Escaping the Ooze-like Mud Tentacles of Broad Creek

September 22, 2005

Friday, September 16, 2005 - Steve and Sally Dock, Oriental, NC
By Amy

The weather finally cleared up enough (and we were rested enough) to venture out into the world. We dinghied to my dad's place to check for damage. His house was the only one in the area that didn't have water creep into the garage--got close, but not quite. The sights were usual post-hurricane fare--lots of downed tree limbs and weird stuff that floated away from home. All in all, not bad.

We began putting stuff back together but didn't make astonishing progress. By afternoon, I was Jonesing for high-speed Internet, so I dragged Thomas to The Bean, which boasts cheap but awesome ice cream and WiFi. Spent a couple hours playing around online, then he dragged me to the Toucan for further news of the storm, accompanied by draft beer. Happy hour at Steve & Sally's and Old Bay shrimp for dinner. Early to bed so we can be mega-productive tomorrow

Saturday, September 17, 2005 - Steve and Sally Dock, Oriental, NC
By Tom

We ventured back over to the buddy Fred's house this morning to finish picking up his yard. While we were there, we availed ourselves of his laundry facilities. Thanks Buddy Fred.

Amy and Sally went kayaking this morning and I took the dinghy around the point to look at the ketch pictured on the right. He drug anchor during the storm and ended up here on his side. None of us were really surprised to see her here as we saw the owner when he was trying to anchor her. Suffice it to say that he will not be asked to be the poster boy for Anchors Are Us.

In other news, we continued with putting the boat back together. We re-installed the head sail as well as the bimini in the cockpit. We also got most of our fishing gear back on and re-seated the grill. Hopefully tomorrow will see things return to normal on board.

In the evening, Amy and I went into town for pizza and pool. You didn't hear it from me, but I spanked her three games to none.

Sunday, September 18, 2005 - Steve and Sally Dock, Oriental, NC
By Amy

This morning, I continued my Kayak Tour of Destruction, examining boats in precarious situations (see photos). We are hopeful about leaving Steve & Sally's sometime early next week. It seems this news has created a disturbance in the atmosphere (similar to a disturbance in the Force), thereby spawning not one but TWO tropical depression/storms. Philippe is a ways off, but tropical depression #18 is brewing in the Bahamas.

Despite the activity in the Atlantic, we kept chugging away at getting ready to go. That meant a trip to New Bern for various provisions. We also put the mainsail and cover and any remaining canvas back on. That should be equivalent to putting out a homing beacon for those storms, so North Carolina beware!

In the afternoon, Thomas and I played "head to head Pac-Man" (each playing a separate game on our own laptop). I may have lost at pool yesterday, but I creamed him at Pac-Man.

We expect to have happy hour at Steve & Sally's, as usual, and may bring a "sample ham." We finally found canned hams (real, not SPAM) that don't need to be refrigerated. This might be a boon for our Bahamas cuisine, where affordable meat products are difficult to find, so we bought one to try. It is embarrassing when that is the most exciting part of the day.

Monday, September 19, 2005 - Steve and Sally Dock, Oriental, NC
By Tom

The canned ham worked out ok. Maybe some of you know about theses already, but this is a fairly new innovation for us. It wasn't as good as a fresh ham, but then I didn't really expect it to be. For those who are interested, I have detailed the Canned Ham Cooking Procedures or C.H.C.P. in detail.

First remove said ham from the can or tin as I heard it referred to. Next liberally wash off gel-like residue substance that I assume helps preserve the meat. I don't really know this for sure, but I like to think the goo was supposed to be there and did not grow spontaneously after canning.

Once your ham product is thoroughly cleansed, place the surprisingly uniform square of ham substance in an oven capable bowl or pan and coat judiciously with essence of soy sauce and pineapple. Once the drenching is complete, I packed light brown sugar tightly around our test specimen and topped him off with canned pineapples.

Now, cook the entire ensemble for 15 minutes at 350. In actuality, the ham beast is already cooked, so all we are really doing is re-heating the meat product. When the time is up cut said ham into servable portions and eat.

Wow, I wonder if I can send this recipe to Martha? It may not be up to her standards, but it wasn't bad. I think we will be adding several canned hams to our Bahamas stores.

Ok, enough ham news. On the boat front, I cleaned out both anchor lockers and repacked our 100 pounds of ferret food. We also finished putting the boat back together from the hurricane. I think we will be leaving in the next day or two, as soon as our other AC water pump shows up

Tuesday, September 20, 2005 - Steve and Sally Dock, Oriental, NC
By Amy

It's our last last day at Steve & Sally's. After three attempts, I think this might be when we finally break free and begin our trek south.

In preparation we put a finishing coat of paint on our Kuub pieces. It's embarrassing; I think we paid about $5 for the materials to make the pieces themselves, but have now blown more decorating them--and they look like shit. Note for future Kuub-game makers: use spray paint not brush-on enamel.

Steve & Sally seem incapable of letting us depart (or even say we might depart) without cooking for us. That's fine by me. We had a wonderful dinner of prime rib, potatoes, broccolli and salad. Mmmm. We were back home by 8:30 (after Wheel of Fortune & Jeopardy) and watched Point Break, that cheesy movie with Keanu and Patrick Swayze. I think Keanu's part could have been done better by the turtle from Nemo. (Righteous, dude!) To bed at a reasonable hour for final departure in the morning

Wednesday, September 21, 2005 - Oriental Harbor, Oriental, NC
By Tom

We finally escaped from the Steve and Sally Health Spa and Retreat today. The mud barely released its tentacle like grasp on our hull, but in the end we were able to power away.

All kidding aside, we really enjoyed our time with Steve and Sally and I recommend that all of our dedicated reader come spend at least a month in their back yard. They won't mind, I promise.

Anyhow, once we cleared the black hole of Broad Creek, we managed to raise the main sail and pole out the genny for a wild ride down to Oriental at the furious pace of almost 3 knots. It was definitely a white knuckle affair.

After about three hours and twenty minutes of drifting/sailing we managed to enter the Oriental harbour. We were planning on anchoring out as we may be over our alloted 48 hours in 30 days at the free town dock, but being that it was a school day (Wednesday) and no one was tied up to the free dock, we decided we couldn't let it go to waste.

Safely tied up, we ventured into town to get a few last minute supplies and then we retired to the air conditioned comfort of the Toucans. We have kind of made friends with the day time bar tender who is also Amy and as such, we sat and hung out with her and watched CNN until 5 pm when she got off.

Back at the mother ship we made dinner, which was comprised of London Broil based fajitas. Amy, Mila and I liked the meal, Milo did not.

Tomorrow we head for Beaufort

Thursday, September 22, 2005 - Taylor Creek, Beaufort, NC
By Amy

We continue the familiar trek from Broad Creek to Beaufort. Today was relatively hot and totally windless. We motored the whole way, and with the exception of seeing a couple of dolphins, the trip didn't provide me with much to report.

When we arove in Beaufort, we did a scan of the mooring field, wondering how many boats had been taken out by the storm. The answer: about five. Fortunately, the docks and the rest of the land-based stuff seemed to have faired very well. We were able to fill up with gasoline at a whopping $3.23 per gallon and, still reeling from that expense, cram our way into the anchorage.

We hung about the boat for a while, computing and such. Later we went in to FINZ for a drink, but were driven away quickly by the group of very drunk, very loud girls in the corner. It was back to the boat for movie night and bed.