Thursday, October 18 – This is the longest I have ever been on a boat!  The cat and I have resigned ourselves to being held prisoner for nine months.   What?  Oh…oops…did I say “prisoner”?  Uh…I really didn’t mean to say that!  No, no…that, that was a mistake…I never meant to say “prisoner”.  No, really!  Held against our will maybe…but not prisoner…

                  Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha

                  Anyway, yesterday was not a total loss.  I actually got a lot done.  We were having trouble with the wireless printer, and I figured that out.  We accidently left some of our passwords home, but I managed to retrieve them, so that worked out.  I mailed a birthday card to a friend, cleaned out a couple of drawers – you know – worked around the house…house (?)– no, I meant to say boat!  The repair guy was great, and I think we will be using him to replace the water tank.  And…there was a potluck supper/party at the marina “club”.   And once again, we met some really interesting people.  We discovered that one of the boaters bought the boat that belonged to Don Wallace who wrote “Seven Miles an Hour” about living aboard a boat and their travels.  The boat used to be called “Jazz” but is now called “Sgt. Jiggs”.  In addition to learning that, I was clued into a recipe for “Kitty Litter Cake”!  Oh Boy, am I going to have fun with that next Halloween!!

            So, around 10:30 a.m. we talk with Greg, the repair guy, and he thinks he can replace the water heater by the weekend.  So we decide to motor to the town of Bath (the oldest town in North Carolina) which is a little closer to Greg and only about four hours away.  The weather is beautiful, fortunately, because once again, we have been duly warned about NOT ENTERING THE PAMILCO SOUND IN HEAVY WEATHER!  It was a non-eventful trip, calm waters, the temperature puts us in short sleeve shirts, and we are content – we are almost to Bath, and then we hear “CLUNK”.  This time, Bob heard it!  I can’t tell you how unsettling it is to hear a “clunk” while you are nicely cruising along.  Well, I am jumping around, there may have been a couple of inadvertent expletives uttered (not by me, of course), my eyeballs are popping out of my head, and, of course, I am wondering if we are going to start sinking slowly into the deep!  Well, after awhile the boat is still afloat and cruising along, and I suppose we are not going to drown.  Bob says he’ll check the engine room, which he does when we get tied up, and nothing is amiss.  So once again, we have dodged disaster.   I guess this is the way the whole entire trip is going to be – moments of sheer terror, followed by complete relief, mixed with jaw-dropping beautiful scenery.  However, I am convinced I am going to have heart failure before we return home.

            So, we motor into Bath and are able to tie up at the free dock.  A nice couple in a sailboat from the Annapolis area helps us tie up.   There are no amenities here – no electric or water, but that’s ok – we have the generator.  Greg, the repair guy calls, and tells us he has an exact replacement for the water heater, and it will be here tomorrow, so he will come to our boat at 8:00 a.m. to start.  That’s great – so we go check in at the Visitors’ Center, and then stroll around the town.  As I said earlier, this is the oldest town in North Carolina, established in 1705,and it looks very similar to a miniature Williamsburg – old clapboard homes, double chimneys, old, mature gardens, picket fences, etc.  Apparently, the pirate, Blackbeard, terrorized the area.  Hopefully, tomorrow, we may have some time to do the house tours.  Right now, we walk to a little restaurant for some  carry out and ice cream then back to the boat for the evening.  The Visitors’ Center is showing a free movie tonight, but we have seen it, and decide to stay home….er….I mean on the boat…

            Ha Ha, more later…