Tuesday, May 2nd (Day 31)
Partly cloudy and warm. Winds NW @ 10-15. Temps gradually rose into the 70s
25.5 nautical miles today (945.5 total trip miles)
It looked like the winds and seas would be good for crossing the Albemarle Sound in 2-3 days. Our plans were to run two short days with the first to the south (actually western) end of the Alligator - Pungo canal then another fairly short day tomorrow to the Alligator river. From there we would make the run across the sound.
We slept in, had a nice breakfast then took a walk in the morning. Laura picked these wild-flowers during our walk and they brightened up the boat.
Around noon we untied our docklines and continued our trip north up Goose Creek toward the Pamlico River. It was a nice ride and we were happy to be underway again.
An hour after leaving the dock, we turned NE to cross the Pamlico River. Winds were now a nice angle for sailing so we rolled out the jib, tightened in the sheet, and turned off the engine. I love that sound when the engine is off and you only hear the wind and water. Here we are sailing across the Pamlico River.
We sailed up the Pungo River toward Belhaven then turned east - keeping the engine off for over 2 hours. It was great to review some of our sailing techniques including jibbing the jib (turning the stern of the boat through the wind) when we made the 90 degree turn at Belhaven.
After making the final turn toward the canal, we pulled in the sail and slowly motored to the western shore. I tried to get close to shore (about 1/4 mile) because the winds were blowing the waves around the corner and into our anchorage. We anchored at 4:45pm. The winds died later in the evening and we had a calm evening at anchor.
I took this picture just after sunset.
I was thinking that the next few days might be challenging to get through Great Bridge and Norfolk because of problem caused schedules with the Great Bridge lock and Gilmerton Bridge. Boy. Was I in for a challenge!
Wednesday, May 3rd (Day 32)
Mostly sunny and warm. Winds out of the west at 10-15. 70s again. Water temp 62
31 nautical miles today (976.5 total trip miles)
Knowing we had another short day today we slept in a bit and pulled the anchor at 9:30am. It was only a short motor to the canal that we entered just ahead of a catamaran who was having a problem with one engine so they were only running about 5 knots. Typically catamarans would leave us in their dust.
The 21 miles of the Alligator - Pungo canal are one of my least favorite parts of the trip, You have to pay special attention to not let the boat drift more than about 100 feet right or left as there are stumps just under the water that will grab your keel.
We made it without issues to the Alligator River. I had planned on anchoring in the south end of the river but the winds were more northwest than west which might make that spot a little bumpy. Instead I decided to motor another hour north and anchor along the western shore just passed Catfish Point.
Along the way, we were passed by the great looking powerboat. Sorry. I forgot to write down the name.
I didn't want to anchor too close to shore because we've had problems with the anchor catching logs and stumps along here before. Instead, we anchored about 1/2 mile from shore at 2:50pm and shut down the boat from cruising.
I guess because the winds were NW instead of W we had 1-2 foot waves coming right down the river and making our anchorage a little rolly. Finally, just before sunset, I decided to move the boat a little closer to shore which might calm us down a little. Laura didn't complain as we performed our normal pull-the-hook activities, move the boat about 1/4 mile closer to shore, then drop-the-anchor routine. It probably took us about 15 minutes and the boat seemed a little less rolly. Yea!
Wouldn't you know, about 1/2 hour later the winds died and all the waves went away.
The next couple days would be long so we hit the sack early.
Thursday, May 4th (Day 33)
Sunny and cooler. Winds W @ 10-15 with gusts over 20.
31nm today (1,007.5 total trip miles)
Temps were in the high 40s last night and we started the day with sweatshirts and sweatpants. We pulled the anchor at 8am and motor-sailed to the Alligator River Bridge. No problems at the bridge which opened just as we got there.
We motored to the Albemarle and I thought it would be a nice sail with the direction we needed to go. Winds had been honking here for the past week so this was our chance to get across.
As we made the last turn onto the sound, we rolled out the main and jib - both with a single reef (didn't put out the full sail) because of the gusty winds. Plus, we didn't need to hurry because we were going to anchor at the north end of the North River which is only about an hour from the other shore.
I set course for the North River inlet 13 nautical miles away. The boat was moving around only a little with the 15 knot winds and 1-2 foot seas. It was a pleasant ride for us.
Only an hour into our crossing the winds picked up and the wind angle moved forward a bit. Dang. Now we were beating close to the wind (which heels the boat over more) and the waves were getting bigger. Now it wasn't much fun....
I had to run the boat east of our desired course in order to keep sailing. I kept hoping the winds would veer back to the west and we could sail the rest of the sound. When we were 4 miles from the inlet, I finally decided we couldn't make it under sail unless we tacked back to the west. Winds were now in the low 20s and gusting to high 20s. I decided to turn downwind and pull in the jib so we could motor-sail, with help from the mainsail, back to our desired course and the North River inlet.
It actually worked out pretty good except for how hard it was to pull in the jib in the high winds. But we got it rolled up and the boat ran much better motor-sailing 40 degrees off the wind toward the inlet. By time we got to the inlet and the winds / seas died, our cockpit windows were cover in salt from the spray.
Winds were on the nose as we turned up the North River so we pulled in the mainsail and just motored against the winds and seas. Both had calmed to reasonable levels and we had no problems motoring to the anchorage.
A short time later we were passed by a tug and long barge heading south. Give these guys lots of room!
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We dropped anchor at 1:30pm just south of Buck Island. It was peaceful and quiet. Later in the evening we enjoyed this pretty sunset.
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Friday, May 5th (Day 34)
Sunny and cool again. Light north winds.
62 nautical miles today (1,067.5 total trip miles)
So.... here's are problem for today. The Great Bridge Lock is running on generator power so only locking boats every other hour, on the even hours. 6 miles north is the Gilmerton Bridge. This is the only other bridge north of Great Bridge that needs to open for us to get through. They are doing maintenance on the weekends and only opening at 7am and 5pm (Saturday and Sunday). Also, the Gilmerton Bridge is closed to boats for rush-hour traffic from 3:30pm to 5:30pm during the week.
If we stay at the Great Bridge free dock tonight, it would be a pain for us to get through that tomorrow - Saturday. We'd have to go through the lock at 2pm to make the 5pm Gilmerton bridge opening. We probably anchor somewhere along with waterway for a couple hours.
Instead, I was trying to get through all that today. If it didn't work, maybe we'd stay in Great Bridge for the whole weekend.
As we were getting the boat ready to pull anchor, Laura noticed the moon setting to the west while the sunrise brightened up the eastern sky. I took a couple pictures.
This was the moon-set....
And the pre-sunrise..
Since we had made an early start, I tried planning for the bridges and lock today. It looked like we could make the North Landing Swing Bridge for their 11:30am opening (they open every hour and 1/2 hour). Then the Centerville Bridge at 12:30pm (same schedule). This was only 1/2 hour of travel for us to Great Bridge so we should be there around 1pm.
Great Bridge Bridge and Lock would open at 2pm so we'd have an hour to stop at Atlantic Yacht Basin for fuel, water and pump-out. Then through the bridge and lock at 2pm then be at the Gilmerton Bridge before their 3:30pm lockout until 5:30pm. What are the odds this would work?
Here we are in the Great Bridge Lock with 9 other boats for their 2pm lock.
Other than a few minor hick-ups (like waiting 20 minutes for the fuel dock at AYB) it worked out great until we were motoring around the last turn to the Gilmerton Bridge at 3:15pm. We heard on the marine radio "Norfolk Southern bridge 7 is about to close". Oh crap. That didn't fit in my plans.
This railroad bridge is right next to the Gilmerton Bridge and we watched it close in front of us as we motored up. There are several railroad bridges along this stretch from Great Bridge to downtown Norfolk and you never know when they will close or how long with will stay down.
I called the Gilmerton bridge tender on the radio and he said he had a little leeway if the railroad bridge stayed closed passed 3:30pm. Ok. Worse case we have to sit here for 2 hours until Gilmerton can open for us at 5:30pm. We waited and watched...
Only a few minutes later TWO TRAINS came over the bridge at the same time. How nice of them to synchronize for us!
At 3:25pm the railroad bridge opened and a few minutes later the Gilmerton Bridge opened for us. Yea! We were free!
But wait... There were still 3 other railroad bridges between us and Chesapeake Bay. Would they be nice?
Turns out we had no other delays and motored passed ICW Mile 0 (Hospital Point) at 4:30pm. 1,200 ICW miles from Marathon in just under 5 weeks.
Three other sailboats that had gone through the lock with us decided to anchor here. Since it was fairly early in the evening, I was going to take advantage of the nice weather and go another 10 miles to a new anchorage for us - Old Point Comfort. Our friends Dean and Sue like that anchorage so I thought we'd give it a try. It will make our day tomorrow shorter for the run to Reedville.
No problems the rest of the day other than a very busy upper Norfolk Harbor. We had to move to the other side of the channel for a huge coal tanker (coming in), then move back for a container ship (going out). Geez. This place is crazy!
Just after 6pm we motored into the bay at Old Point Comfort. There were a couple other boats anchored and I found a nice spot away from them in the quiet anchorage. We made it! Phew. What a day!
This anchorage has a highway right next door but the road noise didn't bother us down below in the boat. We spent a quiet evening watching TV and went to sleep early after a VERY busy day.
Saturday, May 6th (Day 35)
55nm today (1,124.5 total trip miles)
Cool on the water. Sunny. High was near 70. Light winds
I had moved the alarm clock to 6:15am (we got to sleep in a whole hour later than yesterday) and we were both up and raring to go for our first trip in a long time not in the narrow, busy ICW.
Anchor up at 7am and we motored out of the anchorage, around Old Point Comfort and onto a very calm Chesapeake Bay. I had checked the tide tables yesterday and we should have a helping current most of the day once we get a little farther north.
Here we are at the southern end of Chesapeake Bay.
We had a calm, easy motor to the Wicomico River 8 hours later. We averaged 6.5 knots and got to the dock an hour or two earlier than I had thought.
Here we are on the last stretch to Walter and Mary's dock. Their house is the large white one in the middle of the picture.
By 3:30pm we were tied up to the dock and putting the boat to bed for a couple days. Walter and Mary were going out to a concert (they are big music buffs) so we were on our own for dinner.
We put together a couple loads of laundry and walked up to the house to use the washer and dryer. I thought because we were early they might still be home but the house was empty. They had told us to come right in if they were not home.
As we were loading the washer, they pulled into the garage. Turns out they were doing some shopping and the concert wasn't until later. So, we welcomed them home (hehe).
Everyone decided we needed happy-hour on the porch so we made cocktails and munchies then met them back at the house. It was a great reunion and I played a few songs on the flute that I had been working on. They left for the concert around 6pm and we relaxed on the boat for the rest of the evening.
Sunday, May 7th (Day 36) to Tuesday, May 9th (Day 38)
Sunday would have been a decent weather day for traveling north (not north winds) but we decided to stay at least one more day to enjoy Walter and Mary's company. Monday and Tuesday's forecast changed to north winds so we again extended our stay until Wednesday.
Sunday we didn't do much of anything and just hung around. We again had happy-hour on the porch and this time I brought my guitar for some fun island music. Laura and I made dinner (in their kitchen) of seafood stir-fry with linguini. Mary had stopped at the local seafood store and picked up fresh calamari, shrimp, scallops and cod. We brought a lobster tail that our friend Bob had given us just before we left Marathon. We also added onions, water chestnuts, broccoli, peppers and a few other odds and ends. Olive oil, white wine, salt, pepper and a little crushed red pepper fill out the rest of the recipe.
I'm pretty good at timing everything going into the dish so most things are cooked but not overdone. We've had this dish over 50 times and this was the best. Check it out...
After dinner and another one of Laura's awesome deserts, we rolled ourselves back to the boat for a quiet night at the dock.
Monday I helped with a few jobs around the yard, did a thorough cleaning of the boat, and we again had cocktails and dinner at the house. This time Mary made fresh Chesapeake crab cakes with homemade tarter sauce, corn on the cob, tomato / cucumber salad and asparagus. Yumm!
It is now Tuesday afternoon and I've been writing this blog for the past couple hours. Mary had taken Laura to a ladies group meeting where they were treated to a behind-the-scenes tour of a theater.
We're going out to dinner tonight so the gals (and I) don't have to cook. Not sure where yet.
Our plans are to head out early tomorrow morning for a couple long days up Chesapeake Bay to stage for a possible run up the NJ coast on Friday and Saturday. It's always hard to rely on weather forecasts more than a couple days ahead but we'll get to the northern end of Chesapeake Bay and see what happens from there. Wish us luck!
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