Author: Chris McLean

March 28-31, 2024

New York, New York

One of the greatest joys parents can have is getting to spend time with adult children. Getting a few days to be with our Eric, getting to know his city, was a gift.

E lives in Brooklyn and we stayed in an Airbnb about a mile or so from him. We spent Friday walking around Brooklyn and checking out “the good parts.”

Even in this very high-density area, nature has some surprises.

So many flowers were blooming!

Friday’s step total was equivalent to 6.9 miles.

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I have been intrigued by the Met Cloisters for years: the idea of seeing art that’s almost a thousand years old seems like a dream. I mentioned this idea to Eric months ago and he remembered.

Fort Tryon Park is right next to the Cloisters; both are on the Hudson River. This is a part of Manhattan that’s far removed from the stereotype of a bustling urban area.

I probably could have spent an entire day here, looking at all of the art, architecture, and artifacts.

There were lots of sculptures from buildings and some effigies from tombs. I also found a painting of Christ in Limbo that seems to place his very near an alligator (although I suspect it’s a serpent of some sort).

The Cloisters also house the Unicorn Tapestries, massive wall-hangings woven in the 1500s. The detail on these is incredible – I can’t imagine the thought and time it took to create these.

Every room had stunning works of art. I was also drawn to this wooden sculpture depicting the death of Mary. It was carved in the late 15th century.

The Cloisters also has a small display of illuminated texts. Photos can’t do them justice. The detail on these show the determination and dedication of the friars who labored over them.

Very close to the Met Cloisters is Inwood Hills Park. Eric had previously mentioned how this park made it easy to visualize what the New York settlers must have encountered. It’s really serene there.

There’s a small marker here to commemorate the purchase of Manhattan. It’s smaller than I thought it would be, considering how important that moment is to present day.

There’s also a bunch of black squirrels here. Apparently they’re a little rare but not uncommon.

The Mysterious Black Squirrels of NYC

While we were in Manhattan, we also viewed a couple of independent movies. There was also an opportunity to hear a Q&A with the director of the second film, but since the film didn’t resonate with us, we left.

So many folks were on the train back to Brooklyn…

We walked seven miles on Saturday.

John and I are already thinking about the places we want to see the next time we visit Eric. Eric seems to have a mental map of the city with public transit lines memorized. Having him as our tour guide made our trip even better than I hoped. What a gift it is to have this time with our E.

March 18-25, 2024

March 11-17, 2024

John and I have been hearing odd sounds while aboard Lailia.  Sometimes we can even hear these sounds when we’re walking on the docks.  We’re used to the squeaking of the lines, the patter of the small waves, and the sound of the little snapping shrimp that click on our hull. 

This sound is different. It’s a low frequency sound.  We think we finally found out what it is: black drum doing their thing. 

Black Drum

It’s good to have this mystery solved!

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Cypress Wetlands has really come alive with the return of warm, sunny days.  There’s so much to see each time we’re there.

Great egrets are in full mating and nesting season.  Male egrets are showing off their plumage and dancing around.

Maybe you knew how egrets mate.  We did not.  Now we do.

The egrets who aren’t preening or mating are collecting twigs and vines for their nests.  They’re in bushes and under trees pulling and grabbing. After they get what they need, they fly back to their nests.

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Bull gators are warming up. A big one was walking through a neighborhood in our county this week. I really like gators but I don’t want to be that close.

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There’s a lot happening here…and it’s easy to miss the things that are a little bit hidden.

I think storks are going to be nesting here soon. They’re starting to hang out in the trees – in previous weeks they’ve been on the ground.

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Saturday was warm enough for us to head to the beach. Unfortunately, we left our beach chairs in our storage unit in Charleston.

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Spring is just really beautiful in Beaufort.

March 4-March 10, 2025

Spring is (too) slowly making its way into Beaufort.

One of the first signs of spring here? Pollen. It’s everywhere: on cars, in the water, and even on alligators.

Another sign of spring? Romance!

The great egrets in Cypress Wetlands are beginning their mating and nesting routines. The males have started fanning their plumage and showing off for the ladies.

They’re grabbing twigs and vines for their nests, too.

Spring seems like a great time to hang out and socialize, especially after the short, cold winter days.

Ibis gather daily to dig in the mud. They’re not nesting yet – they’re just socializing in flocks of 20 or more. As the mud warms up, more little critters surface for them to eat.

Little blue herons are gorgeously hued. There’s one tree they seem to have claimed as theirs, so it will be interesting to see if that’s where they nest.

I don’t know when baby gators hatch, since I have seen them throughout the year. This mama is watching her babies and hopefully protecting them from the hungry, hungry herons. (I didn’t even notice these four until I looked at my photos – her teeth were what I was checking out.)

Spring’s warmer temps also heat up the water in the wetlands. Last month, most of the gators were stationary, soaking up the sun on the shore. Now they’re swimming all over – and gathering pollen along the way.

Last week I noticed how many snakes were out (basically because they were being eaten). This week I actually saw a banded water snake who wasn’t being eaten! The warmer weather brought it out to find some food.

Red-winged blackbirds are back and singing their spring songs.

Bullfrogs are adding their songs, too. They’re not always easy to spot, especially with all of the duckweed that’s the same color as they are.

I’ve been enjoying catching the sunrise on my way to take a shower but with time change, it will probably be another month before I walk to the shower in daylight.

On Lailia, spring means getting more maintenance completed. John hooked up all of the Xantrex wiring and it works! We need to tackle cleaning the fabric cockpit enclosures, polishing the stainless, and refinishing the teak. Those are jobs for warm days.

February 26-March 3, 2024

John’s really, really great at problem solving and he’s really, really handy. Those two skills have kept Lailia functioning and no mechanical problems faze him.

John knew that mounting the new Xantrex wasn’t going to be easy.  The box weighs close to 70 pounds – and there’s not enough space in the engine room for two of us to work, so he couldn’t hold it while I attached it.

He wound up building a temporary shelf to hold the module in place while he attached it.

It’s really cool that John can do these repairs: it’s one of the many things I respect about him.

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Warmer weather is creeping in.  The warm, sunny days must bring out water snakes at Cypress Wetlands.  I kind of feel bad for them because those water snakes are bringing more birds to the yard – I saw both a hawk and a heron chowing down on snakes on the same afternoon. 

Gators are also getting more active. 

Alligators will always make me happy, but sometimes I want to see something new, too.

The Spanish Moss Trail is a paved trail built on  reclaimed railroad tracks.  It’s a bit over 11 miles long, running through Beaufort and Port Royal, with extensions planned on both ends.

Parts of it cut through neighborhoods while other parts cut through wooded areas and tidal marshes.  There’s a huge variety of habitats and critters.

In one area there are what seems to be camellias growing in the woods. They must have been planted years ago and have just naturalized there.

Spring is also starting to show up in all the blooming things …

And in the unfurling ferns…

It’s been a Tom Petty kind of week for me:

You belong among the wildflowers
You belong in a boat out at sea
You belong with your love on your arm
You belong somewhere you feel free

~Tom Petty

February 20-25, 2024

I really, really love my job as a district literacy coach. I get to travel to schools and work with their coaches and teachers to improve literacy instruction for our students.

I’m passionate about reading, writing, speaking, and listening and I am incredibly lucky to work with the folks here.

But…

It’s a big task and there are so many moving parts.

Stress is inevitable. I can dwell on a problem or worry about a colleague for hours. I try to not take those things home with me.

One way for me to let the day go is through exercise. Another is to practice mindfulness – to be present in the here and now.

When the weather is not great, I have the option of exercising at the Y.

When the weather is clear, I can practice mindfulness and exercise by walking.

My camera helps me stay present. I can’t check out the scenery of my mind is elsewhere. There’s always a moment that I can feel the stress switch flip.

The reward for being present?

Stress reduction means that I am pleasant when I get home. I don’t have to unload the day onto John.

I also get to see some beautiful and incredible things, like a heron catching and eating a water snake. This is only the second time I have seen this – and both times it’s been in this park.

On Friday, John joined me at the Wetlands, which made my afternoon even more wonderful. Some folks pointed out this barred owl – the squirrels were pretty much yelling at it.

Taking our time and looking gives us insight into how animal behavior seems to be changing with the season. The birds here are starting to get territorial – we watched a marsh hen (red beaked bird on the left) chase a coot (white beaked bird) for a minute or two. They’re both paddling birds, so I guess they compete for food. The ibis and herons seem pretty chill with sharing their space.

This young gator was trying to get in on the feather game, too.

The water must be warming, since we saw more swimming gators this week. For the last few weeks, they’ve mostly been basking in patches of sunshine.

We’re also more likely to appreciate the way the light changes throughout the day – and how the big sky in the marina lets us see so much.

My new camera has an incredible zoom lens. John was able to get a great photo of the moon with it.

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A really big and really necessary job is replacing the Xantrex sine-wave inverter charger. When we are plugged into shore power, this charges the battery. When we’re motoring, it inverts 12-volt power so we can use our 115 volt electricity.

Both the charger and inverter died so John decided to replace it.

John removed our old Xantrex from our tiny engine room. The system weighs around 70 pounds and is mounted on the wall. Installing the new one is going to take a lot of finesse since it’s heavy and a little bulky.

The parts of the Xantrex that were supposed to easily tap out didn’t so John had to get out the power tools.

This is an ongoing project.

February 12- 19, 2024

This has been the Februaryist February ever.

Those warm, sunny intervals have been good for sighting critters. Gators and turtles gather in the afternoon sunny spots.

The white ibis have been clustering around the shallow edges of Cypress Wetlands. They splash, eat, and preen. They’re entertaining to watch.

Fairly soon the birds will be building nests in the trees in the islands in the Wetlands.

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This weekend was typical low country February highs in the 50s and gray. Those cloudy days are rough on energy levels. Some days it’s difficult to even get off Lailia.

We were motivated on Saturday morning to workout at the Y before our regular bagel brunch. I even made it out to Crystal Lake Park for a bit since it’s on the way to the grocery store.

Sunday, however, was a true day of rest: I stayed on Lailia while John went to hit a pickleball for a while.

February 5-11, 2024

Even though we’re not actively cruising, Lailia needs maintenance. The bonkers windstorm that hit us last month bent the metal davit that supports our dinghy. John recently noticed that all the bouncing during that same storm pulled off a skeen chock, the thingy that keeps dock lines from rubbing on the bow pulpit when they’re cleated on the dock.

Because they can absorb a lot of force, skeen chocks have to be through bolted, meaning it’s not just a matter of screwing a bolt through the top – John has to get into the chain locker to make sure it’s securely fastened all the way through the deck.

The chain locker is a tiny compartment at the bow. It’s not deep enough to climb into, so any work that has to be done in there requires boat yoga contortions.

John had experience with these contortions (from all the repair work on the windlass and the wash down pump) and made the repair. No doubt there are several f-bombs still floating on the ICW towards Port Royal Sound.

John also thinks he’s found and addressed the source of the leak that somehow finds its way into the hold where I store my pants. Hopefully this is true as there’s nothing as irritating as pulling soaking wet jeans out of a drawer.

Lailia also needs her inverter/charger replaced. This will require a different yoga pose as the system weighs about 70 lbs and needs to be installed on a panel in our narrow engine room. John will tackle this job soon.

Boat life – it’s not all sunrises and dolphins.

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This week also started gray and cloudy so when the sun finally started to shine, it felt like a gift. I’ve been working with some out-of-state consultants who suggested going out for dinner on Wednesday. Of course we suggested Fish Camp. Along with great food and service, they have a gorgeous view of the sunset from their porch.

And after a very, very busy week, John and I headed to DQ for Friday sundaes.

Back in the 80s Loverboy sang about working for the weekend. Saturday is our day – we can reconnect and relax. A February Saturday with temps in the upper 60s is a bonus!

We took a quick afternoon hike to Little Hunting Island.

The stinkhorns are emerging! These orange fungi smell awful but the odor isn’t too strong. I used to see them in the spring at Caw Caw, too. They do attract flies probably because of their nasty funk.

It’s cool to see this beach at low tide: there’s cool sand textures left by the retreating water and swaths of clam shells.

Little Hunting Island has a boneyard beach marked with dozens of drowned trees left behind by the massive erosion on this island.

Low tide brought out both wading birds (like herons) and shorebirds (like sanderlings and willets). It’s entertaining watching the shorebirds scampering along the edges of the water.

Two cool birds were at the nature center feeder – a pine warbler and a rose finch. I heard the painted buntings are back, too.

Yep…this bird watching thing sneaks up like aging does.

All the rain and yuck from the beginning of the week perked up the resurrection ferns, which grow on many live oaks.

Clouds returned Saturday evening, muting the bright sunset but we still had some evening color to end our shiny day

January 29-February 4, 2024

We had some very sad news on Friday: John’s dear brother Warren passed away. John and Warren both owned and loved to ride motorcycles and especially liked to go on rides with each other, from the mountains in North Carolina to the low country in South Carolina to the Florida Keys. Warren wasn’t just an older brother to John but one of his very best friends. We always looked forward to seeing Warren and his wife Linda when we stopped in New Smyrna Beach.

Warren was truly a one of a kind man, with a full-body laugh and a fun-loving personality.

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The poet Mary Oliver said, “Instructions for living a life. Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.” We’re incredibly fortunate to live in a place where there’s so much to astonish us, from dark clouds rolling in over the water to golden sunrises.

Sunset across Battery Creek is regularly spectacular.

And occasionally we’re on the docks to witness how the tide begins to flow back through the pluff mud banks of the river.

And if everything seemed really perfect for a couple of minutes on Saturday, it was because my bestie Samantha and I fixed the world as we walked multiple trails. (And yes, we took photos of alligators as if I don’t have a million already).

We also located a black vulture nest.

While Saturday’s weather was perfect for a Low Country February, Sunday was cloudy, cool, and really windy. This time the wind was from the north so Lailia’s not bouncing that much (the big blow that rocked us so hard was from the south). It’s noisy, though, with the sounds of the wind blowing through our masts and the loose halyards clanging on other boats. Lailia is an older boat, and she, like many of us, also tends to creak a bit when she moves. The sound of the wind tends to bother me when it goes on for days as it did for a week when we were in the Bahamas; going to work tomorrow will help me catch a break from the sound. The wind should die down a lot by Wednesday.

January 16-28, 2024

A truism about this area is, “If you don’t like today’s weather, just wait until tomorrow.” We have had fog, cold, fog, clouds, warmth, fog, wind, warmth, sunshine, fog, more wind, and more fog.

Our marina posted lots of notices about the potential for freezing weather.  John made sure our water tank was topped off.  We have multiple heat sources (especially when we are plugged into shore power) which keeps us warm and cozy.

I made reservations at Old Bull Tavern so we could celebrate John’s birthday INSIDE this time.  It was far too cold to even consider sitting in the courtyard.

Neither of us is a fan of cold weather so we spent last weekend hanging on Lailia and binging Succession.

This part of the ICW has an 8-9 foot tidal change; the floating docks move up and down this much twice a day.  The fixed dock is really high, so when we get a low tide we have quite an adventure!  Somehow, it’s almost always low tide when we have a load of groceries. John refers to this climb as “scaling the Matterhorn.”

Clouds rolled in with warm weather last week.   Warmth is good (especially when the walk between Lailia and the marina showers is really, really far – and up a ramp!)

Gators love the warm weather even more than I do.  They’ve been basking in large numbers at Cypress Wetlands this week.  I’ve been able to test out my new camera on these reptile buddies.

This warmth has also created lots of opportunities for advection fog that happens when the warm air hits the cooler water surface.  Mornings and evenings look atmospheric and mysterious (but are really, really drippy-damp).

Probably unrelated to fog (but who really knows?) dolphins have been hanging out at the marina. John got some great videos that he sends me while I am working. I love my job but I love dolphins, too, and wish I got to see them daily.

Early in the week I thought I would photograph the  fog mid-day at a stop in a local park.  This spot is halfway between the two schools I was visiting that day, so I planned to eat my lunch there. 

Bald eagles stymied that plan: their nest is adjacent to the parking lot.  As my schedule allows, I will stop in to check on their nest (but won’t linger). 

I’ve heard that one way to know you’re getting older is how excited you get about birds.  Like one day you’re clubbing and the next day you’re telling everyone about the birds you see. 

(I can feel myself aging as I write this) I’m into birding.  I have good conversations about birds with the (other old) folks I see at Cypress Wetlands.  I tell myself that I am only there because I am hoping to see my favorite bird…and then remember that I did not have a favorite bird until I got older.  Sigh.

Occasionally I get lucky and get to see the sun as it works its way through the fog.  We have so many boat landings around here (and my time in Charleston makes me leave for work way too early) that I can usually find a great spot to soak up the scenery.

Friday was a reminder of how gorgeous the Low Country can be: once the fog burned off, it was sunny with temps in the mid-70s. 

Friday night was also a date night kind of night – pizza followed up by sundaes at Dairy Queen.  It might not be everyone’s idea of fun, but it works for us.

Saturday was foggy, again.  When we returned from breakfast, the sun was trying to burn through.  It starts looking as if we’re in a black and white movie.

Hopefully we’re out of the fog for a bit – Sunday morning was one of the brightest we’ve seen for a long time.  It’s cooler and more windy, but I can live with mid-60s and sunshine in January!

The bluebirds were out today!  I can feel my years building up while I am still holding out for sighting my favorite bird.