‘There are big ships, and small ships. But the best ship of all is Friendship’

The HIdeaways and Alchemys hanging out with the Hideaway Cats

Another – lightening wasn’t as good but the sink faucet was adjusted ;0)

O.K., so I know it is cliche and hokey, but the title of this blog entry is oh, so true…

Proceeding my most depressing blog entry to date that I posted last week, I was messaged by Brittany of s/v Asante.  She is the creator of the blog I referenced in last week’s blog entry,  www.windtraveler.net, as well as the cockroach cookies which I hope were hugely successful.  ;0)  She asked me via facebook if we could help another cruising couple she had met virtually in regards to transportation.  They needed help getting from Oriental where we are living to at least New Bern where they could rent a car.  The couple  were coming in that evening (Friday) and would be needing to drive to the coast the next day where they had entered a marathon.  Of course we could help!

We made contact with s/v Hideaway via facebook and mobile phones and gave them pointers making their way into Whittaker Creek where there can be shoaling, and then made plans to pick them up and get them to New Bern.  When I talked to Tasha she let me know while booking their slip at one of the local marinas when she had inquired into a rental car agency in Oriental, they simply chuckled.  She then realized Oriental must be a tiny town…I reassured her that we would be happy to drive them to New Bern and that, yes, Oriental is small indeed, but friendly!

We had been planning on exploiting the good weather and getting our boat taped for our first odyssey into stripe-ing a boat, but we knew we could do this on Sunday too, and well, both Chris and I were looking forward to meeting some new friends!

I checked out Tasha and Ryan’s blog prior to their arrival and saw that not only were they crazy enough to sail with two cats, but their ‘Charlie’ was pure white, like our ‘Hawkeye’.

We had such fun meeting them and chatting it up on our ride up to New Bern, and then back.  I was in awe of all their energy…having made passage all the way from New York City to the coast of North Carolina in the cold, hunkering down in Solomon’s Island, M.D. for Sandy…and then proceeding South with the weather to promptly arrive in Oriental and drive three hours further East to run marathons…These two have what it takes to cruise!

Upon our return trip they invited us aboard for a few hours to meet their cats and chat about all of our lives and cruising.  They had a very interesting life story and are intelligent and fun in equal measure.  Their cats are such sweeties, and Charlie provided the bulk of the entertainment running around the salon, while Celia investigated what might be lurking in the night in the cockpit.  We talked about cat play dates (well, Tasha and I did) and wondered whether they would all get along.  We proceeded to all attempt to gross Ryan out by discussing the joy of peanut butter and just how many food items make good pairings with it – like ants-on-a-log, peanut butter and corn tortillas (yack!), and bananas…he is not a fan of peanut butter.  As well, I let Tasha know that no matter what other cruisers tell you, there is only really one necessity to bring aboard that you can’t find in the Bahamas if you are not post menopausal.  Yes, as you can imagine it was a spirited discussion!

I keep forgetting the lens hood shades the shot if the flash goes off…

What a treat to feel like we were still cruising even if s/v Alchemy resides on the hard right now. We enjoyed seeing the enthusiasm of cruiser’s embarking upon their first season out.  s/v Hideaway is a Catalina 34 and quite comfortable and classic in her lines.  It will be fun to follow their blog and see where their travels take them.

My computer is experiencing technical issues thanks to a charging cord that has given up the ghost, so for now I will send you to s/v Hideaway’s blog for photos and Tasha’s entertaining and energetic writing.  You would want to visit their site even if I had access to my pictures.  For now, Radar will be the photo place marker…

You can find them here, as well as the post of our adventures with them:  http://turftosurf.com/2012/11/12/oriental-obxnorth-carolina/ Now, if only I could retrieve my photographs so I could post the ones with Tasha in them too!  Soon…

Thank You to Brittany to bringing us altogether for a bit of time!  It was the perfect rX for this presently ground- bound cruiser.  So crazy that we all met on Facebook…

We wish them well making their way South!