Happy Holidays from St Augustine

December 27^th – Happy Holidays from St Augustine Florida! 

Once again we have been behind keeping up on the blog, it seems either limitations on time, cell service, or wifi get in the way. Before we recap the past several weeks, for those of you who have been tracking us on Marine Traffic, there have been some technical issues with how Skylark shows up. If Skylark doesn’t currently appear in St Augustine and you have saved Skylark in “My Fleet”, you may need to use the Search function again to find the correct Skylark on the US East Coast shown south of the Bridge of Lions in St Augustine. 

So let's recap the past several weeks.....
From Hampton we headed across to Portsmouth/Norfolk VA and continued on through the Dismal Swamp into North Carolina.

At the free High Street Basin in downtown Portsmouth VA. Due to sea level rise the fixed dock is covered with water at every high tide. Boots required to get to dry land!

Diane is at the helm most of the time while Tim handles navigation, and tackles repairs, maintenance and upgrades to Skylark, a list that gets longer not shorter.

Entering NC on the Dismal Swamp

12/2/18 - Spent a lovely couple of days on the Outer Banks in the cute little town of Manteo on Roanoke Island. Arrival at the town dock with 20 knot winds blowing us onto the dock was interesting and were greeted by Carl, the longtime dockmaster. Unfortunately, with the winds and tight dock space we ended up disintegrating the starboard bow light on a piling, Carl no longer as quick with the docking lines as I am sure he was in his younger days. We are finding maneuvering a 41 foot  29,000 lb boat is a bit more tricky than the Ericson 38. Tim keeps reminding us to let the wind, current and the boat help maneuver us around in tight spaces, patience and ease along are the operative actions we are now taking. We met friendly locals and enjoyed a fun night of playing Trivia at the local brewery less than a block from the town dock. The Skylark team "Condensation Sucks" proved they aren't much good at trivia, but we enjoyed a lot of laughs, the food, and Tim especially enjoyed the beer!

The next day we motorsailed to East Bluff Bay, a beautiful remote, off the grid anchorage sheltered from the NW winds along the northern shore of Pamlico Sound. We anchored in 6 feet of water (Skylark draws 4.5 feet with the centerboard up and 10 with the board down) over the thick mud bottom typical of these waters. A wash down hose is a must in these parts as the anchor and chain come up loaded with tenacious mud.

Meals have been particularly delicious and working in the galley has been much more comfortable than previous boats. The boat storage compartment spreadsheet still needs much work but has been helpful finding most ingredients. I realize in our departure frenzy there was at least one day where nothing was accounted for in the spreadsheet, instead food was tucked into any open space available. We are working to organize so finding items on the boat will be a lot easier. We are constantly humored by how many items are hard to find on a 41 foot boat! That said, we do have over 40+ storage spaces.

We left East Bluff Bay knowing in 25+ knot west winds it was going to be a rough crossing of Pamlico Sound notorious for its short lumpy chop. However, we were still surprised by the nearly continuous white water on the deck and getting below. We can only imagine what it will be like in 40 or 50 knot winds which we know we might encounter on this adventure.

We arrived at the free town dock in Oriental late in the afternoon. The narrow harbor was lined with large shrimp boats and the free space was limited. Tim was able to sweet talk the "skipper" of an older Pearson 26 into moving to an adjacent bulkhead so Skylark could squeeze in for a couple of days. As it turned out we were greeted on the dock by some very colorful young cruisers. We are surprised by the number of young solo sailors on old boats, particularly this late in the season.

Wow, we're actually relaxing.

Gene and Hampton the pig at the Oriental free dock.

Gene, an Iraq War vet was solo sailing with his recently acquired pig Hampton, AKA, " Hammie". A very sweet man who introduced us to Elvis, a tattoo artist sailing on an old Tartan 27. We hosted a potluck dinner on Skylark with our new friends and were treated with fresh oysters, corn bread as well as many other delicacies. After dinner, of course a visit to the local microbrewery was in order. So far there has been a brewery in almost every town we have visited, quite different than five years ago. We are certain to run into these friends again as we all travel south.

Motor sailed from Oriental to Morehead City where we docked at the Sanitary Restaurant and Bar. Yes indeed the name is “Sanitary”. We enjoyed a delicious shrimp burrito and once we finally had a straight face we asked the waitress what was the origin of the name Sanitary. Apparently during the 1930's and 40's fish establishments had a bad rap for the odors and "unsanitary" conditions.  The Sanitary owners were determined to turn this reputation around and became known for better handling of seafood products. They decided they were to be known to all as the "Sanitary" place to eat. I can't help but wonder if the reference to the more popular "napkins" ever crossed their minds when choosing their name. We all know that was the only option for women as tampons didn't show up on the market until 1949. In any case, eating in the restaurant allows boaters to spend the night at the dock for only $25t.

Proof the restaurant is really called Sanitary! (Morehead City)

 We left the next morning for the remote bay at Cape Lookout, the very southeastern corner of the Outer Banks. We saw dolphins, wild horses but alas, no sea turtles as sometimes are reported. We did get to beach the dinghy for the first time and scrape the summer’s Piscataqua River growth of the bottom, and also roam the beach in bare feet!

Footprints and sand, Cape Lookout, NC

We headed back to Beaufort the next day for some supplies and a visit to another microbrewery (Fishtowne). From Beaufort we had a smooth overnight sail to Charleston and pulled into Shem Creek in Mount Pleasant on the north shore of Charleston Harbor. 

View from the helm. We're primarily using the iPad and iPhone with the navigation apps Navionics and AquaMap.

Once again, during off season having dinner at one of the local waterfront restaurants often allows you to spend the night at their dock, this time for free at the Waters Edge and we even stayed two nights to enjoy the Mount Pleasant Christmas Parade and fireworks. These folks enjoy their parade with big tailgating spreads and professionally prepared floats. 

Fresh seasoned shrimp right off the Shem Creek shrimp boats on our new Magma Grill, yummy. 

More signs of sea level rise and more extreme high tides in Shem Creek.

The pelicans don't seem to mind, they are everywhere.

For the most part downtown Charleston is not a very cruiser friendly place with very little public access, so we decided to jump offshore again for another overnight sail to St Mary’s inlet in southern Georgia just north of Florida. We spent a couple days at the gorgeous Cumberland Island, much of the which was formally the playground of the industrialist Carnegie family and now a national park. It’s worth a visit if you are ever in the area.  

The ruins of the Thomas and Lucy Carnegie Dungeness mansion on Cumberland Island

Armadillos on Cumberland Island!!!

Expansive oceanside beach 

Live oaks, palmetto palms, Spanish moss, Cumberland Island

This was Langs Marina where we stayed in St Mary's five years ago. Hurricanes destroyed the docks which can be viewed in Google Earth strewn in the marshes to the west. Locals say Hurricane Mathew softened up the area and then Hurricane Irma destroyed it.

December 15^th - We're in Florida!

Today we crossed into Fernandinho Beach Florida on a sunny day with temps in the high 60s. The day began searching for fossilized shark teeth on Cumberland Island and we may have found some fragments. Then we headed down the ICW to the King George River  and the Kingsley Plantation a few mile north of the Saint Johns River which leads up to Jacksonville. The Plantation is currently managed by the US National Park Service. This Plantation was interesting as the owner, Zephaniah Kingsley purchased his wife Anna as a 13 year old slave from West Africa. They fell in love and had numerous children together over many years. Anna helped to manage the plantation and their over 60 slaves. Zephaniah was publicly outspoken in his defense of the rights of free people of color and at the same time he was supportive of the right to own slaves. The story goes that when Florida was under the control of Spain, blacks and women had rights, but when the US took over those rights were lost. Kingsley was very outspoken above how blacks should have rights and was concerned about the welfare of his wife and children should he pass. Haiti, as it turns out, was the only country in North America where people of color were allowed to be free, so he moved his family to Haiti to ensure their freedom and safety. Anna moved back to the Kingsley Plantation after Zephaniah died to settle an inheritance dispute which was ruled in her favor. We both enjoyed this interesting twist on our country's history.

Remains of nearly 200 year old slave homes at the Kingsley Plantation. The walls are constructed with tabby, a mix of shells, ground shells and sand to create a cement-like mix. 

We arose early in the morning to depart the Plantation near high tide as there was shoaling reported at the entrance to the King George River which we had safely made it over the previous day at high tide. Unfortunately, we got off a bit late ended up getting running around a 3 1/2 foot shoal. Tim got in the dinghy and with the help of a nifty hand-held depth sounder (made by Nighthawk) was able to sleuth out a path for us to get back on the ICW to continue south and offshore to St. Augustine where we have settled in for the past week.

As the list of things on Skylark to work on, modify or repair grows, we are keeping busy while also seeing sights. It has been a bit of an adjustment for me as I am still working on slowing down here in retirement. I am realizing we don't necessarily need to accomplish anything in a given day. It takes time to adjust to this different pace on a 41 foot sailboat. 

We met up with friends from York, Maine, Sally and Dan who winter here in St Augustine. Dan is a retired commercial pilot who has been flying avidly for the past many years. They took us up for a flight to see St Augustine and the surrounding area in their 4-seater Cessna 182. What a blast and the views were magnificent as you can see from the photos included. We felt very grateful for their generosity in taking us on a flight. We also feel grateful to be able to meet up and spend time with friends. 

St Augustine Harbor. Skylark is the last boat  along the city waterfront just to the left of the cluster of boats.

Downtown St Augustine.

We are finding the pressure of keeping the blog is a little overwhelming. One of our sailing friends Molly put it succinctly by saying it feels like “the pressure of having to write a term paper!”, we agree. That said, moving forward you will probably see less words, fewer posts and more photographs on the blog. We hope you are not disappointed and would welcome the feedback.

Happy Holidays from the St Augustine Nights of Lights celebration.

Christmas Morning Sunrise, St Augustine lighthouse in the distance.

St Augustine Nights of Lights,, from our mooring.

Winter Has Been
Left Behind - November 18

After a lovely overnight visit in Cape May from our long time Jersey friend Lou, we left late morning  for Norfolk VA under a nice NW wind.

Onboard in Cape May with long time friend and sailor Lou.

We had an uneventful overnight sail to the entrance to Chesapeake Bay and Hampton Roads. We decided to anchor off the bell tower in Hampton Harbor in  60 degree weather, pulled out the shorts, flip flops, and champagne. We had suddenly left winter behind!

Arrival in Hampton Harbor, VA.

Compared to our trip five years ago where good beer was hard to find, everywhere we go there's a brewery on or near the waterfront. Skylark in Hampton seen through the Bull Island Brewing window. 

Many of you may have already figured out that this blog is a combination effort from us both, consequently, it takes a bit longer to get posts sent. I happen to be a Mac woman and Tim is more comfortable in the PC platform. I begin the blog on the iPad as I am not usually occupied like Tim doing general boat improvements and repairs, which never end. I then email him the text, he augments it  on his PC, and sends it back to me. Often I go through it again and then together we figure out the photo additions. So there you have it, it all takes time which results in fewer blog entries. Perhaps over time we will learn to streamline this process but in the mean time, thank you for your patience. I have taken to Instagram in the past few days which I am warming up to as initially I found it to be invasive. You can certainly check Instagram for immediate photos and if you are inclined you can follow us on Marine Traffic which is a site that uses AIS to track our location.

First 10 Days Recap Nov 4 - 15

Our first sail was a smooth ride to Cape Ann, arriving in Gloucester at nautical twilight (look it up!). Nautical twilight is the time at dawn and dusk when the sun is below the horizon, its rays are visible, and the horizon can be seen enough to navigate. 
Nov 5- Early the next morning we prepared to depart, warming the engine for a few minutes only to have it sputter and die. My first engine naive reaction was to announce that it sounded like we had run out of diesel. Indeed that is exactly what happened due to a mislabeled valve which resulted in fuel returned from the diesel engine being routed back to the wrong tank, thereby emptying the tank supplying the engine. Unfortunately, this required we purge air from the fuel lines before we could restart the engine. As with all projects on a boat everything takes at least twice the projected amount of time to complete. This happens to be particularly difficult for me as I like to have a day filled with checking things off my list.

Historically, once you get on board it takes about two weeks to get into the rhythm of the boat, get somewhat organized, and to get comfortable with boat systems and task sequences. Tim is anxiously looking forward for us to get to this point. Over the past month friends often said “you must be so excited to begin your journey”; quite honestly, there was so much to get done, it was quite stressful with no time to be excited.  

Organization in the main cabin has improved since this photo was taken,
but don't peek into the forward v-berth.

It was quite a ride to the boat basin at the north end of the Cape Cod Canal in Sandwich during which time we made a pre departure list of everything we needed to check and forgot to do this last castoff!

Tim on deck testing out the safety gear.

Arrived in Cape Cod Canal around 7 pm, well after dark and docked in Sandwich for the night. Left at 9 am with flood through the Canal into Buzzards Bay, bound  for Oak Bluffs on Marthas Vineyard. Fortunately Buzzards Bay was smooth as glass and we motored on through Woods Hole against the tide managing 1.8 knots for a brief time. Crazy strong currents! Arrived Oak Bluffs Harbor and backed in Mediterranean style, stern first, to the bulkhead, which this time of year is free! Once again we learned the water had been turned off days before our arrival, but the power was still on allowing us to use our electric heater. When we aren’t “plugged in” we use a  Cozy Cabin propane heater which we installed immediately after we purchased Skylark. A heater takes the chill off of Spring and Fall cruising in New England and the Cozy Cabin Heater only takes two to three hours to install, the chimney is only inch diameter, its clean, and propane is readily available. The heater will serve us very well on our trip south as we escape winter.

The boat warming Cozy Cabin Heater, priceless.

We took a walk/run to Harthaven to see my recently sold family property. Though bittersweet, it was a relief to find a longtime family friend contractor literally disassembling the home and reusing as much of the material as possible. This includes attempting the relocate the stone fireplace, which my grandfather had built, to the backyard for use as an outdoor fireplace for the new owners. The plans for the new home look quite reasonable which is a relief considering all the overblown McMansions going up everywhere. 

We walked the Harthaven community beach and came upon the remnants of the original walkway pier that crossed the tidal river flowing from Farm Pond out to the sound which  I  walked over 50 years to get to the beach. It has been buried under the sand for decades until recently as beach erosion continues to march on. 

Leaving Oak Bluffs

We then had a roaring sail to Newport today with 25-30 knot winds from the SE. Skylark is behaving very sea kindly and our boat speed was averaging over 7 knots. While approaching Narragansett Bay we had an accidental jibe which shattered our top main sheet fiddle block and jammed the sheet in the broken block. I took over the helm as Tim jury rigged several lines to secure the boom and we arrived in Newport by 9pm and picked up a mooring in a sheltered area in the southern portion of the harbor known as Brenton Cove. We are getting a bit more comfortable handling Skylark which feels good.

Busted fiddle block with shattered lower sheave!

After some provisioning and purchase of a replacement fiddle block with the assistance of a long time friend and fellow sailor Shawn, we headed for Great Salt Pond on Block Island.

Block Island sunset

This harbor, which in the summer is filled with a 1000 boats, was now empty. We met up and had a nice dinner at Kimberly's (recommended) with Lars, a former Portsmouth friend who now works at the Block Island Times.



We were up early the next morning leaving a dawn to catch the flood at "The Race" into Long Island Sound. Tim grew up sailing in Long Island Sound so we were so tempting to pull into past anchorages and homeports such as Mattituck, Setauket, or Lloyd Harbor where Tim's Dad taught him to sail at the age of five, but we were on a mission to get as far west and south a possible before the wind and weather turned on us.

Approaching the Throgs Neck Bridge after a long calm run down Long Island Sound

We finally anchored a west end of Long Island Sound in a little cove next to the Throgs Neck Bridge. 

Throgs Neck Bridge from our anchorage.



We spent the next morning continuing to organize the boat while we waited for the currents to ebb down the East River around 1PM. With the current we did over 11 knots past NYC, under the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge to Coney Island and Sheepshead Bay.

The Brooklyn Bridge with the new "Freedom Tower" in the background.

Entering the Sheepshead Bay Harbor we ran aground on a sandbar literally in the middle of the buoyed channel. We bounced off the sandbar and reversed our course to figure out what had happened. Upon consulting the online cruising guide Active Captain, we learned a sandbar has extended 50 feet into the marked channel and the Coast Guard has yet to move the channel buoys even years since this hazard has existed. We made our second entry well east of the sandbar and found picked up a mooring for the night. The day concluded with my daughter Kelsey and her husband Bryan who joined us onboard for dinner. 

Dinner aboard in Sheepshead Bay with Kelsey and Bryan.

As usual, it’s always something, the 4-stroke 9.9hp Mercury outboard, which came with Skylark and had run smoothly for months, failed to start when preparing to return our guests to shore. Fortunately, we also brought along our reliable 2-stroke 5hp Nissan outboard; one of the many duplicate items we brought on the trip as backup. If you can believe it, the Nissan also died as Tim was returning to Skylark and had to row back, its always an adventure!

We were up early the next morning and had a great sail down the Jersey shore arriving at Cape May around midnight. We have been enjoying using the AIS transceiver (Automatic Identification System) that came with Skylark and feel it will be tremendously helpful during our travels. As we entered the harbor intending to head to a marina to wait out the next two days of stormy weather, an alarm sounded. What was it: the AIS warning us of a nearby vessel? the VHF? the low battery voltage alarm? the high bilge water alarm? an engine alarm?  It turned out to be the engine temperature alarm and a quick look at the exhaust confirmed there was no water discharging with the exhaust. We shut the engine off and fortunately we were near the anchorage, so we drifted to the edge of the channel and dropped the anchor. Tim inspected the engine systems and confirmed water was getting to the engine, but since it was now 1:30 AM, the overheating problem would have to wait until morning to solve.  In the morning the engine ran fine, so it appears a plastic bag, some other trash in the water or seaweed might have been sucked up against the engine water intake strainer on the hull, preventing water from entering the system. Then when we turned the engine off and there was no more suction, whatever blocked the water entry drifted away.

We ended up a Utsch’s Marina to sit out a vicious blow with 40+knot winds while listening on the VHF radio to the less prepared cruisers still at anchor calling the Coast Guard for assistance as their anchors dragged. I am constantly reminded of how grateful I am sailing this adventure with Tim who is super prepared and cautious. We just heard over the radio that a small tug boat on a dredge barge sank!  We use two wind forecast apps Pocket Grib and Windy, which typically do a great job with wind forecasts so we’re surprise more cruising sailboats didn’t choose to play it safe in a marina when stormy weather approaches. Friday brings more high winds so we will hang tight another day, do laundry, fill up the water tanks (water was turned off at all docks at our northern stopovers), and take on some diesel. Then on Saturday we are off on an overnight sail to Norfolk VA with what looks to be a very favorable weather window.

Departure - November 4, 2018

After a year of planning and preparation, we’re off! It also happened to be Tim’s mothers birthday; she passed away five years ago and knew this journey was a goal of ours. I must say it was quite a dramatic morning after dousing myself with diesel fuel from head to toe at the Irving truck stop while filling jerry cans, and then needing to make yet another last minute visit to our neighbor and friend, Jackie’s, to clean up  with a shower and complete washing of all clothes. Jackie has been hosting us in her guest room for the past month since renters moved into our house on October 1 and Skylark was still in chaos; replacing a leaking diesel tank, installation of Seafrost refrigeration, and so much more on the list of things to do.



Skylark at our dock in the Kittery Back Channel

Skylark hadn't left the dock for a couple months so we decided to move across the river to the Prescott Park docks in Portsmouth for a few days to begin to get comfortable on board and make sure systems still worked. Finally the departure time was upon us, complicated by the swift Piscataqua River currents which pinned the boat to the dock. Most important was timing departure to be convenient for Tim's dad Norm and his partner Mila. Tim maneuvered Skylark out of the slip by reversing the boat onto the finger pier tip, pivoting around the tip backing into the adjoining slip. We were then able to motor out forward into the Piscataqua and on our way the stop of our journey Gloucester, on Cape Anne.

We would like to give a big shout out to all of those who have helped us prepare for this great adventure. A BIG thank you to Michael and Peter, Jackson, Jackie, Suki, Claudia, Magi, Silvia, Anna, Jane, Herman, Leon, Judy, Karolina & Doug. You housed, fed and moved us, took trips to the dump, encouraged and supported us and most importantly loved us throughout this first chapter. For all of you and all you have done we will be eternally grateful.

The twin lighthouses on Thatcher Island off Rockport, MA

Moving aboard 10/30/18

After four years of planning and dreaming, and 2 months full time hard work on Skylark, we are moving aboard tomorrow. It's been a long road and we underestimated what it would take; emptying our home for long-term unfurnished rental, unexpected repairs and updates to Skylark, and both of us working to transition out of 30 year careers. All took much more effort and time than anticipated. Briefly, our immediate plan is to move Skylark from our Island Ave dock over to Prescott Park on the Portsmouth waterfront for a few days until departure, which will hopefully be this coming Saturday or Sunday. Local friends please feel free to stop by and say hello, we would love to see you all.

We will work on more detailed entries and updates once things calm down a bit in the coming weeks. Thank you all for your support, patience, and love. We are blessed with your friendships.

2018 - Skylark a New Boat, A New Adventure

In July 2017 we sold our wonderful Ericson 38-200 Kuivato and continued our search for our next sailboat that would carry us comfortably and safely on our next extended sailing journey. When we were in the Bahamas in 2015 visiting our friends Janaki & Graham on their Bristol 38 Leela, we had the opportunity to tour a Bristol 41.1 centercockpit sloop. We were immediately drawn to the appearance and dimensions of the boat, both on deck and below. Upon returning to home, we began our search for a centercockpit sloop in the 40 foot range. After several offers on boats we found in New England that fell through in early 2017, including a Bristol 41.1 and Bristol 45.5, we headed for Florida to look at many possible prospects. We found a nice Brewer 41.8 that fit most of our requirements and made an offer which was accepted. Having previously purchased Kuivato in Florida, we weren't very thrilled at the prospect of having to sail the Brewer north, so we still kept a lookout for something closer to home in New England. The night before we were to sign the contract for the purchase of the Brewer, Tim jumped online for one last search and a new listing of a 1985 Bristol 41.1 in Yarmouth, Maine popped up.  There was only one photo of the boat posted as it was a new listing, but we could tell from the photo this could be the sailboat we have been looking for. The following day we went to see the boat, spend hours on her with the owner and indeed it was everything we had hoped for including a new Beta 50 engine. We made a fair offer and a day later our offer was accepted. In late September 2017 we were the new owners of a beautiful, well maintained and updated Bristol 41.1 named Skylark. More details will be forthcoming about the boat.


This past June, after nearly 30 years of owning the environmental consulting business, StoneHill Environmental, Tim sold the company and is transitioning out of the business. Diane is retiring from her gynecology and fertility practice as a licensed nurse practitioner at the end of August. Our house has been rented for several years as of October 1st and we plan on departing Kittery, Maine in mid October for southern waters. We have no set schedule at this point but things will fall into place as our journey proceeds. Stay Tuned......