Tantara June Log

Tantara Log June, 2006

This Log entry is compiled from an email sent by Steve Lamb 6/7/2006.

Our path since my last email, and a few highlights are below:

1.Brunswick, GA - we sailed here from Fernandina following our typical course. We left Fernandina and sailed in the Atlantic, however when we found that the wind had died, and there was a convenient inlet (St. Andrew Sound) that would take us to the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway) and possibly cut off a few miles, we decided to head in one inlet early. Bad decision. There was shallow water in the inlet. We did not go aground, but another sailboat did. Then when we were in the ICW the water was also very shallow. With no wind, the yellow flies were awful. Daniel became an expert at killing them. We went to Brunswick on the recommendation of one of Julie's cousins. She told us about a group of people there who are refurbishing a wooden ship. She promised that these people would be happy to help us with anything we needed done on our boat. We had our first stay in a marina right next to the 200-foot Avany. The people were very kind and hospitable. They helped me fix several small items on my boat, and shared their dinner with us each evening. We were there on our anniversary so they offered us the owner's suite on the ship for the night. This was a large stateroom with a private deck, and a Jacuzzi tub. Our kids stayed on our boat right next to the ship. To take a break after a day of working on the boat the kids and I jumped from the ship into the river, and swam with a manatee there. We came into the marina Saturday evening June 27, and stayed over the holiday weekend. The outboard repair shop was not open until Tuesday. After getting the outboard fixed Tuesday, we headed out to sea with many new friends, and a new health drink that Julie is brewing in our cabin - Kambucha.

2.Doboy Sound - May 31, 2006. We anchored just a little way up the sound and up a river just past a ferry landing. This was unspoiled land. We didn't make much headway today because getting out of these sounds one must travel far to the south to avoid shoals, and Brunswick is about 8 miles up the river, and then there was about 9 more to get past the shoals. Distance along the coast was only about 16 nautical miles, but we traveled 55 nautical miles mostly due to the inlet lengths and shoals, but partly due to unfavorable winds. This going in and out every day is getting old.

3.Ossaba Sound - June 1, 2006. We anchored just inside the inlet in a river next to a National Wildlife Refuge. Very unspoiled. There were tiny Krill eating things off the bottom of our boat. This was disconcerting when we did not know what was making all the noise, until we read about it in our cruising guide. Distance along the coast today was 31 nautical miles, total distance traveled was 45 miles.

4.Cape Fear - June 3, 2006. This was our second overnight passage. The winds were fair, if a bit strong, and we wanted to push on to the goal of getting to Julie's reunion. So instead of heading in at Charleston we carried on to Cape Fear, about 193 nautical miles along the coast. Julie was feeling some motion sickness, but sleeping seemed to help. There were a few thunderstorms and wind changes over night, but we sailed through it without mishaps, thank God. This is our first dip into the ICW to avoid a cape. In this case it was just more convenient, especially since I was too tired to carry on. It was also a short distance to an inlet on the other side of the cape. We anchored just off the ICW in Southport. The anchorage mentioned in the cruising guide is now filled with docks.

5.Wilmington Beach, NC - June 4, 2006, Sunday. It was just about 22 nautical miles along the ICW, but it was a weekend zoo. There were watercraft of every description coming at us from every direction. Getting fuel at a marina at an intersection of two canals, just below a drawbridge was especially trying. I should have waited to buy fuel until Monday, but I thought we would be on our way. As it turned out the weather was foul Monday morning, so we spent another day. Wilmington Beach was great. Shopping and the beach are close to the anchorage. Only problem was that we did not find a laundry.

6.Beaufort, NC - June 6, 2006, Tuesday. We got up early, and had the promise of North winds for our 64 nautical mile journey up the coast. The winds were fresh (15-20kn) and we were able to sail almost all day, with some motor to push us into the wind toward the end of the day to get into port before dark. As it was we just pulled off the channel next to the Coast Guard station and tossed out the anchor as the sun set. It was a great day of sailing, and Julie did very well with a little over the counter motion sickness medicine and a brief nap.

7.Oriental, NC - June 7, 2006, Wednesday. We are taking the ICW to avoid Cape Hatteras. We did not travel far today as we needed to find a place to do laundry. If we paid about $63 for a slip we would have had good facilities here, but we chose to anchor out, and found a friendly marina that let us use their coin laundry. We also found friendly people at the chandlery and the bank where we obtained coins for the laundry. We met several other cruisers who were very interested in our boat, and our story.

Tomorrow we head up the ICW toward the Chesapeake.

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