we actually left the dock!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!!

Here's Ben fixing up our dinghy's outboard.

Not sure what's going on with the web page here, but it is doing funny things to my pictures. I know there is a double of the one of Skippy in the boat....I have no idea what happened & it won't let me delete one.....oh well.

So here we are taking our dinghy out for it's test run. Ben got it running after a morning of cleaning parts & pulling the cord about a million times. The motor has barnacles all over it, so my guess is that it hasn't been used in a very long time.

Skippy was convinced that he was the captain. The picture on the top is of the town dock in Oriental NC. The Bean is right in the middle & it is where we get our coffee fix most mornings.

AHHHHH!!! The triumphant look on Ben's face is because we finally left our spot on the dock in Oriental & set out to Beaufort through Adam's Creek. This was taken right as we pulled out of the canal into sailcraft where we were staying. I would like to say that we will miss everyone there a lot. Thanks for all the help & for being so nice!

Thanks to Mark for all the rigging help & invite for Thanksgiving!! We would have loved to make it!! And, Thank you Turtle for the help in getting to Beaufort & for being so awesome in general. We will send you that postcard. Your paint stick is sitting on the nav station so we won't loose it.

Here is Beaufort!! Our new home for the first night out.

Ben setting our anchors!

Mission completed!

Skippy's favorite place to snooze on passages. He is shaded from the sun,and squished in place by the canvas on both sides, so when we roll he doesn't move. It's also a nice wind tunnel, so he doesn't get too hot. Pretty nice.

Ben wants me to hurry up & take the picture so he can eat his thanksgiving bird!

I made a roast chicken with vegetables, stuffing, and a pie. We were very full!!! It was a delicious chicken!

Ben carving the chicken. He did an excelent job!

Ben took this awesome picture above this morning just as the sun was coming up in Swansbouro. Very pretty.


Here I am freezing while navigating the ICW. I have my Thermals, a tank top,a long T-shirt, a fur lined hoodie, Ben's polar fleece, my scarf & hat, and a down blanket on.


I look silly, but I'm staying fairly warm.

Typical set up on the ICW.

Skippy's second picture. oops.

We are anchored out tonight & there was this crazy Christmas parade that went by with all these big power boats all lit up & decked out for the holidays. It was so funny!!! They were playing music & yelling over the loud speakers & bull horns. It's probably the last place we were expecting to see something like this. We pulled into the little anchorage we are in & it is basically a swamp! There are a few houses in the distance, but mostly hunters and fisherman in small skiffs going by. We were in the midst of gun shots & hunting dogs barking among the reeds on both sides of us one hour to Christmas parade the next....what will we see next?

Last but not least another one of Skip's favorite perches. In the companionway door where he likes to watch me cook.

Oh, also, we bought a SPOT. You can see our exact way points when you click on the link. It's pretty cool. Check it out. I think we only have two on so far & they are connected wrong, but it will get better as we figure out how to use it better. http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=09GSAiPTTFXn5LSfvHcSLmWKCn7rGBi9j

Happy Thanksgiving again & we hope to hear from you all soon!!

PS Hi grandma & grandpa!! good to talk to you & thanks for checking in & reading the blog! :)miss you!