Air temp 70, water temp 70, winds N @ 20
Warm night so we had the air-conditioning running during the night (on low temp) and it stayed very nice in the boat for sleeping without getting too cold.
The rain continued throughout the day as we worked a few minor boat projects and found a few more leaks. After breakfast, the rain let up for a bit so we walked into the office to pay a few days dockage and purchase some seafood. We paid for 2 days of dockage ($34) and purchased about $70 worth of frozen seafood including shrimp and (2) lobster tails. We bought Flounder and Snapper fillets big enough to feed us both dinner for about $10 / package. It was very reasonable.
We decided to splurge with steak and lobster for dinner. It was raining again (of course) but I went out and started the grill to get it heated up. With all the winds and cold we've had lately, the grill hasn't been working very good and the last pork loin we grilled had to be finished on the oven broiler.
After 8 minutes on the grill, the steak and split-lobster tails were still raw. Rats! We ended up cooking them with the oven broiler too and they didn't come out too bad. But, they would have been much better on the grill. We even splurged with a few steak-fries.
We watched a few Netflix shows and hit the sack around 10pm. A quiet day on Second Wind.
Wednesday, May 20th
Air temp 62, water temp 70, winds E @ 20
Last night we switched from air-conditioning to heat as the boat was getting chilly. The temps all day yesterday fell into the 60s and stayed there.
It was raining steady (again) so after breakfast we decided to work on the forward head (bathroom). Last week I had changed the vent filter because the toilet smelled when we used it. But, it was still smelly and I remembered I hadn't checked the hoses on the vent to make sure they were clear - they had always been clear in the past. We pulled everything out of the forward cabin including the mattress. Then I took apart the wall to get access to the vent and hoses.
When I pulled off the upper hose, I could see that it was plugged with some kind of bug larvae. I ended up pulling the entire hose out and into the cockpit. We used a wire pushed down the hose, high-pressure air and pliers to eventually clear the hose. Finally, I put it all back together and hoped it would be better now.
During a lull in the rain (it was still spitting a bit) Laura and I walked to the marina office to see if they had gotten in Grouper today (like we were told yesterday). No Grouper yet but I was able to talk to the maintenance guy about using their outside hose to fill our water tank. He showed me where to turn it on and said I could handle it without his help. Perfect! I ran the hose from the marina and it actually reached our boat without having to drag out my hose. But, it would not screw into my pre-filter because the end was all rusted. I ended up dragging out my hose anyway and the marina hose would screw into my hose. 1/2 hour later we had loaded about 100 gallons of fresh water to fill up our tank so we could take long showers now.
Next was cleaning / fixing the BBQ grill after the problems we had last night. During a let-up in the rain, I took the grill apart, cleaned the inside and wire-brushed the burner. It seemed to work better but I need to cook something to be sure.
It was raining again so I took the iPad and flute into the cockpit and practiced for about an hour using 8notes.com. I think it's sounding better. Practice, practice....
Around 4pm the rain seemed to have stopped so Laura and I went for a walk. We only made it about 1/2 mile before it started raining AGAIN. We turned around and walked back to the boat.
Today was day 4 of my 3-day "liver-rest" alcohol purge. Tequila here I come!
It looks like we'll be here until Friday morning as that's the next break in these storms that are hanging around. We should be in Great Bridge in 2 long or 3 short days. Then we'll probably stay a couple days at the free dock. That dock is close to groceries, laundry and fast-food so we'll probably stay a few days.
Thursday, May 21st
Air temp 68, water temp 70, winds S @ 15
No moving the boat today
Another very rainy morning. I wish I had a way to figure out how much rain we've gotten in the past 3 days. The storms just keep materializing over the ocean and move right over us. Will it ever stop? Here is my view this morning from the cockpit.
It's hard to remember what the Sun looks like Rain, rain, rain... I tried to go for a walk later in the morning when it was just drizzling. But, never made it off the property because it started raining again with heavy winds.
D and Laura were texting during the day and we invited them over for dinner. They were in New Bern but it was still a 40 minute drive to our marina. They graciously offered to pick up a few groceries we needed and showed up during one of the few times it wasn't raining. Just before they came over I decided to put our back canvas up in the cockpit because the south wind was blowing right in and getting everything soaked. Wow! What a difference! Don and I actually sat in the cockpit with a glass of wine and it wasn't wet or cold. Nice!
Laura made stuffed flounder for dinner with some of the flounder fillets we had purchased here. For the stuffing she used shrimp we had purchased in Georgetown, SC and Stone Crab we had purchased in Marathon. It was excellent!
We talked for quite a while. I think we were all a little stir-crazy from all the rain and isolating. Since we had spent the evening together a few nights ago, everyone figured we were pretty safe. It was a nice evening with good friends.
Friday, May 22nd
Air temp 62, water temp 70, winds S @ 10
83nm today, 991 total miles from Marathon
83 miles today was one of our longest days ever running the ICW. But, the weather cleared up, the Sun came out and the winds helped us all day without being strong enough to build uncomfortable waves.
I had the alarm set for 5:15am. When it went off it was pouring outside. I guess I was getting used to the rain because it didn't wake me up. The deck is about 4 feet above our heads while in bed and the rain pounding there makes a lot of noise. I checked my phone and here was the RADAR a short time later.
We were at the blue dot. Most of this was moving NE so it should go away in an hour or two. I reset the alarm for 6:30am and went back to sleep.
6:30am it was not raining and seemed much brighter out. It wasn't sunny but not too bad.
We got ourselves and the boat ready to finally leave the dock after 5 days. I have to say this place was perfect for us to "hunker down" with the nasty weather. It was inexpensive ($17.20 / day) and we had power, water and WiFi good enough for streaming shows at night. The only problem is there was nothing around other than the marina and commercial seafood building. The nearest grocery store was 15 miles.
I had done all my engine checks yesterday so started the Perkins to warm up while Laura and I got everything else ready. We disconnected power, pulled up our 4 fenders we had protecting the boat from the dock and worked our way through the 6 dock lines (I had extras on for the storms). We were off the dock at 6:50am. Not too bad! (to be honest, I had woken up before the 6:30am alarm).
We motored north to Goose Creek with just a little south wind to help push the jib and boat. About 2 hours later, we saw peeks of the Sun. Here's a video Laura took. We were so excited!
I should also mention that the boat looked like laundry-day most of the morning. We hung out all our wet towels from 5 days of rain. By the afternoon, we had dry towels again.
It was an excellent day on the water. Enough winds to help through almost the whole day but not quite enough to sail. Our only question was how far to go. On the other side of the Alligator - Pungo Canal there is a good anchorage but it would only be about 2:30pm. Going farther would mean the 20 mile Alligator River (not much anchorage protection from south and west winds tonight) plus the 13 mile Albemarle Sound and another 5 miles to a good anchorage. We decided the day was so nice we would go for it. The long day today would hopefully let us be in Great Bridge tomorrow at the free dock.
No problems up the sometimes nasty Alligator River and we sailed out onto Albemarle Sound around 7pm. We knew we'd be anchoring in the dark but, oh well. I've navigated at night hundreds of times on Second Wind and my Captain's Job so it wasn't a big deal. We have good instruments and I know how to use them.
Our ride across the Albemarle was so nice we even had dinner (left-over chili) at the cockpit table plus each of us took a shower. We had no problems and anchored 1/4 mile from 2 other boats at 9:45pm. One of the other boats believed that Home Depot solar lawn lights are good enough for anchoring. I could have run right into him if I hadn't seen him on my RADAR. The solar lights were so dim I thought they were on-shore. Of all the things to be cheap on, lights at night so others can see you isn't one of them.
By 10:30pm we were both in bed and I fell asleep quickly. I wasn't really exhausted from running the boat for 15 hours because it was such a nice day and no problems with the sailing.
Saturday, May 23rd
Air temp 70, water temp 70, winds W @ 10-15
43 nautical miles today, 1,034 total from Marathon
I had the alarm set for 6:30am and it woke us from a sound sleep. I had been dreaming that I was asked to be a male prostitute so had been making out paperwork and doing blood tests. I remember thinking in my dream, "How am I going to tell Laura that I'm a prostitute?" When I told her about the dream, she laughed and said, "You were going to be a male prostitute?" I answered, "They call us Escorts..." We both cracked up. Wow. And I didn't even drink any alcohol last night. That chili must have been something!
We had the anchor up by 7:10am at the exact time the two other boats got underway. As we motored across the North River toward Coinjocks, the 3 of us rain out jibs and sort of raced to the finish line (back to the ICW). One of the other boats won.
It was another fairly quiet day on the water with the wind helping through the first half. As we motored closer to Chesapeake and crossed into Virginia, the local, weekend boaters were just about everywhere. I had to keep a close eye for paddle-boarders and small boats.
Laura got this close-up of an Osprey chick in the nest.
This is another house along the waterway that I really like. I admire this place every time we go though.
Just a few miles after this house is the North Landing Bridge. We made it just before they opened at 1:30pm. Perfect. Then 5 miles to the Centerville Turnpike Bridge. They also opened right up for us.
As we were going through this last bridge, we felt the boat hit something in the water (a log maybe?) then it hit the propeller. I could tell because the engine lost RPM for a few seconds. We turned around and there was a 2 foot log or beam just coming up to the surface. I realized there was a unusual noise coming from the propeller and it seemed to be vibrating more than before. Oh boy. We didn't loose any boat speed but there was definitely more noise and vibration. It was only another 4 miles to Great Bridge so we motored a little slower to the free dock. There was room for us so we tied up at 3:30pm.
Laura put the boat to bed while I walked across the bridge to the boatyard at Atlantic Yacht Basin. I wanted to see if they could haul the boat out of the water and check our running gear. We'd probably need a new or rebuilt prop.
I found one of the marina workers a short time later. After my asking about a haul-out he replied, "Come back Tuesday." Oh yeah. This was Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend. Well, that's a bummer but we are tied to a dock in an area where there is shopping and nice places for walks. Not a bad deal.
We've logged over 80,000 miles on Second Wind and never had this happen before (that we knew of). Our propeller is very protected and comes out of the back of the keel just before the rudder. It takes a lot for something to get in there but I guess it had to happen some time. Dean and Sue along with Pete and Bunny are supposed to be here tomorrow. They were near Oriental as we waited at R.E. Mayo. Dean is a diver so I asked if I could borrow some dive gear and check out the propeller over the weekend. He said, "Sure." I may and I might not. He also reminded me this water is very hard to see through (it's the color of tea) and there are Water Moccasins in this area. I might have to rethink this...
I really don't miss dinging my prop....
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