Warm weather has returned! It was a pleasure to stroll the streets of Beaufort today (Marleyne is writing!!).

While I indulged in visiting stores and meeting people (networking for the benefit of La Buena Vida), Heiner was working on the SSB (another networking issue!).

We both met afterwards with success stories! My pound of Elmo made italian sausages (http://www.satansbreath.com/) and his new SSB antenna system! What more can you want in a day? Dolphins swimming around the anchorage? Sure, we had that too!

Ah! qu'il a fait bon aujourd'hui de se promener dans les rues de Beaufort. Bien que j'aie eu un plan de ma journée en embarquant dans l'annexe ce matin, la rencontre de Dana et Jean-Pierre au quai public a donne un tout autre "twist" au reste de la journée. Apres avoir échange les sempiternelles questions du nom du bateau, de la destination, et du mouillage, le sujet de la bouffe a fait surface! Ces deux la m'ont mis sur la piste d'une maison privée sur la rue Turner ou les saucisses sont faites sur place par un monsieur du nom d'Elmo. Je me suis laissée tenter par cette aventure et suis allée visiter cet endroit tout a fait charmant.

http://www.satansbreath.com/


J'y ai passe presque une heure a jaser avec ces deux personnages tout a fait charmants. J''ay acheté du piment mexicain et du sel mesquite en plus d'une livre des saucisse italiennes piquantes que nous dégusterons demain!

Are we in December already???????The exceptionally cold weather still persists but the winds have weakened...yesterday night was quiet and the coming night should also be peaceful although close to freezing temperatures are forecasted for the area. We lighted both our oil lamps to make it really cozy...listening to Chopin and eating hot soup! Saturday, warmer temperatures around 20C should be back...

Yesterday we set a goal, namely to have the boat ready by Sunday to go offshore...and we made a list, yes, another "To do" list...We drove 8 miles in order to buy Kerosene for our stove and lamps (I was exceptionally kind to the dockmaster who let me borrow the car of the marina) and Heiner filled all the diesel tanks and canisters. He still has to replace our stove burners and attempt to rig a more efficient SSB antenna, get in touch with Chris Parker (the propagation is very poor and we can't hear him at all@!##) and inspect all pipes and pumps...When our friend arrives, we will go over the emergency procedures with him as we got our Epirb today and will put a survival bag together. It is very challenging to prepare for such a long passage...

Several boats have left Beaufort to sail outside to Charleston...and other boaters have used the exceptionally low tides to do bottom jobs...

The banks seen here on the picture are the Shackleford banks usually inhabited by wild ponies...we have not seen one this year. http://www.shacklefordhorses.org/

Au réveil, le soleil brillait et malgré les vagues dans le mouillage, j’ai sauté dans l’annexe et je me suis rendue au quai - sans me mouiller - pour aller marcher!!! Ah! Terra ferma! Je voudrais même intituler ce petit paragraphe La journée des pieds! D’abord parce que j’ai fait ma marche ...à pieds, près de 3 milles pour aller faire des courses et explorer les environs. A l’épicerie Piggly Wiggly (une préférée des afro-américains), dans l’étalage des viandes, je suis tombée sur des pieds de cochon! Pas trop ragoûtants... puis sur des cartons de pieds de poulets! Encore moins ragoûtants!!! Bon, en sortant, je reprends ma marche et mon regard se fixe sur le trottoir...encore des pieds! Pas les miens..mais bien ceux d’un petit héron ou cormoran qui semblait être tombé de bien haut...voilà ma petite histoire de pieds! Mais blague à part, ce fut tellement reposant de ne pas me sentir bardasser de tous cotés et être en contrôle de ma personne, ne pas entendre le bruit du vent, et suivre mon rythme! Bien que je sois venue ici a plusieurs reprises, je retournerai a terre demain pour prendre des photos des jolies maisons historiques du quartier et de leurs jardins ou les azalées sont en fleurs!!!

The wind is still blowing between 20 and 25 knots, as predicted and it is cold! Very soon after I fnished my blogging yesterday evening, the wind picked up ...the sky darkened to a dramatic dark grey and the water was foaming! What a sight! This photograph is very unclear but may give an idea to our boater friends what it was like!

The temperature fell quickly and the wind was at a steady 25-30 knots with gusts around 35. The evening was long...all kinds of horns were heard because boats were dragging, one landed on its side after his anchor dragged and brought him on the sand banks. Tow Boat US came but to no avail...they pulled him but just to push it on the opposite side. After 3 hours of work the guys were exhausted and they did the right thing: set another anchor in deep water and waited for the tide to rise! Anyhow, we were awake until 2h30 am...Heiner stayed up all night while I went to bed for a couple of hours but it was so cold...with the wind blowing from behind (the tide had turned) and we did not dare closing the boat because so much was going on...Anyhow, we read and around 1h30, we had an entire chocolate bar (belgian, evidemment!) with a cup of hot dark chocolate (merci Joanne! that was a nice gift)...Great work Captain Heiner, you anchored the boat really well!

Les vents sont encore forts - entre 20 and 25 noeuds - et il fait froid! Quelle nuit nous avons eue! J’ai eu à peine le temps de finir mon blog hier soir que les vents ont grimpé jusqu’à 25-30 noeuds avec pointe d’à peu près 35...et un refroidissement de la température vraiment rapide...la soirée a été longue!!! Heiner est resté debout, ‘en uniforme", car il y avait de l’action dans le mouillage. On entendait des cris, des bruits de moteurs et d’alarmes car les bateaux chassaient et il y en a même un qui est resté sur le banc de sable car la marée était basse...Moi je me suis permis une petite sieste entre deux lectures; vers 1h30 du matin, on a mangé du chocolat belge et bu notre délicieux cacao foncé (merci Joanne...ton cadeau est apprecié!). Bravo à mon capitaine qui avait bien enfoui nos deux ancres!

We have finally arrived in Beaufort, North Carolina. Another gale in the forecast...thanks! We set 2 anchors as is the rule here because of tides, currents, and other challenges... So, before we loose this great Internet connection, here is a little summary since we left Belhaven. We stayed longer in Belhaven than anticipated...but we used the time well. We fixed our wind machine - our Felix - successfully and we now can enjoy the gale force winds (!) because they produce electricity! and so we can do some Internet surfing, Skyping, etc...These technicalities are soooooo important when one cruises...

This is the type of landscape that we have enjoyed here in Pamlico Sound, Adams Creek, and all along North Carolina rivers...pine with long needles, quiet creeks (mind you we were 15 boats anchored in Broad Creek yesterday...years ago, 2 or 3 of us would anchor there!!).

We saw many dolphins along the way, a trio of big grey ones swimming along our boat for about 15 minutes ...we could almost touch them!!! One nevers stops enjoying their presence!

So that' it for today...our boat is anchored and waiting for the stormy night. We will probably keep watch as the anchorage is rather full and winds and currents can procduce interesting shifts!

Nous voilà rendus à Beaufort, Caroline du Nord. On annonce encore une tempête avec des vents forts (30+ noeuds) et un refroidissement des températures ...dommage! Mais comme nous avons réparé notre éolienne, nous profitons des vents forts en produisant de l'électricité!! Frigo, ordi, musique, pas de problèmes! Nous avons fait bonne route depuis Belhaven, admirant les beaux paysages typique de la Caroline avec les pins a longues aiguilles et les bancs sablonneux. Nous resterons ici jusqu'a notre départ pour les Iles Vierges...donc on attend la fenêtre météo..et notre ami Lindsay qui arrivera samedi.

Voilà, c'est tout pour aujourd'hui...nous devons faire des tâches avant que le vent ne se lève trop!

Belhaven, North carolina.

We enjoyed our stay at Elizabeth city and went for supper to a wellknown "Southern style" restaurant "The Colonial" http://thecolonialrestaurant.com/history.htm with Woody on "Bird", Skip and Kathleen on the amazing schooner "Mistress" http://www.1930schoonermistress.com/ and Terry and Mike of "Resolute"! What a nice evening! It wa smild outside, the food was good. I had catfish! it did not go very well with my corn pudding but what the hell...Heiner had Pot Pork Pie that lokks unlike anything we had seen before! but he liked it...and Woody had fried chicken livers which were delicious! We love collard greens...even cold with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and chillies they are quite tasty (Thanks Woody for the tip!).

We have been having good northerly winds since we left Elizabeth City, at the end or our travel in the Dismal Swamp. We cross the Albermarle sound and the Alligator river up to Tuckahoe Point (

And now we are in Belhaven waiting for the stormy weather to stop...and my time at the Library is over!!! Two days to Beaufort....

Aujourd'hui le blog commence en francais.......pour faire a balance des choses! Sorry folks, too many times have I begun in English with the result that I had not more energy for my French version ....

Bien que la navigation soit devenue un peu plus facile du fait que nous soyons entrés dans un canal menant à la Dismal Swamp, ce fut quand même très sportif d’entrer dans l’écluse de Deep Creek avec ces vents et le nombre de voiliers (8)! Il n’y a maintenant qu’une ouverture dans l’après-midi, soit 15heures et l’éclusier, Robert (la depuis toujours…) aime bien parler à chacun des skippers, faire des blagues, et donc toute cette histoire dure une heure!!! Dismal Swamp…sonne bizarre? Oui, ce canal existe depuis 200 ans et a joue un rôle très important dans l’histoire des Etats-Unis. Et le mot « Dismal » qui veut dire dégoûtant vient du fait que ce canal par lequel William Byrd dû passer était tellement sauvage que Byrd l’a ainsi dénommé : le canal – dont les eaux ont la couleur du thé noir - fut taillé à la main par les esclaves !
Nous y sommes donc ancrés, ce soir, dans ce canal de 50 pieds de large...on peut presque toucher les arbres des deux cotés!!! Ca fait un beau decor pour l'apero!!!!

To know more about this wonderful natural area, visit the numerous links...such as http://www.albemarle-nc.com/gates/greatdismal/

We'll pass the whole day tomorrow in this wonderful area!

Nous avons quitté la marina de Hampton à la surprise de tous: il ventait à écorner les boeufs et les coups de vents étaient encore plus forts. Nous avons eu l’aide d’autres plaisanciers accostés près de nous et finalement, nous avons bien negotié les piliers de bois entre deux coups de vents! Nous avions le vent derrière alors les 25-30 nœuds en plus du courant en notre faveur nous ont fait traverser le port de Norfolk à une vitesse épatante – 6.8 nœuds!

On sait pas trop si la marine américaine souffre d'insécurité ou d'un surplus de cordage!!!

What's happening here???? Feelings of insecurity or surplus of lines???It looked interesting!

Il y avait eu une réunion de grands voiliers à Norfolk en fin de semaine et donc, plusieurs étaient encore à quai lorsque nous sommes passés!!!

There was a tall ships reunion in Norfolk and several of them were still docked as we zoomed by this morning!!

On the way back, we decided to practice the most popular american sport: outlet mall shopping! That requires skills that we seemed to have lost since the beginning of our boat life!!! Negotiating huge mall parking lots, finding the right exits ...and the right Mall "neighbourhood" as they call it...

but we found great deals on sandals, finns for snorkeling, and and and...

After such a success, our mood was great and we decided to visit the Library of Congress. What a gem!

We found great pleasure in walking in the sun, listening to the conversations of Washingtonians about Obama, McCain and the upcoming elections. We were often approached by volunteers of the Democrat Party ...do we look like Democrats???? or borderline Republicans??????

Besides the fact that the face of war is omnipresent in the streets and subway system (many posters with images of warriors, war, military images), we enjoyed strolling on streets such as 7th street, G street, even went to the little Harry's bar for a pint.

That evening, we celebrated by having dinner in a very warm and cozy trattoria called Cafe Pizzaiolio..just what we needed to put an end to this unexpected detour from the waterways!

The catch of the day..........CATCH 22!!! Dealing with bureaucratic issues is seldom pleasurable but if you are traveling, and by boat, it will surely make the rubic's cube challenge look easy...To make a very long story as short as possible, let's try this: if you have a question about issue X, contact us at this 888 number. OK...but we are in the US and this number is only for Canada. No problem, a friend phones....instruction is given to him that we have to fax a letter to an Ottawa office...but he does not have the fax number and it is impossible to find..we decided to send a response by courier. It is also suggested that we contact the Canadian Embassy closest to our location. OK...we walk 2 miles to phone..pay phones are rare these days (Thanks to the good people of Deltaville who gave us rides that day..). After several "Press 2" Press 5" Press 9" the voice says that we cannot talk to anybody in this office and that all the information is on the website. Really????????That's when we came to the realization that going to the Consulate was the only way to (eventually) obtain answers and clarification. So we did...we like D.C so we left the boat here in this Hampton Public Piers Marina and rented a car ...it would have been a great day to leave the Chesapeake Bay and enter the Dismal Swamp! Instead here we are in this Nissan zipping the highways...like before our boat life!

The weather was gorgeous in D.C. and we made our way to our Embassy. The wonderful sculpture of Bill Reid greeted us at the entrance. The rest of the process made us feel uncomfortable...we did not have a "human encounter" at the Consular services...just in a 5x5 room with a telephone. It reminded me confession at church! The visa department was a little bit more real and our quest ended on a positive note!!!!!!!!!!!! The trip was worth it!!!

We arrived in Hampton Roads after a long day of motoring from Deltaville, Virginia. While Deltaville is a quiet place, there is always some excitement looking at boats entering the various anchorages...it's a little tricky stretch that requires the skipper to keep a good eye on the canal markers because there is not much water here. There was this English boat ...mind you, the bottom was in dire need of a bottom job! We did not see anybody scraping though!

The evening was warm and I could not resist trying to take a shot of our boat in moonshine!

Although it's always a little difficult to get up in the darkness (6h30!), the sunrise is always rewarding...and in addition, there was our first sighting of dolphins swimming along the boat! If dolphins and pelicans are around, you know that you have reached the warmer latitudes!!!

On Sunday, we left early once again and enjoyed another beautiful sunrise…As pretty as it is to sail in the sunrise, it becomes very tricky to see the numerous crab pots with the sun in your eyes. Especially when we are motoring, we remain vigilant…we like crabs but not in our prop!!That day, we passed in front of the Potomac river, a 10 miles long entrance! The Potomac is an impressive and mighty river: in a previous trip, we had gone to St-Marys but we never attempted to go the 95 miles to Washington DC. It is also historically interesting to cross or sail the river for the simple fact that here catholics and protestants have cohabited – not always peacefully –since the beginnings of the United states. In the 17th century, one had to choose the Maryland side of the river if catholic and the Virginia side if protestant…and it is still the same today! On the way to our destination Reedsville (Virginia), there were several sailboats enjoying the nice breeze. One caught up with us and came closer and closer…I thought that the crew was a friendly-minded one and wished to talk to us (or hand us lunch)…yes, the boat was coming that close (30feet). My captain believed, however, that the skipper of Moondance (Baltimore), a Sabre38, simply wanted to pass us without having to diverge from his autopilot set waypoint! Finally realizing that this would not be possible, he grudgingly took the wheel and pass us with an angry face !!! Yes, there are such cruisers…

Reedsville, Virginia. A German fellow cruiser had found Reedsville’s anchorage very pittoresque and so, we decided to enter the little bay …having to face local traffic! There is a still active fishing industry here and those vessels are on the bay, every day. Menhaden are the fishes caught by their nets. While the initial mile in the creek did not offer very glamourous surroundings , the surprise was even greater when we sailed deeper in one creek leading to Reedsville!

While we were sipping our wine, a local couple that lives on the bay came to wish us welcome in Reedsville. Such is the Virginian welcome! We spent several hours in the cockpit that night, listening to the numerous song birds but also to “our” Canadian geese that have arrived here to spend their winter.

The wind forecasts for the following days were such that we sailed down the bay, from one nice anchorage to the next. After leaving Annapolis, our first night was in quiet Rhode river. It felt good to be surrounded by nature instead of the hustle and bustle of Annapolis. Our goal was to reach Solomons Island (Maryland) the next day and so, we left Rhode river early and had a wonderful sail with spinnaker up to our destination. On the way, we listened to Cuban music, had a cigar and really enjoyed the warm autumn day.

The are more sailboats in Solomons than ever before but it was relatively quiet despite being a long weekend (Columbus day).

Saturday was Calvert Museum day (maritime museum of the region http://www.calvertmarinemuseum.com/) and there were hundred of locals gathering on the grounds for what seemed to be a very popular event.

There was some seafood to be bought but we preferred buying shrimps at the local seafood store for a somptuous lunch! That afternoon, we also met the crew of a swedish boat Firefly and were very thankful when they offered us to borrow their car to do some shopping. We had learned that day that the bus connection was discontinued on weekends (!). Wow, after a month of so of not driving a car, it was great to be able to go so fast and carry so much stuff..such are the small joys of cruisers!!!! While we were driving on the bridge crossing the Patuxent river, we enjoyed the view from there…

We finally left Annapolis after a very long stay filled with new encounters , new and useful acquisitions - like this new 200mW USB connector + antenna that enables us to connect to the Internet here, in the nowhere ! So, yes, we left today when the boatshow started...look at this jungle!

We sailed about 10 miles in a light SE wind, enjying the tranquility of the water, the smell of salt and wind before finding a quiet little anchorage in Rhode River where we admire the sunset! We will leave tomorrow very early with a light NE to make it to the Solomons Islands, 40 milles south of here!

Nous avons enfin quitte Annapolis apres un sejour qui a dure plus longtemps qu'anticipe. Mais nous y avons fait des achats bien utiles et de belles rencontres..que dire de voir Heiner tenant cette jeune francaise dans ses bras???

C'est donc sur cette note que nous avons decide de reprendre la route et de nous diriger lentement vers les Iles Solomons, a 40 milles au sud de Annapolis...

The boat show fever is being felt...more and more sailboats are gathering around Annapolis. Its fun but it also remarkable to see so many sailboats of all classes and ages crisscrossing the waters of the bay. Because the day started on the chilly side (14C) we had our first coffee inside until the sun peaked above the treeline of Spa creek and warmed up the cockpit...then, only then, did we go outside to sip the rest of the coffee pot and enjoy our apple poppy seed pancakes. The rest of the day was spent doing errands, and around 2pm, we went for a little sightseeing in a neighbourhood called Eastport which used to host the most important oyster packing plant of the region...and the McNasby plant will now be revived as the Annapolis Maritime Museum. Check it out at this link:http://www.amaritime.org/history.html Such a nice tour made us thirsty and brought us right back at the Ramshead Tavern where we had been enjoying the happy hour yesterday with the Douce Folie crew Benoit and Andree! We had all enjoyed the "seafood happy hour" experience. Today was roastbeef and turkey with one of their great brews (the Tavern Ale is our preferred one). Should you visit Annapolis, don't forget to visit the Ramshead Tavern on West street!

... still in Annapolis!

Had to do a couple of projects: outboard engine did quit the day we arrived (fixed); our Internet connection was not great and we decided to get another WiFi antenna (which works great as you can see !!!!); rigging re-tuned, some parts ordered and bought (wind generator bearings, water catching system) ... and having to deal with some bureaucratic issues.

But it is a good place to do all these things. We will stay another few days, until the wind shifts back North again and we will move on ... or so we think?!