Furry Friends Part 2: Koa

This post has been a long time coming and my apologies for not writing it sooner. There is so much to write about this guy that it always seems such a daunting post. So this post may be a bit lengthy, but here goes...

Koa adapted surprisingly well to the boat life, which we introduced him to at the age of 5. After living on the streets of Baltimore, we weren't sure how boat life would suit him, but he has thrived. He really just likes to be wherever we are and since we are usually around him 24/7 while on the boat, he seems happy with this crazy life choice.

The first few weeks were trial and error - teaching him to use the bathroom on deck, getting him in and out from below deck, on and off the boat - these were all obstacles we had to figure out together. First, we built this sophisticated ramp that ran from the top of the companionway stairs to the top of the galley counter below. The stairs in boats can be a bit tricky for dogs as it is similar to climbing a ladder and we had read that people had success with these ramps. It was a great feat to build and we even covered it with carpet so that it wouldn't be slippery for him. We used it exactly twice before one day he just jumped up the stairs on his own. Well, at least we didn't have to cart that ramp around!

Next came getting him to go to the bathroom on board- this was a bit trickier. He went the whole day while we were motoring down the ICW without peeing. We both took him out on deck and tried to coerce him, but no go. Finally that night, in one last ditch effort, I took him out and squeezed on his bladder (which I don't recommend unless you know what you are doing!) and voila! He peed! We praised him and gave him all kinds of treats and after that, he was good to go! At first he just peed anywhere, anytime. At one point, he even peed directly into a porthole and onto our setee - which was hysterical to me, it's not like I could get mad at the guy! Eventually though, (and we still wish we could take credit for this, but it is self-taught) he started peeing overboard. Much to our happiness, and the delight of everyone who witnesses this event, he goes to the bow, puts his head alongside the head sail, raises his leg and pees completely off the boat. It. Is. Amazing. For real.

We lucked into the open transom on this boat; this has been a godsend with getting Koa on and off the boat. We pull the dinghy up alongside and he just jumps right in. In fact, one day we couldn't find him anywhere on the boat and were both in a panic when I looked back and saw him sitting in the dinghy which was floating tied to the back of the boat. He must have been standing on the transom for an hour waiting for it to float close enough that he could just jump in. Of course we couldn't resist that cute face just waiting in the dinghy by himself and we took him for a quick ride.

Koa loves dinghy rides and swimming. We try to take him to shore at least once a day, mostly just to swim and tire him out. As he has gotten older, he has developed some joint issues and swimming is great for him. And he will swim for hours! We quickly learned our snooty water dog doesn't like the taste of salt water, so any kind of fetch toy that gets saturated is quickly denied retrieval (ie, tennis balls). We invested in half a dozen hard water floating water toys and he loves them all. After a few rounds of fetch, he is content to flail around in the sand for a bit and make sure everyone around him is also adequately covered before going in for another dip.

His favorite toy!

He doesn't much care for sailing, but we finally found the trick is to bring his bed outside into the cockpit and lay it on the floor in between the seats and he will lay right down and go to sleep. He rolls to whichever side is the lee and settles back against the seat and is out like a light. And this way we know he won't fall off. During rough weather or overnight passages, we tuck both of the pets downstairs and keep them there until calmer seas or daylight prevails. But, give this dog a light 10 knot breeze and he loves nothing more than to sit back beside the helm, nose up and sniff the air. Or curl up on one of the seats looking out over the water as the scenery passes by. And Koa is a born fisherman! Put a fishing line in the water and he goes crazy! He will bark at first, then settle down to just stare at it - for. hours. Literally. As soon as we have a fish on, he goes crazy again.

Looking out over the water:

Loves sitting at the helm:

He loves these folding chairs as much as we do!

Being on the boat is a bit of a small environment so we let him up on all the couches and beds. Otherwise he would only have about 10 feet of space to walk in. And this is fine with him, because he is a cuddler; he must be touching one of us at all times. And he firmly believes everyone who gets on this boat is there just to pet him.

We have enjoyed having him on board and although he makes it a bit trickier to travel, we wouldn't have had it any other way. As he is getting older, it is getting a bit harder for him to get around the boat and he is a factor in our decision to swallow the anchor. He has put in his dues on the boat and we are more than happy to give him flat land, soft beds and walks around the neighborhood whenever he wants.

Keeping it cool:

Charleston Sail

We left this morning around 9 because we had to time the tides to get through the Elliot Cut, just South of Charleston. This is a narrow 2 mile cut through land and if you don't go at slack tide, the current can rush at 5 knots and you will be at a standstill. Add to that the fact that there is a bridge that has to open for us that only opens every half hour and it could be a bit of a problem. If we arrive at the bridge too early, we have to just tread water, but with a current against you or on your stern you can be pushed around quite a bit. We were a bit nervous going through here, but were anxious to head on. Luckily, we made it through with no problems, hit the cut right at slack tide and had no current resistance and even made it just in time for a bridge that is halfway through the cut to open for us. It was perfect and was a great start to our day.

Once we were through the cut, we were right at Charleston. With the wind blowing just ahead of the beam, we unrolled the jib and had a great sail around the Charleston harbour. We sailed for about an hour before making it across to the ICW on the other side. It was a beautiful day and so peaceful with the motor off and the boat cruising through the water. Hopefully we can sail again around Georgetown!

Beautiful Charleston in the background:

Our sailing mutt:

This never gets old:

Dog's eye view:

Koa checking the lines:

We motored through the next part of the ICW, which is said to be very shallow at low tide. This was a bit unnerving to hear because we had found that the ICW for the most part was very shallow and had even hit some parts that had we not gone through at high tide, we would have been hard aground. So, to know that this was a particularly shallow spot was not good news. We were still at mid tide and should have enough water to get through, but it would be close. After some research on Active Captain, a cruising website that helps you navigate the ICW, we were ready to favor the land side and hope for a couple of spare feet under our keel.

As we approached the shallow area, the depth came way up...as was expected. Except it came up more than what we had even thought it would. We were moving very slowly (1knot) through about 5.5 ft of water. That means that the bottom of our boat was only .5 inch above the bottom. At a few points, the reading on our depth sounder was even less. I noticed that all of the smaller local boats were not favoring the land side and were actually closer to the marker and I thought that peculiar. Finally, one of the local guys went flying past us and gestured grandly that we should move closer to the markers. I gladly did as he recommended since we were losing even more water and was happy to find that we now had 2 feet under the keel. So much for the advice from Active Captain! We continued on at our slow pace, with the depth coming and going and finally breathed a collective sigh of relief when we reached depths of 5-7 feet.

We only motored another 10 miles North of Charleston before deciding to stop for the night. It was early today, but low tide was coming upon us and the depths we were seeing were lean and making us a bit hesitant to press on. We are currently anchored in a nice creek off the ICW and enjoying the breeze that is flowing through the cabin.

A few more short days of travel and we should reach Little River in the beginning of next week!

Let's try this Again!

8.13.15

Well, our first attempt to pass through Beaufort had proven unsuccessful and after spending two months waiting for our transmission to be repaired (that's what we get for having a Japanese tranny!), we were more than ready to head further North. By now, the Chesapeake and places further were beyond our reach and we were hoping just to make it to Little River to dock the boat and put her up for sale. With the new transmission installed and the engine aligned and mounts tightened, we were excited to head out. So, last Friday, we waited for the tide to be in our favor and then tossed the lines and were on our way! Or so we thought...

Unfortunately, the boat turned, kissed its bow to the dock and we literally just spun on our axis stuck to the dock so that we went from being tied up on our port side to being broadside on our starboard. Not knowing what was going wrong, but knowing that something wasn't right, I quickly switched the lines to the other side of the boat and made a jump for the dock. I got the bow line secure and by the time I made it to the stern of the boat, Brad was there to hand me the stern line. Hmmmm....not how we had imagined our departure going.

With the lines securely tied to the dock, we were able to look into the matter a bit more. We found that forward was reverse and reverse was forward. This happened because we had to flip a piece of the transmission to get it to fit into our engine compartment (which our repair guy assured us was ok to do). Well, we would have made do with that and just shifted in reverse for the trip until we could fix it, but we have a feathered prop, which means that it cannot go either way, it has to be set up in a certain direction. So, not only were we going in the direction, we had no control over the boat.

A quick call to our repair guy and we realized we were going to be in Dataw another four days. Fabulous. We put on our smiley faces and decided there was no reason to fret, we would just use the time to get a few boat projects done. We were hoping to wait until we got up to Little River, but it just wasn't meant to be. So, for the next few days we crossed a few items off our checklist.

Finally, after the repair guy drove down and fixed our transmission, we were ready to press on - for real this time we hoped! We left the dock at first light and off we went! We were so excited and both of us were holding our breath in hopes that everything would continue to run smoothly. Luckily, we had a fabulous day of motoring and made great time up the ICW. It was a long day and we didn't drop the hook until just before 7 (almost 12 hours later!), but we had made it to just South of Charleston and couldn't have been happier.

We enjoyed dinner in the cockpit and just soaked up the beauty of being at anchor, knowing that this is one of the last few times we will get to experience this. Tomorrow we head up past Charleston.

We were all excited to get back on the water:

Love this little copilot:

Brad ushering in the sunset:

As a side note, the whole time we have been stuck in Dataw, we have had the luxury of getting to know and spending time with the Hausers, Caroline and Rudy. Caroline is from Franklin and has known my Dad and his brothers for years. This is our first time meeting them (you will remember I wrote about her when we had lunch on the day we arrived in Beaufort) and we couldn't have asked for anyone more hospitable. They chauffered us around before we had our car, making sure we somewhere to do our laundry and taking us to the grocery store. They have invited us over for dinner at least once a week and have even come to pick us up via boat a few times! They have been our lifesavers and we just wanted to give a HUGE THANK YOU to both of them for all of their help! We would have had a hard time making it all work without them!

The End is in Sight!

We *FINALLY* got our transmission back yesterday. The repair guy has been nothing but great (albeit a bit slow) in helping us out and was able to fix it quickly once we finally tracked down all the parts. We drove to Charleston to pick it up so that we wouldn't have to wait for it to be shipped down to us. He had completely rebuilt it and also painted it a shiny silver - it looks fabulous! It is sitting cozily on our sole right now awaiting Brad's install of it later today (after lots of research mind you). We hope to have it installed today, checked and aligned by the yard tomorrow and we hope to cast off the lines on Wednesday.....for the first time in over a month! We are excited, and hopeful, to finally be on the move again.

We plan to take a week to make our way up to Little River where we will dock the boat for possibly the last time. We want to make sure we spend a few nights enjoying sunsets out at anchor and also take a few days to enjoy some sailing. She has been a great boat and we have loved *almost* every second of owning her.

They say the best days in a boaters life are the day you buy it and the day you sell it. But I can officially say that the day we sell her will be one of the saddest days of our lives. This is the first "home" we bought together and we have spent the entirety of our marriage in the cozy confines of her hull. She has taken us to far off places and shown us cultures and experiences most people only dream of. And she eased us into the wonderful world of sailing.

With the impending sale of "All In", I am going to be discontinuing this blog. I will document the last of our trip travels and probably a few more photos as we get her ready for market, but then this will be finished. I also, in my sleepless, pregnant nights lately, have realized that I never did a blog on Koa - so rest assured, that is of top priority and will be done as well before we close this down for good. Don't forget to read about our final sailing adventures and thanks for following along with us on our journeys!