We arrived safely in Edisto Beach, SC after 7 days of motoring on the ICW through FL and GA.  We had planned to do a passage “on the outside” in the gulfstream but the weather wasn’t cooperating and didn’t look good for many days to come.  No fish to show from the passage and the fresh Wasabi and Nori seaweed sit sadly untouched.  Marietta did feed the fish twice but recovered quickly and enjoyed the rest of the voyage.  Jack B had no problems.

Mrs Cathy Price & Marietta

Happy Birthday Papa!  Celebrated with Coker and Cathy Price, Edisto Beach, SC

Edisto Beach is as beautiful as ever.  Sunday night we went to the Edisto Yacht Club with our friends here, Coker and Cathy Price, and had a wonderful fish and fried sweet potato dinner.  With the Edisto Yacht Club being mostly older people, Marietta and Jack B were the hit of the night.  Marietta had been cooped up on the boat for many days, during our rainy passage and an extra rainy day once we got here, so she was all too happy to entertain everyone.

Monday was Papa Jack’s birthday.  We started the day with our favorite coffee, Starbucks French Roast (with freshly ground beans) in bed and the opening of presents.  Marietta had wrapped the presents the day before and could hardly wait for Papa to open them.  She brought them to him many times the day before his birthday encouraging him to go ahead and open them.  The only challenge for me on Jack’s birthday was finding the last present I bought for him a couple weeks ago.  I bought it in the midst of the provisioning maelstrom and tucked it away somewhere so he wouldn’t find it … and now I can’t find it!  It’s still LOB (lost on boat).  I spent an hour yesterday looking in every cubby hole I could think of to no avail so it looks like we will be celebrating his birthday again one day soon when I finally find the last present.

Today we cast off lines for a passage from Edisto Island (near Charleston SC) to Beaufort NC.  It will be a 2 night and 2 day passage, our longest since Marietta was 6 months old when we sailed from Honduras to Mexico then across to FL.  I still have to rig our huge ocean fishing reels, but you can be sure they will be ready to go by the time we leave mid-afternoon.

Newly dyed aft cabin sheets with pillowcases and Nicole’s hands to match.

I spent yesterday morning dying the new sheets I sewed to fit our oddly shaped aft cabin bed.  I bought 2 sets of quality, light colored, king size sheet sets at a yard sale for $5 in Satellite Beach FL and have been sewing up a storm to make them fit our bed.  I’ve made a few quilts in my life but don’t consider myself a seamstress nor do I have a knack for exactness.  It took Captain Jack’s engineering skills to figure out how to shape the corners.  The last quilt I made ( years ago) was a t-shirt quilt with all my favorite running and triathlon t-shirts.  In my usual form, I just tore into it and started cutting up the t-shirts.  My sister Megan noticed my oversights and jumped to my rescue.  She did the design of the quilt as I kept the sewing machine pedal to the floor and I’m sure we finished in record time.

Fiber Reactive Dye is neat stuff!  I dyed one fitted sheet and 3 pillowcases.  The sheet and 2 pillowcases are a mix of 2 colors, strong navy and Caribbean blue.  On the third pillowcase I took a little artistic liberty to test some of the dyes I bought.  I really love how it turned out and think I will take a little more time in designing the dying for our 3 remaining bottom sheets.  I  took Batik classes years ago in Malaysia, would love to do it again.  My only constraint is time.  With 2 small kids and constantly planning sails and making sure we have enough of everything, I seem to have so few free minutes in the day, so we’ll see how soon it gets done.

During all this homemaker activity, Jack has been feverishly getting the boat ready for the passage.  We had to replace our starting battery, still under guarantee, so it was a free exchange.  Then he discovered that the real problem was due to a bad ground wire which he removed and replaced with a new one he fabricated.  A fifteen minute battery installation took all morning to complete.  Still left to do is buy and haul 80 gallons of diesel in jerry cans (two trips to the gas station to save 90 cents per gallon compared to the fuel dock) check and tune the rig, install new rubber spreader boots, check/replace the deck light bulb, set up the jack lines, check and update our abandon ship bag and prepare the rigging for flying our new spinnaker.  Apart from that, check the weather charts, download grib files and  coastal forecasts and plan the route.

I’m getting better at driving the huge supermarket kid carts without hitting the food displays.

AND during all that activity, the kids were busy getting into all sorts of stuff and trouble.  Marietta with her curiosity and antics, just like Curious George whom she emulates in her speech, etc., etc. and Jack Benjamin grabbing her every now and then by the hair and doing his Jekyll/Hyde, as his loving hugs and kisses morph into an affectionate sinking of his teeth into her.  This leaves Marietta crying, then the baby gets all upset with her crying and starts his own bellowing.  Life is rarely quiet and always interesting aboard the Kitty Hawk.

Off to plan the meals for our passage.  I try to have meals made that are either edible cold or reheat quickly in case of rough seas.  Prayers for no sea sickness and a smooth passage are appreciated!

Here are a couple more pics I found and wanted to share:

Marietta’s last day of swim lessons at YMCA Melbourne, FL. She is fearless!

Jack B. loves to wear Captain Papa’s hat.