Category Archives: Southport

Hurricane Isiasas

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For over a week prior to this storm, we prepared our boat and I worked on several others.

I busted my ass prepping boats.  I locked things down, I took down canvas, solar panels, I took down or tied off lines, I added extra lines.  I did everything humanly possible except hauling the boat out somewhere because that really wasn’t a good option at the time.

What  I didn’t do (at the last minute, though considering it) was to move the boat off the T head where we sat, into a deeper inside slip in the mud, like I did for Dorian.  Should have, could have, would have… doesn’t work.  But, it would have merely saved me from being on the T head, and not from the damage we had from the wind.

At the LAST minute we decided to stay on the boat instead of evacuate, because up until the hurricane passed Georgetown SC, it was  STILL going inland and we’d have been ok.  In fact it wasn’t even a Cat I hurricane until near an hour before it hit us.Then it hit.

The majority of our damage was caused by heeling over against the dock.  The marina wasn’t as luck.

South Harbour Village Marina, bought last October by Safe Harbor Marinas, was devastated.

Almost an hour into the strongest winds (which never exceed about 80 mph) the marina broke up.  D dock broke loose and came inside on or near C and B docks.  Some of us believe, based on the positioning, D took out the pilings on the inside of the Transient Dock.

On the East End of T Dock, were three large windage vessels.  We believe the weight of thos on the end of the dock finished the ripping of pilings, many of which were old and rotten it seems, judging from the floating pieces in the water after the fact.  T Dock came inside as well, basically locking and trapping all the boats.

B dock turned into a Question Mark, our end headed toward A dock, and then when the winds and tide reversed, we moved backward, but by the B dock was broken in many places, several boats were scrunched together, and some had lost their swim platforms.  Some had holes.  One was under B dock.


Photo Courtesy of John Thomas
and his drone

Adventure is in the above shot, on the lower right.  Directly off Adventure’s Bow is Bucketlist, both of us were on the END of B Dock on the T head.  The dock to the right of Bucketlist is a portion of D dock.

There were no real injuries that night, other than bruising by bouncing off things getting off the boats.  We came through pretty well.

Some people came out from the condos to help those they felt less able to assist themselves.  Many people were scared.

All in all, though, everyone survived.  No severe injuries.  There were no boats in our marina sunk.  They all stayed afloat.

In the aftermath, some folks decided to tell me and my wife she shouldn’t be on a boat.

Well, I’m about to address this to anyone reading this.

What my WIFE decides for her is for her to decide.  Advice is fine, but insistence on telling someone they “shouldn’t be doing something” isn’t up to anyone but ourselves.

Let me be CRYSTAL CLEAR here.  I DO NOT make, force or coerce JoAnne to be on Adventure.  It was her decision to buy a boat, and ours together to move aboard, and our decision, together to do so as a couple.

Our lives are in OUR hands and no one else’s, and it’s not for others to tell anyone what to do, or how to do it.

Whether it be this idiotic “mask mandate” some over reaching “governors” have attempted, or telling others they shouldn’t be on a boat – simply is not your right to do. It’s NO one else’s business where we live or how we live, whether a boat, RV, a house on the side of a mountain or a damned jungle.

My wife makes her own decisions, I make mine. Her decision was to move aboard a boat.  Her decision, now, remains to STAY on that boat as soon as she is back in the water again.

Adventure is our home now.  Home is where the heart is.  Home is where you drop your anchor, or tie your dock lines.

I’m sick of those who think they can dictate what others do or do not.

Aftermath:

Adventure is currently on the hard.  She has a few thousand dollars worth of cosmetic damage.  The rig has two chain plates I’m having a rigger examine and give me an estimate, but over all, the glass work is scratching and scarring in one area, rub rail was destroyed, as was a portion of the toe rail on the port side.

The boat was NEVER in danger of sinking (though someone was telling people on the phone that boats were sinking around them, including mine, this wasn’t the case).  Our ship is well found and would have fared much better a long way from land or sitting in the mangroves.  She has no other damage.

What she had was a badly cleaned bottom, that I pay good money to divers to do.  That is something that will be taken care of shortly.

I’m not only sick of people who think they can dictate what others do, I am sick of “professionals” who lie about their work, do only a portion of it, and charge you top dollar for jobs they don’t really accomplish, and there are SEVERAL such “professionals” who’ve done just that and continue to get away with cheating people out of money.

I’m finished with such people, and finished with hiring people that can’t give you what they promise.

 

Basically, again, it’s nearly ALL superficial damage, not affecting the operation of the vessel.  We had the pretty scroll work broken off in the last image, however, I saved that piece.  You can see the steel from the rub rail there, which I also rescued.  The teak rub rail was removed in sections, and screws bent and broken, so part of the damage will be to repair the glass work, reinstall rub rails and steel, and  to check and replace the two damaged turn buckles and inspect the rigging for stability.  (To me, climbing part of it, it appears intact and strong, but the turn buckles are damaged and the chain plates need inspection and so do the through bolts).

The marina didn’t really take much action at all after the storm.  They didn’t check on people, they didn’t ask how anyone was, they didn’t bring ice down, they didn’t really do anything to mitigate further damage, and they didn’t bring fenders, lines or anything to the folks on the docks.  It was three days before “Corporate” came in and someone started making decisions.  The Manager quit.  The guys that remain are good people, every one of them, so for that matter was the manager, but I think their hands were tied, and didn’t know what to do.

As I was really the “First One” that needed to be moved, when they cut the T dock open, they towed me out.  My engine was not working right (turns out, one of those “professional things” hadn’t be done well and my prop was full of barnacles and other wild life).  I was towed out across the way to the marsh area and anchored the boat for three more days until I could be towed to the haul out spot in South Carolina, 40 miles away.

I’m not going into any more details on who did what, when, where or to whom, but suffice it to say, JoAnne and I have gone out of our way for many people, over and over and over again.  Only two people stepped forward to help me when I actually, finally ASKED for help.  Brian and Ian.  To those two… if you need something, you know how to reach me.

I’m not going to change who I am for others.  I’m here for my wife first, and I’ll continue to be that guy who offers to help.  But….. there’s a part of me that realizes others only look out for themselves first, and others later, and you must count on YOU alone in the end.

JoAnne and I have had a long discussion about our ship, about our plans for the future and about what we will do.

And what we will do, is continue to live aboard Adventure as long as God allows us to do so; it’s not what others think of us or our abilities, it’s about what WE know we can do, and what we can’t do.  No one else knows us, as well as we know ourselves.  No one knows about things we’ve gone through in our lives, people we’ve saved, people we’ve helped, mountains we’ve climbed, monsters we’ve faced down – both real and in our lives.  And no one, NOT ANYONE can make our decisions for us.

So to our friends that doubt us… don’t.  Don’t stop being our friends, but please stop telling us to give up.

Finally, I’d like to mention some very special friends of ours whose boat was hauled out in the same place as Adventure.  They were in the middle of the disaster in Southport, NC and the last thing we heard evacuating our boat was her calling for help.  I was no longer in control of what I was doing and was worried about ensuring JoAnne’s safety and that of others who’d come onto the dock to “make us evacuate” (even though we knew the boat was fine) and we were scared for them.  Found out early the next morning they were ok.

They are going to sell their beautiful boat, but not because of the hurricane, it was planned beforehand.

So to Gloria and Todd, we wish you well and want you to go on as you have, strong, safe and happy, together.  You two have had a profound impact on our lives and we can only hope you continue to do so in the future.

 

 

 

 

 

September/October/November

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I have already related to you the mess we had with insurance over medical problems.

We came back to Colorado, and then after getting that straightened out, we saw JoAnne’s oncologist, and dates were scheduled.

As luck, or perhaps fine tuning, would have it, we had a three week hiatus in which to make another trip across country.  We wound up traveling back from Colorado to Southport.  We stopped (as usual) to visit our friends, Mike and Cindy, as Cindy is preparing for her starring role in “A Bad Year for Tomatoes” in November.  (As of this writing, she did opening night and the second night’s play.  This Friday night and Saturday should be their final curtain.)

We stopped around Tennessee and we wound up at Southport late on the evening of our arrival.

The boat was pretty much a mess.  Books and other things not nailed down flew around during the hurricane.  A solar panel pulled loose from the top and fell to the deck, ripping wires from the connectors.  Fortunately, it wasn’t much of a mess, the books were cleaned up, the batteries checked, and we stayed with our friend at her apartment for a couple of night until I could clean the interior of the boat up.

We spend the next week doing minor repairs, and prepping the boat for the winter, dumping our water tanks and removing any remaining food stuffs to the car, to return that with us to Colorado.  Why not use it there?

I repaired and tested the solar charging system.  We had a major water gusher under the sink where our Seagull Water filter system resided, and had worked itself loose, releasing pressure when turning on the pressure water system.  We move a few things to storage, removed a few winter clothes and after about a week on the ground there, set out again for Colorado.

This time, we took a few extra days, as there was no rush.  We stopped again with Mike and Cindy and spent a full day assisting in the set build for the play at the local VFW Hall in Richmond, MO.  I helped Cindy with her lines and we had a good time hanging out with them.  The day we left, we both had colds, and were kind of miserable.

So, we stopped in Kansas for the night instead of making the long, eleven hour run from Richmond back to Colorado Springs.  We spent the night got up late, traveled and arrived back here.

Over the course of the last week, we’ve been to multiple doctor’s appointments, been in and out of two hospitals and visited most of our kids.

A couple of days ago, our fourteenth grand child was born.  His name is Lincoln Alan Dale Donaldson, and he was 5lbs & 15oz.  He’s have a few breathing issues apparently though, and is still in the hospital until they can get him breathing correctly, even perhaps giving him some  red blood cells to help as he seemed slightly anemic.  Otherwise, he seemed healthy.  His mom and dad (Lana and Patrick) are quite proud!

Baby Lincoln

 

Yesterday was the beginning of JoAnne’s chemo.  She has six sessions.  They are 21 days long (scheduling, not that many days in a row!.)

The first day is a lot of chemicals, drugs to prevent nausea. etc.  The second set in the first session, will be 7 days out from the first day, and will be a short session to give her another dose of one of the chemicals.  Then it starts over again on Day 21.  This will go on for six total sessions, or about 18 weeks, interspersed with doctor’s appointments, blood work and other tests as needed.

We are hoping this particular chemotherapy doesn’t make her lose her hair like the first one did, but we’re prepared that it will, just in case.  She has some hats and scarves, like last time.  The chemicals are somewhat different this time as well, and her doctor said that people do not lose their hair “as much” with this type.

JoAnne is a tough cookie.  She fought this last time and managed to beat it back for four full years, she never really even got ill as some do, through chemo, and she worked the whole time last time.  This time, we’re completely retired and have nothing to keep us from fighting this all the way through.  She’s going to get plenty of rest in spite of herself! ha!

JoAnne, the First Mate of the Sailing Ketch, Adventure!

 

We both want to tell you folks, those who are already out there and follow us, and those thinking about it, as well as our friends who are comfortable in their homes, snuggled up by the fireplaces, drinking their hot chocolates, or martinis by the fire:

Stop living life the easy way.  Don’t pass the opportunities that come your way.  Don’t live day-to-day and Check-to-Check.

Do NOT let life pass you by while you’re “waiting for retirement”.  Don’t sit on your butts, thinking about all the things you’re going to do “When I don’t have to work again”.  Do NOT wait for “enough money” (because you will NEVER HAVE ENOUGH MONEY!) to do the “RV Thing”, “buy a boat”, “go horse back riding”, “Mountain Climbing”, “Paragliding or skydiving”.

Just don’t wait.  Do it.  Sit down and make that list of things you want to do, and then check them off, one at a time.  Save some money, go do one, pick a date, do another.

Life isn’t lived while you’re “waiting on it to catch you”.  Life is lived when you grab that bull by the horns and wrestle his big ass down into the mud and hog tie him, then jump up and win that trophy.

The day JoAnne gets her walking papers from chemo, we’re headed back to Southport without meager belongings, and we’re going to empty out the Vee Berth, put everything we don’t need in storage (winter clothing, parts, junk pieces, extra crap that we “might need one day” and all the stuff that weigh us down, collect a couple of friends as crew and we’re setting sail for the Bahamas.  Yes, it will be near the beginning of Hurricane Season.  Yes, it might be the BEST sailing time.  Yes, it will be relatively spur of the moment, pretty much “unplanned” and absolutely not the “right season”, but you know what?  It’s well past time to do it.

We made a decision awhile back that we were going to live our lives, and do the “medical stuff” around life, not live our lives around the “medical stuff”.  I’ll keep JoAnne safe, and healthy, and make sure she sees the doctors when it’t time, but we’re not sitting on our asses waiting for a “day, date, season or proper time” any longer.

To our friends Kevin and Debi – skippers of their own ships, be prepared, we’re coming for you, we need a crew! (Don’t be surprised if you get shanghaied!!!!!!!!!

 

 

The Dance

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limbo

noun (1)

lim·bo | \ ˈlim-(ˌ)bō  \
plural limbos

1: often capitalized : an abode of souls that are according to Roman Catholic theology barred from heaven because of not having received Christian baptism

2a: a place or state of restraint or confinement trapping travelers in an airless limbo—Sam Boal

b: a place or state of neglect or oblivion proposals kept in limbo

c: an intermediate or transitional place or state the adolescent occupies a special human limbo—New Republic

d: a state of uncertainty The graduate was in limbo for a while, trying to decide what to do next.

e: a dance or contest that involves bending over backwards and passing under a horizontal pole lowered slightly for each successive pass

Last month I spoke about our lives in the last few years, the boat, JoAnne’s cancer and right after that we were put on alert watching Hurricane Florence form off the coast of Africa and make the long trek across the sea, to finally visit the USA.

In the few weeks after publishing that entry in August, I spent a lot of time cleaning up the boat, getting her ready for the fall trip to the Bahamas.  Then Florence formed, and it appeared to be heading right for Southport, NC.  The news was all over the place on possible hit locations, the NHC was all over the place, the Spaghetti models were everywhere.  The only thing that was accurate was my own predictions that it would hit somewhere between Myrtle Beach and Beaufort, NC.  And I was accurate about that part.

JoAnne and I started preparing the boat for a hurricane, and finally on Tuesday just before it hit, we also received a call from her oncologist’s office back in Colorado.  We had four weeks to return to begin a treatment plan.  A PET scan had been ordered and taken care of the Friday before.  The doctors read the scans and decided she had some “area of concern” which the oncologist believed to be a recurrence.

On Wednesday morning, of “official, mandatory evacuation” and in light of a probably Category Four hurricane hitting full on in North Carolina, near to us, we packed the last of our belongings we’d not place in storage and I started the car, looked to JoAnne and said, “Where too?”

We had no idea where to go, which way to run or who would take us in for a few days.  With the car running, we called her Brother down in Florida and told him the situation, and he had us come to stay with he and his wife for a few days.  We knew we wanted to return to the boat before heading back to Colorado, and probably hit our storage locker once more for cold weather clothing, usually kept in storage in the summer.

We spent a week in Florida visiting with friends and her brother.  When we attempted to return to North Carolina, the rivers were just cresting, roads were out, flooded and bridges damaged, roads closed, and basically those who got home to Brunswick county were already close in, and had an idea of which roads to take avoiding the dangerous conditions (and road blocks).

Many made it home, but we could not. Our time was running out.

We made for Colorado.  Friends are caring for our boat, which suffered only minor, external damage.  Lost a solar panel, the bimini and it was damp below.  I have plans to head back there once we get JoAnne settled into a routine.

This past week was a mess with the doctors and insurance.  We argued with both for hours, until finally, the insurance company told the doctor’s office what we’d been saying all along; we do NOT need a referral to her oncologist (since she has been seeing him for four years) and we’re on Tricare standard which does NOT require ANY referrals for ANY outpatient care.

The doctors also told us, that there were two areas of concern, not one.  One area on her lung, and another somewhere between kidney and liver, very non specific.  We will find out how specific that is on this coming Tuesday.

Another CT scan was performed a few days ago, after the battles with Insurance and the Dr. office, and we now have more information.

Friday she was called and told that she will be commencing chemotherapy soon, after a port is installed and we see the doctor once more so we can work out a schedule and plan to fight this.  He told the caller to tell JoAnne that the lung issue is a “recurrence” rather than a new form of cancer (lung cancer perhaps).  He was unsure prior to the CT scan, but is more confident of his diagnosis now I suppose.

(Personally, I am NOT more confident yet, and have questions.)

At the beginning I put up a definition. The definition was for the word Limbo, a word I used in the previous blog entry from August.

Limbo, from the definition is a place… without a destiny or destination.

It’s also a dance…

Kind of like life.  Life is a dance or journey.  You never know when you’re young how the moves go.  You have to be taught.  Some of us, like me, never learned how to dance, I just listen to the music.  But, there are times when bending over backward to accomplish something important is how you get it done.  Going in the wrong direction to reach your destination can get frustrating.

Our destination is, and always will be, to sail the islands, from the Bahamas on to the rest of the Caribbean.  We have found that life isn’t really a “dance”, but a journey without a true “destination”.  The “Dance” part comes in at successive times in life, when you’re worried, when you’re up against some seemingly insurmountable task and just about ready to give up and quit, you Dance.

It can be a jig, a limbo, a foxtrot, or the twist.  Whatever it is, at the end, you will come out stronger, better, and more in tune with life.

JoAnne and I had a dance the last few days with Life.  It wasn’t a journey, it didn’t turn out to be a destination, merely a diversion.  We talked and discussed this dance, and found that we have decided that we will no longer live our lives around medical issues, we will deal with them around our lives.

After we get the plan in place, we’ll have about three weeks before the next chemo session.  This will give us time to travel back across country, see our boat, repair the damage, prepare her for winter (by dumping water, checking engine etc) and collect the Colorado Clothing we’ll need, and then return to our family and support system here.

Adventure has proven she can and will survive whatever Nature throws at her for now.  It’s not her time, and it’s certainly not OUR time.

So to our friends in Southport, Kevin and Debi, we thank you for looking after our home, Adventure, and WE WILL BE BACK SOON!   To our family, Especially Nick and Levi, thank you for your support.  To those we left behind in the disaster, you will rise up stronger.

And for us…. We’re going sailing again, very, very soon.

 

T minus 16 Hours and counting

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High tide occurs here at the marina in the morning about 11:10. About 10:56 am at Southport.

We’re planning to pull out of here a little after 10 AM tomorrow.

Our friend Jay will go out to get fuel in the morning, and then we will pull out as well afterward and head down the canal.  John Sparrow and Lizzy Swan aboard the S/V Black Swan will pull out as we come through.

The three boats will be headed out into the Atlantic for a trip down the coast.  Jay and “Knot Working” will return to his slip after guiding us through the Western Bar Cut, because JoAnne and I have never gone through there yet, but he has.  So we will use his local knowledge to learn that.

Then we will sail south. We have a loose plan to get to Georgia in two days and the winds appear favorable for us to do so.  We won’t go more than a few miles off shore 3-15 and we’ll try to remain in phone contact on and off.

Brunswick Georgia is one of the places we’re looking at pulling out of the ocean for a day or two of rest before deciding on our next leg.

Bahamas is our ultimate destination though.  We have considered everything from Marsh Harbor to Eleuthera at this point.  We’ll decide as we go I guess.

Anyway, this is my last entry for a day or so.

Fair Winds!