Suncat/Trader Update 5/27/07 - Great Bridge to Cape May

Hello to all,

We've traveled a fair distance since my last update although the progress the first week was a bit slow. We are presently in Cape May, NJ, enjoying the holiday with thousands of other visitors. Cape May has many wonderful Victorian homes to admire as well as a nice beach and good walking. We also like the people and service here at Utsch's marina.

Lock at Great Bridge

Our trip up the Chesapeake from Great Bridge (Norfolk) was slowed quite a bit by the weather as we had strong winds on a number of days that kept us in port. The first day we traveled to Sarah Creek off the York river where we anchored for the night.

The next day was the roughest of the trip so far as we had a 15-20 knot following wind. We put into Mill Creek which is off the Great Wicomico River. Mill creek is a beautiful, secluded anchorage with deep water going in and wind protection from any direction. We stayed two nights waiting for the winds to drop.

Refuge in Mill Creek

The next day seemed lighter so we started out but turned back after a half an hour in the bay as it was very rough. We decided to up into Reedville which is also off the Great Wicomico River.

Reedville was a great stop. There were interesting old houses and a nice museum depicting the history of the menhaden industry on the bay. We wound up attending the Friday night cocktail party at the museum which is a weekly event attended by all of the locals. It was fun and we met a lot of great people. I also took advantage of the lay day to change all of the fuel filters.

The next day we went up to the Solomons where we anchored for a couple of nights again waiting out bad weather. I spent much of the time trying to make the dinghy hoist work correctly. However, we did get to walk a bit and toured the museum there which is excellent.

The following day presented perfect travel conditions and we traveled most of the way up the bay, anchoring at Worton Creek for the night. Worton is also a very nice anchorage. That morning we said goodbye to Paul and Mimi Aldrich whom we had enjoyed traveling with for the past two plus weeks.

The C and D Canal

After that we spent a night on the free dock at Chesapeake City, MD. Chesapeake City is located in the middle of the C and D Canal and has good walking and good restaurants but little else. We did have a nice dinner with Bob and NanRae Hanold who were within 75 miles of completing their Great Loop trip.

From there we went to Delaware City where we spent an afternoon visiting with Jean's sister Gail and some of her in-law's. It was nice of Gail to treat us all to a dinner at Crabby Dick's. The next day was an unevenful trip down the Delaware to Cape May where we anchored for the night and then came into the marina the next day. We plan to leave tomorrow for Atlantic City and points north.

The Cape May Canal

I've been working on this blog to record our trip for several months and am pleased to report that Suncattrader.blogspot.com, however it can't be addressed directly. The best approach is to go to google, do a blog search and type suncattrader and it should take you to it. In it I've recapped our sailing and racing adventures as well as last year's and this year's trip. I hope it is interesting reading.
except for adding a few pictures it is ready to go. The address is







As we enjoy this memorial day weekend, please join us in remembering all of those who have protected our freedom by serving in the armed forces of our respective countries, including those who are presently serving in far off lands.

Steve and
Jean
M/V Sun Cat
Presently at Cape May, NJ

Suncat/Trader Update 5/13/07 - North Carolina to Norfolk

Hi All,

Its been an interesting week or so. After leaving Wrightsville Beach we joined the Marines for a night, anchoring in Mile Hammock Bay which is part of camp Lejune. The forecast the for the day after was bad so we headed to Oriental, NC where we spent 4 days waiting out the strong winds of what became (sub) tropical storm Andrea. We we in a very protected place with no way for the wind or waves to create any problem for us. we did see sustained winds in excess of 30 knots and some of the gusts were about 50 knots.

Docked in Oriental

The effect of wind tides

We also experienced wind tides for the first time. We are accustomed to the lunar tides where the moon's gravitational pull makes the ocean rise or fall approximately every 6 hours. The sounds of NC however, do not have lunar tides. Instead, the wind acting on the water can increase or decrease the water level depending on which direction the wind is blowing . When we initially docked. Sun Cat's swim platform was about 3 feet below the level of the dock. Two days later, the dock was only 6"' above the swim platform and the street next to the marina was under 8" to 10" of water. The boats nearest the street were getting wakes from the passing trucks! The wind and water receded a lot the next day., and we were able to move the following day. We enjoyed our stay in Oriental, however as we did some walking and shopping and socialized with the other boaters who were riding it out there also.

From there we proceeded up the Neuse River and across Pamlico Sound and anchored in a very nice spot at ICW mile 127 which is near Belhaven, NC. We then went to South Lake, which is another great anchorage near the mouth of the Alligator River.

The dock at Coinjock

With Paul & Mimi in Coinjock

Anchorage near Belhaven

Then it was on to Coinjock to try the 32 oz prime rib and we are now at Great Bridge, Virginia, about 10 miles out of Norfolk. We had an exciting Mother's day, I changed the engine oil and Jean cleaned the boat! We've also done some walking and of course more shopping.

Tomorrow we finish the ICW and start up Chesapeake BAy.

Happy mother's day to all!

Steve & Jean
Aboard Symbol 41 trawler Sun Cat

Suncat/Trader Update 5/3/07 - North Carolina

Hi All,

We are currently anchored behind Wrightsville Beach, NC. This is a great anchorage that we are sharing with about 10 other boats. We were able to walk over to the beach where we did a long beach walk along the water line and there is a small market where we could replenish some of our provisions.

During the past week we stopped at Beaufort, SC where we visited with Paul and Mimi Aldrich on their boat Refuge. We then went to Buzzards Roost anchorage, stopped at Charleston for fuel, went to Georgetown, Sc and stopped at Bucksport , Sc. They sell great sausage there!

On Thursday we splurged and went into the Myrtle Beach Yacht Club as it was very hot and wanted to use the pool. Yesterday we said good by to South Carolina and spent part of the day touring Southport, NC, a charming old town.

Our objective of being in the New York City area around June 1 still looks attainable and we are enjoying the trip north very much. So far, we've been able to stay in the warm weather!

Best wishes to all,

Steve and Jean

Suncat/Trader Update 4/24/07 - Daytona to Hilton Head

Ruins of Dungeness

Jean on main road

Hi All,

We've had an interesting time since our last update. We spent several days at the Seven Seas Marina in Daytona. During that time we had a nice beach walk and enjoyed a visit with our friends Bruce & Ellie Murray. Ellie is a wonderful cook! On that Monday the wind was so strong we could not pull the boat to the dock it was tied to for much of the day. We did get the new battery installed with some help from the Marina staff. They are always very helpful there and we like their location as well as you can walk to the beach and to several stores.

We left Daytona last Tuesday and anchored for the night in St. Augustine, just off of the old Spanish Fort. Its a fun place to watch the tourists.

The next day we went to Cumberland Island, Ga. Cumberland Island is the opposite of St Augustine as it is a National Park that is only accessible by boat. The island is mostly woods with big dunes and beautiful beaches. We spent the following day walking the southern part of the island. We visited the ruins of the Dungeness Mansion which was built by one of the Carnegie brothers. It was large enough to house a family with 9 children and took a staff of 200-300 to run it! We also hiked a nature trail an visited the beach. In the process we saw wild horses, a wild turkey and several armadillos. The island is magnificent to visit and it has to rate as a "must stop" for anyone traveling the ICW. It can also be reached by ferry from St. Mary's, GA.

The next day we planned a long beach walk. However, mother nature decided otherwise as the wind came up and the anchorage became too rough to climb in the dinghy. Therefore we spent the day doing boat projects. The wind finally settled late in the afternoon.

On Saturday, we traveled to Brunswick Landing Marina to visit our friends Ed & Deb. That evening we participated in an informal Luau on the docks where the fare was a "Low Country Boil". A Low Country Boil consists of some corn, potatoes, sweet onion, sausage and lots of shrimp all cooked together with some special spices. It was really good and it was fun visiting with other cruisers. The next day we toured St Simons Island with Ed & Deb and had a nice walk on the beach there. St. Simon and all of the GA islands are beautiful.

Last night we anchored at Walburg Creek which is behind another Ga Island, St Catherines. Another very pretty spot and a good anchorage close to the ICW channel. Tonight we are in Hilton Head, SC, so we feel like we are really making progress on our trip north. When we came back from the Bahamas we were roughly at mile 975 of the ICW and now we are more or less at mile 550.

Suncat/Trader Update 4/13/07 announcement of the Blog

4/13/07
Hi All,


We are presently in Titusville, Fl after a nice run up the Indian River from Dragon Point today. We left Vero Beach yesterday after a week's stay (some call it velcro beach because its hard to leave). Vero does have a lot going for it and a great bus service that will take you all over town.

We spent the week taking care of business matters. Among other things, we now have Florida driver's licenses. We also did a lot of walking, enjoyed the beach and did some socializing.

On Easter Sunday we attended a "Pot Luck" luncheon hosted by one of the cruisers and on Wednesday we attended the "cruiser's breakfast" at one of the local restaurants.

Last night was very quiet at Dragon Point. we were surprised to find only two other cruising boats there. There was no wind and little current but it was very warm.. Unfortunately one of our 8D batteries died so we will replace it at Daytona. which will be our next stop. They weigh about 150 lbs so I'm not sure how we are going to get it out of the boat!

I'm presently working on a 'blog" that will serve us as a web site and will send out the address once I get further along.

Hope all is well with you. For those traveling north, hopefully we will catch up somewhere along the way.

Steve and Jean

SUncat/Trader Update 4/5/07 back to Florida

4/5/07
HI All,

We are back in Florida after an awesome crossing yesterday (Wednesday) from West End, Grand Bahama Island to Ft Pierce Fl. The forecast was good and it was right! When we started out about 05:30 the waves were less than 2 feet and by noon they were less than a foot. Perfect powerboat weather!

Backing up to my last message, we had a nice stay in Hopetown and then went to Guana where we had a nice visit with our friends Bob and Gerry Sylvester. If you are still in the Abacos, try the new Dockside Grill restaurant. It was excellent.

Pool at Treasure Cay

From Guana, we spent a day at Treasure Cay where we took a nice beachwalk and a swim in both the ocean and the pool. From there we went to Mangrove where we anchored for the night with about 15 other boats. At 0600, I heard some noise and looked out to see over 10 of them leaving together, apparently headed for Palm Beach.

We elected go go to West End instead for one more day in paradise. The pool was great and we had a nice stop there. Then we came across yesterday.

We are presently in Vero Beach where we will take a few days to reorganize before heading north We did get in a beach walk this afternoon before the rain and the weekend looks great.

Having a wonderful time. Happy Easter to all!


Steve & Jean
M/V Sun Cat

Suncat/Trader Update 3/27/07 - Hopetown

3/27/07

Hi All,

Sun Cat in Hopetown Harbor

Its been an interesting week or so. We spent the last week in Marsh Harbor, mostly visiting friends and making new ones. We also took the opportunity to enjoy both rib night and steak night at the Jib room, music at some of the other restaurants and of course time at the pool. Unfortunately the winds have been in excess of 20 knots for most of the last two weeks (approaching 30 knots at times) so we were unable to do any snorkeling. The wind is down to 15 knots now and it seems light!

We are presently at Hopetown on Elbow Cay which was one of our favorite stops last year. We continue to enjoy the warm weather and there are great beaches and pools available here. By this weekend we will probably head back westward, planning to be back into Florida by late the following week.


Hope this finds all of you well. Below are some more pictures of Hopetown and Marsh Harbor.

Steve and Jean
M/V Sun Cat

Sign in Marsh Harbor

Steak night at the Jib Room

Here's to you - Beach at Hopetown

Hopetown Harbor

Beach at Hopetown

Sun Cat/Trader Update 3/16/07 Green Turtle

Restaurant and office at Green Turtle Club

Pool - Green Turtle Club

We are presently at Man O War Cay in the Abacos. Its been a wonderful trip so far. We spent approximately 2 weeks at Green Turtle Cay where we were joined by our friends Eldon and  Dianne Morrison. We also traveled to Powell Cay to enjoy the beautiful beaches and went to Spanish Cay to see it. Spanish Cay was a little interesting - There are houses and an airport but we were the only ones on the island except for one other boat and the chef! It was also expensive! While at Powell, Eldon played the great white hunter and opened a coconut for all to enjoy!  Back at Green Turtle we were we were able to enjoy cocktails with Bob and Barbara on Caitlin and Roy and Rita on No Matata.

Pool at Spanish Cay

Tuesday this week we finally got a day we could navigate Whale Cay passage and were able to get in a visit with our friends Bob and Gerry Sylvester on Great Guana Cay. We are presently visiting Neil and Pam Herring at Man O War.

Continuing to have a great time!

Steve and Jean

Sun Cat/Trader Update 3/2/07 - West end to Green Turtle

Hi All,

We are presently in Green Turtle Cay where we have been for several days. From West End, Grand Bahama Island we went to Mangrove Cay where we anchored for the night. The next day we started out for the Double Breasted Cays but the wind turned unfavorable so we anchored in Grand Cay instead. Grand Cay has an interesting settlement with a few stores and restaurants. we did obtain our first loaf of "homemade" Bahamian bread there during a short walk ashore. The next day we went to Crabby Cay where we anchored for the night and the next morning we went over to Powell Cay which has beautiful sandy beaches to explore.

We then went to Green Turtle, anchoring in White Sound which is on the northwestern part of the island. The first day, we took the dinghy over to the Settlement at New Plymouth, a nice Bahamian town, we've also done some hiking as well as visiting with other cruisers and enjoying the pool at the Bluff House. Today we took the bikes and went for a 7 or 8 mile ride over to New Plymouth to play tourist some more and do some more shopping.

Wednesday morning started very rough as we were awakened about 6:15 with a severe thunderstorm with lots of lightening and hail. Several boats claimed they saw a waterspout with 100 knot winds and several others reported winds in the 60 knot range. We heeled over a bit but our new Delta anchor held very well. Unfortunately our friends Don and Scatia on Ka Le were not as lucky as their anchor pulled out and they struck another boat pretty hard. Fortunately there was no major structural damage. They may have been in the waterspout!

Tomorrow and Sunday look like more beach and pool days - this is getting hard to take!

Having a great time!

Crossing the Gulf Stream - Ft Lauderdale to West End and Powell Cay

The trip from Ft Lauderdale to West End Grand Bahama Island is approximately 70 miles. The route crosses the Gulf Stream at an angle that allows us to ride with the current, thus gaining speed and saving time. However, the weather is an important factor since northerly winds or strong winds from any direction can kick up large waves which would make the trip uncomfortable at best and even dangerous.

We determined that Feb 20 would be a good weather window to cross and agreed to "buddy boat" with Don and Scatia Linder on "Ka Le". The plan was to leave at 4 AM, arriving at West End in early afternoon.

All started according to plan. However, when we dropped the mooring at 0400 I discovered that I had no steering! Using the engines to maneuver the boat, we avoided the other moored boats and went out into the river where we anchored to determine the problem which turned out to be that we were out of steering fluid. I put in what we had which corrected the problem and then we had breakfast and waited until 6:30 when one of the marinas opened and we could buy some more. We bought most of their supply, most of which I'm glad to report we still have!

We then set out from Ft lauderdale, getting underway at 0700 instead of 0400. Other than dodging a large ship, the crossing was otherwise uneventful and we arrived at West End, Old Bahama Bay Marina about 1700, too late to check into customs but otherwise fine. We did get in a nice swim in the pool, however.

At West End Marina

Sunset at Mangrove Cay

The next day we checked in through customs, washed the boats and headed for Mangrove Cay where we anchored for the night. There is nothing at Mangrove Cay but it is a good anchorage about 25 miles into Little Bahama Bank.

The next day, we went set out for the Double Breated Cays but the wind came up strong and we opted instead to go into Grand Cay. The settlement was more run down than the other Bahamian settlements we've visited but everyone was very friendly and we were able to buy some fresh Bahamian bread which is always a treat.

Waterfront at Grand Cay

Beach at Powell Cay

The next day we set out east again, stopping at Crabby Cay for the night and then going on to Powell Cay. Powell is not inhabited but has great beaches and nice walking and we enjoyed an afternoon and evening there immensely. The next day we headed for Green Turtle Cay .

Our posts after this will be based on the periodic updates which we send out more or

On the beach at Powell Cay

less once a week.

January & February, 2007 - Stuart to Fort Lauderdale

We flew back to Florida the first week of January to resume our cruise, flying into Orlanda and then visiting our friends the Murrays in Daytona. When we arrived at the boat it had not been launched and we asked them to do over a few things, with the launching occuring later that afternoon.

As we backed the boat out of the travel lift, the starboard engine sputtered and died which suddenly made docking an interesting challenge! Once docked, investigation revelaed that the person who had polished the fuel had left the valve to the starboard engine closed. The engine fired back up quickly once we opened it, much to my relief.

Stuart sailfish fountain - Stuart bills itself as the sailfish capital of the world

From there, we went to Stuart, Fl where we spent several weeks doing maintenance and getting the boat ready for the Bahamas. We were able to ride our bikes around town quite a bit and did a lot of walking. One morning we awoke to find our dinghy had been stolen. With help from the Harbormaster we were able to recover the dinghy but the motor was gone.  As a result, we now have a new Yamaha 4 HP motor for the dinghy.

Jean at "confusion corner" a traffic circle with a railroad
track running through the middle

The mooring field at Stuart

Later in our stay there, we were visited by son Bill and were also joined by our friend Paul Kelly who traveled will us down to Ft Lauderdale with stops in Palm Beach and Lake Santa Barbara.

We stayed in Ft Lauderdale for over a week, tied to a mooring ball at Los Olas marina. The marina is 2 blocks from the beach and is one of our favorite stops. Our freinds Doug & Maggie Bauer joined us there for a few days and we had good visit with them. We then prepared to cross to West End, Grand Bahama island on the first day the weather was good.

Typical property on ICW - note no one in sight enjoying it

Sun Cat at the mooring field at Los Olas

Fall, 2006 cruise - our first on Sun Cat

September was a blur of activity. How do you start a trip south? DO a sailboat race to Nova Scotia! So, labor day weekend son Steve and I raced with a friend, Paul Morin on his Sabre 38. We didn't finish well primarily because we put too much faith in the weather forecast, but had a good time anyway. I then flew to Charleston for the survey and sea trials on Sun Cat and also worked to finish preparations for renting the house. The third week of September we took Trader out of the water and winterized her and assembled the gear we would eventually take to Sun Cat.

On September 27 we left Portland in a (full) mini-van, arriving at Sun Cat, which was at Isle of Palms, near Charleston the next day. The next 5 days were full of developing some understanding of what we had bought, equipping and provisioning the boat and preparing to head further south.

Sun Cat is a 1987 (0r 1988) Symbol 41 trawler. She is at least 41 feet long, 14.5 feet wide and draws about 4 feet of water. She is powered by two Caterpillar diesels which deliver 210 horsepower each. We cruise at about 7.5 knots and top speed is 10-12 knots. For her age, she is in really good shape. The former owners appear to have taken good care of her and there was much new equipment and furniture, all of which was good quality.

After nearly a week at Isle of Palms, we started south, stopping at Lady's Isle marina near Beaufort, SC (we hear it is unfortunatly now a condo project) and then going into Shelter Cove Marina in Hilton Head where the boat would spend a month. Son Bill and Stephanie met us there and stayed with us a week until we left to go for a previously planned 2 week trip to Hawaii.

Shelter Cove Marina

Brunswick Landing 

Frederica River anchorage

The square at St Augustine

St Augustine

Isle of Hope Marina


rina

When we returned, Son Stephen met us and spent a week or so with us. Among other things we replaced the entire exhaust system and the anchor windlass. We also got in a little beach time and other recreation while he was with us.

We left Hilton Head in early November, stopping at Isle of Hope, Walburg Creek, the Frederica River, Cumberland Island, St Mary's Jacksonville Beach, St Augustine, Daytona and Vero Beach before leaving the boat at Ft Pierce to go back to Maine for Christmas on December 18. While we were away, Sun Cat got a fresh coat of bottom paint, new through hull fittings and new alternators.