Friday, November 23, 2012



Cruisin' The Ditch

The past several days have been mostly uneventful.  The sights are lovely and we've spotted many dolphins since North Carolina.  We've been mostly confined to the boat since the weather has been windy and cold.  Most nights we anchor and some nights we've been lucky enough to dock.  Docking is great!  We get to hook up to power and take on water, so on those nights we get TV and long showers!  Our best stop by far was Thanksgiving night in North Myrtle Beach.  We docked at the Barefoot Landing Marina which is part of a touristy shopping center.  The very nice dock master loaned me his car so I could go grocery shopping.  We had Thanksgiving dinner at the House of Blues -- a funky restaurant near the marina.  Not a bad buffet considering they had been serving people all day including hundreds of homeless people at lunch time.  They also delivered dinner to area shelters.  If you ever have a chance to patronize one of the many House of Blues Restaurants (there are 13), please do. 

This morning we awoke to the most beautiful day.  It is finally sunny and 65°!  We took time to stroll the boardwalk before getting a late start.  We picked up a passenger just before departure.  As Fiona unhooked us from shore power, she spotted a lizard, caught him and brought him on board.  Current Morning Star pet populations:  3. 


The weather has finally improved and we can now enjoy our newly (partially) enclosed flybridge!


Friday, November 16, 2012

Celebrating Jack's 7th Birthday Onboard!

We had a great 1st day back underway yesterday and topped it off with a birthday celebration for Jack with a fresh baked cake! 


Seas were rolly as we got underway early this morning.  We are almost in Norfolk, VA (8:35am) and things will smooth out at that point.  Kids are sleeping through it! 

Thursday, November 15, 2012

So much has happened since we returned to our home port in Maryland on October  11! We spent the month visiting as many of our friends and family as we could.  Fiona and Jack were so happy to be reunited with their classmates and cousins!  We completed a few boat projects --  new eisenglass on the upper deck which will make that area a wonderful place to spend time when in are in warm climates.  I got new dishwasher drawer!  No more water-hogging full-size dishwasher!  Many thanks to our friend, John on Siren's Call who built the perfect drawer underneath of it so I now have pot & pan storage!  Yeah!  I removed the carpet (yuck) from the bathrooms and gave each 3 coats of floor paint.   After even more discussion, we have decided not to change Morning Star's name after all.  Keeping the name saves us time and money and the name has grown on us.  We did get the hailing port changed on the stern. 

We survived Hurricane Sandy while we were there.  Our dock at Rich Neck on Tilghman Creek once again proved to be a safe haven from the storm.  K.  (with help from his brother Sean & our friend Oscar), did a great job of securing her from every point.  We stayed on Morning Star throughout the storm.  She was cozy and safe.  We took in a bit of water from the sideways rain, but that was it.  We were very fortunate the storm didn't come ashore where it was first predicted to.

The hardest part of our time in Maryland was saying goodbye to our beloved family home, Rich Neck.  The time had come to put the house up for sale in the Spring and by Summer's end we had a contract.  The contract 'went hard' as they say while we were home.  Settlement will be in mid-December.  30 years of memories.  K. and I were married on the property.  Our pets are buried there.  It is the most beautiful point of land in all of Maryland.  K.'s father cleared the land himself.  So, our hearts were beyond heavy as we did a final walk-through this morning and tears flowed by the buckets as we pulled away from the dock for the last time.  



New adventures await. . .