Sunday, October 11th (Day 13)
Air temp 62, water temp 71, winds NW @ 10-20
It was a cloudy day with lots of rain in the forecast. Later in the morning, we decided to take a walk around "downtown" Reedville (really is no downtown) to see the sights before the rain started. There were lots of large (100-150 feet) fishing boats and fisheries. Only about 1/4 mile from the house, we saw this marker in a nearby fenced area.
As we walked to the north end of town, we saw this lady in her driveway yelling at a very large turkey. Now, you don't see that everyday. The turkey was gobbling away but seemed to be doing what the lady told it. A short while later she drove by us, stopped her car and rolled down the window. I guess she saw us looking at her and the turkey so she had to explain that the turkey "..thinks he's a dog". I wasn't sure what that meant but when we walked back, he put on this beautiful display for us - maybe trying to scare us away like a watchdog?
It started raining on us a short while later so we headed back to the boat to dry off.
Mary had invited us for dinner and football at the house. We watched the Giants and Cowboys on TV (first football game I've watched in a few years) then had a nice dinner of homemade chili with corn muffins with good friends.
Later in the evening we walked back to the boat and hit the sack early.
Monday, October 12th (Day 14)
Air temp 64, water temp 71, winds NW @ 15-20
Rain, rain, rain....
It rained hard during the night and it was tough to sleep with all the noise. In the morning the rain let up a little so I worked on cleaning out our lazarette which I use to hold (4) 5-gallon gasoline jugs for our outboard and Honda generator, a few small fenders and our water hose. On the way through New York City, we were almost swamped by the wake from a large (100+ foot) powerboat. Our sailboat rocked so much the Hibiscus plant tipped over and spilled dirt all over the back deck and into the lazarette. I typically have to clean this out every few months anyway because it get yucky from leaves and dirt. It is somewhat open to the air and has a dedicated drain - why I think it's good for storing gasoline.
I had been waiting to clean it out because we needed to be at a dock where I had good water pressure for our hose to keep the drain working. I first used a scraper to remove the dirt and larger leaf pieces from the compartment, then soft scrub and a scrubby pad for the sides and bottom. The gasoline jugs were pretty dirty too so I cleaned them up with the soft scrub. About an hour later it was looking pretty good and everything was back in it's place.
The rain picked up again just as I finished that job. It rained hard for several hours then cleared a little just before we walked up to the house for cocktails on the porch. The wind had finally died and the rain was just a little spit. Temps were in the low 70s so I was still in shorts. Here we all are on the porch enjoying life.
Since Halloween is only a couple weeks away, I'll share this picture of Mary's pet spider. It is about 2 inches across and looks very ferocious. It has a huge web on the porch and was our entertainment at cocktail hour. When a small bug would fly into the web, this spider moved about 100 mph to enjoy her dinner.
Laura had bought two roasted chickens at the grocery store on Friday. We had those plus mashed taters, gravy, beans and Laura's homemade rolls for dinner together. It was excellent and I ate way too much.
Back to the boat a short time later as we got ready to leave at first light tomorrow morning. Not sure where we are heading as it depends on the winds and water. Keep tuned!
Oh. When I checked the engine over in the evening, the dang fitting on the engine raw water hose is still slowly dripping. After 3 days there was about 1/4 cup of water in a puddle under it. I tried tightening it again. If it still leaks now, I'll have to take it all apart and put more plumbers tape on the fitting. I was a little frugal with it because I was almost out of tape. Laura stopped at the hardware store on her grocery run Friday and bought me 3 more rolls. I'll tape the heck out of it now!
Tuesday, October 13th (Day 15 - Start of week 3)
We were up early this morning. I had the alarm set for 6:30am but, as usual, I woke up a few minutes before, turned it off and eventually got up. We were off the dock at 7am with the winds helping a little to push the boat out into the creek. Undocking went very nice and I motored out of the creek toward Chesapeake Bay as Laura stowed the wet docklines.
After we turned south on the bay, we rolled out the jib and main. Winds were from the NW which made for a nice broad-reach down the bay. Winds helped us the whole day but never were strong enough to turn off the engine.
The boat ran over 7 knots most of the day and even faster when the tidal current turned in our favor in the late morning. My goal had been to make it to a nice anchorage near Old Point Comfort which was about 55 miles from Reedville. With the wind and tide helping, we were there by 2:30pm so I decided to keep going.
As we turned off the bay into the James River, we saw this large (Navy?) helicopter hovering over the water about 1/2 mile away from us. I was wondering if they were doing or practicing a water rescue. A short while later I looked and they were still flying low, kicking up a lot of water, and heading right toward us. I turned north and they turned south but they did come withing 1/4 mile. We could see a long cable coming down from the helicopter attached to a boat or something on the water that they were towing. Very weird.
There is only one bridge in Norfolk that has to open for us before the Great Bridge Lock - Gilmerton Bridge. It doesn't open between 3:30 and 5:30pm during road traffic rushhours. As we entered the Elizabeth River and motor-sailed past the Norfolk Navy fleet, the flood current started pushing us to help our speed. I timed it nicely and arrived at the Gilmerton Bridge just before 5:30pm. We were the only boat waiting.
Here is a video Laura took as we entered Norfolk.
A few minutes after Laura took this video, she was walking back to the cockpit when the wind changes and jibbed the main from port to starboard. It must have started really slow because even I didn't hear it until it was right behind me at the helm. Laura walked right into the mainsheet as it slapped over in front of her and knocked her to the deck. It all happened so fast neither of us reacted. As she picked herself up, she said, "At least I didn't loose my phone!". She still was holding it in her left hand. Even very experienced sailors and boaters like us still make mistakes. I should have tightened in the mainsheet after pulling in the jib. I knew the winds were dying - that's why I pulled in the jib. Sorry Baby....
A few miles later we pulled into the fuel dock at Top Rack Marina for the night. This marina is in the middle of nowhere (nothing to walk to) but they have the cheapest fuel in the area. They didn't disappoint as we saw it was $1.73 / gallon. They were closed when we arrived but we tied up then hooked up power and connected to the wi-fi.
It was a long day at 71 nautical miles in 11 hours but a nice ride down the bay. We've had much worse. This makes 507 total miles we've logged from Catskill. We are a little less than 1/3 of the way to Marathon.
I feel like there is a weight off my shoulders now that we are in the calm(er), protected Intracoastal Waterway (ICW). There are lots of good anchorages on our way south now and we are very familiar with the sights and best places to visit. This is my 30th trip on the ICW and I still look forward to the sights, sounds and challenge of not rubbing (boat to ground).
Wednesday, October 14th (Day 16)
Air temp 54, water temp 68, winds calm
We slept in a little this morning as we had to wait for the marina to open to fill up our diesel tank. Just after 8am I walked around the yard and a worker saw me. He came down to help with fueling. We talked a bit while fueling and the marina was pretty dead. The nice restaurant had closed and I guess their only business was selling cheap fuel. Bummer.
The boat took 91 gallons which is about average for the 500 miles. We only sailed one day with the engine off between Annapolis and the Solomon's. Fuel bill was only $157 plus $50 for dockage with power, water and wi-fi. Nice!
After fueling we had a quick breakfast then backed out of the marina. Laura prepared the lines for the Great Bridge Lock just 2 miles away. There were a couple "rookies" handling the boats in front of us as we entered the lock. One of them eventually had their 40 foot sailboat sideways in the lock before a crewmember jumped off the bow with a line to haul them over. What was he thinking?
We waited for a few slower boats coming from behind us then eventually locked down about 1.5 feet to the Virginia Cut. The Great Bridge Bridge opened for us a few minutes later and we tied up to the free dock just south of the bridge for a little time ashore.
3 miles in 1.5 hours today.
Later in the afternoon we decided to take a walk. There is a nice nature-walk through the woods right next to our dock. We always enjoy the pretty scenery.
After our walk I played my flute for a while in the cockpit then relaxed with a couple fingers of tequila. I watched a few more episodes of "Odd Life Crafting" on YouTube which is my latest binge-watch channel. This is a young couple in Brazil who bought a steel sailboat that had been on-the-hard for 23 years. Their videos are about them fixing up the boat. They post a new video every week. I am on number 134 right now. This couple is very cute and funny. I guess they make me think about some alternate histories for me if it was 40 years ago. Guess that tequila is kicking in....
Laura's Kindle Fire shit-the-bed last night. This is our third Kindle that had a problem with the charging port and died. We thought about it today and almost decided to order her a new iPad (for about $400) but then we found an upgraded Kindle on Amazon that has cordless charging ($125). We ordered the Kindle plus the wireless charger and had it shipped to Wayfarers Cove Marina (near Oriental) where we have reservations next week to have some interior woodwork done by a local carpenter.
This carpenter was recommended by our friends D and Don so he should be pretty good. We have a large section of ceiling, wall and bulkhead near our engine room that is rotted out from a multi-year leak in our cockpit drains that we found last year. I removed part of the ceiling and fixed the leak but neither Laura nor I are wood experts for this kind of job. That's for a future blog other than to say this marina charges $6.50 / ft / month ($297.50 for us) for dockage. For comparison, Burdines in Marathon charges about $1,200 per month (but that is in the Florida Keys during Winter). I definitely have not seen any other marinas near that low dockage price. I hope the place not too bad.
We are a little up-in-the-air about our plans for the next couple days because there is only about 1.5 days of decent weather before another front comes through. The free dock where we currently are is only supposed to be for 24 hours but we've only seen someone checking once in 30 trips. So, we could probably stay here for another couple days but I think we are going to push on south. Tomorrow we could anchor just south of Coinjock and cross the Albemarle on Friday morning before the high winds and storms show up. There is an excellent anchorage in the Pungo River just south of the Alligator-Pungo Canal that has good protection for the predicted north winds. If we sit out the storm there on Friday, the next week looks excellent for traveling down the ICW. I'll let you know how it works out!
No comments:
Post a Comment