Day 15

Well, we are still in Georgetown S.C.  I didn’t think we would be here this long, but unfortunately the winds here have been pretty strong at times over the last couple days.  Today was just a beautiful day here in South Carolina; I even put on shorts and t-shirt.  As the day went on however, the winds came and the temperature began to drop somewhat, I even had to change back into long sleeves and jeans before dinner. As I write this I can hear the wind gusting and feel the boat moving back and forth in the wind.  Again, I’m not sure I would want to be anchored somewhere without protection from the high winds.  So staying an extra day, I’m ok with that given the circumstances.

During the day Rick and I walked around the historic part of Georgetown and looked at the old homes, some as old as the early 1700’s, and a lot built in the early to mid-1800’s. All in all, my activity tracker said we walked over three miles.  Not bad.  Here are a few pictures I took you might enjoy.

Insert pictures

A great wrap around porch. 

This is the Indigo Society building.  When indigo was a cash crop used in making purple dyes

I thought this staircase was just great!

A stately place

You gotta love the two story porches

Another stately home, actually it was a home, the family left it to the town for a museum.

Piles of debris, hurricane clean up 

All in all, not much happening today, but after a few days you get kind of comfortable.  This isn’t a bad place to hang out, but it is time to move on.  I figure 6 more days and we will be in Brunswick Georgia, our destination on this leg of the journey.  The wind should die down in the early morning, so its onward to Brunswick.  Tomorrow we will be anchored out in Seven Reaches Creek, just north of Charleston

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Until tomorrow, over and out.

Day 14

We are still in Georgetown S.C.  It rained overnight and the wind picked up so you could hear the doors on the boat rattling.  Initially the day started out cloudy and the wind grew stronger as the day went on.  Eventually the sun came out and the temperature was in the mid 70’s.  It was a really nice day except for the wind.  Several boats in the marina said they saw 30 mph on their gauges, and one boat came in that said they saw 40 mph on the way in.  That is why we decided to stay put today.  It is expected to be more of the same tomorrow so we will be here for another day.  That will give me a chance to walk around town and take a few pictures.

 Actually the day was quite comfortable; Rick went summertime and put on shorts and a t-shirt with no shoes.  You can take the boy out of the country, but…..  One thing we did get accomplished since we have been here is finding a spark plug for the dinghy motor.  As you might remember the dinghy motor died on us when we were in Oriental and we missed our Thanksgiving turkey dinner.  Well, we put the spark plug in and pulled on the starter.  Nothing, drat.  Another pull, and voila, it fired right up and purred like a kitten.  There is joy in Mudville again.  Rick did a great job reaching the conclusion it was the spark plug and not some other phantom we might have been chasing down.  He does have skills, and I’m glad he was here.  So we are back in business and able to use the dinghy again

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Once we leave here I expect to be in Brunswick Georgia in about 6 days.  Of those 6 days, 4 will be spent at anchor, so it will be nice to have the use of the dinghy if we want to get off the boat.

 

Today was a kind of catch up day.  I had to make a few phone calls to clear up some issues; I did a load of laundry, including bed sheets.  I was kidding with Rick that I didn’t really have to do them, since Jan isn’t here, I could just sleep on her side of the bed and get double the time before I needed to wash them.  Of course he said, “why not just turn them over”.  You know, not a bad idea. That would certainly stretch things out a bit.  Of course, getting the laundry done took half the afternoon having to share two washers and two dryers between three people doing laundry during the same period.  No one was going anywhere with the wind howling, so why not do laundry.

A friend of ours gifted us some duck breasts from ducks he had shot, (remember, we are from the eastern shore of Md.).  I cut the meat from the carcasses and put them in the crock pot with some cream of mushroom soup, chicken broth, some carrots, and let it cook all day.  The smell was really appetizing.  Toward the end I added some brown rice and let it cook into the liquid in the crock pot.  Well that was dinner, and there were no leftovers.  It was quite tasty.

  Tomorrow we will be here again, planning to get back under way Thursday.

Until Tomorrow, over and out.

Day 13

This morning was a beautiful dawning at Myrtle Beach.  We make our tea/coffee, relaxed for a few minutes then decided to head out. It was just about 8:00 (again) when we got underway.  There are a lot of no wake zones around Myrtle Beach so we pretty much idled along, not in a particular hurry.  There was a following current pushing us along at 7+ knots, even though we were basically at idle.  I estimated the trip today to be about 50 miles.  Once we were out of the Myrtle Beach area we could speed up a bit and with the current we were doing an unheard of 11.2 knots at 1200 RPMs.  Making time and saving fuel too.  I like it.  There were some pretty desolate areas we went through, basically cypress swamps, you couldn’t see any sign of civilization, no houses, no roads, and no other people at all.  Only occasionally did we get passed by another boat.  They were the only people we saw for miles and miles

Dawn over Myrtle Beach

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One thing we did notice was the amount of debris floating in the water.  There was a lot of vegetation, swamp grasses and what might have been some sort of floating water lily.  They were all over.  We were dodging them for quite a distance because you never know if there is something attached underwater that you can’t see, or suck something into your intakes.  In fact, we did see several logs large sticks floating by.  They could really ruin your day if you hit one or got it into your prop.

Nothing much to see here

Or here

Or here either

   

We made Georgetown S.C. by 2:00 p.m. and got tied up with no problem.  If you are not familiar with Georgetown, it is a small quaint southern town, very old with lots of those stately homes with the columns and big porches.  The downtown is quiet and picturesque.  We will probably be here for a couple of days, the winds are predicted to be quite strong on Tuesday with even stronger  gusts on Wednesday.  We were going to be anchored on the hook those days and I didn’t like the idea of being anchored in 35-40 mph gusts.  Would not be a pleasant time.  So here we are in Georgetown, tied to a floating dock only steps from downtown.  Sounds much better to me.

Until Tomorrow, over and out.

Interesting 3 masted steel hulled boat.

Day 12

We have landed in Myrtle Beach South Carolina.  When I came by car this summer it was a 12 hr. drive.  By boat it took 12 days.  Is there some sort of relationship there?  I don’t know.  Today was bright and sunny with temperatures in the mid 50’s.  For the last couple of days we have been operating the boat from inside, but today was quite nice in the sunshine so we opted to operate the boat from the flybridge.  We still had jackets on, but it was quite comfortable in the sun.

 

We left Carolina Beach State Park Marina right around 8:00 and motored down the Cape Fear River.  Lots of big ships like on the Chesapeake, just in closer quarters.  As we moved farther along the ICW, we began to notice more and more docks and piers that were “deplanked”, broken or in just poor condition.  Others look as if they had just been repaired or are in process of being repaired.  Remnants from hurricane Matthew no doubt.  There are also some very tricky spots where again, the channel has been relocated or become quite narrow in spots as a result of the hurricane.  We happened to hit them just before low tide.  Yippee!  Again, we used our eyes and not the charts to follow the channel and made it through unscathed.  Just keeping it between the navigational beacons as Jimmy Buffet says.  Others were not so lucky.

TowBoat US trying pull this guy off the sandbar.  Don't think he is going anywhere soon. It's not even low tide yet.

We also saw several shrimp/fishing boats that had been tossed on the shore as well.  I don’t know if that was the result of hurricane Matthew as well, or from some other event.  I’ll assume for now it was from the hurricane.

Saw a few like this.

We arrived at Myrtle beach around 2:30 p.m. and got tied up and pumped out.  Our last pump out was in Coinjock about 8 days ago? That’s a long time ago.  We also gave the boat a quick washdown and filled up the water tank as well.  We are now good to go again.  Afterward, we walked up to the restaurant to get a bite to eat and watch some football.  Haven’t seen a game in a while, only to find that the Eagles are on tomorrow night.  Really??  I finally get in front of a TV that I can watch the Eagles play and they aren’t playing? That is just wrong! 

Tomorrow we head for Georgetown S.C. estimated to be another 50 mile day.

Today we traveled 58.3 miles for a total of approximately 580 miles.  It took 7hrs. to get here today from Carolina Beach.

Until Tomorrow, Over and Out.

Day 11          

Today is Saturday, and I didn’t really want to get up this morning.  It rained overnight, and the sky was dark and overcast when I opened my eyes.  I had set my phone alarm to go off at 6:30 a.m. so I would have time to get my tea and relax a few minutes before beginning our departure routine.  I kept feeling the boat gently rocking from the wakes left by other passing boats and thought, why are they out so early.  My alarm hasn’t even gone off yet.  Finally after dozing on and off for a while I looked at the time on my phone.  What?  It was after 7:00.  What is going on?  It turns out my alarm is configured to go off Monday through Friday, but not on Saturday or Sunday.  So even though the time was set, it would never have gone off today.  So I decide I will get up and we will get started when we get started.  Today is estimated as a 50 mile day, still very doable. Heck, we did 67 yesterday, 50 is just a walk in the park

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We got our tea/coffee and started to depart.  It was quite breezy, and the wind was pushing us up against the dock.  How are we going to get off the dock far enough to turn the boat in a confined space with other boats on the next dock over, and get out into the ICW with a running current you ask?  Excellent question.  Of course Rick had no clue, he would have tried to push us away from the dock, only to have the wind push us right back against the dock.  But, there is a way, using a spring line and opposing forces.  I tried to explain what I was going to do and what I wanted him to do, but I got a blank stare back.  Not good.  Finally I just told him to hold on to this line tightly and let go when I tell you.  Well it worked to perfection.  Swung the stern out away from the dock, backed the bow away from the dock, did a pivot and motored out into the ICW.  Piece of cake.  We were finally underway by 8:15, not bad.

As we entered the ICW another boat was going by that really caught my eye.  Unfortunately I was a little busy at the time and wasn’t able to get a picture.  The name of the boat is “Coastal Queen” out of Jamestown R.I.  It is a converted buy boat but it has two levels and looks almost like an old paddle wheel steamer from the rear, but without the paddle wheel.  It had a center stack and mast as well.  Really pretty.  Look it up on the internet, Rick found it as we followed it down the ICW.

Today’s journey was relatively uneventful, which is a good thing, just a few tricky spots where hurricane Matthew decided to move the channels around a bit just to confuse things a little.  All of a sudden you go from 12 or 13 feet of water under your keel, to 4.5 feet under your keel.  Where did the channel go?  So you throttle down to idle and take a guess, do I go port or starboard?  What are all the new markers that are not on the navigation charts, and where are the markers on the navigation charts that you can’t find on the water.  Sometimes a little confusing, but in these cases you have to trust what you see and react to it, not follow the chart.  We also had to wait for two bridges to open which held us up for about an hour, but still managed to get here before 3:00.  For most of the day we had a favorable current pushing us along.  I had the engines doing very moderate RPM’s and we were still doing over 11 knots, which is really good for this trawler. Everything worked out and we are at Carolina Beach State Park Marina nestled behind a breakwater just off the Cape Fear River.  This is a nice place, inexpensive, clean, has power available at no additional cost, and water.  We even did laundry after we got settled in.

 

Tomorrow we are headed for Myrtle Beach which is estimated to be a 60 mile day.  Today we went 50.3 miles, for approximately 521 total miles. It took 6hrs. 40mins.

Until tomorrow, over and out.

Day 10

At the risk of sounding redundant, being on the water early in the morning is just wonderful.  The Neuse River was like glass, with just a hint of a breeze.  The weather was warm yet refreshing and a welcome change from a few days earlier.  We left Oriental after trying to get a pump out only to find that the free pump out station in town was broken.  We will have to make it a couple more days.  Our goal today was Spooners Creek, a few miles outside of Morehead City.  As we approached Morehead City, off in the distance we saw boats.  Now understand that up until now we have seen other boats, but mostly one or two at a time, and only a couple of times a day.  But ahead we saw boats, lots of boats.  Boats going in every direction, boats sitting still fishing, just boats all over.  We had to pick our way through the gaggle of boats all around and through Morehead City.  Also, we noticed the water had changed color from the coffee colored brown to a much lighter green color.  As we made the turn to head down Bogue Sound, there were more boats, everywhere coming and going all around us.  I think our days of running solo are over for a while.  We reached Spooners Creek and it was only 12:30 p.m.  We made great time going the 30 miles.  We hadn’t even had lunch yet.  Our next targeted stop was 36 miles away, and we had been averaging about 9 knots, that would get us there in another four hours roughly.  Still daylight.  Ok, let’s go for it.   Along the way Rick kept trying to take pictures of the dolphins breaking the water’s surface.   I guess he just doesn’t learn.

 We pulled into Swan Point Marina at just about 4:30 p.m., got tied up and settled in just as the sun was setting.  One thing we noticed right away, mosquitoes.  Yes, those pesky disease carrying nuisances that they are.  Good thing my wife kept the OFF on the boat.  After a full day it was time for a shower and some dinner.  There is a restaurant here that will come to the marina, pick you up and take you to the restaurant, then bring you back when you are finished eating.  We took advantage of the convenience and had a really good dinner.  Fresh shrimp, deviled crab, and cream of crab soup.  Very tasty.

Tomorrow we head for Carolina Beach, south of Wilmington and Wrightsville Beach.  It is about a 50 mile trip.  Today we stretched and did 69.1 miles for a total of 471 miles.  We ran 9hrs. 7mins. today.   50 miles tomorrow is just a walk in the park.

Until tomorrow.. 

Our wake leaving ripples in the still water of the Neuse River

A remnant from hurricane Matthew?

Salt marshes - We'll see lots of salt marshes

Can you see the rainbow reflected off the water?

Another sunset on the ICW

Day 9

Today there was no joy in Mudville.  We slept in this morning being in no hurry since we had no plans to move today.  It was Thanksgiving, and what do you do on Thanksgiving?  Eat and watch football of course. So, the plan was to take the dinghy into town just as we did yesterday, sit in a bar and watch football, then go for our turkey dinner.  What I didn’t mention yesterday was that on the way into town yesterday the dinghy motor was acting a little squirrelly, but on the way home it ran perfectly.  We chalked it up to having sat for several months and needing to be run and clean things out.  Today we got in the dinghy, pulled the starter, the engine started….briefly.  It stalled; I tried to restart, but got nothing, not even a burp.  We then spent the better part of two hours trying to trouble shoot the problem. It never even sputtered again.  Our conclusion is the spark plug is bad a needs to be replaced.  Oh, if only it is that simple I will be a happy man.  Somewhere along the line we will get a new spark plug, but not today.  Not only did we not get to watch any football, but we never got our turkey dinner.  We ended up sitting on the back deck drinking beer, eating cheese and crackers with summer sausage and watching the world go by.  Not bad by some standards.  For dinner we had left over prime rib from our stay in Coinjock a few days ago.  Not a total loss, but the day turned out different than what we planned to do.

Tomorrow we head for another anchorage a little bit south of Morehead City called Spooners Creek Anchorage.  Another peaceful place with no boat traffic, in a big cove lined with very nice homes and big sportfishers at their private docks.  Rousby and I were there when we came up a couple years ago and liked it, so we are going to try it again.

The weather was quite nice today, at or near 70 degrees, and no fleeces, sweatshirts or coats necessary.  I think tomorrow will be more of the same, and nice change for the better.  So that’s what we did today.

Until tomorrow, over and out.  

Day 8

The sunrise this morning was beautiful.  That orange orb of the sun, rising in the sky casting its glow over the water creating a sparkle effect in the ripples.  The water was dead calm at 7:30 when we left.  The air was crisp and chilly, but not nearly as cold as the day before.  Nonetheless, I opted to operate the boat from the lower helm anyway.  After I got the boat out into open water, I turned it over to Rick.  We decided some bacon and eggs were in order for breakfast this morning, so I fired up the generator and put the bacon on to cook while Rick drove.  A couple of days ago we did the same thing, only Rick cooked.  That turned out to be a mistake.  The bacon was burnt; the eggs were dry as sawdust. All he could say was “I’m not a cook”.  So I decided I would cook this time. The meal was much better this time.  We motored on, trading off every now and then, while the other either relaxed, checked out the charts, or went to use the head.  Oriental N.C. was our intended stop over today; I estimated it was approximately 50 miles from Belhaven. Since we left a little early, we arrived in Oriental about 1:30 p.m.  Since it was still early afternoon, I pumped up the dinghy, lowered it into the water and went the half mile or so to the dinghy dock.  We walked around town checking things out and stopped at the “Bean”, a nice little coffee shop where Rick got a cup of ice cream and I got a milkshake.  We went across the street to the Toucan Restaurant and made a reservation for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, Thanksgiving Day.  Oriental is a friendly little town, we’ll spend an extra day here, it is a holiday after all, and just relax.

Today turned out to be a really nice day, sunny with temps in the mid 50’s, and little or no wind.  Tomorrow looks to be even better, mostly sunny with a high temp of 70 degrees.  I will definitely take that.  Tonight we are again without heat, but hopefully the temperature won’t get as cold as the last several nights.  It looks like the daily temperature is moderating and more like what I anticipated.   

All in all, today’s trip was very uneventful.  Just how I like it.  Tomorrow I plan to sleep in a bit, do a couple things on the boat, and maybe dinghy into town in the afternoon and walk around a bit before dinner.

Today we traveled 49.7 miles bringing our total to 402 mile.  The travel time was 6hrs. 7mins.

I’m not sure when I will get to post this or tomorrows blog entry since I can’t seem to get internet here on the boat.  I’ll post as soon as I can.

Until tomorrow.   

Sunrise in Belhaven

Shrimp boat in Oriental harbor

Day 7

Well we have been out for a week now, time flies when you are having fun.  As I mentioned in my last post, we stayed at a very lovely and secluded anchorage last night. This morning, there was low hanging fog over the water and with the sun peeking out over the marsh, it was really something.  To top it off it was fffrrrreeeezzzziinng.  That means really cold. It was so cold the dew that condensed on the boat and windows had frozen and became frost.  I could scrape my hand over the captain’s chair on the flybridge and pick up enough frost to make a miniature snowball.  It got so cold last night inside the boat I put on sweatpants and shirt to sleep in under a blanket and a comforter.  And I still woke up chilly at times. Before I got dressed, I fired up the generator and turned on the AC/Heat units to take the chill off.  That at least made it bearable.  At least there was sunshine most of the day which warmed up the salon nicely and was quite comfortable. We operated from the lower helm again today, it was just too chilly to be up on the flybridge.

Today was a short day, so we slept in until 7:00 and  took our time drinking our coffee/tea.  We finally motored out of the anchorage about 8:30 and headed down the Alligator-Pungo canal.  A long stretch of straight cruising that goes on for about twenty miles and connects the Alligator River with the Pungo River.  People here call it “the ditch”.  We headed for the town of Belhaven N.C., specifically the River Forest Marina.  We pulled in about 1:30, got tied up, rinsed down the boat to get some of the salt off it, took on some fuel, 182 gallons to be exact, filled up the water tank , and then headed into town.  This marina is very accommodating.  They have 3 golf carts for use by the patrons of the marina to venture into town for supplies, restaurants etc. They have new laundry facilities that are complimentary for patrons as well.  The showers and bathrooms are all new and very nice.  They are also set up that you can get fuel, and pumpout right at your slip.  No having to go to a fuel dock.  Even have wifi.  It is a nice little place, and reasonable.  Nice folks who make you feel right at home.

As I was saying, we headed into town and found the local Food Lion and stocked up on just a few items.  Then we stopped nearby and had pizza.  For some reason, after being on a boat for a week pizza just sounded good.  After we got back and put our things away, I headed for a nice hot shower, and Rick went to take advantage of the complimentary laundry, after which he also took a hot shower.

I just checked weather.com, the forecast is for 29 degrees tonight, a high of 57 degrees tomorrow.  At least we will be able to use our portable heaters in the bedroom tonight. Then it is supposed to moderate some with the high Thursday, Thanksgiving, of 67 degrees.  YES!  Looking forward to that.  Tomorrow we head for Oriental N.C.

I mentioned today was a short day, 37.5 miles for a total of approximately 344 miles.  It took us 5hrs to cover that distance, and tie up here.

Until tomorrow.

Day 6

Here we sit in an isolated anchorage off the Alligator River with no cell service or data or internet.  In other words we are isolated.  I will tell you, the night is clear and the stars are just sensational.  I’m not sure I have seen anything as breathtaking.  It looks like some pictures you see with so many stars they almost look like smoke in the distance.  Bright, clear and sparkling.  You almost can’t see your hand in front of your face it is so dark, no light pollution to spoil the scene.  Just wow!!

The last time I was here with my friend Rousby  2- 1/2 years ago, it was a mosquito feeding frenzy!  There were clouds of them just hovering around us since we sprayed ourselves liberally with OFF.  This time, no mosquitos.  Yay!

Well the day started by getting out of bed to a balmy 31 degrees.  That’s right, below freezing.  Rick and I each took a small portable electric heater into our staterooms since we were hooked up to shore power we were able to use them and stay very comfortable.  But, when we opened the door and came up to the salon, … well let’s just say it was darned cold.  I had a sweatshirt and a jacket on while we made tea/coffee.  It was so cold there was condensation on the inside of the windshield.  I turned on the big AC/heat units and got things warmed up while we wiped the condensation off the windshield so we could see.  We decided we would operate from the lower helm station out of the wind and cold.  After we disconnected from the shore power I fired up the generator so we would continue to have heat until the sun warmed up the salon.  Took about an hour or so then it was comfortable.

Everything went well until we reached the Albemarle Sound.  My expectations were rewarded.  It was blowing stink and we were getting slammed.  There were times the bow went up over a wave and all I could see was sky.  Then the bow came down and the windshield got sprayed like it was going through a car wash.  Then there was the rolling from side to side.  Things inside were falling over, falling off shelves, cabinets came opened and some items fell out on the floor, glassware in the galley was falling over and rolling together inside the cabinets, and on and on.  This went on for about two and a half hours until we made it to the Alligator River and things calmed down.  A very interesting ride to say the least.  The rest of the day was much less exciting, thank goodness. 

It should be another very cold night tonight, but without the use of the portable heaters or the big AC/heat units. I don’t like running the generator at night when we are sleeping, so I guess I will be sleeping in sweat shirt and pants under a couple blankets.  Probably see my breath when I wake up.

Tomorrow should be a short day, heading for Belhaven about 30 miles or so.  We will probably take on fuel there although I think we could make Morehead City, but why push the envelope if you don’t have to.

Today we traveled 59.5 miles for a total of approximately 306 miles so far.  Today’s trip took 7hrs. 24mins.

Until tomorrow.

Our anchorage, very peaceful

Day 5

Today was a stay at home day.  We spent the night at Coinjock Marina and decided to stay an extra day.  The winds were pretty strong last night and if you weren’t tied up well, you could get bounced around and into the dock with the gusts.  We had no problem, fenders deployed, spring lines nice and tight, and with little or no tide in the area we tightened up the bow and stern lines as well.  No banging and no moving around.  You can hear the lines groan now and again, but that would be considered normal.  Just did some poking around in the engine room checking on the status of things down there, found a couple hose clamps needing replaced, so I did that, and in the process ripped a shirt on a bolt that was sticking out, and got my pant dirty.  So, I threw away the shirt, it was old anyway and tore way too easy so it was probably time to say goodbye anyway.  I put some laundry detergent on my pants to “pre-soak” and then took all my dirty clothes to the laundromat here at the marina. I hadn’t planned on doing laundry yet, but as the situation presented itself I did what I had.  The dirt on my pants came out and all is good with the world.

I think the high temperature here was either high 40’s or very low 50’s.  It is expected to get pretty cold tonight and tomorrow, around freezing.  I’ll be using that little portable heater again in my stateroom.  I used it last night and was very comfortable.  Rick on the other hand didn’t use it last night, but he said he was fine.  Tonight might be a different story.  Taking advantage of having 110 volt power when you have it.  Tomorrow, however, will be different.  We will be anchored out so using a 110 volt heater will be out of the question.  It should be interesting.

It is expected to be windy again tomorrow, but not as bad as today.  Since we will be crossing the Albemarle Sound I expect it to be rough and choppy.  I suppose we will be navigating mostly from down below at the lower helm which is enclosed rather than from the flybridge in the cold and the exaggerated pitch and roll motions as a result of the height of the bridge.  There is also a 14 ft. bridge we have to go through, but can’t unless the tender opens it for us.  The bridge doesn’t open if the winds are above 25 mph.  Hopefully, it will open and we can continue onward.  If not, we will have to hold up somewhere short of our destination.  Hope to be at Cherry Ridge Landing Anchorage just off the Alligator River tomorrow.  As I recall, there is no internet or phone access at that anchorage, so I will update when I can.

Until Tomorrow.

Coinjock Marina 1

Coinjock Marina 2

Day 4

Boy what a gorgeous morning…again.  42 degrees, bright sunshine felt good in the chilly air.  While we were pulling up the anchor at around 8:00 a.m., you could hear the naval base playing revile, and then the national anthem. Very patriotic with the naval ships in your line of sight.  We motored slowly out of Willoughby Bay anchorage and through the Norfolk waterfront. It just goes on and on and on.  For several miles nothing but the industrial looking dry docks, wet docks, port terminals and other facilities.  When we finally leave the Norfolk waterfront behind there are a series of bridges that you need to negotiate, some are high highway bridges that are no bother, others are low train bridges, most of which are open all the time except when train comes, and others are local roads where you have to hail the bridge tender and have them raise the bridge for you.  Sometimes for the latter, you have to wait for the bridge opening which may only be on the hour and half hour.  We did have to wait for a few bridges, along with a few other boats heading in the same direction.  The funny part is that these other boats are faster than we are, and usually passed us and sped off, but we usually caught up with them at the next bridge because they were waiting for the opening.  We lost time waiting for bridges and lost almost an hour waiting at the Great Bridge Lock.  We had to wait to enter the lock, we tied up with the other boats, and because the tender there could see another boat approaching, he held the lock open for them.  Then when that boat was finally tied up, then he saw a sailboat off in the distance.  So we waited some more.  When he finally made it to the lock it turned out there was only one person on the boat.   So getting him tied up was quite the ordeal.  At one point he was sideways across the lock and had to circle around and try again.  In the end, there was very little change in water level.  In fact I didn’t even know anything had happened when they started to open the gates at the exit to the lock.

Once we got past the lock, we were on the Albemarle-Chesapeake canal.  Very straight going through pine barrens and cypress stumps.  Then we moved to various salt marshes, the North Landing River, and then Coinjock Bay.  We left Coinjock Bay and entered the Carolina Cut.  Along the Carolina Cut is Coinjock Marina where we tied up.  They have a restaurant here where you can get either a 16 oz. or 32 oz. prime rib dinner.  We opted for the 16 oz. dinner with was really, really good, but a little too much, so we have leftovers to cut up for sandwiches.

The weather forecast is calling for high winds and a cold front to come through tonight.  The high winds are expected to continue into tomorrow, so we are going to sit tight here for an extra day.  Out on the water high winds created a lot of waves and chop.  The next leg is transiting the Albemarle Sound which is notorious for an uncomfortable ride, to say the least when there are high winds.  Maybe Monday will be better.

Today we traveled 62,7 miles in 8hrs. 52mins.  So far we have traveled approximately 245 miles.

Until tomorrow.

The Albemarle-Chesapeake canal.  Pretty straight.

Day 4

Boy what a gorgeous morning…again.  42 degrees, bright sunshine felt good in the chilly air.  While we were pulling up the anchor at around 8:00 a.m., you could hear the naval base playing revile, and then the national anthem. Very patriotic with the naval ships in your line of sight.  We motored slowly out of Willoughby Bay anchorage and through the Norfolk waterfront. It just goes on and on and on.  For several miles nothing but the industrial looking dry docks, wet docks, port terminals and other facilities.  When we finally leave the Norfolk waterfront behind there are a series of bridges that you need to negotiate, some are high highway bridges that are no bother, others are low train bridges, most of which are open all the time except when train comes, and others are local roads where you have to hail the bridge tender and have them raise the bridge for you.  Sometimes for the latter, you have to wait for the bridge opening which may only be on the hour and half hour.  We did have to wait for a few bridges, along with a few other boats heading in the same direction.  The funny part is that these other boats are faster than we are, and usually passed us and sped off, but we usually caught up with them at the next bridge because they were waiting for the opening.  We lost time waiting for bridges and lost almost an hour waiting at the Great Bridge Lock.  We had to wait to enter the lock, we tied up with the other boats, and because the tender there could see another boat approaching, he held the lock open for them.  Then when that boat was finally tied up, then he saw a sailboat off in the distance.  So we waited some more.  When he finally made it to the lock it turned out there was only one person on the boat.   So getting him tied up was quite the ordeal.  At one point he was sideways across the lock and had to circle around and try again.  In the end, there was very little change in water level.  In fact I didn’t even know anything had happened when they started to open the gates at the exit to the lock.

Once we got past the lock, we were on the Albemarle-Chesapeake canal.  Very straight going through pine barrens and cypress stumps.  Then we moved to various salt marshes, the North Landing River, and then Coinjock Bay.  We left Coinjock Bay and entered the Carolina Cut.  Along the Carolina Cut is Coinjock Marina where we tied up.  They have a restaurant here where you can get either a 16 oz. or 32 oz. prime rib dinner.  We opted for the 16 oz. dinner with was really, really good, but a little too much, so we have leftovers to cut up for sandwiches.

The weather forecast is calling for high winds and a cold front to come through tonight.  The high winds are expected to continue into tomorrow, so we are going to sit tight here for an extra day.  Out on the water high winds created a lot of waves and chop.  The next leg is transiting the Albemarle Sound which is notorious for an uncomfortable ride, to say the least when there are high winds.  Maybe Monday will be better.

Today we traveled 62,7 miles in 8hrs. 52mins.  So far we have traveled approximately 245 miles.

Until tomorrow.

The Albemarle-Chesapeake canal.  Pretty straight.

Day 3

We woke up this morning to a crisp 41 degrees. Not just outside but it must have been that inside the boat as well.  I was chilly. But the sun was out and it warmed up to the high 50’s in no time.  Inside it got quite nice with the greenhouse effect. The Bay was wonderful too.  1 to 2 foot swells, nothing like yesterday.  So with the sun shining brightly, a very gentle breeze and calm waters we took off about 8:00 a.m.  We motored along passing several of the Chesapeake lighthouses, rather iconic, but most in need of repair.  While cruising along this afternoon we spied a pod of bottle nosed dolphins breaking the water off to our starboard.  Just like last time Rick tried to take some pictures, but just like last time, he was unsuccessful in guessing where they would appear next, and wasn’t fast enough anyway to snap a picture before they were gone.  We are now anchored in Willoughby Bay, just outside of the Norfolk Naval Facilities.  I can see aircraft carriers nearby and helicopters practicing their landings and various maneuvers.  We even sat on the back porch and watched the traffic jam on the bridge nearby. Oh what we do for amusement.  Tomorrow the plan is to stop at Coinjock N.C. and after four days on the boat we can actually get off and go for a walk.  And…. they have a restaurant that serves prime rib steaks.  Yum.

Today we traveled 69.5 miles for a total of 193 miles overall so far in three days. Travel time was 8hrs.  42mins.  A pretty long day for this time of year. We seemed to have the current against us most of the day slowing us down, not that we move that fast anyway, but nonetheless is took a little longer to get here than I thought it would. By the time we got anchored and settled in the sun was pretty low on the horizon.  Tomorrow we make our way through Norfolk, and if you have ever been here, it is a bustling Naval facility with lots of really big warships and really unpleasant security.  So we will be on our best behavior.

Until tomorrow

U.S. Navy aircraft carriers at sunset.

Day 2    

Another beautiful start to the day.  The goal today was to head to an anchorage south of the Potomac River, on the Great Wicomico River called Sandy Point.  I estimated the trip to be about 46 miles.  I turned out to be about 53 miles.  We pulled up anchor and headed out right around 8:00 a.m.  It was smooth sailing out into the bay, but as the day wore on the wind began to pick up out of the northwest.  As we motored south, the tide began to turn to an incoming tide.  Now we had the wind at our backs pushing the waves from the rear but against the incoming tide.  What does that matter you ask?  Well the waves got bigger, and the bigger they are the more they pushed the stern of the boat around.  This made it very difficult to steer a straight line, plus we did a lot of surfing.  Up the wave down the wave. Our speed would change 2 to 3 knots each time we went surfing, slowing down as we crested the wave, then speeding up as we went down.  The waves started at around 3 ft., not too bad, but when we reached the Potomac River they went from 3 ft. to 4/5 ft.  Now I don’t usually get seasick, but I will admit I was a little queasy trying to eat my lunch.  In fact, I didn’t eat all that much for lunch.  Once we got past the Potomac River, it calmed back down to around 3 footers from the rear.  When we finally made our turn to head up the Great Wicomico River, the swells were now broadside rolling us from side to side.  At that point I couldn’t stand up to go anywhere for fear of falling.  You just could not stay upright.  Needless to say today’s adventure was a little rougher than I would have liked, but you take it as it comes.  Tonight we are in a quiet anchorage and the wind has died down and it is quite peaceful here.  I just walked outside and there was a huge gorgeous orange moon rising over the water, the remains of  the super moon reflecting on the water , putting on quite a show.  After taking a beating today, what a reward.

Tomorrow we head for an anchorage in Willoughby Bay just outside of Norfolk Virginia.  Today we traveled 53 miles, taking 6hrs 16mins.  So far we have traveled around 123 miles or so.

Until tomorrow.

A LNG tanker headed up the Bay.  We passed a LNG terminal, I guess he was headed there.

This picture does not even do it justice.  The big moon reflecting off the calm waters of the anchorage.

Day 1 

We were off the dock this morning at just about 7 a.m.  It was a beautiful morning with crisp air and a gentle breeze.  As we motored around the point and into Lankford Bay, we could feel the wind picking up a little bit, but at that point is was from behind so it didn’t bother us too much until we rounded Eastern Neck Island on the way to Kent Narrows.  If you weren’t  sitting down and below the wind screen, it was quite brisk. Temps in the morning when we woke up were in the low 40’s. So at 8:00 it wasn’t much warmer and with the wind, … chilly.  We made it through Kent Narrows without incident, and the bridge went up on demand, so no waiting.  I called the tender on the radio and he had the bridge up for us when we got there.  Didn’t even have to slow down.   The ride down Eastern Bay was without incident then into the Chesapeake.  Had the wind in our faces and a little chop on the Bay, then it got overcast and the wind picked up some more.  The chop got a little….choppier, and it was getting a little cool, so we opted to move below and operate from the lower helm station.  We did this for a couple hours, then the sun popped out again, the wind died down and the Bay smoothed out.  We went back up to the bridge and it was quite pleasant the rest of the day.  We are now in Mill Creek at Solomons Md.  Arriving sometime around 3:30 or 4:00.  The sun was getting lower on the horizon when we anchored.  Shorter days.  We still made it about 70 miles or so in around 7 hrs. and 30 mins. 

Until tomorrow.

The Morning Sun over Lankford Bay

Following another trawler into the Patuxent River as the sun started to get lower on the horizon

Day Zero

Well, it's been quite a long time since I last posted to this blog.  I am preparing to do the return trip to Florida for the winter months.  When we bought the boat 3+ years ago, that was the original intent. But as "life is what happens while you are making other plans", (a little John Lennon reference) it hasn't happened yet. So this year a friend and myself will be leaving around November 16th and heading south.  We intend to stop in Brunswick Ga. and return home for the holidays to be with friends and family.  After the first of the year another friend and myself will return to the boat and continue southward. I hope to update the blog regularly, depending on internet access of course.

It seems as if I have been working on the boat most of the time since we put it back in the water this spring getting it ready for several months of "cruising".  This is what I accomplished thus far.

1. Bottom work - blister repair and anti-fouling paint.
2. Heads rebuilt - Put new macerator motors impellers and grinders in both heads.
3. Replaced the reverse cycle AC/Heat unit in the forward stateroom.
4. Replaced the CQR anchor with a new 55# Rocna Vulcan.
5. Replaced the old windlass with a new Lewmar reversing self feeding windlass.  No more manually pulling and feeding the chain rode into and out of the chain locker.
6. Replaced one of the drain hoses from the flybridge that runs through the aft cabin ceiling, hanging lockers and into the salon wall to the engine room.  That was quite a job, dropping the head liner in the aft cabin, removing the ceiling in the hanging lockers,  rebuilding one section of the headliner, and ceiling supports that had rotted out from moisture, and reassembling it all together. Even had to cut an access port in the step riser to the flybridge to access the drain fitting.  Ugh!
7. Applied tank sealer to the forward belly fuel tank - This required draining, cleaning, and acid washing the inside of the tank before applying the sealer.  All on my belly.  That was an ugly job.  I hope it works !
8. Serviced both engines and generator - new impellers, oil changes, filters, fuel filters etc.
9. New bimini cover - the other one got ripped up in a wind storm.
10. Replaced the oil cooler on the starboard engine - The multi cooler began leaking and the oil cooler section had corroded beyond repair. Needed to be replaced, including the tube bundle.
11. Replaced oil lines on the starboard engine which had begun to leak.
12. Recaulked/sealed the windshield glass and frame screw moldings.
13. Did a short haul to clean the bottom, and put on fresh zincs.

Now I hope I am prepared for the trip, and winter in Fla. The dinghy is loaded, water tank is full, fuel saddle tanks are full, provisioning starts Monday, packing and move on to the boat Tuesday, and leave at sun up on Wednesday.  Most of the trip is in shorter increments than when I came north, the days are shorter now than they were then, so we will average about 50 miles a day or so.

Hope you can follow along.