Anchor up at 7:30am on a nice morning after lots of rain during the night. There were many of boats joining us for the trip up the bay since the waves and winds were light today. As we motored onto Chesapeake Bay, I could see 7 sailboats and 6 powerboats within a few miles of us.
We turned north around Cove Point and put out our big jib and mainsail. The winds were behind our starboard beam, broad reach, and the apparent wind was only in the 6-10 knot range. I tried sailing a bit with the engine in neutral but our speed quickly dropped below 5 knots so I kept the engine running all day at lower than our normal cruise RPM. I took this picture shortly after raising sail. Seas were low and the ride was nice.
As we motor-sailed around Cove Point, I could see a large tanker on the huge docks that stuck way out into the Chesapeake. I've only seen a boat here maybe once or twice in over 30 trips so this was a treat. The ship had an unusual deck layout so I took a couple pictures. She was the LNG Carrier Gail Bhuwan. Very interesting.
It was a nice motor-sail up the bay. The winds increased a little later in the afternoon and went behind us. I tried jibbing the main to starboard for wing-on-wind but the seas were a little too high and kept flogging the jib. If he had a wisker-pole to hold out the jib it would have been nice but we don't sail downwind that often. Instead I rolled in the jib and turned back on course using just the mainsail to help.
Several hours later we approached the entrance to Annapolis and the Severn River. Our friends Dean and Sue had been in Annapolis for a few days anchored in Weems Creek. They had told us that this might be a crazy time in Annapolis because this was graduation week at the Naval Academy and the Navy Blue Angles were flying tomorrow. But, they were using today for practice so the harbor might be busy.
Holy Cow! As we pulled into the harbor I thought they had built a new marina or something. There were thousands of boats anchored in the large harbor and the Blue Angles were just starting their practice / show. It was pretty neat as they were flying right over us to turn and stage for another pass over the harbor. Here are a couple pictures Laura took while we were motoring into the harbor. Notice all the boats anchored in the first picture. This is Annapolis harbor.
She also took this nice fly-by video.
The harbor was really packed with boats. I made the mistake of keeping our mainsail up while motor-sailing into the anchored boats and it was very hard to find a place where we could turn up-wind for a couple minutes and pull in the sail.
Here is a picture I took of my RADAR while motoring through all the anchored boats. It's a little hard to understand because there is a large glare on the screen. But, if you look through the glare at the screen itself, all of the little dark dots are boats anchored around us as we are motoring by. The RADAR is zoomed way in to show just 1/2 mile around us.
Laura also took this short video of all the boats anchored around us as we motored around in the harbor. Check out all the boats!
I had called the Annapolis Harbormaster on my phone to see if they had any open moorings. I figured they would not with all this boat traffic but thought I would try. Nope. All the moorings in Annapolis were taken. I then called Dean and he said there was plenty of room to anchor around them in Weems Creek. Great! Here we come!
Not so fast.... We were yelled at by a Harbormaster boat that the Severn River was not open to boat traffic yet. So, I spent the next 10 minutes slowly motoring around all the anchored boats until I they announced on the radio that the river was open. Good news was we found a little open spot to pull in our mainsail. I navigated the 2 miles to the anchorage around many anchored boats and we dropped our anchor just behind Autumn Borne at 3:45pm. Phew. What a day!
But wait, it's not over yet..... Dean and Sue came over in their dinghy a short time later to "welcome us to the neighborhood." We had a cocktail with them and caught up on personal news. They left a short time later as we had dinner plans with our friends Chris and Bob who live about 45 minutes away.
Just before 6pm we met Chris and Bob at the Weems Creek boat launch which also qualifies as a dinghy dock. After dragging the dinghy up on the beach and locking it to a park bench, we decided to try a local Walgreens for Laura's second Covid shot (plus they have a great wine store). She really got lucky that the pharmacy was still open AND the last person scheduled for the shot had not showed up. Laura only had to wait a short time and then she was Covid-proof. Yea!
I purchased a case of wine at the same store mixed with several different bottles we like. The total came to $100 for 12 bottles. That's a great price for decent wine. We then decided on Mexican for dinner and drove a short distance to the Mexican Cafe. Food was so-so but the Margaritas were excellent. After spending a couple hours catching up and eating / drinking, we decided to try our favorite wine bar in downtown Annapolis. We actually found a parking spot and, after a short walk, got a table outside near the street at the Red Red Wine Bar. It was a fun ending to a great day as we sipped nice wine with friends while watching all the folks in downtown Annapolis during graduation week.
Bob drove us back to the dinghy and we said another sad good-bye. No problems as we motored back to Second Wind other then a few wine-caused configuration errors as I tried to haul up the dinghy.
Tomorrow is supposed to be stormy in the afternoon so we are planning on staying another day anchored here. Then maybe Thursday we will sail up to the Sassafras River and anchor for a few days or check out a new marina. It doesn't look like decent weather and winds for heading up the coast of NJ until at least Monday or Tuesday so we have several days to play in this area.
47nm today, 1,216.5 total trip miles.
Wednesday, May 26th - Day 42
I did not sleep well last night which typically happens with too much red wine. It wasn't until 10am that I pulled myself out of bed after my (sometimes) morning ritual of 150 sit-ups, crunches and leg-lifts then lots of stretching for this old body. That helped get me motivated!
After a small breakfast and coffee (which I've recently started drinking again) I decided to catch up the blog with everything that happened yesterday. Today will be much calmer assuming the thunderstorms scheduled for this afternoon are not too bad.
It's now 7:30pm and, so far, the thunderstorms have gone around us. It was a very warm day with temps in the high 80s and very humid. The Blue Angels show this afternoon was a blast. Here's one video I took of them flying passed the back of our boat and the U.S. flag we have up. Laura and I were getting stiff necks watching them fly right over us in Weems Creek.
This afternoon I practiced my flute a bit then read in the cockpit trying to keep in the breeze a little. We made burgers on the grill for dinner and I decided to cool down the boat by closing up and running the air-conditioning off our Honda generator. It's much nicer in here now!
I mentioned we might check out a marina in Georgetown, MD over the next few days. I called them this afternoon on the chance they would have a slip for us. It turns out they did and I booked the next 4 nights at Sailing Associates Marina in Georgetown. We're looking forward to staying at a new place! Just a note that we might have stayed in Annapolis for a few more days if we could have picked up a mooring in the harbor or Back Creek. Then we would have had much better access to town and I wouldn't have had to worry about our boat on anchor. Who knows? If we don't get a weather window next week for a run up the coast to New York City, maybe we'll come back....
Right now, the weather tomorrow looks good for sailing north to the Sassafras River but the next several days will have high winds and storms - not good for moving on. We'll hang out in Georgetown or go anchor on the Sassafras if we get delayed more than a couple days.
As my sister Denise reminded me yesterday on the phone, I haven't been very good lately about keeping up our blog. Since I have a couple hours free this afternoon, I will attempt to piece together the past 2 weeks. It's good that we upload all of our phone pictures to Amazon Photos and Laura keeps our ship's log updated when we travel. These will make is much easier to jog my braininto remembering the big parts.
Tuesday, May 11th - Day 27
We were going to move the boat today to a free dock that D had setup for us in Oriental but I decided to stay at the marina because it was close to them and very convenient for getting together and coordinating rides with their car. It's $65 per night here so not too bad.
Winds did turn from the NE so the water level went up about 1 1/2 feet. We were floating again!
Tomorrow was supposed to be storms all day so I worked on a few outside boat projects today while D and Laura drove to New Bern for groceries and other running around.
D and Don joined us for dinner and we also invited our friend Ann. Ann and Doug have a boat in the marina but they just bought a house a few hours away so they are only here intermittently.
We decided to order take-out pizza from Silos - a local restaurant. D went to pick it up while I opened our last bottle of Story Picnic Hill Zinfandel wine. It was great to share our favorite wine with folks who could appreciate it. They loved it!
It was another nice evening with friends and I think we finished two other bottles of red wind too.
Wednesday, May 12th - Day 28
Thunderstorms started during the night and rain continued most of the day. Don said it hadn't rained much in the past month so the rain was welcome. We puttered around the boat and I made several trips to the garbage on the other side of the marina (in the rain). Later in the afternoon, the rain let up a bit and I decided to install the new battery in our dinghy.
A few years ago, I added a battery and depth sounder to our dinghy before we traveled to Cuba. My thinking was the charts were not very good for along the coast and I might use the dinghy to sound for deeper water. A 12 volt depth sounder would make things much easier. Last fall the battery wouldn't hold a charge so I bought a new one a few weeks ago (off Amazon) and had it shipped to Karen and Tim in Emerald Isle. Today was a good day to work on that.
I also purchased a small, 20 watt solar panel to keep this battery charged. I had purchased a small plug-in charger with the old battery but didn't use it very often. That's probably why the battery wouldn't hold a charge anymore.
I hooked up the solar panel and it was slowly charging the battery even though it was cloudy out. Success!
We had D and Don over for dinner again. Laura made her awesome Chicken Tortilla Soup which every enjoyed in the cockpit with our heat on. The storm had turned the temps much colder. We were supposed to grill Filet Magnon that the girls had purchased yesterday but I vetoed that for hot soup. The high temp this afternoon was only 58.
After dinner we watched several YouTube videos of Geoff Castellucci who has the lowest bass voice of anyone I've ever heard. We had a good time listening to see how low he could sing.
It was sad cruiser good-byes, "See you soon!" as we will be leaving early tomorrow morning. It was a fun 4 days with good friends.
Thursday, May 13th - Day 29 (start of week 5)
Water levels dropped a bit in the night but we were able to get off the dock without a major mishap. Except.... We were using the piling off our port bow to spring-off and work the stern away from the wall. Just as I was ready to back away, I looked up and saw Laura had the spring-line in her hand. I was going to admonish her for letting go of the line without me telling her when she said, "The piling fell over!". What the...? The piling was gone. Just pushing against it a little must have broken it off and it sunk into the water. Good thing it waited until we were away from the dock and I was ready to backup. I had the boat about 1/2 throttle in forward gear with the helm hard to starboard to work the stern out. We would have smashed right into the wall it the piling had let go 10 seconds earlier. Geez!
On the way out I followed our chartplotter track that we had made on the way in. Since the water was a little higher this time, we had no problems and were motoring east on the Neuse River 30 minutes after leaving the marina.
The winds were on the nose about 10 knots with light seas. We were motoring into the wind and small waves but neither were high enough to cause problems - this was the forecast for all morning so I was happy The boat was moving along nicely at 5 knots for about the first 1/2 hour. The winds gradually increased from 10 to 25 over the next 1/2 hour and the shallow water let the waves build to 3-4 foot close waves. This was deja-vous all over again (a great Yogi Berra quote)! The exact same thing happened last year on this section of the Neuse.
I don't think it got as bad as last year but we were down to 3 knots before taking the turn NW up the Bay River. The boat was covered in salt from the spray of the bow crashing into the waves. Not a nice morning.
The rest of our day was quiet with occasional sailing when the winds were not on the nose. We decided to stop a little early and not go through the Pungo-Alligator Canal. We anchored at 4:30pm in the Pungo River just north of the canal entrance. It was a nice evening and we enjoyed our solitude after 4 nights at the marina.
47nm today, 945 total trip miles
Friday, May 14th - Day 30
This section from Oriental to Norfolk can take 3 easy days or 2 very long days. We were not in any hurry so decided to make it 3 easy days.
Anchor up at 7:30am after a quiet night. No lights or marina sounds around made for great sleeping.
We motored into the 20 mile canal only a few minutes after pulling the anchor. This is one of my least favorite parts of the ICW as we motor for 3-4 hours down a long narrow channel. It's nice that we have a great autopilot and the boat will usually run for a couple minutes or so right down the middle. But it will gradually drift to one side or the other so you have to keep constant vigilance. Plus, on nice travel days like this, we get passed every 15-20 minutes by power boats. In this narrow canal, they are (almost) always nice and slow down so we don't get rocked too hard by their wake.
We popped out into the Alligator River a few hours later. Once again
the winds were on the nose but only in the 10-15 knot range - not as
bad as yesterday. I think we only had a little spray on the bimini by
time we arrived at the Alligator River bridge a few hours later.
Later in the afternoon we crossed the Albemarle Sound. Winds were on the nose but not too high so the seas were light. It was a pretty easy crossing of this 14 mile wide shallow water. We've seen much worse.
As we turned more north up the North River, the winds fell off to the east and we were able to sail for an hour or so before anchoring by the north end at 6pm. During this section up the North River, we passed 1,000 nautical miles from Marathon. Tomorrow should be a short day - only about 40 miles to the free dock at Great Bridge.
Just after sunset I took this colorful picture of the western sky. I like the way some of these sunsets light up the water.
60.5 miles today, 1005.5 total trip miles.
Saturday, May 15th - Day 31
After another quiet night we pulled our anchor at 8:30am. Our friends Dean and Sue on Autumn Borne were anchored about 1/2 mile away from us. We had been traveling together on and off for the past few days. Not really buddy-boating but keeping in touch by text and staying in sight most of the time. Shortly after we pulled the anchor, Dean texted me that he had started the engine then it died. We waited a few minutes before leaving to make sure they would be Ok. A few minutes later Dean had it running again and we motored back to the ICW. This was a warning of what to expect later....
No issues as we motored passed famous Coinjock, NC and through the North Landing River into Virginia - our 5th state. We timed our arrival at the North Landing Bridge to coinside with their 2:30 scheduled opening. I was in front with Dean only about 1/4 mile behind us as we approached the bridge a few minutes before the opening.
A few minutes later I hear Dean dropping his anchor behind us and he texts me that his engine stalled again. Now it was stalling whenever he took it out of gear. Oh boy. The bridge opened a few minutes later but we stayed with Autumn Borne in case they needed assistance.
Dean was able to bleed his fuel lines and get the engine running again just before the 3pm bridge opening. His plan was to nurse the boat to the free dock in Great Bridge which was only about 7 miles away.
I went through the bridge when I hear Dean say on the radio that his engine died again and he was dropping the anchor. The bridge tender was holding the bridge open for a few minutes to see if he could get it going again. I asked Dean if he wanted me to stay in case they needed help. He told me to continue on to the free dock and I could dinghy back quickly if he needed me. The bridge closed between us and we motored on.
A short while later Dean said he had called Boat/U.S. for a tow but they would take an hour to get there from Coinjock. We tied up at the last section available of the free dock at 4:30pm and continued to stay in touch with Dean.
Autumn Borne was towed into the Atlantic Yacht Basin marina just across the canal from us. Laura and I decided on Kentucky Fried Chicken for dinner and we walked to the store only about 1/2 mile away. We decided to purchase enough for the 4 of us and met Dean and Sue at the dock shortly after they tied up. They were very excited to see we had dinner for all of us. Tomorrow Dean will replace all his fuel filters and see how things go from there.
41nm today, 1046.5 total trip miles
Sunday, May 16th - Day 32
We walked to the grocery store and spent a quiet day on the boat. There are always a lot of geese around her in the Spring and, during one walk, we saw these larger geese with lots of little guys so I took a short video. Sorry about all the traffic noise in the background.
Later in the afternoon Dean asked me for some help with getting his engine running after he changed the fuel filters. I walked over and we had it running nicely about an hour later. He tried putting the transmission in and out of gear several time and no problems. Yea!
Dean and Sue invited us to dinner at Chili's and we accepted. It was fun being out again with friends. They are probably going to stay another day to relax and we'll be heading north again in the morning.
Monday May 17th - Day 33
We were both awake early so we decided (well... really I decided...) to get going and make the 7am opening of the Great Bridge Bridge. No issues as we passed through the bridge and into the Great Bridge Lock shortly afterwards. The lock has rubber bumpers on the port side (heading north) so you don't need to put out fenders - just a long line on the bow and stern to put around the cleats on the top of the wall to hold the boat close. I caution other boaters to remember you are in a lock and the water level is going to change. Don't tie off these lines!
The lock only went down about 1.5 feet and we were free again. You never know how far or which direction the lock will go. It depends on the north side tide and wind-blown water level on the south side.
Only a few miles later we pulled into the Top Rack marina for fuel. They don't usually open until 8am and we were there a few minutes early. But, the dockhand came right down and we took 73 gallons of diesel which was our usage from Osprey Marina in Myrtle Beach. 1/2 hour later we were heading north again on the ICW. Only thing in our way now was the Gilmerton Bridge that had to open for us to pass under. They are closed for road traffic from 6am to 8:30am and we arrived about 8:45. The bridge-tender opened almost right away for us and I felt a little bad as the 4-lane highway was closed for several minutes just for our little sailboat.
An hour later we passed Hospital Point which marks the beginning of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway between Norfolk and Miami. Here is the channel marker for mile 0. See ya ICW!
It was a pretty day as we motor-sailed passed the Norfolk Navy docks and out into Chesapeake Bay. What a relief to be motoring in open water. Now I can just sit back and read or just relax.
Winds continued to drop and a little while later we were motoring on a calm bay. We've amost never seen the Chesapeake Bay like this. Check out how calm the water is compared to only a couple hours ago in the last picture.
We had a couple choices for the next couple days and decided to take advantage of the nice weather and explore around Little Bay - just north of Deltaville and the Rappahannock River around Fleets Island. This is a very protected bay we've stayed in a couple times before but never dropped the dinghy to explore.
As we were approaching the harbor, I had a call on our marina radio from Chris on S/V Plover. These were friends and fellow OCC members who lived near Deltaville. They were anchored in Little Bay and were just out for a couple night "shakedown" cruise on their boat which just went back in the water after some repairs. We made plans to get together tomorrow morning on the beach.
We anchored at 6:15pm and Laura made us a nice dinner which we ate in the cockpit. Another pretty sunset with the boat anchored in a beautiful bay.
65nm today, 1111.5 total trip miles
Tuesday, May 18th to Wednesday May 19th - Day 34 & 35
We had planned on spending 2 nights here but the weather was so nice we decided to stay until Thursday.
Tuesday morning we dropped the dinghy and motored into the beach to meet Chris and Bill from Plover. It was fun catching up with them and walking the beautiful beach. You can walk all the way around this small island in a couple hours.
After leaving the beach we used the dinghy to explore west up into the Antiposion Creek (I wonder where that name came from...). We explored for several miles up the creek and had a fun morning checking out some possible future storm anchorages for Second Wind.
In the afternoon we worked a few boat projects and relaxed.
Wednesday after breakfast we decided to take the dingy into the beach for a walk. We met several locals having a picnic on the island from their boats and walked around enjoying the wildlife. In one section there were these tiny crabs in the sand about the size of your thumbnail. They didn't seem too scared of us but we had to watch that we didn't step on them.
Yesterday we had seen this little shack / bar on the beach and thought it was really neat. I found a name-plate inside and Laura held it up while I took this picture. Now what did we do with the makings for Laura's Sunset Rum Punch....
After the beach walk we took the dinghy around and through Fleets Island. At a couple places I had to tilt the motor up, get out and walk the dinghy through the shallows. I didn't really pay attention to where we were going. I figured worst-case we would just go back the same way we came.
I did use Aquamaps on my iPhone for charts but it didn't really show the depths very well around here. At one point Laura and I had to duck way down to make it under this low road bridge. See the low bridge in the picture over Laura's right shoulder?
At last we came out of the shallow water into what I figured was Chesapeake Bay just around from where we had anchored the big boat. But, as I zoomed out on my iPhone chart, I could see that we were way on the other side of the island and facing Deltaville in front of us. If it was windy or choppy, we would have a long, wet ride around Fleets Island back to the boat.
But, it was a beautiful day so I twisted the throttle, popped the dingy up on plane and zoomed the 7 miles back to the boat at 15 knots on a calm Chesapeake Bay. Here is a screen-shot of the chart where we took our dinghy ride. The red dotted line was our track through and around the island. The little sailboat icon near the middle is where we were anchored for 3 nights.
It was another nice relaxing night at anchor.
Thursday, May 20th - Day 36 (Start of week 6)
Another warm, sunny day as we slept in a bit and relaxed before getting underway. We pulled the anchor up just after 10am for the short, 15 mile sail to Reedville. No problems as we motor-sailed up a calm Chesapeake Bay for a couple hours before turning east into the Great Wicomico River then north to Reedville.
We met our friends Walter and Mary through the Ocean Cruising Club (OCC). They have a house on Cockrells Creek with a dock that can hold 2 cruising boats and make it available as a OCC Cruising Station. They are so friendly and giving, they even won an award from OCC as Cruising Station of the Year.
Two years ago we stayed with them the first time on our way south and now they are on our "have to stop here" list. The dock is so protected, we have no problems with the boat there in big storms.
Here we are pulling into their quiet little harbor. Their house is the big white one with a tan roof.
After tying up I helped Walter turn the water on for the dock and clean out the lines. I guess we were the first boat to stay with them this Spring.
Mary was working / helping out at a thrift shop in town that supports the local animal shelter. We had a nice reunion when she got home then they drove us to a friends house for a big BBQ. Ray and Paula (the BBQ people) were friends of Walter and Mary's. Mary was together with Paula when she mentioned we were coming later in the week. That's how we got invited to a great party.
We drove a while to a pretty house on the Little Wicomico River. Ray had made pulled pork BBQ earlier in the day. All the friends and neighbors invited brought most of the fixings. Laura supplied pastries and cookies for dessert. Ray also had an outdoor pizza oven where he cooked pizzas for the next several hours. It was fun being together in a large group again. I think this was the first big party I attended in over a year because of Covid.
It was a fun time and we got to know many of Walter and Mary's friends. I took this picture of the group.
Ray is a collector of many things but one of his most prized possessions is a 1945 Army Truck. I thought he did a great job on the restoration. The 50 caliber machine gun is actually plastic but it looks pretty real.
After dinner we drove back to the house / boat, said good-night and had a great night's sleep in the quiet cove.
15nm today, 1126.5 total trip miles
Friday, May 21st - Day 37
We really didn't have a set plan for how long we were staying. Walter and Mary kept telling us, "stay as long as you like" but we always get itchy to move after we've been settled down for a bit. From here we needed two days to get to Annapolis - our next major port. It looked like Sunday and Monday would work with the current weather forecast.
Laura took a load of laundry up to the house as I worked a few boat projects. One project I completed was to re-program our solar panel controller for a slightly higher cutoff voltage. I had been a little conservative when I programmed it for our new Lithium batteries a couple months ago and it was shutting off before the batteries were fully charged. This isn't really a problem with Lithium batteries but a little higher cutoff point would help to stay on anchor longer without running the generator. Anyway, I hooked the MorningStar MPPT controller up to our WiFi router and was able to re-program it with my computer fairly quickly. After testing by turning off shore power it was working great.
At 5pm Walter and Mary drove us to one of our favorite stops last trip - the "Wine Down Friday" party at Good Luck Cellars. It was another fun time with good wine and great friends. Their friend Harry joined us at the table. He's on the left.
Food at the winery was supplied by a local fish market. I had fried oysters and oyster tacos. Laura had the shrimp tacos. All the food was a little expensive but cooked right in front of you and tasted great.
Saturday, May 22rd - Day 38
After breakfast Laura and I took a long walk around Reedville. We needed a little exercise after all the parties! The local ice cream shop had this huge chair out front. Laura looked like a little kid in it.
I stopped over to the Reedville Fisherman's Museum where Walter volunteered a few mornings each week. It was quite interesting! Did you ever hear of Menhaden fish? We never had before visiting Reedville. Schools of Menhaden abound in the Chesapeake. They are an oily fish so not really good for human cooking and eating but they are great for making fish oil and pet / animal feed. They were so plentiful that at one time, Reedville boasted more millionaires than anywhere else in the U.S.. Check it out if you get a chance. Here is a link to the Fisherman's Museum.
They also had a large train display in one of the buildings. I was blown over by the huge train layout and how much work went into all the scenery. Here's a picture of just one part.
Mary took Laura for grocery shopping while I washed and scrubbed the boat. It had been quite a while since a good cleaning and I just finished when Laura came back with a full carload of food. We were both pretty tired after lugging groceries to the boat and putting everything away.
Walter and Mary had tickets for a concert so we were on our own for dinner. I grilled pork chops while Laura made a big salad.
This was the first of our very warm days with temps near 90. We slept with the air-conditioning on. I think we hit the sack early.
Sunday, May 23rd - Day 39
We decided to stay another night to spend a little more time with Walter and Mary. They had a pretty busy social calendar but tonight was open so we planned a nice cocktail hour on the porch and dinner together.
After puttering around the boat in the morning, I walked up to the house to see if there were any odd jobs I could do for them. They seemed happy that I asked and told me of a few things they needed like outdoor light-bulb replacements and leveling a hump in the driveway.
We met at 5pm on the porch for happy-hour. Laura brought a cravat of her Raspberry Sangria (plus fixing if we wanted more...). I brought my guitar and played a few songs with Laura singing harmony. Laura had purchased chicken parts yesterday which I grilled on the big outside BBQ at the house. We ate in the house as it was another hot and humid day.
After talking until after 9pm, we said our sad goodbyes and headed back to the boat. I filled our water tank and put the hose away so I wouldn't have to do that in the morning before getting underway. it was another warm night so we ran the air-conditioner to sleep better.
The forecast called for a front coming through tonight that would clock the winds north then east. We planned on using the east winds for sailing to the Solomon's tomorrow.
Monday, May 24th - Day 40
I could feel the gusty winds blowing the boat around during the night but they didn't seem so bad this morning. We were able to get the boat underway fairly easily as the east wind held her against the dock while we untied lines and power.
I planned on using the same "power off a spring line" technique that we used at Oriental but was hoping this piling was stronger that that one. It worked out well and we were off the dock at 8:15am with light winds from the east. But... We were in a very protected harbor with hills and houses all around so I was still a little pessimistic about the Chesapeake.
As we turned east out of Reedville into the Chesapeake it was a wild ride. The seas were 3-4 feet and very close as the boat powered directly into a 20 knot wind at 2-4 knots. I knew it would only be 3-4 miles before we could turn and get the winds off the bow for sailing but it still wasn't fun. We bashed into the waves for about an hour then we were able to turn north enough to roll out 1/2 of the mainsail to help. We were still bashing into the waves but now we were doing 6 knots instead of 3.
An hour later we rounded Smith's Point Light, rolled out the jib and turned off the engine for the next 5 hours. Seas were a little crazy as we sailed across the Potomac River which is normal because of cross-currents. Everything calmed down an hour later and I think we averaged over 7 knots for the 5 hours of sailing. As the day went on it became more cloudy and the temps dropped several degrees. I went down and changed from shorts and t-shirt to sweat pants and 2 shirts.
The Navy maintains a large metal target several miles from shore in this part of the Chesapeake. Today there were a couple small Navy boats warning all the sailboat away from the target because it was going to be used at 2pm. Oh boy. What were they going to shoot at it? We were a little passed the target by 2pm and I heard a couple jets but never saw them shooting. Bummer.
A few hours later we turned west at Cedar Point into the Solomon's. This put is directly downwind so I jibbed the mainsail and sailed wing-on-wing for the next few miles. It worked out pretty well. Here is the jib out to port with the main out to starboard. The wind had calmed to low teens by this point so you can see the waves were not bad at all.
We sailed all the way up to the turn into Solomon's before pulling them in and starting the engine. The rain started just as we pulled in the sails. After motoring a few miles into Back Creek, we anchored in front of Anglers Pub on a calm bay.
43nm today, 1169.5 total trip miles
Plans are to leave here early tomorrow and sail to Annapolis. Our friends Bob and Chris will meet us for dinner tomorrow and Chris might take Laura for her second Covid shot on Wednesday. I'm not sure how long we are staying in Annapolis. The weather is very stormy now with fronts coming through every couple days. I don't see a weather window for sailing up the coast of NJ until maybe a week from now. No worries. We'll find things to do and friends to party with.
We might leave on Thursday or Friday and sail up to the Sassafras River. One of our favorite stops there was the Georgetown Yacht Basin but we heard they are closed. We might check out Sailing Associates which is just across the river from there for a night or two.
All is well on Second Wind. Laura just finished making a big pot of chili for dinner. Perfect for this cool afternoon!
After I finished the last blog post, Laura made us a wonderful dinner which we ate in the cockpit during a thunderstorm. I was thinking we had a great show from Mother Nature while eating dinner. I took a short video of the storm that you can watch below
As most of you know, Laura is an awesome cook and she really outdid herself tonight. We had Hogfish (one of our favorite fishes) stuffed with Stone Crab. The fish and crab were out of one of our freezers from the Florida Keys but tasted yummy. She also made rice pilaf, steamed broccoli and corn-on-the-cob. It was like a feast. Check it out -
Before the storm I had filled our water tank and washed the salt off the boat (the storm helped later with a power-wash). We watched a little TV after dinner (end of Criminal Minds season 9) and hit the sack early.
Tuesday, May 4th - Day 20
After sleeping in a bit, I got the boat ready to go. After engine and bilge checks, I pulled the power cord and stowed it away. Then started the engine to let it warm up while pulling in our ladder and docklines. It all worked out well again with a light breeze holding the boat against the dock. I just untied all the lines from the dock and threw them on-board.
Off the dock at 7:10am then we we motored out of the harbor back to the ICW. I happened to pull into the ICW just before several big powerboats. I just motored slowly and let them all pass before they zoomed away.
Tide was going out and pulling us toward the Little River inlet at 8 knots. No sitting back and relaxing now.. At this speed I had to watch where we were going constantly.
Once past the inlet we slowed to 4.5 knots against the tidal current. This was fairly new ground for us. We hadn't run this part of the ICW in several years. Instead opting to the short (25nm) off-shore run between the Cape Fear river and Little River inlet. For the past 3 1/2 years, I have been using an iPad with AquaMaps for navigation in the cockpit. One of the nice things is it stores all of my previous tracks so I can instantly see where I've been before (and sometimes, where it is safe to go again). I did not have any tracks through this part of the ICW on the iPad. The last 7 trips through here had all been off-shore. Oh well.... Let's break new trail!
The reason we had gone off-shore through here is there are two inlets that have constant shoaling and changing channels along the ICW. Shallott and Lockwoods Folly Inlets are always tricky to navigate. Plus, we would be passing through the first one, Shallott, at low tide.
It turns out that both inlets had been dredged in the past year and were no problem for us - even at low tide. It is always interesting traveling the ICW at low tide because is seems like you are driving down a valley. Here is a picture I took of a crab trap and float that were almost out of the water on the shore. This was shortly after we passed into North Carolina. Our 4 state so far.
Our next goal was to make the Cape Fear river while the currents were still flooding to help us up to Snows Cut and Carolina Beach. Currents in the Cape Fear River can hit 4 knots so if they are against us, we can't really go anywhere. Today, the flood ended around 3pm. We motored past Southport onto the Cape Fear River at 1pm so had plenty of help for the 10 miles run to Snows Cut. In fact, we were even able to turn off the engine for a bit and just sail with the jib at 7-8 knots with the flood tide current.
Here we are jib motor-sailing to the last bridge before Southport.
No problems through the rest of today's trip and we tied up to a mooring in Carolina Beach at 2:30pm. I had made reservations for 3 nights (on Dockwa.com) because the weather forecast was high winds and storms for the next 3 days. After tying up, I saw that the forecast had changed and would be nice for traveling the ICW on Thursday. I used Dockwa to message the marina and ask to change our reservation. They had already charged my card for the 3 nights ($60 total) but gladly agreed to refund the third night. Nice!
45.5nm today, 796.5 total miles for the trip
Wednesday, May 5th - Day 21
Today was just relax and let the wind generator supply our electrical needs because the wind was really honkin'.
Happy Cinco de Mayo! Laura called and made lunch reservations for El Cazador Mexican restaurant in Carolina Beach. We had been there before and the food was excellent. Our friend Sandy was driving from Myrtle Beach to meet us for lunch. We missed her in Myrtle Beach because she was visiting family in Texas and had just gotten back.
I lowered the dinghy off the davits and prepared for our first dinghy trip in over a week. Even with the 20-25 knots winds, the waves in the harbor were not too bad - even for the dinghy. One of the reasons we love these moorings is because the harbor is so protected.
After tying up at the city supplied dinghy dock. We walked the 1/2 mile to the restaurant and were able to get a nice table outside on the second floor. Sandy arrived a short time later and we had an wonderful reunion and excellent lunch. As we were all going to order a Margarita with lunch, the waiter suggested a pitcher for $20. Well yeah!
I think we spent a couple hours on lunch and it was great catching up with Sandy. She and her late husband John were some of our best friends in Marathon for several winters. Here are the 3 Amigos after our lunch. Don't we look happy? We did finish the pitcher of Margs....
After lunch Sandy and Laura went driving for some shopping, "girl time" and maybe a walk on the beach. I went back to the boat thinking I would re-string my guitar. I had broken a string a couple days ago.
Laura was thinking about trying to get a Covid shot since North Carolina had just started taking walk-ins. I think Sandy made it her mission to get Laura the shot because they drove to 3 different pharmacies before finding a Walgreens that would give her one.
I didn't make out so well. When I got back to the boat, I laid down on the sofa and slept until Laura texted me to come pick her up. That's why happy-hour is at the end of the day!
I picked Laura up with the dinghy and we said our sad good-byes to Sandy. See you in 7 months!
We worked a few boat projects and got everything ready to leave tomorrow morning. We have about 60 miles to Swansboro where I've made reservations so spend a couple days with my cousins Tim and Karen. I even did my engine checks tonight because I want to leave before 6am.
As usual for Carolina Beach, it was a beautiful sunset tonight.
Thursday, May 6th - Day 22
I had the alarm set for 5:15am so we could be off the mooring at first light. It worked out well and I pulled the mooring lines right at 5:45am. We motored out of the harbor and back onto the ICW heading north.
Winds were on the nose all day which slowed us down a little. We needed to be at Caspers Marina by 5pm because they don't allow late arrivals. In order to be there, we had to make the Wrightsville Beach Bridge by 8am, the Figure 8 Island Bridge by 9am and the Onslow Beach Bridge by 3pm. All of these bridges run on a schedule so if you are not there by that time, you wait until the next scheduled opening.
One highlight of the day was going through the Wrightsville Beach Bridge. This marks our half-way point between Marathon, FL and Catskill, NY - about 800 miles each direction..
We did it! After slugging through many miles of currents slowing us down, we had the currents helping the last 10 miles and tied up just before 5pm. It was a long day and we just relaxed after our arrival. I don't think Laura even got off the boat other than to help tie us up. I did go up to pay.
Tomorrow we will visit with Karen and Tim. When we have time, it's always fun to stay overnight so we can party without having to drive back to the boat.
58nm today, 854.5 total trip miles.
Friday, May 7th - Day 23
We slept in and were lazy in the morning. I went to the marina office to pay for another day. This is a weird place... When I called on Wednesday to reserve the slip, I told them I wanted to say for maybe 3-5 nights. The lady on the phone (the marina manager I think) told me we were OK until Monday when they had a large group of boats coming in - maybe. I asked why, "Maybe?" She wasn't sure how many boats were coming. Also, they wouldn't let me pay for more than one day. "What if something happens and you leave early?" she asked. "Two choices." I answered. "Either refund a night or you don't give refunds." Lastly, they don't let boats come in after they close at 5pm. Why couldn't I come up in the morning to pay? "Oh no", she said. "We've had boats leave early and not pay." Now, as a former business man, I think about the revenue stream. If someone comes after they close and leaves early in the morning, what do they loose? Maybe a couple bucks worth of electricity. If they don't let me come in after 5pm and I continue down the ICW, they loose my $89.50 in dockage. Seems like they should let boats come in after 5pm.
Because she didn't know if I could stay until Tuesday, we planned on leaving Sunday for decent travel weather. Monday was supposed to be high winds and storms so I didn't want to get kicked out then. Ok. That's my rant for today.
Karen drove to "fetch us" just after lunch. We had a very nice visit with them and planned on staying one or two nights at their house. Sometime in the afternoon, Karen and I walked and ended up down at the beach. Here she is standing under the ocean pier.
We watched a little TV and had a nice happy-hour. Tim put out their house flags so I was able to get a nice picture of them with the American and Franco-American flags on their house.
My Grandparents were Canadian immigrants who brought their 10 children to Upstate NY in the 1930s. Hence the Franco-American flag.
Karen and Laura outdid themselves on dinner and I ate way too much. Burp...
Saturday, May 8th - Day 24
Nice relaxing day by the seashore. We lounged, talked and caught up on each other's lives. Karen and Tim's two girls were coming for a visit and driving down tomorrow. We would have liked to see them but.... maybe next time.
We decided on BBQ for dinner. Karen drove us back to the boat to pick up some ribs and chicken from our freezer. I also had to pay for another night at the marina.
We eventually decided to not stay overnight again. The weather was supposed to deteriorate tomorrow afternoon and we wanted to get into Oriental before that happened which meant we would be leaving at O-dark-30 again. So after a nice dinner together and more visiting, they drove us back to the boat for sad good-byes. See you in the Spring!
Sunday, May 9th, Day 25
I was a little worried about leaving this dock with the strong tidal currents here. Even sitting in the boat, you can hear the water gurgling on the hull as it's streaming by. But, it turned out that we were leaving near slack-current so it was pretty easy.
The alarm was set for 5:45am but I was up at 5:30 so turned it off. After getting the boat ready to go I roused Laura out of bed to help with the docklines. No problems as we just slowly backed out of the slip at 6am and turned the boat toward the ICW. Currents were helping a bit as we motored out of Swansboro toward the Bogue Sound.
It was a pretty day as we motored the 20 miles to Morehead City against a slight 10 knot wind and clear, sunny skies. After turning north toward Oriental, we had a little help from the east winds now that we were motoring against the currents.
As short time later the winds shifted from the east to southwest which meant that the front was coming. I counted down the miles to the Neuse River that is shallow and can be nasty in heavy winds. Just before 1pm we motor-sailed out onto a pretty calm Neuse with only 3 miles to Oriental. I was just getting ready to turn the engine off for a little sailing when the wind died completely so we rolled in the jib for the rest of the trip. This picture was before the wind died. Oriental is on the horizon in front of us across the Neuse River.
The waters around Oriental, and other towns inside the North Carolina Outer Banks, are not affected by tides because there are only a few inlets and a large body of water. But, they are mostly shallow which makes them easy to move by wind and air pressure. We know from experience that whenever the wind blows from the south or west, the waters around Oriental get lower. When the winds blow from the north or east, the water goes up.
Today was light winds so the water levels were mostly normal. But the south wind had just started so we knew the level would probably be going down. This is important because we had reservations at the Sailcraft Marina and going into the Whitaker Creek was always "iffy" on depth. Today didn't disappoint as twice going in the channel I saw 5.9 feet on the depth sounder. We need 5.5 feet to keep floating so that was less than 6 inches under us. Geez!
As we pulled into our slip, the boat slowly came to a stop about 2 feet off the wall. Hmmm. A little shallow here I guess. I used the engine to work us close to the dock (with our keel in the mud) so we could get on and off without problems. A short time later we were tied up and relaxing on-shore again. Note that later in the day the boat went down another foot with the water. I guess the mud under us is pretty soft.
Don's brother and his wife were also at the marina in their travel trailer. We had a nice dinner at the marina picnic area with the 6 of us. D brought filleted speckled Trout plus we had soft shell blue crabs which I cooked on the grill. The girls did an awesome job with the fixin's and we retired on Second Wind for Laura's cream-puff desert. Here we all are enjoying our party. Everyone had their Covid shots so we were all safe. Yea!
43.5nm today, 898 total trip miles.
Monday May 10th - Day 26
It was a nice night on a very calm boat (since we were stuck in the mud) but warm and humid so we ran our air conditioner all night to sleep comfortably. The storms never came close to us but the southwest wind was blowing 20-25 most of the night.
Today was just relaxing around the marina and spending time with friends. Don's brother left with his travel trailer around 11am then D and Laura drove to New Bern for shopping and a medical appointment D had. I spent much of the afternoon working on this blog with poor connectivity at the marina greatly slowing the process of uploading pictures. There is no AT&T coverage in this area either. We have one little bar on our phones so can make phone calls but not much else.
We will have dinner with D and Don tonight and plan on leaving tomorrow morning if the north winds tonight bring the water up enough. Northeast winds will build on Wednesday so we'll leave then if not enough water tomorrow. If we have to wait until Wednesday, maybe we will take a "free" slip in town from one of D's friends.
No concrete plans after we leave Oriental. We will slowly work our way to Great Bridge (just south of Norfolk) and wait for some nice sailing weather up Chesapeake Bay. We'll visit friends and try to find some new stops along the way.
Our first obstacle of the day was transiting Elliott Cut then the Wappoo Creek Bridge that had to open for us to get into Charleston Harbor. I had checked the current prediction last night for Elliott Cut and it would start running against us at 7am. We have seen 5 knots of current in this cut (sometimes it seems like the houses on shore are going to pass you) so I wanted to make sure the current wasn't against us. Since it was a weekend, The Wappoo Creek Bridge was not on a schedule and would open when we asked (or shortly afterwards).
I had the alarm set for 5:30am thinking we would try to be underway by 6am. It was still pretty dark when the alarm went off but I could see the sky to the east just starting to lighten. After engine checks and getting the cockpit setup for cruising, we pulled the anchor right at 6am. Perfect!
Pre-sunrise color in sky and water was our reward for the early start.
We slowly motored the 1/2 mile to Elliott Cut as I let Gertrude (our Perkins diesel) warm up. As we entered the cut, our speed picked up to 10 knots and we zoomed through like a watermelon seed at a spitting contest. 10 minutes later we were through the Wappoo CreekBridge and motoring out into Charleston Harbor.
Sunrise was just after the Wappoo Creek Bridge. Here the Sun is shining through the Hwy 30 high-rise bridge just before Charleston Harbor.
I was a little concerned about the winds today which were supposed to run into the mid-20s right on our nose. When we had pulled the anchor, the winds were only about 10 knots but we were protected from trees on the windward side. As we motored into the more open harbor, the winds did pick up to the mid-20s and we started rocking through a 2 foot windchop. Our ride did improve as we motored closer to the shore and back into the ICW. Laura had to go out and wash down our cockpit windows that had become salt-stained from the spray off the waves.
The Ben Sawyer Bridge was next but they don't start their on-the-hour schedule until 9am on weekends. By 8am we were through the bridge and had open water to Winyah Bay about 40 miles away.
This section has been shallow in the past but recent dredging made it much better. No problems as we motored passed the Isle of Palms and into the more open South Carolina flats.
Winds continued to crank as we made our way through the more open countryside but the wave never picked up enough to start throwing spray onto our cockpit windows. The high winds did slow us down as Second Wind has a very high freeboard - lots of boat out of the water for the wind to affect.
As we passed Minum Creek several hours later, a large Bald Eagle flew in front of the boat. Laura got her good Nikon camera as the eagle settled into a tree next to the waterway. He sat there looking at us until we motored by. This camera has a great zoom lens.
The ebb tide had already started in Winyah Bay before we got there so I knew it would be hard to motor up-river against the current. But, I was hopeful the winds would remain strong enough to help us with some sail out. I was hoping to get to Butler Island which has a nice anchorage that would be protected from the winds tonight.
It worked out rather well as we put out the full jib to catch the 10-12 knot winds once we turned up the river. The boat held around 5 knots and we probably would have been doing 3 knots if the wind wasn't helping. Here we are jib motor-sailing up Winyah Bay toward Georgetown, SC.
The winds remained helpful for the next couple hours and we dropped anchor behind Butler Island at 6:30pm after a long 12 and 1/2 hour day. Once again, we were rewarded by a colorful sunset.
After dinner we watched a little TV but hit the sack early. Good news is the flood current won't start until about 11am tomorrow so we can sleep in. No alarm!
66nm today, 707 total mile for the trip
Sunday, May 2nd - Day 18
We relaxed in the morning and I worked on a few engine issues - added a little oil, tightened a belt, etc.. before pulling the anchor at 10:20am.
Weather tomorrow was supposed to be stormy with rain and thunderstorms so we had hoped to hunker-down in a marina. Our first choice was Myrtle Beach Yacht Club because it is in a protected cove, has a great restaurant on-site and is good for walks. I called them at 8:30am and was able to make a reservation for tonight and tomorrow. I also told the gent on the phone that we would probably be arriving after they closed at 5pm and was hoping I could just come up to the office and pay tomorrow morning. He agreed and we were happy to have a nice home for a couple days.
It was a nice ride up the Waccamaw River. As we've learned in the past, sometimes traveling the ICW on weekends can be a little crazy. Today was no exception. Small boats were everywhere having a good time and waving to us. My arm was getting sore from all the waving!
The flood currents started helping us a few hours later and I knew from experience they would help push us all the way through to North Myrtle Beach.
As we entered the narrow Myrtle Beach Cut off the upper Waccamaw, the local traffic was even busier. Everybody that knew anybody with a boat was out on the water. I took this picture of a good rafting spot for the local boats. The shore was shallow enough for folks to anchor and get out and walk around. It seemed like fun and this one section had probably a hundred boats anchored along the shore. Sorry the boats are a little fuzzy. I guess the camera focused on our canvas but you get the picture (pun intended....).
No problems with all 3 bridges that had to open for us and we pulled into the Yacht Club at 6:15pm. I had called a little while ago and spoke to the dockmaster who gave us our slip assignment and directions. We tied up with help from a few other boaters and settled down for a couple days of relaxing.
The Officers Club restaurant is closed on Monday and Tuesday so we hoped to get a table for dinner tonight. After all the folks we saw out and about today, we were worried that the place would be very busy. Laura called and was able to make a reservation for 7pm. Yea!
We were only 1 of 5 tables occupied in the whole restaurant. Where did everybody go? Food and drinks were excellent including a brownie-sundae we split for dessert. Back to the boat, watch a little TV and off to bed early. Tomorrow is another day....
Monday, May 3rd - Day 19
No alarm set again today as we relaxed in the morning. We were watching the weather RADAR closely but it seemed like most of the storms were west and north of us.
Our refrigerator was getting low on fresh fruit and veggies so, around 10am, Laura and I decided to walk to the Food Lion down the street for groceries. We planed to Uber back to the boat with the load.
I stopped by the marina office and paid for 2 nights - $140. Nice! A few days ago we had stayed at Brunswick Landing Marina and it cost almost $120 for one night. Not so nice...
As we walked down the highway, it seemed like the grocery store was a lot farther than we remembered. I guess we had only gotten off the boat and walked a few times in the last couple weeks. The 2.5 miles to the Food Lion seems like a lot.
But, no worries as we stocked up on things we needed. It seems like they had just put out fresh vegetables and fruit since everything looked great. Even the prices were reasonable compared to the Florida Keys were we spent the Winter.
Pauline (the Uber driver) picked us up and dropped us off at the marina a short time later. I love Uber! About $8 for a ride in a fairly new Chrysler Town and Country mini-van with all our groceries. Plus, running for groceries on a boat are so much easier when the dinghy is not involved.
We will leave early tomorrow for the Cape Fear river and the Carolina Beach mooring field. Unlike the last 2 years, winds are not good for the off-shore run so we will take the ICW through the shallow Shallott and Lockwoods Folly inlets near low tide.
This is my 31st trip on the ICW. I try to make a game of how far we go before the boat touches the bottom. I have only made it 2 trips between the Hudson River and the Florida Keys without touching at all. Sometimes, I'm happy when we ground somewhere early in the trip so I don't have to worry about it anymore. So far this trip, we have not touched. Wish me luck tomorrow navigating through the shallow inlets at low tide! I'll be the one going really slow...
