On our way Wilmington to Bermuda

34:15.37N 79:56.87W

31st May 2015

Still 8383 Miles from Ramsgate by log but not for long.

            Our Ramsgate support team or to those who know them Tommy and Sue flew back to good old blighty last Friday morning and so the next time we will meet up will be in Dover sometime in July. Tommy true to his word ended up working like a dog on his birthday in the stifling heat helping me to install the new battery bank and then getting Spectra lifted and her bottom cleaned for the trip back. The batteries turned out to be a real pain; measure once, measure twice, order the same type of batteries, D8, and the bloody things still didn’t fit ion the box. The handles on the new ones were slightly chunkier than the old, end result two hours of sweat and toil rebuilding the battery box, mainly with a hammer, until finally we got everything secure. The previous evening I had fitted the new 80- Amp charger and that was all working and so we are now all powered up for the trip. The lift out went unbelievably smoothly, the bottom was absolutely filthy with slimy growth but the anodes were in pretty good shape so no need to change them. Bennett Brothers boat yard attacked the bottom mob handed with two jet washers and another guy scraping we were lifted cleaned and back in inside an hour and a half and all for $435.69 which aint bad at all.

The Glam gang head of eastwards towards the cold

            Small world that it is one of the senior chaps out of Bennett Brothers came down to the boat to see how we were doing and having heard his accent started to have a chat with Tommy. It turned out that John Rose used to live in the Wirral and had worked for Dista products near Liverpool at the same time that Tommy was working there just after finishing his apprenticeship. They spent a happy half hour catching up on mutual acquaintances from the old days and it turned out that John had been awarded an honorary OBE for industry while working in the UK. It has been a notable point of this trip that we live in a pretty small world, time and time again we have met people who share mutual associations in some way or other.

Tommy and Paul Rose

            That night we finally got ourselves cleaned up and out for a meal to celebrate Tommy’s birthday and of course to try out the Alligator Satay. As expected it tasted a bit like chicken but damn fine chicken I must say. Before I get my house burnt down back at home, killing wild Alligators is illegal in North Carolina, any Alligators on the menu have been born and raised in captivity and farmed for the purpose, so put your matches away and go and pick on someone else. The Wilmington marathon had taken place that day completely unbeknown to us and as part of the event a fire boat was spinning around on the river doing a fine display of water jetting which gave us something to look at from the waterfront restaurant.

Alligator Satay

The fire boat doing its impressive display

And from the other side

After Tommy and Sue drove away we got on with spring cleaning as the new crew were due to begin arriving that evening. One nasty job was to get the holding tanks emptied and flushed and so a call was made to Cape Fear Marinas gallant team of Dockmasters, Robert and Anthony. As always they were keen to respond and we soon had the pumps connected and sucking away, yuk! They were more than happy to let us refill the tanks several times and then pump them through to get everything as clean and odour free as possible. We gave the gallant duo a case of beer in thanks for all of their hard work during our stay and promised to say nice things about Cape Fear Marina. The best recommendation I can give is that we will definitely be coming back. This is a great lay over port and everything you need can be got on site or ordered in. Plus to be honest, they are all such nice people, both the staff and the customers, from Norma and myself a big, big, thank you to you all.

The Cape Fear Marina dock team

            On Friday the Atlantic crew began to arrive, Jen was first and immediately started a chatty conversation with Norma, two day in and they haven’t come up for air yet. Steve arrived early evening after an epic planes, trains and automobiles trek across America. After getting everyone settled in we finished the day with a few beers in the cockpit and were soon joined by Dan and Paula our neighbours on the dock who took great pleasure in helping us zap flies as the sun went down. True to form Dan and Paula have lent us their car to do last minute shopping tomorrow, they are just so generous. Saturday was spent doing last minute jobs and shopping for the fresh stuff. The water maker filters were replaced, dinghy stowed. Jack lines rigged and foresail halyards checked for wear. Finally we winched Steve up both masts just to make sure that everything was still connected up there, It was. Adamant arrived late morning after a very early start and so we were five. Last night we had a goodbye to America meal out in downtown Wilmington and so we are ready for the big off. The bridge will open and ten and then we can head out.

The motley crew of the good ship Spectra.

The plan is to go down to Southport at the mouth of the Cape Fear river, refuel and then head out for Bermuda. That will put us one day ahead of plan but as the winds are predicted to be very light this week we will probably use up that extra day getting over there.

And so it is good bye to America and to Cape Fear Marina with a final thanks to Dan, Paula, Robert, Anthony, Butch, Loretta, Billy and everyone else that has made our stay so pleasant here at Wilmington, in the great state of North Carolina…….

Next blog will be on passage.

Watch this space for the next exciting episode from the adventures of Spectra………    

See below for a few final pictures of Wilmington

A very sleepy Racoon in the dumpster

Sunrise over the bridge

Sunset over the Cape Fear River seen from our dock