The Maiden Voyage of Bravo!


Sunday morning… 
Lady KAE arrives. She is a Nordhavn 62 and is owned and operated by Kal, Anita, and their daughter Eileen Blumberg. James Knight and Jay Flaherty, from Yacht Tech were on board and James hops off Lady KAE and joins us on board Bravo, while Jay stays on Lady KAE. We do a quick check of boat systems, and we take off. Finally… we are underway!
"Lady KAE" pulls in to Shelter Cove Marina to join us.
"Lady KAE" underway.
James Knight onboard.
Our first time underway!
James checks out everything thoroughly!

North to Virginia
Originally, we planned to run offshore; Hilton Head Island, SC directly to Newport, RI. However, the weather did not cooperate, so we went to Plan B to be more comfortable. The two boats hopped up the coast in day trips and overnight runs...

Rain and fog headed our way.

The ever changing views.

We do an offshore overnight run from Hilton Head, SC and we then anchor at Lookout Bight, NC.

Our electronics (Chart plotter, radar, AIS) are key for running at night.

Lady KAE safely anchored in the rain behind us.

From Lookout Bight we go into the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) and our next anchorage is outside the Alligator/Pungo River Canal…

Bravo at anchor.
It’s fun cruising and anchoring with Lady KAE. She even has a “Green Egg” BBQ on her swim step and we are treated to roasted chicken one of the nights! Eileen has a fantastic stuffed animal collection in her stateroom.
Wow!
...and Wow!!!

 Our next stop is at the Coinjock Marina in Coinjock, NC at Mile Marker 50 on the ICW. It's a well know spot for boaters to stop for their low fuel prices and for their fabulous dinners. We stopped and stayed overnight for both. We got fuel (lots of fuel… 1,100 gallons), although our total capacity if we were bone dry empty would take 2,500 gallons!
We tie up at Coinjock's dock which is right on the ICW.
This is our 1st fill-up, and that's with keeping our forward tanks empty!

And for dinner most of us had the Coinjock house specialty, which is their mega huge prime rib dinner. Yum!
Quiet now, but they were filled to capacity at dinner time. Reservations recommended!
This was Nora's mixed seafood plate.

The weather continues to be hot and humid, with a heavy rain almost every day. The ICW is an interesting cruise into the backwaters of southeastern USA. We have a treat in seeing Navy fighter jets doing some low level flying, and we also see some areas that still show signs of the devastation by past hurricane seasons. 
The waterways were really scenic.
The jet fighters looked like scenes from Top Gun, and they were loud!
Always sad to see.

This trip is also a “training cruise” and James drills us on all of the boat’s systems and technology. It definitely is a steep learning curve and information overload.

...But, even James is able to relax and enjoy the trip.

Next from Coinjock Marina we to a short trip north and east to the Atlantic Yacht Basin (AYB) at Mile Marker 12 on the ICW. AYB has been in operation since 1936 and you feel like you're going back in time when you walk through their buildings and boat sheds. Lady KAE had some parts delivered there ahead of time for pickup. for some minor repairs and provisions… We also meet Amy and Marty, long time live-aboard cruisers and good friends of our cruising buddies, Dennis and Julie Fox.

We arrive at Atlantic Yacht Basin.

Bravo tied up for the night, and she's running great!

 We all tuck into bed shortly after sunset. It's an early start in the morning.

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