We went shopping early morning on the trolley bus to re-provision, and on our return found two officers from the Customs and Border Protection waiting by the boat.
"Is this your boat sir?"
"Yes"
"Have you reported your arrival here in Charleston?"
"No, I didn't know I had to. I have a cruising permit."
"You need to check in to every port you arrive at, why haven't you done that?"
"Sorry, I didn't know I had to."
That was the start of a lengthy dialogue. Apparently we should report our arrival at every port and anchorage we arrive at, and the penalty for not doing so is $5,000 for the first offence and $10,000 for the second, coupled with confiscation of the boat. Welcome to the US.
When we cleared into the US and obtained our cruising permit, there was no mention of regular reporting and we were not given any phone numbers to call. Therefore we couldn't know that it was a legal requirement.
It was a bit tense while our papers were checked and passport details taken. However, after a while we think that they decided we weren't trying to buck the system and that there had been a genuine breakdown in communication somewhere along the way and we were let off with an official caution, which means that if we transgress again, we will be fined.
Needless to say, armed with the list of contact numbers, we will be reporting in ad nauseum from now on. Phew! A lucky escape, not to be repeated.
16 Nov 2015
13 Nov 2015
13/11/2015 Charleston
We listened to the daily weather forecasts on the SSB radio given by a weather guru before we left Beaufort NC. The indications were that as soon as the winds shifted to the west, we should leave and head south in 15 knots of wind, so we got ourselves ready and departed as advised. How to these weather forecasters get it so wrong? We rounded Cape Fear in 40 knots of wind and very short pounding seas on the nose (which didn't make for restful off-watch sleeping) and once around the cape the winds dropped altogether and we had to motor in the last 100 miles or so. We arrived into Charleston at 2:30 yesterday morning and dropped anchor for the remainder of the night.
At 10 am we radioed through to the marina to let us in to our berth and crossed the fast flowing river to hover outside waiting for the dockmaster to let us in. Finally we got our slot and in we went with the river flowing at 2.3 knots through the marina, a bit tricky but a smart ferry glide in between D and E docks and a hard left turn into the flow nestled us nicely in our berth. Want to see how we did it?
We spent the afternoon looking around 3 US navy vessels that are moored right next to the marina, The USS Yorktown (aircraft carrier) USS Laffey (destroyer) and USS Clamagore (submarine). Very informative, very claustrophobic in the case of the submarine, and very humbling in the case of the destroyer which was attacked by a squadron of kamikaze pilots in the second world war and still survived.
There is a fine collection of aircraft to look around and even sit in to see how it all works.
And we could even sit in the captain's seat to control the carrier
At 10 am we radioed through to the marina to let us in to our berth and crossed the fast flowing river to hover outside waiting for the dockmaster to let us in. Finally we got our slot and in we went with the river flowing at 2.3 knots through the marina, a bit tricky but a smart ferry glide in between D and E docks and a hard left turn into the flow nestled us nicely in our berth. Want to see how we did it?
We spent the afternoon looking around 3 US navy vessels that are moored right next to the marina, The USS Yorktown (aircraft carrier) USS Laffey (destroyer) and USS Clamagore (submarine). Very informative, very claustrophobic in the case of the submarine, and very humbling in the case of the destroyer which was attacked by a squadron of kamikaze pilots in the second world war and still survived.
There is a fine collection of aircraft to look around and even sit in to see how it all works.
And we could even sit in the captain's seat to control the carrier
8 Nov 2015
8/11/2015 : Beaufort, North Carolina
We're loving it here: The weather has been in the low eighties; the people are friendly and welcoming and Beaufort itself is great. It was voted the coolest small town in America some time ago and we can see why.
We've hired a car for a long weekend (Enterprise do an amazing weekend deal at $9.99 per day, and they collect and drop you off too ... amazing) and are getting the chance to explore this part of North Carolina. Crazy as it seems, this one state is almost as big as England, stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Appalachian Mountains in the west where it borders Tennessee. Our geography of the States has never been as good!
We drove down to Wilmington a couple of days ago, one of the historic sea ports of North Carolina on the Cape Fear river, a great name to inspire confidence in safe passage if ever there was one! It was settled in 1739 by European Americans and has an attractive riverfront, being named the best one in the USA by USA Today in 2014. Through in a historic downtown with many heritage buildings, a good lunch in the sunshine overlooking the river then it made for a nice day out.
We visited Fort Macon yesterday afternoon (after an exciting morning of laundry and hair cuts!) and found it really interesting. It was constructed in the early 1800s by Unionists (the navy blue hat I'm wearing) but in 1812 was commandeered by the Confederates (the grey hat Paul's got on) in the US Civil War, Eventually the Union Army claimed it back after a long battle. It's been a state park since the early 1930s (give or take a short period in WWII when it was put back into service) and has been restored really well and shows what life would have been like for soldiers back in Civil War times.
We've hired a car for a long weekend (Enterprise do an amazing weekend deal at $9.99 per day, and they collect and drop you off too ... amazing) and are getting the chance to explore this part of North Carolina. Crazy as it seems, this one state is almost as big as England, stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Appalachian Mountains in the west where it borders Tennessee. Our geography of the States has never been as good!
We drove down to Wilmington a couple of days ago, one of the historic sea ports of North Carolina on the Cape Fear river, a great name to inspire confidence in safe passage if ever there was one! It was settled in 1739 by European Americans and has an attractive riverfront, being named the best one in the USA by USA Today in 2014. Through in a historic downtown with many heritage buildings, a good lunch in the sunshine overlooking the river then it made for a nice day out.
We visited Fort Macon yesterday afternoon (after an exciting morning of laundry and hair cuts!) and found it really interesting. It was constructed in the early 1800s by Unionists (the navy blue hat I'm wearing) but in 1812 was commandeered by the Confederates (the grey hat Paul's got on) in the US Civil War, Eventually the Union Army claimed it back after a long battle. It's been a state park since the early 1930s (give or take a short period in WWII when it was put back into service) and has been restored really well and shows what life would have been like for soldiers back in Civil War times.
A cold front came through last night with high winds and lots of rain, plus a twenty degree drop in temperature! This morning has dawned grey and cloudy but dry so after a brunch of bacon sarnies we're off to New Bern, another old European settlement (this time from 1710) which is also where Pepsi Cola was invented and is the site of a civil war battlefield.
We'll be heading south to Charleston, South Carolina in the middle of the week .... assuming the weather plays ball!
5 Nov 2015
5/11/2015 Beaufort. North Carolina
On a scale from one to twelve (a sailor's joke) Beaufort is pretty nice. We came in last night having rounded the dreaded Cape Hatteras in 40 knot winds (Beaufort Force 8/9 Gale/Severe Gale) with several reefs in the sails and still bowling along at just under 9 knots, and then having to run the engine because the wind died altogether. Who said sailing was easy? Actually, it was much easier than we expected rounding the Cape.
Once around the Cape, we were just on the edge of the Gulf stream and what a difference in the temperature! The warm body of water raised the air temperature by a good 10 degrees and we were able to (needed to) shed layers of clothing because we were too hot. I can see why the UK is so temperate with the Gulf Stream running by our shores. Anyway, I decided to try my hand at fishing using my new rod and reel, and guess what?
Once around the Cape, we were just on the edge of the Gulf stream and what a difference in the temperature! The warm body of water raised the air temperature by a good 10 degrees and we were able to (needed to) shed layers of clothing because we were too hot. I can see why the UK is so temperate with the Gulf Stream running by our shores. Anyway, I decided to try my hand at fishing using my new rod and reel, and guess what?
Not bad for a beginner? It was a Bonito, sadly not very good eating, so I put it back. Next one will be a Yellowfin Tuna and then it will be Tuna steaks and Sashimi!
We piloted our way through the navigation lights that Beaufort has to offer (quite confusing at night with so much light clutter all around) and dropped anchor in 5 metres of water close to the Coastguard station where it was really sheltered. I was in the shower and looked outside to see a coastguard launch coming towards us with its lights flashing. They clearly weren't happy with where we had stopped and a party of 3 coastguards came alongside. We were within their exclusion zone and they wanted us to move. We feigned ignorance but they were very polite in insisting that we moved further upriver, which we duly did. This morning we moved around in the daylight to our present anchorage, right next to Downtown Beaufort and less than 50 metres from the dinghy dock. Very nice too!
There are some islands on the seaward side of our anchorage that are inhabited by wild horses. Apparently they originate from the Spanish ships that foundered on the coast in the 1600's and have adapted to living in marshy grounds and eating salt oats.
We are hiring a car tomorrow to explore inland, taking advantage of the Enterprise $9.99/day weekend rental offer so we can go shopping and sightseeing. The weather is due to deteriorate next week so we will probably head out from here on Monday or Tuesday. We will see. The weather forecasts change so quickly it isn't worth worrying about it until nearer the time.
1 Nov 2015
1/11/2015 : Life's a Gas! and Getting ready for off.
We've been in Norfolk for a week now awaiting the date we're insured to head south .... today! Now we've just got to choose a safe weather window to round Cape Hatteras and it's looking like Wednesday / Thursday this week will be it all being well so we're starting our preparations for heading south including cleaning and polishing Tumi ... it is Sunday after all, and everyone washes their cars on Sundays. It'll be an all day job by the time we've finished with the stainless steel and GRP.
We've had a good week in Norfolk. The OCC port officer and his wife have invited us and the other OCC sailors docked here to dinner and lunch this week and we've dined twice as a group too, so very social. We've also had two trips to the movies and used the local bus service to visit Virginia Beach (not to be recommended, an out of season Blackpool-type experience) and Hampton (a pleasant enough place but nothing much there). So we're ready to see somewhere new now and looking forward to arriving in Beaufort, North Carolina by the end of the week.
Now to the Gas. We finally managed to get our gas system sorted out so that we can use the US gas bottle safely. I connected the US regulator to the gas bottle last week when our European one finally exhausted itself and spliced two gas pipes together to make the connection to our European gas system. So far so good, we thought, we can cook again. The problem was, that we could operate the oven as a flamethrower, flaring gas everywhere on one ring, or a trickle if we wanted to sue more than one to cook potatoes AND vegetables at the same time. The regulator that we had just wasn't regulating so we turned off the gas and went back to the drawing board. We had a look at what the other boats were doing, and found out that there is an adaptor to convert US to European gas systems and so we ordered on online to be express delivered to us here in Norfolk. As we couldn't cook, it was a good excuse to go out as mentioned above but even not being able to boil a kettle for a hot drink was something of a pain. We realised that we need to have an electric kettle on board for such eventualities. We didn't want to buy a US one as they only work on 110v and we run on 230v, but as things turned out, the couple on the boat next to us happened to have a kettle they didn't want any more, and suddenly we are the proud owners of another means to boil water. Strange how these things just seem to work out isn't it?
We've had a good week in Norfolk. The OCC port officer and his wife have invited us and the other OCC sailors docked here to dinner and lunch this week and we've dined twice as a group too, so very social. We've also had two trips to the movies and used the local bus service to visit Virginia Beach (not to be recommended, an out of season Blackpool-type experience) and Hampton (a pleasant enough place but nothing much there). So we're ready to see somewhere new now and looking forward to arriving in Beaufort, North Carolina by the end of the week.
Now to the Gas. We finally managed to get our gas system sorted out so that we can use the US gas bottle safely. I connected the US regulator to the gas bottle last week when our European one finally exhausted itself and spliced two gas pipes together to make the connection to our European gas system. So far so good, we thought, we can cook again. The problem was, that we could operate the oven as a flamethrower, flaring gas everywhere on one ring, or a trickle if we wanted to sue more than one to cook potatoes AND vegetables at the same time. The regulator that we had just wasn't regulating so we turned off the gas and went back to the drawing board. We had a look at what the other boats were doing, and found out that there is an adaptor to convert US to European gas systems and so we ordered on online to be express delivered to us here in Norfolk. As we couldn't cook, it was a good excuse to go out as mentioned above but even not being able to boil a kettle for a hot drink was something of a pain. We realised that we need to have an electric kettle on board for such eventualities. We didn't want to buy a US one as they only work on 110v and we run on 230v, but as things turned out, the couple on the boat next to us happened to have a kettle they didn't want any more, and suddenly we are the proud owners of another means to boil water. Strange how these things just seem to work out isn't it?
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