Norfolk, VA to Carolina Beach, NC

Ship’s Log, October 22, 2009

From Wed. the 14th of Oct. in Norfolk, VA to Wed. the 21st in Carolina Beach, NC

10/14, Wednesday - Norfolk, Dismal Swamp - The lovely weather ended all too quickly. We were the only boat crossing the bay in the wee hours under very gray skies, but upon entering the Elizabeth River there were suddenly several tugs and barges, large military vessels and other military presence, and sailboats under power all moving this way and that. Then there are the bridges and locks. New bridges are built to a height of 65 feet above high tide but there are many older bridges still around. The ICW was built to accommodate boats so the remaining bridges needed to be swing, bascule or other types of opening bridges. Our height is 22 feet and alas, most of the remaining bridges fall in the 19 foot category so we have to ask them to open or wait for their schedule. We had several bridges to negotiate but they all opened on request and then a quick turn to the right and we were on the Dismal Swamp. A few miles in and we approached the first lock (scheduled) to wait with a few other boats. Once in one often makes friends with the next boat in the lock as you are now spending some quality time together. The boat in front of us was Skinwalker, a Marine Trader 49 with liveaboards, Wayne and Lynn Flatt. They recommended a lovely anchorage behind Goat Island after our second lock and invited us to raft up and have cocktails. The cocktails were great fun and we chatted for hours. They were very friendly and helpful, inviting us to tag along if we wished for the next few days.

10/15, Thursday to Elizabeth City– the previous day was just a bit too long to make it the whole way to Elizabeth City. Being rafted up we had to coordinate our departure time for the morning which was a gray, dreary, misty and a very mysterious day. The two boats negotiated the last 12 miles to E.C. where they opted for the free dock (no facilities) and since it was looking like several bad days we chose Pelican Marina (the only other place in town and unfortunately across the river) with a price of $35 a night including everything even the laundry facilities. The down side was the teensy amount of dock by the boat. We were now waiting for our opportunity to cross Albemarle Sound. It rained for two days but the wind never really raised its ugly head. This gave us time to catch up with boat chores, groceries, etc.

10/16, Friday – Still in Elizabeth City we had rain in the morning then took the dingy across and had a stroll around a very sad little town. With more rain and darkness approaching we turned down an invitation from Skinwalker for dinner and ended the day on our side of the river at the marina with cocktails with Dale and Anatha on their PDQ 34 sailing cat Mongoose Magic, followed by an early evening for an early departure.

10/17, Saturday - Albemerle Sound and the Pungo River - After several conversations at 6:40am about the weather we decided to brave the forces and were off the dock at 7am, in the dark. It was to be a long day – 70 some miles. Skinwalker was sitting out the river waiting while we battled our way out of the slip in the dark. There was a peek at the rising sun, the wind still promising falsely, still overcast and rainy but got we got across the Albermarle Sound before the wind did materialize. Then it was up the Alligator River and through the Pungo Canal both of which had dreadful scenery of scrab brush and ugly tres. We rafted up again at the other end of the canal in the Pungo River having a dinner of soup (Lynn) and salad (me) w/ Lynn and Wayne on Skinwalker. We have all thrown in the towel and are running our heat. It’s cold and miserable! Coulda stayed home for this.

10/18, Sunday, Pungo to Oriental / Greens Creek – 8am NNW at 10 – 15 to go up, cold – 45 degrees, still overcast but fairly protected routes. Gray, dismal and lumpy and depressing. Ran with the heat on much of the day and pulled in to Oriental following Skinwalker into Greens Creek. We dropped our hook between the set of “green’s” so we could dink to “town”. They went on in further up and decided to stay warm in their boat. We did go in dressed in all the layers we could muster and walked all 10 blocks. It was yet another sad town trying to be, but we did stop in at the Toucan Restaurant for early Sunday supper as it were. We are in the land of R. J. Reynolds. Smoking allowed. The hostess tried to seat us right next to the bar and I bolted for the other end of the room. Even so we still reeked of smoke afterwards. The food was nominal and we were watching some football team playing in the snow. Cold ride back to the boat and turned the heat back on.

10/19, Monday – Oriental to Beaufort - Folks that did not make the break from Annapolis when we did are still stuck there. Bill Knud, the guy whose boat went on the loose in Annapolis had invited us to visit and we thought about making the side trip to Washington, NC to do that but he was one of those still in Annapolis. The crew of Skinwalker have had it with the cold and decided to bogie on south. The sun was out and though it was still cold, it certainly made attitudes better – particularly mine. We went to Beaufort, a short ride, 25 miles, and the scenery was starting to be prettier. We dropped our hook in Town Creek on the back side of Beaufort. The book has a lovely photo of Beaufort showing lots of boats anchored off of town. We dingied over and found them all on moorings in a ripping current. Though our anchorage was less lovely, it was much safer. Again another town covered in an hour though cuter and probably more lively in the summer. I am really starting to be displeased with the book descriptions. Promises, promises.

10/20, Tuesday - Beaufort to Mile Hammock, Camp Lejeune. The wind died overnight and we quickly got get back on the ICW. The ride down was lovely as we are finally seeing the outer banks, dunes, marshes, pelicans and even a few porpoise in the canals. The homes are interesting. Many built right on the water (just try that in Maine!). One had the longest ramp to its dock over acres of shallow water, that I have ever seen. No shortage of money in this part of the state. Mile Hammock is actually in Camp Lejeune but cruisers are allowed to anchor there in its basin just off the ICW. We were the only power boat with about a dozen sailing vessels in the anchorage. We had a lovely golden, orange Carolina sunset – all to the background sounds of the military boys practice landing Blackhawks about ½ mile away and the booms and percussive sounds of Howitzers firing bouncing off the boat. After dark there were definitely some mystery boats on the ICW. Fortunately it all ended @9:30.

10/21, Wednesday - to Carolina Beach – the day of restricted bridges. As I mentioned earlier, some bridges open on request, some have schedules and they don’t budge a second one way or the other. If you miss it, too bad. Wait….and try not to run into anyone or anything while you all mull about in the water. Well we overslept a bit so we messed up our first bridge time. Not to be daunted as it was a beautiful day we dropped a hook and had a nice wait – lovely morning. The next bridge though we decided we could not make in time so, we backed down and cruised in very slowly. Had we boogied we might have made it – hard to tell. Our math showed otherwise, but it almost looked as if we could have. Then the third one was a real pain. No way we could make the 5 miles in ½ hour (we run at about 7.5 – 8 miles an hour) so taking our time we still had to wait an extra hour in a ripping current because of their timing. Dropped the hook right in the middle of the channel to wait and was it ever a challenge to pick up in the current that was running along with half a dozen boats that had arrived and were also milling around. Another 12 miles and we pulled into the resort area of Carolina Beach which just happens to have a natural anchorage in the middle of it. Condos and homes surround us but we are in a peaceful spot along with all of our sailboat “friends” from Mile Hammock who did the same leg of the journey today. And it is warm again!

Annapolis to Mile 0

10/10, Saturday – Fuel, water, trash and waste were the morning chores in prep for leaving Annapolis, even in the middle of the boat show. A grand time had by all, but time to move on. The ride out turned into a dreary, overcast, lumpy ride to Dunn Cove; a spot on the Eastern Shore recommended by the guide books. We took the “short cut” through Knapps Narrows which included a lift bridge. We were a bit behind the previous set of boats so the tender needed to let it down for traffic. Just about when we were getting blown onto the pilings he put it up for us to pass on through. The channel heading out was quite skinny – we kept visiting that 1.9 feet below the keel number that I hate seeing! Dunn Cove is supposedly a very busy place in the summer. We shared it that evening with birds, fish and finally one more boat. The new anchor and windlass are working beautifully.

10/11, Sunday – Yesterdays’ lumps were grandly rewarded by a spectacular ride to the Solomon’s. Light NW wind and full sun. And we got two fish on but alas, lost both. We have to learn the trick of keeping them when they leap out of the water. From the way they didn’t fight we believe they were good sized strippers. We pulled into Solomon’s and got a hook down at @ 2:30. Mark got us right into the last available spot in the anchorage which only held about 8 boats. There was plenty of space elsewhere on the other creek, good reference for another time. The guy in the boat next to us was just getting back on his boat and told us that the local museum was having “free day”. Since we were parked right in front of the museum we jumped in the dingy and checked it out. It was very small town fair and quite sweet. The museum itself is a maritime museum and all about Chesapeake boats, the oyster industry and the local ecology. There was a tent set up for kids to build little boats and there must have been 15 tables with parent and kids hammering to their hearts content. Everyone was walking around with their prizes. A small town band was entertaining everyone with all the great pops classics and there were booths with artists selling paintings, jewelry (always tempting for me) and various crafts. So many talented people out there. The Lion’s Club was selling oyster sandwiches but they were sold out which disappointed Mark greatly. However the Kettle Popcorn booth couldn’t make it fast enough. I thought it was a bit silly, but it was good.

10/12, Monday – On the departure from Solomon’s it was really tempting to turn back as it was again lumpy. The Solomon’s is a few miles up the Pawtuxet River and we decided to give it to the mouth. The river did have the down current against the wind. I took a pill and we pushed on through. Again a bit of a dreary day and I went to “my room” to cope while Mark had a grand time at the helm and indeed once we got outside it did get better even though the wind was from the east and on the beam. By noon we seemed to be driving south of it and it had laid down quite a bit. Looking at the long range forecast we decided to suck it up and do a long day about 50 miles, to Jackson Creek at Deltaville, VA. Yes, VA. We have crossed the Mason Dixon Line. The VA line is on the west shore of the Potomac – not down the middle. No wonder NH keeps making grabs at the shipyard. Jackson Creek has an amazing entrance. The channel goes to within what looks like 10 feet and looking like you will drive right up onto someone’s beach before turning and going in to the creek. As usual the creek is much smaller than those lovely wide angel photos in the chart books, but we went to the “end of the line” dropped our hook and still several more boats came in behind us. We enjoyed a quiet evening listening to the Beatles on our Ipod (through speakers) and retired early preparing to be hunkered in for a day or two due to high winds.

10/13, Tuesday – We woke up to…..fog! It was light and quickly dissipated. Meanwhile we heard there was the dreaded “S” word back at home. We made breakfast and were getting settled in for the duration. I turned on the computer and as is my habit went straight to the weather. It was still predicting the high winds and with even higher winds for 5 or so days afterwards. But there was no wind. We decided to make a run for it knowing that if it did come up it would be on our stern – a much more favorable angle and if we could get to Hampton Roads 40 or so miles away we would then be inside. So we gulped down our coffee, pulled up the anchor and headed out. What a glorious day it turned out to be. The wind never materialized and it was a lovely ride down even allowing some onboard work. We chose an anchorage up the Hampton River and are just past the bridge – again shallow but deep enough. The local municipal dingy dock had lovely facilities for showering so we took advantage of them. We have not yet seen all the mega commercial and military traffic but will get that tomorrow. For now just enjoying 75 degrees on the aft deck and wearing shorts. Looks like we had better enjoy it as the reports are for a Nor’easter to sit off the coast for the next week. At least we are inside! For you non- boaters, inside refers to protection from the land! Tomorrow – Mile 0 – the official start of the ICW.

Wildwood, NJ to Annapolis, MD

Ship’s Log, October 9, 2009

From Monday the 28th of Sept. in Cape May, NJ to Friday, Oct 9, in Annapolis, MD

9/28, Underway at dawn to go the last 7 miles out past Cape May and the canal to the Delaware River. Back into the big water at 7:30 and a long day ahead. We had the SW wind that was to get to 10 – 15 gusts to 20 and we were going north. Shoulda taken my motion sickness tabs. Somehow we messed up tide and current and ended up slogging at 6.5 for HOURS. 48 miles run to the Delaware and Chesapeake Canal. Meds finally kicked in and we practiced our surfing technique running down the faces of the 4 foot waves. What looked like the Flying Dutchman, turned out to be a lovely and large square rigger that went past us and he made a good target to follow upriver. When we reached the C. and D. Canal there was still 12 more miles to our stopping point. On the canal the sky quickly turned ominous and I urged Mark to put pedal to metal and burn some fuel. We pulled into a lovely inlet just off the canal called Chesapeake City at 4:45, dropped the anchor, the skies broke loose with a very strong torrential squall and the anchor dragged. I went back out to man the anchor, was drenched in seconds, Mark motored forward and we got it reset. I got first dibs in the shower! The remainder of the evening was delightful. Lovely sunset and quiet night.

9/29, Tuesday – A lazy morning except that we decided the anchor was still not holding well. Several more tries and a move to another area and we were once again set. Time for a larger piece of hardware. Mark went online and ordered a Manson anchor from Hamilton Marine in Portland to be delivered to his sister Joanne in Annapolis (really Eastport). That evening my niece Christine and her boyfriend Steven drove down from Newark, DE where they live and work, to meet us for dinner.

9/30, Wednesday – Avalon was the last boat out but we had the tide with us and into the Chesapeake we went. The C. is a big bay, not that wide but with lots of creeks and it is quite shallow. I picked out three possible anchorages in Middle River about 40 miles away. We got to the area @ 2:30 went up the river and into a side creek called Hog Pen. The write up was glowing but the reality was disappointing. Right away we were once again in 2 feet of water. Our nerves still frayed from NJ, we carefully worked our way out dragging through the mud the whole way. On to the second spot, Frog Mortar Creek. It had just a few more feet but we would have to have dropped hook right in the channel. The challenge is that the creeks are lined with small marinas on narrow channels all with lots of boats. Back out again. The center of Middle River actually has a marked channel so we decided to follow it to its end right by an airport, a small wooded area on one side and a small park on the other. Amazingly after three tries and the windlass misbehaving again, we got a very comfortable spot to stay.

10/1, Thursday – Beautiful morning. Quiet, still water and the leaves are just starting to turn here. We then saw lots of crabbers at work. They fish with lines draped between two buoys. Shorter lines about two feet long were dangled from that line spaced apart by 6 feet or so with bait attached. The crabs would latch onto the bait and as the crabber pulled the line into the boat he would just scoop up the crabs with a net. They fished that way and with pots – miniature versions of lobster pots. Finally we had the tide with us. 8+ knots the whole way to Annapolis. Our luck held and we were able to pick up one of the City moorings in Back Cove for $30 a night. Back Cove as are all the creeks around here is unbelievable. The boats are packed in so tightly that it is a wonder anyone can move about. They are between pilings with only a really skinny dock between every other set of poles. We had lunch, checked in, made arrangements to meet Joanne and her partner Brandy for dinner and Mark headed out with the dingy on his errands to get parts to repair the windlass. I stayed behind to rest – not. Ended up doing lots of paperwork, paying bills, follow-up emails and log catching-up-on. Mark got back with his parts and pieces and started in on the windlass. Not going well. He broke the drill bit trying to get out a broken bolt. Dinner saved us which was at Joanne’s with friends Meg and Ben. A grand time had by all, Mark got information to deal with the windlass part and we headed back to the boat.

10/2, Friday – Mark was up and out via dingy to go to a nearby boatyard to see if they could repair the windlass but the man there sent Mark to a place about 15 miles away. Joanne lent us her second car, a Miata and he headed out on his mission. That also did not go well. In the process Mark discovered a crack in the unit. Back he came and onto the internet we went. It turned out that the cost to replace the top part of the unit was the same as a whole new one, so the new one was ordered with arrival set for the following Tuesday. At 4:45, they called back to say that the credit card was declined. The bank didn’t like all those odd purchases from odd places and we had to assure them that we were indeed making those purchases. Unfortunately now we missed the shipping and it would now not arrive until Wednesday. So we hunkered in for a fun filled several days.

10/3, Saturday – Shucks we’re just going to have to play and have fun. We took the dingy to Annapolis, tied up at the head of “Ego Alley” and had a nice walk around town. Portland could use a similar place in its new plans for the waterfront. It was a beautiful day in the 70’s and turned out to be the day of the Navy / Marines game. We were honored with a “fly-by” of the Blue Angles. I’m sure it was just for us! Joanne was off on business but her friends Meg and Ben invited us to dinner at their place. They live just around the corner here in Eastport, also an easy walk. Our deal was that we dingied over to Brandy’s boat, tied up to it – it was on an end slip – and walked the two blocks to whomever’s home – they were all 2 blocks away. They in turn were all living in their alternate quarters as their main homes were rented out to Boat Show people. Everyone around here rents their homes and attached apartments. October is the moneymaker around here and everyone is set up to rent out. Joanne and Brandy got back early and joined us for another rollicking evening.

10/4, Sunday – Another beautiful day. We went back to Ego Alley and stocked up on veggies at the farmers market held there each Sunday. Then we strolled over to the Naval Academy campus. A showing of a photo ID and we were in. We looked all around the Visitor’s Center which had several nice displays of the history of the US Navy, historic battles, the uniforms over the years, the space capsule of Alan Shepherd (an Academy grad) and then there was the Rhode’s Scholar plaque of Academy grads with Ron Bancroft, class of 1965, Cumberland (ME) resident and big supporter of the PSO. We also peeked into the chapel – happened to be the end of Sunday service and the Mariner’s Hymn was playing. After getting back to the boat, Joanne and Brandy came out and we just hung out the rest of the afternoon and chilled.

10/5, Monday – We dubbed around a bit and then loaded up the golf clubs for our first day out on the course. The clubs were a bit much for the Miata so Joanne swapped cars with us so we now had her minivan. We headed about 20 minutes out of town to the Eisenhower Golf course and another lovely day for 9 holes. The first two holes were fairly awful not having swung a club for month. After that we started getting in a few (for me – more for Mark) decent swings. I did drop a 20 putt! After the game we went on a search for the Whole Foods. It was a new store in a new mall and we had the hardest time finding a) the entrance to the mall and b) the entrance to the underground parking lot. That part was nice. We could use that in Maine. However they had no bulk spices and in MD alcohol is not sold in grocery stores. Back to the boat for a quick chill-out and dress for dinner. Friends whom we have not seen in years drove down from Baltimore. We gave them the boat tour and then headed to Annapolis for dinner.

10/6, Tuesday – Up and at-em bright and early for an overcast but still comfortable day to go play tourist. We met Joanne, drove to New Carrolton to get on the train and headed to Washington D. C. First up was a wonderful botanical garden and huge green house; truly a conservatory. From there we walked up to the Capitol Building (where the Inauguration took place). It is HUGE. You don’t get a sense of it from photos. We wanted to see the visitor’s center which then allows one access to the Capitol Building, but they had tight security not allowing food, beverage and pocket knifes. Since we had all three we decided to keep that for another trip. Then it was on to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, Sculpture Garden and the Natural History Museum (where the latest Night at the Museum movie takes place). All were quite amazing. Being thoroughly pooped afterwards, we stopped for a bite and drink at the café by the sculpture garden and headed back to Annapolis. We only got onto one wrong train once, were able to switch and get going again correctly.

10/7, Wednesday – It did a light rain overnight but quickly cleared. All parts and pieces were scheduled to arrive today. Before they did we took a ride up Back Creek where we had not yet gone. Seems the Gemini Cats are made up there. Just as we got back onboard, the front of a high pressure started moving through with a vengeance. The wind was gusting to 45 and I believed it! Mark was trying to fix a door that was closing poorly and I was on the computer when we realized that the boat in anchored front of us was suddenly headed our way and just a bit quickly. Because of the high winds most boats had kept one person aboard – not this one. It then turned towards a neighbor’s boat. A loud holler to them enabled them to fend it off. Very quickly there were four dingies in the water and we worked on wrangling the boat. Mark jumped onboard to see if there was a key in the ignition (many folks leave there key for just such situations – we had a charter boat once that dragged and was saved because we had left the key in the ignition). No key but by now with its drift and our pushing it we were near some pilings and Mark was able to lasso one to stop its movement. Long story short, we got it tied up, found the owner who was setting up at the boat show and all was well. All with the wind just howling. Back aboard our boat – the installation of the new windlass was still being a challenge. The through bolts were not long enough and Mark had to go in search of a 5 inch hole saw to modify the backing plate.

10/8, Thursday – Annapolis Sail Boat Show Day! One of Joanne’s tenants gave her two passes for us to go to VIP Day. We love that. Typically fewer people and you can actually move around. The wind was back to normal and it was again a spectacular day. We had fun, purchased a few parts and pieces and ogled lots of new catamarans. Back at our boat the remainder of the windlass was successfully installed and tried out. It works! And it works well! Dinner tonight was with Joanne and Brandy at their yacht club which overlooks the harbor to Annapolis. They are headed out of town so we won’t see them again.

10/9, Friday – EEK! We ran out of water. That enabled us to do the math – 220 gallons of water / 15 days is almost 15 gallons a day. Doesn’t seem possible but good to know. Mark took our two 5 gallon water jugs to a dock and got them filled. We’ll make that last and we plan to head out tomorrow and will do a complete fuel and fill. Today will be some last minute provisioning, planning routes and dinner with a Portland friend who is coming down to the boat show.