie (whom he keeps in touch with) and in the memory of Gary's youngest brother, Glenn who passed away from the complications of diabetes resulting in him receiving a kidney donation. If anyone would like to donate to the cause, the web site is:
http://donate.kidney.org/site/TR/Walk/NationalCapitalArea?px=1417945&pg=personal&fr_id=5360


Donations can be made from anywhere in the world (hint, hint)!! 

For those of you who like having the coordinates of where we stay, we stayed at Hilton Head Island last night :

 Hilton Head Island

Well, here I go again after a week's break. We were stuck in Titusville due to Gary having outpatient surgery. He said I could not disclose where he had surgery BUTT, I said, people may like to get to the BOTTOM of your problem. TUSH, TUSH he said. So, sorry I cannot tell you where he had surgery. I can tell you he is sore and does not like sitting down!!!!!

Because we were back in Titusville I got up early for sunrise and then drove to the refuge to see if there were any different birds from what I had seen before. I set my alarm clock for 6am (sunrise was 7:05) and much to my annoyance the alarm went off at 5:30 causing me to lose 30 mins of beauty sleep!! When I finally got up I looked at the clock and it said 6:00. Great timing, I thought. However, the clock was 45 mins slow making the correct time 6:45. I had only 20 mins to have my breakfast and drive to the site I had chosen for my sunrise photos. I carried my cereal with me to the car to eat at a stop light and made it to the photo site just 5 mins late. I was lucky because low level clouds actually obscured the sunrise until the sun got higher in the sky so if I had been on time I would not have seen much anyway.

 

A mist over the refuge.

Another mist over the refuge.

 OK, I know you are probably sick of seeing manatees but they really are the most gentlest of creatures that I have ever seen. Six of then hang about in our marina and if anyone spills fresh water overboard they are there lapping it up. They came to a boat across from our slip and waited patiently for one to finish his turn at the boat before drinking themselves. I thought I might give you some interesting facts about manatees:

They have "marching molars" the same as sharks so new teeth continuously erupt throughout their lives.  In other words, they are polyphyodontic.
They have very coarse hair the full length of their body and the whiskers around their mouth helps manatees hold food whilst eating.
The intestines of a manatee can measure up to 130 feet in length and it takes 7 days for the vegetation to pass through their digestive system. Because of this they produce large amounts of gas from the food they eat.
They have solid bones (no marrow) which helps them to submerge easily.
Cows are bigger than bulls.

This manatee was lying on his back as if he was sunbathing.

This manatee is drinking the water that is dripping down the boat from the owner's air conditioner.

This is actually a closeup of two manatees sharing the water at the same time. You can see the open nostrils of one and the closed nostrils of the other. It looks as though they are lip locked!!

I'm not sure how many are in this photo.

There are 3 in this photo.

This poor guy must have brushed up against a boat that had recently been painted. I called him "Red"!!!! In this photo he looks as though he is washing his face.

 Here are some photos of my trip to the wildlife refuge:

 

 I was so excited when I saw the above animal in the grass in front of me. I thought it was a bobcat as the refuge does have them but they are never ever seen due to being nocturnal.

 However, as you can see, my bobcat was a raccoon.

An ibis in the very early morning mist.

This baby alligator was cute. I forgot that Mum is usually around to protect her offspring so I hurried back up the bank side after taking my photo.

 Snowy egret, black-necked stilt and ibis

White pelicans fishing as a team. They do not dive like the brown pelican. When one turns, they all do as if they are syncronized swimmers.  Wing span up to 10 feet.

The photos above and below are of the reddish egret. He was quite a performer running all over to catch his fish.

I thought his neck looked weird on this photo.

Yippee, I can fly!!!!

If I approach the fish on my tippy toes, they might not hear me!!!

Turtles.

Momma mocking bird feeding her young.

I think the Momma nearly lost her beak in the chick's throat.

Momma, I need more, NOW!!!

Gary and I drove past the Astronaut Hall of Fame yesterday. We did not go in due to Gary not wanting to walk around too much.

I was SO excited to see the shuttle craft as I have always enjoyed watching it land and take off on TV. After taking my photos I looked more closely at the craft and its name "Inspiration". I do not remember a craft called "Inspiration" and its tiles did not look real. I think, but am not fully sure but believe this is a replica of the shuttle, in other words it was a FAKE.

 Gary and I spent a couple of nights in Daytona attending a sales pitch for a Vacation Time Share. The following photos are all we took of our short stay.

 The above monument is dedicated to Malcolm Campbell's land speed record. He also held the record for the greatest speed on water. Both car and boat were called "Bluebird". His son Donald, created a water speed record on Lake Coniston on January 4th, 1967 but was killed on his 2nd run. His boat was also called "Bluebird".

It is a little hard to see but sitting in the shadow is a mourning dove. Every time the sun moved the shadow he would shuffle along the sand to stay in the shade - clever boy!!

 These two are videos of the manatees. I could not get them to work on my computer so you may not be able to see them either. Let me know if they do or do not work. I previewed the blog before publishing it and the videos worked. All you have to do is click on the arrow on the left bottom side of the picture

And finally, 3 photos of sunset as seen at the marina in Titusville.