As part of our pre-departure activities, I taught myself how to bake bread. YEAST bread. Buttermilk and top quality yeast from jars was how into-it I became. Diann gained weight, as did I. I baked bread every third day and doing so in six cup batches. One of the loaves pushed up over the rim of the pot and browned …
What A Happy Day- August 15th 2015
Diann and I slept until darn close to 10AM. After coffee and cereal I was ready to do computer related work for a while. Diann was set up on the saloon table to sew a duffel bag as a prototype to offer for sale. So…….. I set up in the port berth. It was private for sure! …
Water Heater, phase one- August 14th 2015
A simple task shouldn’t take too long. Right? Following is “Part One” of a “simple” hot water heater story. Day numbers are sequential, not necessarily full eight hour work days. When Yacht A Fun, our Gemini sailing catamaran was purchased, we knew from the survey that the hot water heater didn’t work. Though the assumption was that the element was …
Offering Boating Advice- August 8th 2015
The brother of one of my high school buddies had been reading our blog about Yacht A Fun. For privacy’s sake, let’s call him BD. We’ll call BD’s wife BC. It was a pleasure, and a bit of an honor, to have them drive to Southport for a Saturday morning tour of our Gemini sailing catamaran. The two of them …
Catamaran Electric Issue- July 20th 2015
On Monday morning I was about to provide the generator some needed maintenance before cranking it for a test run. Our Gemini sailing catamaran has a switch to select power settings of: Shore; Off; and Generator. Theoretically if the switch is set for GEN, it prevents power from, at the same time, entering via the SHORE cord. Being an admitted …
Day 3 of 3- July 5th 2015
Sunday, the final day of the Festival, provided two venues- a tour of the Old Jail, and “Living Voices from the Past”. Five costumed speakers made historical presentations of the history of Southport. Their background, and props- the Smithville Cemetery, and graves therein. The talks began at 2PM. Our greeter dispersed us in groups so that each of the speakers …
Day 2 of 3- July 4th 2015
Those attending the Southport NC July 4th Festival must arrive early to obtain good parking. The concept is simple- some 40,000 people will show up by time for the fireworks! Locals warned us of long after-event waits for traffic to merge cars off side streets onto the two roads out of town. We took the information to heart. We left …
NC 4th of July Festival / Day 1 of 3
Technically, the NC 4th of July Festival began on Wednesday, the 1st, on Oak Island. Beginning at 9AM there were: Youth Activities; a Sand Sculpture Contest; the Skating Competition; a Shag dancing Contest; A Beach Day Concern; and 9PM fireworks. Diann and I didn’t venture there. Nor did we take advantage of the Dozen+ activities listed for Thursday in Southport. …
Southport NC- June 2015
Yachtafun, our Gemini sailing catamaran, being berthed at Deep Point Marina, just two miles from old town Southport, is affording us the opportunity to gradually explore the town’s offerings. There’s much to see and do in Southport, in spite of its small size. Being at the mouth of the Cape Fear River, near Wilmington NC, commercial shipping has been a …
Awendaw SC to Southport NC- May 2015
Sunrise, at Awendaw Creek was fabulous. It wasn’t long, though, before we were inspired to pull up the two anchors on our Gemini sailing catamaran and make progress to Wacca Wache Marina and K-Rae’s Restaurant which is a bit beyond Georgetown SC. Boat traffic was mild and the scenery a variation on what we’d enjoyed for the past two days. …