Saturday, April 28, 2012

Home Again, Home Again

It has been a week since Freedom slipped alongside the dock at Sailing Associates Marina in Georgetown, MD. Good friends Andy, Al and Donna, as well as marina owners Patrick and Patty were there to catch our lines, extend a hearty welcome and pass a cold beer across the rails. Six months ago, minus a week, we had left an icy dock and headed south on our Snow Bird adventure.

We had headed up the Chesapeake Bay with mixed emotions: happy to be back in familiar territory, looking forward to seeing family and friends, and yet longing to stay afloat, living by our own schedule. But the strength of friendship pulled us in along with our lines, and it felt good. Afternoon turned into evening as we sat on the Calypso Deck sharing stories and laughs. Home again.

You've heard the expression "It Takes a Village," and once again it rings true. We could not have endeavored such a trip without a lot of help from our friends -- from our "pit crew" on the Sassafras who made sure we were in ship shape before leaving, to the anonymous friends who provided guidance via online sites: Active Captain and Cruisers Net, to the new friends and fellow cruisers we met along the way with their depth of knowledge and willingness to share, to all the friends and family who jumped on board and kept us company -- we could not have done it without a single one of you. Thank You, Thank You!

Time to start thinking about next year..........

Monday, April 16, 2012

Dismal News about the Swamp

We have spent the past week traveling under a Carolina Blue sky from the low country of South Carolina, through the marshlands of northern South Carolina, and past North Carolina's Outer Banks. As I write we are anchored about 30 miles south of the NC/VA border, once again surrounded by marshlands and no signs of civilization.

Fair weather, low winds and flat seas allowed us to traverse the Neuse River, the Pamlico River, and the Albemarle Sound with ease. Last fall we waited three days for a weather window to cross the Albemarle, so this was a great relief.

Our goal for this trip north has been to visit favorite stops, and explore new ones. With a few extra travel days at our disposal we decided to try the Dismal Swamp Canal route between Elizabeth City, NC and Norfolk, VA, instead of the more heavily traveled Virginia Cut/Coinjock-Norfolk route. Although we were a bit concerned about running aground (the 'controlling depth' is 6 feet, meaning the water is no lower than 6' at any point) we decided to forge ahead anyway.

The Great Dismal Swamp is known for its abundance of wildlife and relative lack of human habitation. The name alone enticed us.

 In 1763 George Washington suggested draining the swamp, harvesting the the cypress for shipbuilding and the cedar for shingles. and the cleared land could be used for farming. Washington eventually sold his interest in the land to "Lighthouse" Harry Lee, father of Robert E. Lee. Timber continued to be harvested until the 1950's when the last tree was cut down. After the  Union Camp Company donated its holdings in  1973 the area was designated as the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge.

Edgar Allen Poe is said to have written 'The Raven" in a hotel at the NC/VA border of the swamp, and Edna Ferber crafted "ShowBoat" after seeing Jane Adams' Floating Theatre along the waterway.

So, off we went this morning, destination: The Great Dismal Swamp. Just after we veered off of the well traveled Virginia Cut route along the Albermarle Sound we caught a conversation on Channel 16:
A boater in Elizabeth City was alerting another captain that the Elizabeth City  bridge, height 12' was inoperable, and repairs were being measured in days not hours. I called the bridge tender to confirm.He seemed optimistic that repairs would be completed by days end, but he was not sure what needed to be done. Hmmmm. There is no way Freedom could get under the bridge without an opening, and we were taking a bit of a chance with the controlling depth, as we draw 5'10", and our fuel tanks are full which may make us sit a bit lower.

Sadly, we reset our course, leaving the Dismal Swamp behind. Maybe next time.......


The Great Dismal Swamp was the lure of many men seeking fortune from the vast land and abundant natural supply of valuable lumber. One of the first and most famous  business supporters of the Great Dismal Swamp was George Washington himself.   It was his suggestion to build the actual Canal which was begun in 1793.  There is  now a system of Canals and Ditches including a feeder ditch from Lake Drummond (approximate center of the swamp) which keeps the system supplied with water.  The Dismal Swamp Canal's  first vessel was a shingle flat which christened the canal with the first  voyage in 1805.   The steamship Thomas Newton  was one of many steam vessels to carry freight and passengers through the Great Dismal Swamp.   At one time the swamp was fully commercialized and included a number of Railroads to move the valuable timber to Norfolk and Suffolk and points South. The  historic canal is now recognized as  part of the National Underground Railroad and noted as a former sanctuary for runaway slaves seeking freedom.he Great Dismal Swamp was the lure of many men seeking fortune from the vast land and abundant natural supply of valuable lumber. One of the first and most famous  business supporters of the Great Dismal Swamp was George Washington himself.   It was his suggestion to build the actual Canal which was begun in 1793.  There is  now a system of Canals and Ditches including a feeder ditch from Lake Drummond (approximate center of the swamp) which keeps the system supplied with water.  The Dismal Swamp Canal's  first vessel was a shingle flat which christened the canal with the first  voyage in 1805.   The steamship Thomas Newton  was one of many steam vessels to carry freight and passengers through the Great Dismal Swamp.   At one time the swamp was fully commercialized and included a number of Railroads to move the valuable timber to Norfolk and Suffolk and points South. The  historic canal is now recognized as  part of the National Underground Railroad and noted as a former sanctuary for runaway slaves seeking freedom.The Great Dismal Swamp was the lure of many men seeking fortune from the vast land and abundant natural supply of valuable lumber. One of the first and most famous  business supporters of the Great Dismal Swamp was George Washington himself.   It was his suggestion to build the actual Canal which was begun in 1793.  There is  now a system of Canals and Ditches including a feeder ditch from Lake Drummond (approximate center of the swamp) which keeps the system supplied with water.  The Dismal Swamp Canal's  first vessel was a shingle flat which christened the canal with the first  voyage in 1805.   The steamship Thomas Newton  was one of many steam vessels to carry freight and passengers through the Great Dismal Swamp.   At one time the swamp was fully commercialized and included a number of Railroads to move the valuable timber to Norfolk and Suffolk and points South. The  historic canal is now recognized as  part of the National Underground Railroad and noted as a former sanctuary for runaway slaves seeking freedom.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Boat Names

Freedom is a "Family Name." The Capn's  maternal grandfather named his 48ft. 1920's Alden Malabar  Schooner 'Freedom', paid for with his WWI and Mexican War of Bandits stipend. It was the first privately owned yacht named Freedom in the United States. His future boats were all named Freedom. When I first met the Cap'n he was the caretaker of his grandfather's last Freedom, a mahogany hulled, cypress bottomed  36' Custom Chesapeake Bay Deadrise built with Maynard Lowry in 1958.  What a labor of love she was! And so much fun. 


The Capn's Uncle Harry continued his father's Freedom tradition with his many vessels. We received his blessing to carry on and we have done so with pride. Yet, six years and one boat ago, when we decided to purchase a Sabre 45' sailing vessel, we entertained the idea of taking a break from the name Freedom. That is, until our children found out. They were HORRIFIED, AGHAST, and almost SPEECHLESS! "How could we do such a thing?", they implored., "That's what we do, we name our boats Freedom."  Changing our last name might have been more palatable. So Freedom it was, and will be.


It is a good name, actually.  Aside from the family tradition,  it conjures independence and patriotism.  Not a bad combination.


Over the years I have been alternately inspired, entertained and appalled by boat names we have seen. Here are the top boat names in 2011:

  1. Seas the Day
  2. Nauti Buoy
  3. Aquaholic
  4. Dream Weaver
  5. Pegasus
  6. Serenity Now
  7. Second Wind
  8. Liquid Asset
  9. Miss Behavin'
  10. Blew ByYou
(#9 & 10 are my favorites in that list)

In the late '90's a popular name was Wet Dream (really people?) And a crew member reports seeing a muscle boat sporting the name Ejaculation (can middle schoolers own boats?)

Fast forward to the 20teens, and we have seen : Broke and Drunk (okay maybe a take on the defunct country duo Brooks and Dunn, but I'm not going on that boat). Another questionable siting: Phineas J Whoppee. (Huh?)

Fortunately, many boat owners have grown up, given it some thought and selected boat names with sentiment, sophisticated humor, a nod to tradition, and/or a clever mind.  Among my favorites seen on the Chesapeake Bay, the ICW, and beyond:

Water We Doing?
CGullSeeker
C\:[esc]         (think about it)
Lady Love
Jacunda
Dark 'n  Stormy           (ever been thirsty in Bermuda?)
Hot Tamale                (a red hull, natch)
Lucky Duck           (quack, quack, quack, quack, quack)

In a class by themselves are fishing boats, and tugs, whose captains tend to name their vessels after their own lady love:

Miss Josephine
Sharon Anne
Island Girls
Sara Kaitlin
Suzanne's Fling


After all these months (years) on the water, I have developed my own set of rules (opinions) for boat names and their display:

1) Grow up, you are lucky enough to own a boat, respect that. (ie, don't name your something the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club will not announce at the finish line because it is socially unacceptable or suggestive) 

2) Clever spelling is a burden  (ask any Jenipher). To avoid annoyance on both sides, spell your boat name phonetically. Pity the approaching boat captain who is trying to hail you on Channel 16.

3) Ditto for the font on your stern (curlicues are clever, but not legible; if you carry your dinghy across the stern, stencil the boat name on the bottom)


4) Private jokes are,  well, private

Finally, my all time favorite boat name, first seen on Back Creek near Annapolis in the 80"s:

Lovely Martha

Has a ring to it, doesn't it?

The Easter Promenade


While another city might have an Easter Parade, Charleston has a Promenade. Hosted by the Hat Ladies (NOT to be confused with The Red Hat Society, the Store for hats, www.hatladies.com, or any other hat groups based in Charleston) the Promenade marked it's 11th year on Saturday the 8th.  And the ladies celebrated in style:


Ruffles and Ribbons and a well-dressed escort. I think she was the "Head Hat" because she was  at the front of the line. 

A well-dressed family, right down to the dog!

Beautiful hat, Great shoes, but ooh my feet hurt just thinking about the long walk she has ahead of her!

Dogs, Hats, Fans, and Hula Hoops. This Promenade had it all.





Elegant mothers with Hat Ladies in training (plus, notice the jaunty red hat on the left)

These lovely lasses opted for the trendy Fascinator look. And they wore it well.

You can tell style runs through all the generations of this family.

There are no words......

I LOVE that she wore her Girl Scout vest in the Promenade. I hope she gets a fancy patch for it. This was one of my favorite pairs.

Finally, our Mistress of Ceremonies. She welcomed us all to the Promenade, and encouraged us to join her in singing The Easter Parade., as she did over the entire 15 minutes that it took for the women to promenade past us.  Who knew it had so many verses? (or maybe she was singing the one verse over and over).

What a great day in Charleston: The Saturday Farmer's Market (my second favorite ever), the Promenade, a Hidden Gardens Tour and dinner at Circa 1889.  Nothin' could be finer......















Thursday, April 5, 2012

Finding Forest Gump

We left Beautiful Beaufort this morning, but before I tell you all about I must backtrack to Isle of Hope.  Some friends suggested we stop there for a night or two, instead of another Savannah marina, and we sure are happy they did.

Gusty thunderstorms crossed the area soon after we tied up at Isle of Hope Marina on Saturday. When the rain let up a bit we took the marina loaner car on a shopping trip, picking up some local BBQ for dinner(advertised as 'The Best in South", is wasn't , but it wasn't bad either).

Sunday morning dawned sunny and warm and we set out to tour  Wormsloe, home of Noble Jones who arrived in Georgia in with James Oglethorpe and the first English colonists in 1733. The tabby ruins of is home,  and his gravesite are on display, along with Living History Camps. Wormsloe was one of three plantations built to protect the young colony from Spanish invasion.

The first thing you see upon arriving at Wormsloe is the allee of Live Oak Tees stretching for almost a mile along the dirt driveway. It is the very driveway where Forest Gump ran off his braces in the movie by the same name. Run Forest Run!

Later in the afternoon we walked along Bluff Drive, the 1800's summer playground of Savannah's elite and discovered the true charm of Isle of Hope: A row of picket fence lined cottages, stately homes, dogs asleep on porches, live oak trees dripping with spanish moss, magnolias, children swimming in the river, white azaleas, being greeted as if we were neighbors.  It was like a page from Southern Living Magazine or a scene from a movie.

Beaufort truly is a movie star:  The Big Chill, Prince of Tides, and Forest Gump were all filmed there. It is quintessential low country: stately homes lining the water, where the families of wealthy planters would spend their summers to enjoy the breezes and avoid the heat, humidity and mosquito borne diseases on the plantations; massive live oak trees, some with trunks ups to 12' in diameter,; lush gardens, tended with care; and marshes as far as the eye can see.

Beaufort boasts a lively waterfront  park lined with porch swings suspended from ivy covered arches,  a green where we watched a spirited bocce game, brick walking paths, and an amphitheatre where on summer nights they screen locally filmed flicks. Restaurants over look the park, with a row of shops just a block away.   A bit off the beaten path was The Chocolate Tree, where I picked up a box of chocolates just like Forest did (the shop made his box for the movie)-- and what I got was a delicious assortment. I hope Tom Hanks enjoyed them as much as the Cap'n and I did. I also purchased a handful of suckers made by Parkside Candies, a childhood haunt in Buffalo, NY.

While on a walking tour guided by Jon Sharp, a former Hollywood actor who "shipwrecked " in Beaufort 20 years ago, we were shown historic homes owned by the Cap'ns ancestors as well as homes occupied by famous movie stars while they were in town for filming. Unfortunately, in the early 1900's fire destroyed over 40 ante-bellum homes. Despite that loss, the town is still full of homes built in classic West Indies style, situated to catch the prevailing summer southern winds, with high basements, double staircases known as 'the welcoming arms of the south' and wrap around porches.

We'll be back to Beaufort......

(PS; pictures to follow)