Rain Rain Go Away

Nature's Entertainment

There was a beautiful Lunar Eclipse last night. Charles and I sat on the bow and watched the Earth's shadow take over the moon. I took some pictures, which are pretty mediocre, but one can get the gist, especially if you missed it.

This morning when I got out of bed I noticed I had a little vertigo. I didn't know why until I looked at the weather radar. There was a storm moving in which looked to be taking over the entire Bible belt. God's punishment I guess for not voting in Huckabee when we all had the chance. ha ha!

The wind was coming from the east at about 15-20 mph, and the tide was outgoing. Natures way of stirrin' things up. Two months ago Charles and I were off shore in 10 foot waves and I was fine. We were tied to the dock all day and I feel like I have a severe hang over. Ugh.

View from the cockpit. Its difficult to see the rocking from a photo, but I thought I'd try...

The Glamourous Life

We had our second overnight boat guests this weekend. Our great friends Tim and Katie Renner decided to drive the 2 hours south from Charleston to visit Gertrude and see with their own eyes what we have been up to since moving to our floating paradise.

I think they were bored.

We drank, we ate, we walked the docks and viewed the beautiful boats, we visited historic Beaufort, but for the most part we just sat on the boat. We didn't take Gertrude out as we were in relaxation mode and I don't think Katie and Tim wanted to be put to work. Ok, I didn't want to be put to work! It was nice just sitting in the sun. The weather was sooo much better than what it was when my parents visited just a few weeks ago. Our entertainment was old man Charles focusing in on the little things going on in the marina.

"Meg, who is that out there."

"Out where babe?"

"Out there in the sound, that boat, who is that?"

"I have no idea Charles."

Tim looks at Charles like he has lost his mind.

"Meg, looks like Mr. Brown is checking his sails"

...Megan ignores him.

"Meg, look over there, Mr. Brown has his sails up"

"Hmm (thinking the entire time, oh my God, we need to increase our entertainment budget)"

"I wonder if Pete is back from diving (Pete works at the Marina). Meg, can you get the binoculars."

So, Charles may be turning into a crazy old boat man, but to his defense things are quiet here. And I love it!!!!!!!! We have a lot of time to devote to the fossil business, and a ton of time to devote to thinking. Just watching the surroundings and thinking. A few weeks ago we had dolphoins swimming in our "yard" every evening. We will spend our relaxing days planning our next grand adventure. Life will definitly be full of excitment then.

Below: Timmy in the cockpit. Katie wouldn't let me put her picture up!

She's Crafty!

Gertrude is a fast girl. Charles did an incredible job sailing her. We had her going over 10 knots and caught up with a sailboat running its engine. We had some trouble in the begining understanding one another. Similar to the way American's speak to non-english speaking tourists; we thought that if we yelled louder at one another we would better communicate.

Neither one works well.

The wind was kickin'. After a few hours out on the water (and runnin' circles around a Beneteau) we decided to bring her home. Docking a 41' sail boat is not an easy task, let alone for a beginner. Charles succesfully brought her right into her slip despite the fact that the wind wanted nothing to do with her. ha ha! We won.

Megan working on the budget for our Trip (with a capital T).

Charles being his sexy Captain self! Yeah I know, we could both use a little sun. Its February ok!

Our First Over Night Guests

Cam and Kris (my parents) picked the coldest day of the year to stay with us on the boat. Charles and I purchased another space heater in hopes they wouldn't notice the heat in the boat didn't work. When it gets into the 20s on the water however; space heaters don't cut it. We were all bundled up and didn't move from the couch, unless we needed to warm up our coffee, or top off a glass of wine.

(Photo: Kris, Megan's Mom and Megan freezing)

The good news - Charles got to know Gertrude's plumbing quite well. Two days before my parents were coming to visit the forward toilet stopped flushing. We determined to replace the electric flusher with a hand pump. I am a big beleiver in having simple machinery on the boat. Things we can fix in 20 ft swells! Plus the electric pump was $300 more.

Charles got the new pump and began the install. Problem #1; we determined the base of the toilet was new to the boat in 1989. There was nothing to which the pump could attach. So, our simple pump replacement turned into a complete toilet replacement. Lucky for us they are neatly packaged in dummy proof kits. Charles had the toilet perfectly installed just in time for Problem #2. The toilet in the aft head did the same thing The motor stopped working. Thankfully the marina opened there newly renovated bathroom facilities the day before our toilets quit.

Once Charles was cleaned up (In HD quality, he got to know what happens to raw sewage in a boat after you flush), we had two brand new toilets... just in time for Kris and Cam. Yay Charles!!

(Photos: Megan and Charles, and Cam, Megan's Dad)

Burrrrrrrrrrrrr

We are officially moved in! We are settling into our beautiful 41' Morgan Classic. Gertrude's very cozy. Cozy in the sense that it feels like home. But let me tell you; it's freezing!! We had the heat fixed last week and uh...

I think the low today in St. Helena Island was 30 degrees. Luckily it's a small community so there is a Walmart lurking down the road a bit. We purchased an $18 space heater. What an an amazing piece of nautical equipment!

My thinking may sound prejudice, but its merely an observation of my experience thus far. My theory is that boat people mostly fall into two categories. The wealthy aloof, and the transient talker. We haven't met any crazy boat people here yet. I am assuming its becasue the weather is keeping them tucked into their saloon's. I will let you know what we find and if they crack my theory. Charles thinks we are the excepetion and hopes we find other exceptions as my theory is pretty depressing.

The Perfect Boat

We purchased our sailboat! We decided on the 89' Morgan Classic Sloop. She is a 41 foot beauty that spent the last couple years living in St. Augustine, FL. The ironic thing is she is originally from Charleston, SC, so we are taking her home. Our plan is to bring her back the week before Thanksgiving with our friend Chris. He has sailed his whole life and we will rely on him to protect our boat from our inexperience.

We have decided to name her Gertrude. Charles and I have both read Desert Queen by Janet Wallach; not to be confused with "Priscilla: Queen of the Desert" (although a great movie). Desert Queen is the biography of Gertrude Bell, an English socialite who gave up her position in society to travel and discover the wild places in the world. She fell in love with the Middle East and is known, somewhat notoriously, for unknowingly creating the problems we see in Iraq today (The Bushes only added to it).

Looking at Bell through 2007 eyes, one quickly sees her imperfections. Just like our boat, there are great things about her and not so great things about her. If you read her Wikipedia entry you will learn she was against women suffrage. She believed that if women only took interest in the kitchen and the bedroom they did not deserve a voice in government. We have tried to understand her from her place in history.

Like Gertrude the sailboat, Bell took off in her 20s to travel the world with her family. Because of her courage, strength, adventurouse spirit, finesse, wit, and good luck; Charles and I have decided to make Gertrude Bell our beautiful sailboat's namesake. We hope that our adventure will change our lives and teach us more about the people we live with in this world.