Fur Ball Stoways or Persecuted Ferrets

May 5, 2005

Sunday, May 01, 2005 - Underway, Ocean, Ocean
By Tom

We set out from Charleston and the city marina early this afternoon. The weather looks ripe for an offshore jump to either Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina via South Port or directly to Beaufort, North Carolina if the weather holds.

It is now 8 pm. and I just came off watch. Amy is holding down the fort outside and I am typing to you loyal readers. So far, we have had to motor sail as the wind is too far forward of the beam to just sail. The seas are 3 - 5 feet in a northerly swell with an added 2 foot wind chop knocking us a round for fun.

Time for some shut eye, more tomorrow.

Monday, May 02, 2005 - Wrightsville Beach, Wrightsville Beach, NC
By Tom

We made land fall off North Carolina about 5:30 am just about time first light snuck over the horizon. I decided to put in at South Port and head inside up to Wrightsville Beach rather than foot off 60 miles to clear the Frying Pan Shoals.

I know this area is suppose to be the "Graveyard of the Atlantic" and all, but it's hard to be afraid of a place called Frying Pan Shoals. Why not the Evil Shoal of Death and Destruction that will Kill You All? That would be much more terrifying.

Hey Liz (Remedy) I bet the same guy who named the Loonie named this shoal.

Anyway, we made the anchorage at Wrightsville around 4:30 after 26 hours and 175 miles. Not too bad in spite of the rougher than optimal sea state.

Let me address the title. The other day, while we were cleaning the boat, 2 new mysterious fur balls showed up. I thought the receipt from Petsmart indicated foul play, but Amy says they just showed up.

May I enter pictures shown right as prosecutors evidence part 1. You will notice there are indeed two new fur balls.

As captain of team Dream Catcher, I immediately recognized said fur balls as stowaways and as such I fated them to walk the plank. Amy, acting as lawyer for the defendants, who are oddly enough named Milo and Mila, said that they were not stoways, but in fact they were political refugees seeking escape from Ferret Persecution.

I was skeptical and as such we turned the matter over to supreme ferret emperor Maggie for a ruling. As I have seen Maggie interact with other ferrets, I was confident that not only would she have said fur balls arrested, but she would summarily execute them herself and eat them for breakfast.

It was a dark day indeed when after two days of deliberation Judge Maggie returned a not guilty verdict and granted the fur balls legal resident status. Needless to say none of the ferrets, fur balls, or human females on board are currently allowed in my bed.

If the weather holds, we are heading offshore tomorrow night and we should arrive in Beaufort by dawn.

Tuesday, May 03, 2005 - Mile Hammock, Mile Hammock, NC
By Tom

We slept in this morning, recovering from our offshore passage the night before. I finally tuned into NOAA weather around 8:30 am. The expected forecast had changed radically and NOAA was now predicting 25 - 35 knots offshore tonight!

Needless to say we canceled our planned overnighter to Beaufort and instead joined up with the crowd of boats heading up the ICW. We haven't been inside in this area before, so at least it was new scenery.

Today's tedium included 3 draw bridges and 2 swing bridges. The only excitement was at the Wrightsville Beach bridge when several boats almost got together on the restart. (Nascar reference)

Amy and I were embarrassed to be catamaran owners when we saw 2 of the 4 boats involved in the mêlée were cruising cats. I wanted to get in there and rub fenders with someone, but Amy wouldn't let me.

We motored all day in one hour shifts at the wheel. We stopped for fuel just short of the anchorage and we should have enough now to make it the rest of the way to the Buddy Fred's up past Oriental.

We are stopped in a man made basin right outside Camp Lajune where they train marines. Tonight's training involved low level helo insertion and consequently we got to watch several Black Hawks and 1 V22 Osprey make multiple landings and either take on or disembark lots of marines. Pretty cool actually.

The marines had the decency to stop shortly after sundown and a good night sleep was had by all. An early departure is planned for tomorrow as we hope to reach the dock at Buddy Fred's where we will be staying while we decide what to do next.

Wednesday, May 04, 2005 - Buddy Fred's Dock, Oriental, NC
By Tom

Another long day of motoring up the Ditch. We both remember now why we go offshore every chance we get. I honestly cannot see how people do the ICW both ways year after year.

I got up with first light and managed to get the boat underway while the rest of Team Dream Catcher stayed warm inside under the covers. It got down to 43 here last night and said crew adamantly refused to come topside until the temperature broke at least 50 degrees.

Around 10 am or so we resumed our hour on, hour off watch schedule. The day was exceptionally dull and the off watch person generally tended to hide below decks and read or play with the fur balls.

We arrived at the Buddy Fred's House just before 6 pm. Our immediate plans call for us to borrow a car and drive back to Charleston to retrieve my pick up truck and then we are going to take a few days to drive home to Maryland to visit some friends and family.

Somewhere in the midst of all this driving we are going to decide what's next for Team Dream Catcher. I think we will probably hang out at the Buddy Fred's while we plan our next move. One way or the other, it sounds like we will plan on heading south again in the fall. More to follow, stay tuned.