Sassafras, MD to Haverstraw, NY

Monday, May 13th to Sunday, May 19th - Sailing Associates Marina, Georgetown, MD (Days 41 to 47)

Weather was cool most days and we ran the heat for a bit in the mornings to warm up the boat. There were a few storms that passed through but it was the north winds that kept us here since we couldn't go up the coast with winds on the nose.  The marina is kind-of isolated and quiet.  It is also fairly inexpensive with the weekly rate only about $60 / day for us.  This is compared to $130 / day we paid at Myrtle Beach Yacht Club.

Tuesday afternoon we picked up a rental car for personal business in New Jersey.  It was crazy trying to get a ride 12 miles to Middletown, DE where we reserved the car.  I tried Uber and Lyft with "No drivers available" until I selected the premium car on Uber which was twice as much as the normal car $21.  We eventually got to Enterprise only 30 minutes late but then had to wait 15 minutes for an agent then another 15 minutes to have the car cleaned. The Uber driver we finally got also ran a taxi service so I used her for a ride back to the marina after dropping the car off two days later.

Here was a pretty sunset under the clouds on Thursday (5/16).

Laura was in baking mode Friday and made these yummy chocolate cupcakes with whipped ganache center and coffee (ermine) frosting.  They were yummy but so rich we split one each night for dessert the next couple days.  I think the marina staff also benefited.

Eagles were fishing around the harbor all week and Laura got this picture Sunday of two sitting together with her Nikon camera. 

Here is another picture of them after they had an argument....

Laura and I took a few walks around the area and I worked on the boat (always!).  

One problem that started about a week ago was the engine was taking much longer to start after turning the key.  Instead of the normal 2-3 seconds, it was now turning over for 10-15 seconds.  I became increasingly worried that one of these times it wasn't going to "catch" and we would be stuck somewhere without an engine.  While we had the rental car, we went to Walmart for groceries and a few other things so I picked up a new starting battery because our current battery was 9 years old.  After installing the new battery, the engine did turn over faster but still took 10-15 seconds to start.

I then changed both fuel filters and checked the air cleaner.  No help with those so I had to put my thinking cap on.  The engine did seem to be running a little rough after it started so I thought maybe changing the fuel injectors would help that.  These injectors had only been in use since last November but they had been rebuilt in Albany 4 years ago.  I didn't understand how the injectors could run great but not want to start.  I figured it was worth a try since I had the spare parts.

After changing the injectors the engine started right up.  I thought that maybe it was still warm from before so I waited 3 hours and tried again.  Still good!  Next morning - still good!  Nice!  It's been good ever since....

We had lunch at the Sassafras Harbor Cafe (just down the street) just once because they were only open on weekends.  Even the marina office where we stayed was not open on weekends.  Things around here were pretty slow.

We spent 8 days at the marina because of "wrong" winds and seas for moving south down Delaware Bay then traveling north up the coast of NJ.  I try very hard not to do this trip in sections because we could get stuck in Cape May or Atlantic City for over a week waiting for the next weather window.  For example, I'm not looking just for good weather to get down Delaware bay to Cape May.  I try to wait and find weather that will get us all the way to Sandy Hook in 2 or 3 days.  That didn't happen until the second week here.  We also have to time our trip for the right tidal current down Delaware bay as the currents there can be 3+ knots.  

It looked like Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday next week would all be nice with calmer seas and winds not out of the north.  Sunday we prepared the boat (and us) for leaving in the morning.  It was a nice stay but we were anxious to go.

Monday, May 20th - Georgetown, MD to Delaware River, DE (Day 48)

Light winds.  Mostly cloudy.  Temp 65.  Sea temp 68

37 nautical miles today.  1,319.5 total trip miles

Tides on Delaware Bay were not good for us the next few days (seems like a theme this trip?).  The ebb tide current started around 11am or 11pm.  If we took the 11am, we might make Cape May anchorage before dark but wouldn't make Atlantic City.  So, plans for today were to get to the top of Delaware Bay and anchor until the tide change around 11pm.  If we waited until the 11am tide tomorrow, south winds would build in just a few hours after we left the anchorage and the trip down the bay would be terrible.  We "bit the bullet" and decided on the overnight cruise - not one of our favorites.

We left the dock in Georgetown at 8:15am and motored with a little helping current the 10 miles to Chesapeake Bay. It was cloudy, calm and cool on the water.  I think I started out in sweatpants but changed to shorts a little later.

When we entered the Chesapeake and turned north, the current was against us and would continue against us the rest of the day except for the last hour or so.

There were a few other boats around and we entered the C&D Canal about 2 hours later.  When we went in the canal, the currents were maximum against us as we slowed to 4.5 knots.  But, they would get gradually better the next few hours so we slowly picked up speed.

I didn't want to anchor in our normal Reedy Island spot because it's dangerous getting out of the narrow channel in the dark and south winds later in the day would kick up waves there.  Instead, I decided to try a new-to-us anchorage just north of the C&D on the Delaware River. We anchored near the red "X" in the screenshot below.

The Delaware River is on the right and the C&D canal comes in from middle left.  Where we anchored was north of the C&D breakwater so we had good protection for the forecast south winds this evening.  It turned out to be an excellent anchorage and I was even able to lay down for a couple hours in preparation for our overnight cruise.  Pea Patch island was just north of us.  I love that name.

The anchorage was fine but the winds were not.  Windy.com, PredictWind.com and Windfinder.com all agreed that the south winds would just be down on the bay and would dissipate around 10pm.  We had 12-15 knot south winds at the anchorage in the evening.  By 11pm the winds were still blowing but I decided to take the chance and head down the bay anyway.  They were going to die, right?

Tuesday, May 21st and Wednesday, May 22nd - Delaware River, DE to Atlantic Highlands, NJ (Days 49 and 50).  Start of week 8! 

58 degrees.  Light winds and fog with south winds building Wednesday afternoon.

167 nautical miles today.  1,476.5 total trip miles

We pulled up the anchor at 11:45pm last night and headed down the Delaware Bay.  Turns out the winds did die a little while later and the ride was quite nice for a couple hours as the current picked up and we eventually hit over 8 knots.  

Laura went down for a snooze as I dodged 6-7 big ships and tugs with tows.  I don't run our little sailboat in the Delaware Bay ship channel but we've seen plenty of other cruisers that do.  They are constantly getting called by the big ships to get out of their way.  It's way too busy in the ship channel and there is plenty of water for us 1/4-1/2 mile to the east so we only have to worry about the ship wakes - not the ships themselves.

Maybe 3 hours after leaving the anchorage the seas became very choppy.  We were getting a 2-3 foot swell right on the nose and the boat started "hobby horsing" on them.  This happens when the waves are a perfect distance apart to make the bow fall into the opening between the waves then push it back up 2 seconds later.  A few times we buried the bow in the next wave.  This wasn't fun anymore.  Laura came up and said, "What's going on?" 

The hobby-horsing wasn't constant but maybe every 30 seconds we'd fall into that pattern then the boat would slow from 8.5 knots to less then 6.  

My only explanation was maybe these were leftover from the south wind pushing against the southbound current a few hours ago.  They should die.  

Over the next couple hours they did get better then eventually went away all together.  About the same time, our almost-full moon was taken away by the fog which settled in around us.  There was a tug and barge 1/2 mile behind us and they were totally hidden in the fog.

We have excellent radar and I know how to use it.  There was no danger of running into something but it was just not a lot of fun.  Now the cruise had settled into a video game I was playing with the radar, chartplotter and autopilot. Somewhere in here Laura took over for 2 hours and I was fast asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.  I came back up to relieve her and was feeling much better.  It was 5:30am and starting to get light out so that also helped.

Shortly after 7am I ran our course around Cape May through the Prissywick Channel.  This is sometimes high-pucker-factor because it take us 1/4 mile from the beach and we can see the waves crashing.  Not this time.... I couldn't see the beach in the dense fog.

The current had turned against us a couple hours ago so we had slowed to 4.5 - 5 knots.  As we turned NE toward the Cape May inlet, our speed increased back to our normal 6 when we were far enough from the Delaware Bay entrance.

Ok.  Now what's the plan?  After checking off-shore forecasts up the coast, we decided to keep going another 5-6 hours to Atlantic City. Winds this afternoon would be increasing from the south which would help our boat speed (we are a sailboat) but also build the waves / swell.  Tomorrow didn't look any worse than today so why not anchor in calm waters for the night and make a long (11-12 hour) run tomorrow to Sandy Hook?  

Check this out.

I know it's hard to see but this is the after-effect of purchasing Mylar balloons that float away into the sky when the little kids let go.  "Isn't it pretty floating up there?"  This is a Mylar balloon floating in the ocean 5 miles off-shore.  It won't ever go away.  It will float out here for a long time.  We see these in the ocean all the time and it saddens me.

As the morning progressed, the south winds did pick up and we were able to make great speed motor-sailing with the main and jib out on a broad-reach (winds coming between the side of the boat and the stern).  Apparent wind was only 6-7 knots so not quite enough to sail more then 4 knots without the motor.  

We were both able to get a couple hours more sleep on the rock-a-bye-baby boat.

We approached Atlantic City at 1pm.  I checked all the forecasts again.  Crap.  Now the winds tomorrow were supposed to be near 20 while today they were only 14-15.  That doesn't seem like much difference but keep in mind the force of the wind increases to the square of the speed.  A 20 mile per hour wind is not twice as strong as a 10.  It's 4 times!  This is why hurricanes and tornadoes are so destructive.  A 100 mph wind has 25 TIMES the force of a 20 mph wind.

You probably already guess it but we decided to keep going instead of taking the chance of a wild ride tomorrow or having to sit for several days waiting for better winds and seas.  We should be anchored in Atlantic Highlands around 1-2am.  It would be a late night but not an over-night. 

Here was Atlantic City as we passed by.  I thought this picture was cool with the puffy cloud line over the city.

The winds increased a little later in the afternoon and we couldn't keep both sails full as we turned more north.  Eventually, I rolled in the jib and we just motor-sailed with the main.

It was a colorful sunset over New Jersey.

The winds continued to slowly increase over the next few hours and I think we both took short naps.  A few hours later, the boat was moving around pretty good on the increasing (3-4 foot) swell behind us but we were making good speed - 7-8 knots most of the night.  True wind was now in the low 20s - exactly what we didn't want to travel in tomorrow.

It was a rolly tide to Barnegat Bay with the boat starting to corkscrew down the follow sea.  I was thinking of pulling in Barnegat to anchor for the night and I spent a couple hours looking at the charts and reading reviews.  I had good charts for the entrance and anchorage but finally decided to keep going because tomorrow was not going to be nice either.

As we turned another 20 degrees north passed Barnegat, our ride became much better because the seas were now almost directly behind us.  Yea!

We had the almost-full moon keeping us company tonight.  No fog.

Just before midnight we passed the 24 hour mark from our anchorage on the Delaware River.  We had run 160 miles averaging 6.7 knots.  I'm not sure that's a record for us but it's gotta be close.

As we approached Sandy Hook the winds increased to 15-18 on the port beam (out of the west).  I'm guessing the hills of Atlantic Highlands were affecting the speed and angle of the wind.  I was hoping the south winds would help us sail around Sandy Hook.  You guessed it - once again we timed it perfectly with the maximum tidal current against us.

The winds actually died as we turned into the Sandy Hook channel so we pulled in the mainsail and motored at 3.2 knots into the 3 knot tidal current.  It was only for about 1/2 hour as we turned south around The Hook toward Atlantic Highlands and our anchorage.  

It was a pretty view of the New York City skyline behind us.

As we approached, I could see several boats on our radar already anchored near Atlantic Highlands but there was a nice hole for us to just pull in near the breakwater and drop the hook with nobody near us.

We dropped anchor at 1:15am and quickly cleaned up the boat and hit the sack.  We both slept great!

Wednesday, May 22nd - Atlantic Highlands, NJ to Halfmoon Bay, NY (Day 51)

Cool in the morning but warming.  Sunny with SE winds 10 increasing to 20 in the afternoon.

49 nautical miles today.  1,527 total trip miles

Wouldn't you think after traveling for 2 days with minimal sleep we would sit and relax for a day?  That was the plan as we slept in and relaxed in the morning.  

After breakfast and some relax time, we pulled anchor and motored over to the Atlantic Highlands Marina fuel dock.  This would be our fuel for the summer and get us back here in the fall.

I was very excited to see the one anchorage site behind the breakwater was open.  I was hoping we could fuel up then anchor over there with protection from all the powerboat and ferry wakes.  The wakes had woken us up several times in the early morning.

No problems as we slowly motored to the fuel dock which I could see was wide open.  Just before we got there, a small powerboat went in and tied up on the west end.  Still plenty of room for us.  Oh no!  Another larger powerboat zooms over and ties up filling the rest of the 80' dock.  What the &$^*$!  This dock was empty 30 seconds ago.

We slowly puttered around waiting for the dock to open up.  15-20 minutes later the smaller boat leaves so I pulled over to get fuel.  Now we only had about 30 feet of dock for our 48' boat.  No worries.  We wouldn't be staying long. The fuel-dock worker was very surprised when we pulled in and tied up.  He said a couple times, "I thought you'd wait for the other boat to leave..."

The boat took 92 gallons of diesel which was our usage for the past 2+ weeks since Great Bridge.  It was $3.75 / gallon.  Much better than the $5.50 we heard they were charging north of Catskill!  We didn't need water or to get rid of garbage - we were only 3 days out of the Georgetown marina.

Just as we were leaving the fuel dock, these "Cyber-boats" went by.  I think they were Navy patrol boats in town for "Fleet Week".  Wouldn't it look cool to tow one of these with a Cybertruck?

As we motored back to the anchorage from the fuel dock, I could see my favorite little spot was still open.  We quickly motored over there and anchored.  No ferry wakes getting us tomorrow morning!

Tides are not good for us getting through NYC tomorrow (of course).  The flood current starts at 6:30am but that's 3 hours from us.  Our current plan is to relax the rest of the day and set the alarm for 4:30am tomorrow.  We'll leave at first light which would put us in NYC around mid-current so it will help us for at least 3-4 hours.  I hate early alarms...

A couple hours later I'm checking weather and see tomorrow has a large chance of thunderstorms in the morning.  Yuck!  Hmmm.  The flood tide in NYC also starts around 5:30pm today.  That's about 3 hours from us and it was now 2:15pm.  Perfect?

I went through all my forecasts and saw that it seemed much better to go past the city today than tomorrow in storms.  Plus, I wouldn't have a 4:30am alarm to keep thinking about all night.  Laura and I (mostly me) decided to go now.  I think it only took us about 10 minutes to get the boat ready.

The winds were only about 12-14 at the anchorage but I figured they would be a little more once we approached the Verrazano Bridge.  Boy, was I wrong....

We rolled out the jib once we were out of the harbor and zoomed across the lower bay at 7-8 knots.  I wanted to get into NYC as soon as possible so we'd have a chance of anchoring before dark near Haverstraw Bay.  It was a not-so-bad ride as we motor-sailed up the lower NY bay and took the last turn toward the bridge.  Now it was bad.  What I hadn't figured was we were still experiencing ebb current (water coming out) against the 15-20 knot SE winds.  This built close, steep seas about 4-5 feet on our starboard quarter.  Now the boat was doing "death rolls" down the waves (30-40 degrees each direction) and the stern was getting pushed sideways with each wave. Laura was downstairs trying to keep everything from flying around and we really hadn't secured everything for this ride like we should have.

I really have to hand it to my RayMarine autopilot.  It actually handled the boat great.  I might have done a little better because I could anticipate what the waves were doing but I would have gotten tired quickly doing full turns of the wheel every couple seconds.

Eventually I turned the boat slightly west of the bridge and the ride was much better as the waves were almost directly behind us.  As we got closer, I was able to work the boat a little farther north and under the bridge.  Things calmed down almost immediately.  It was like turning off a switch.  What the heck was that?

Laura put away clothes and re-positioned furniture that had gone flying with the wild boat and we settled down to motoring through a busy harbor.  Oh yeah.  The 20 knot winds we had before the bridge were now only 4-6 so not a lot of help there.

We eventually worked our way across the harbor so we could take this "selfie" with Lady Liberty.  There were so many tour boats zooming around, I needed to take this picture quick and get back to the helm.  Only after did I realize I cut my head in half.

No problems the rest of the harbor other than dodging ferry's and everybody's wakes.  An hour or so later I took these pictures of Navy ships at the cruise boat docks.  They were in town for "Fleet Week".  This is not something you see everyday in New York City.

Once passed the George Washington Bridge everything calmed down and we had a very nice evening motoring up the river.  We even had snacks then dinner while underway.  

I took this picture at 8:30pm after we passed under the Tappan Zee Bridge.  (Yes.  I know it's not called that anymore but I don't care.)

We anchored in Halfmoon Bay at 9:30pm.  (Yes.  In the dark again.) and we immediately hit the sack.  There were showers predicted for tonight and a severe thunderstorm warning for tomorrow.  Our plans are to catch the morning tide up the river and we should be in Catskill by dinnertime tomorrow.  But, ya never know....

Thursday, May 23rd - Halfmoon Bay to Haverstraw Cove (Day 52)

Cloudy with storms.  Calm winds.  Temp 70 going to 80.

4 nautical miles today.  1,531 total trip miles

We got up at 7:30am to get the boat ready for the 8:30am tides up the river.  We had slept well except for the boat rolling with several boat wakes in the early morning.

As we motored north from the anchorage, I checked the weather radar on my phone.  Oh oh.  All that "red shit" was heading right at us.

There is an excellent, 360 degree protected anchorage just across Haverstraw Bay from us.  It is called Haverstraw Cove and we've been in there several times.  After thinking about it for 10 minutes, I finally made a conservative decision and bailed-out to the protected anchorage.  We were able to get into the harbor and drop anchor just before the rain started.  1/2 hour later it looked like this outside. 

Full disclosure - I thought I had taken a movie of the storm but forgot to slide the iphone to "video".  It only took this one picture.  Bummer.

The storms came through big-time for the next couple hours.  Finally, by 11am it started clearing and the winds calmed.  Hmmm.  Should we go now and maybe try to make Kingston anchorage before dark?  It was pretty nice out now.

Are you crazy!  We're in a beautiful anchorage where no boat wakes can get us.  I'm not making another "change of plans" today.  We'll leave tomorrow morning for Catskill.  Plus, this gives me several hours of downtime to catch up on the blog.  

In a couple days, I'll post the last day(s) of our trip along with trip stats.  That's it for now.  Maybe it's time for my first cocktail in 4 days?

Great Bridge, VA to Georgetown, MD

Wednesday, May 1st - Great Bridge, NC to Deltaville, VA (Day 28)

58 nautical miles today.  1,121 total trip miles

Sunny and warm.  Winds light from the south.  70 degrees

Plan for today is a short run through the lock and last of the Norfolk bridges to the anchorage at Old Point Comfort.  This would set us up for a run up Chesapeake Bay tomorrow to Deltaville or Little Bay.

We left the dock at 9am just before the bridge opening so we could assure a place on the southern side of the lock.  If this side fills up and you have to tie up on the north side, you need to put out fenders.  The south side has big rubber bumpers built into the lock.

There is always a lock-master to help with lines and we quickly tied up way down the end next to the exit doors.  Laura and I just relaxed and waited for the 6 powerboats behind us to tie up, the doors behind us close and all the boats lowered about 1.5 feet.  No problems as we exited the lock 1/2 hour later then I pulled over and slowed down so all the powerboats could pass us with low wakes.  Here they are all in front of us zooming away.

My only worry now was the Gilmerton Bridge that was only about 3 miles away.  They opened "on request" but we typically have to wait for less traffic depending on how long it's been since they opened.  Or, there is a railroad bridge right next to Gilmerton Bridge that sometimes is down and holds us up.  All of the powerboats that passed us should be able to make it under Gilmerton's 35 feet of clearance with the bridge down so I wasn't worried about one of them requesting an opening before we got there.

I was monitoring the bridge radio frequency when I hear one of the powerboats call for an opening.  We were still maybe 10+ minutes away at the time.  Crap.  If they opened for the powerboat, they would close before we got there and we'd have to wait for traffic to clear.  Probably 1/2 hour or so.

The bridge operator questioned the powerboat needing an opening and the powerboat captain stated they needed 38 feet.  I did remember a sportfishing boat in the lock with outriggers (for fishing) that stuck up pretty high.  Why didn't he just lower them for the bridge?

Anyway, the bridge operator said he would have to wait for traffic to clear so I chimed in that we were a sailboat about 10 minutes away that would also need an opening.  The bridge operator said they would wait for us and the bridge opened shortly after we arrived.  Nice!

Now there were 2 or 3 railroad bridges that we had to worry about but they were normally open.  No problems today as we cruised through Norfolk and passed ICW Mile 0 (Hospital Point) a short while later.  This is a big milestone for us as we now passed 1,200 ICW miles from Marathon and are now into open waters - no more bridges that had to open!

Here is Hospital Point - ICW Mile 0.

Well....  We were almost free....

About 1/2 hour later we were pulled over by a U.S. Coast Guard RIB (rigid inflatable boat) for a safety inspection.  Oh yeah.  It's May 1st so maybe they are trying to get their quota early.

Three of the "Coasties" came on-board and they were very friendly.  We had all the necessary requirements (we should after 15 years as a Merchant Mariner Captain) and they left a short time later after giving us a "Passed" worksheet.  But first, they agreed to pose for a blog picture.

Now just a few miles passed the Norfolk Navy Docks then the anchorage.

Hmmm.  I had been looking at the weather and today the winds and seas were much nicer then the next couple days.  Maybe we should keep going?  Laura typically is not as open to frequent change as I am and she wasn't pleased that we were bypassing a beautiful anchorage for another 40+ miles on the water.  We discussed the options and she eventually agreed to keep going today because the next couple days would be short and easy - especially if the winds and waves picked up.

We altered course out of the harbor then turned north up the bay.  As normal for this trip, we had the currents against us going out the harbor and for the first couple hours up the bay.  

Here we are motoring along on a fairly calm Chesapeake Bay.

The tidal current picked up and we had 5-7 knot winds from the west that helped our speed after we rolled out the big sails.  It was a pretty nice day on the water.

We motored into Deltaville and decided to anchor along the southern shore near Grimstead at 7pm.  There were 3 other boats already anchored.  They were some of the powerboats we had gone through the lock with at 9:30am.  I'm sure they had been here at least a couple hours before us.

I grilled something for dinner which we ate in the cockpit watching a pretty sunset.

Now we had two days to travel less then 30 miles to our friends dock in Reedville.  Time to relax a bit.

Thursday, May 2nd - Deltaville to Little Bay Anchorage (Day 29)

Start of week 5!

15 nautical miles today.  1,136 total trip miles

Warm and mostly sunny again.  Temps rising into the 80s.  Light NE winds.

Since we had lots of extra time now, I decided to work on the aft head again.  It still was not pumping water.  This is how I sometimes work complicated problems on the boat.  If I can't fix them quickly and don't have any other ideas right now, as long as they are not urgent I take some time away from the problem to think about what I can try next.

I figured I would have to pull out the sea-strainer under the floor in the galley so I could push something through the hose to the head.  I thought this would be really tough because the strainer is about 1 1/2 feet from the hatch access in the floor.  But, I was able to disconnect the line going to the sea-cock (shut off valve) and pull the whole sea-strainer to the access hole. 

The sea-strainer had a lot of mud in it which I cleaned out.  Laura and I then search for and found our wire "fish" that is used to run wires through tight to reach places.  It is basically a fairly hard wire rolled up on a spool with a small hook on the end that you could use to pull wires back.  Laura and I were able to push the wire through the hose from the toilet end for about 12 feet.  This should have been almost long enough to come out the other end but it wasn't.  I couldn't push it any farther. 

After pulling out the wire, I tried the Swoosh air pressure thing and, this time, it worked!  I was even able to blow through the hose with my mouth.  Yea!

I hooked everything back up and it worked.  As I was tightening the hose fittings around the sea-strainer, I saw a little rubber ball down near the hull.  This hadn't been there before.  It turns out this is what was stuck in the hose.  The ball is from a check-valve "T" that's in the hose just before the toilet so our Electra San salt tank doesn't drain out the sea-cock. Somehow this had come apart and the ball got lodged in the hose.  Have you read enough about this now?

We pulled the anchor at 10:45 am for the short run out to the bay, about 10 miles north, then west again into the anchorage at Little Bay.  It was another pretty day on the water with light winds.

We anchored in Little Bay at 1:30pm.  There was a beautiful beach about 1/4 mile from the boat.

We've walked all over the island and beach in the past but the tide was rising and most of it would soon be under water.  Instead we decided to just relax and enjoy the afternoon.

Over the next few hours, two other sailboats came in and also anchored near us.  Another pretty sunset.  This was one of the other anchored sailboats.

Tomorrow will be another short run of 10 miles up the bay then 5 miles through Reedville to the dock.

Friday, May 3rd - Little Bay to Reedville (Day 30)

Mostly sunny with calm winds that picked up to NE at 18-22 about 1/2 way through our trip.

15 nautical miles today.  1,151 total trip miles

It was another nice morning as we pulled the anchor at 8:30am.  I was just a little concerned about the forecast.  Windfinder.com showed calm until about 10am when the winds would pickup to almost 20 from the NE.  We should almost be to Reedville by then.

This is a picture leaving Little Bay.  The stakes in the water are fishing nets put in by the locals.  They are called "fish traps" and you don't want to motor through them in the night.  Notice how calm the water is.

As we motored out of Little Bay, we had to run NE for about 5-6 miles to get around a couple shallow areas before we could turn north up the Chesapeake.  Just after we turned north, the NE wind built in a little so we rolled out the jib.  I went out on the bow to check everything and Laura snuck in this picture of me.  Notice the seas are a little higher than the picture above an hour ago.

The wind increased quickly so Laura and I rolled in about 1/4 of the jib to prevent the gusts from blowing us over so much.  About 1/2 hour later it was a lively sail and Laura took this short video.  It's hard to believe this is the same morning.

 

We eventually turned downwind into the Great Wicomico harbor then pulled in the sail before turning north to Reedville.  1/2 hour later we approached their house and dock.  Their house is the large white one in the foreground.  The dock is the empty one behind the sailboat.

It was a fun reunion with good friends after we tied up and put the boat to bed.  

One item I forgot to mention was we had planned to be here on Friday because we love the atmosphere, wine and music / dancing at the local Good Luck Cellars - "Wine Down Friday."  It didn't disappoint as we arrived at the winery a few hours later.  Walter and Mary always get up for at least one dance.

There was a Cajun Food Truck at the winery for chow.  Laura and I split the shrimp po boy that was excellent.  A couple hours later we came back to the house and said good-night for the evening.  It was a fun day!

Saturday, May 4th - May 8th - Reedville (Days 31-36)

We didn't move the boat for 5 days.  There was some nasty weather over the weekend but it wasn't as bad as forecast.  We spent our late afternoon and evenings together with cocktail hour inside because of the colder temps outdoors.  I also paid for our dockage by working a few small projects around the house.

Sunday was Cinco De Mayo so we celebrated with margaritas.

Monday morning we borrowed their pick-up for a ride to NJ for personal business. No problems with the 6 hour drive.  We took the Annapolis Bay Bridge instead of going through Baltimore and risking the increased traffic because of the container ship bringing down the Francis Scott Key bridge.

Tuesday afternoon we drove to our friends Tony and Lyn's in Gainesville, VA (outside of Washington).  Tony is a longtime friend of mine from the early 1990s when we worked together.  He is a great musician so we have lots in common (I strive to be a good musician...).  

After dinner we retired to the music-room basement.  Tony has about 20 guitars hanging from the walls.  He used to fix them up to sell but he became attached to so many he stopped that.

I played some flute for them and Tony played some of a song he's been working on.  We had lots of fun (and wine) including a session of Tony playing guitar and me on the flute for a couple songs.  Nice!

Next morning we had breakfast then relaxed a bit before we left around 11am for the 3 hour drive back to Reedville.  Tony and Lyn are such good friends who we only see every few years.  But, each time we see them it's like we just left.  Good people.

Back in Reedville we had cocktail hour on the porch and it was a record 90 degrees.  We had a nice last dinner together as the weather looked nice for leaving tomorrow for points north.  

It's always hard to leave here but we plan on getting to Georgetown, MD by Sunday or Monday for another rental car trip to NJ.

Thursday, May 9th - Reedville to Choptank River (Day 37)

Cloudy with afternoon rain.  Temp 70 and falling.  Winds calm becoming NE @ 15 in the afternoon.

Storms were predicted for later in the evening so we decided to get an early start up the bay.  It was cloudy and calm as we motored away from the dock at 7:45am for the 1 hour ride back to the Chesapeake where we could again turn north.

Once on course up the Chesapeake, it was a very relaxing morning.

There were lots of pleasure boats heading north with a combination of sail and power. 

Our plan for today was to anchor in the Solomons - about 40 miles up the bay.  Once again, after checking weather forecasts for tonight and tomorrow, we decided to keep going and use one of the nice anchorages around the Choptank River for the storms tonight.  I didn't want to be in a crowded Solomons anchorage if there were high winds from the thunderstorms.

Instead, I found this anchorage near Hills Point Cove just south off the Choptank.  It was pretty easy in and out plus should give us excellent protection from the forecast E to NE winds.

This is a screenshot from my chartplotter showing a section of Chesapeake Bay.  I drew a red "X" with a circle around it where we anchored.  It's just right of center.  The green line coming in from the south (bottom) was our track going in today and the green line heading up the screen from the anchorage was our track out tomorrow.

The bay formed a nice half-moon that should protect us from anything but west winds.

We anchored in calm waters and had another nice dinner in the cockpit.  The storms tonight would be dropping the temps so this might be my last day in shorts and t-shirt.  I had put out a little extra anchor chain to prepare for the storms.  We had 155 feet of chain out for 21 feet of water plus height of the bow pulpit.

Another pretty sunset from a new-to-us anchorage.

We relaxed and hit the sack early knowing that storms were scheduled for middle of the night.

Oh boy.  Just before 2am the lightning started and winds picked up.  The boat was moving around pretty good but I could see from my AquaMaps anchor watch that we were not dragging.  The boat was moving around because the storms had clocked the winds to the NW which were bringing bigger waves to the boat.  We were facing into the waves but the stern was bouncing up and down a couple feet on each wave.  Here was the cell phone radar.

We were at the blue dot.  Right in the middle of a lot of "red shit".  Notice the time in the upper left.  Why does this always seem too happen at 2am?

Luckily for us, the storms passed quickly and the winds clocked back to the NE.  Our boat calmed down after only about 1/2 hour.  We slept well the rest of the night.

Friday, May 10th - Choptank to Annapolis (Day 38)

Cloudy and cooler.  Winds NE-E at 15-20, gusts to 25.  Temp 62 

30 nautical miles today.  1,239 total trip miles.

It was a crazy start of the day.  I knew the winds would be higher today and make sailing a little uncomfortable if the seas picked up too.  But we only had about 30 miles to Annapolis after coming an extra 15 miles north of Solomons yesterday.

We pulled the anchor 8:45am after being up in the night with storms and sleeping in a little.  As we motored back to Chesapeake Bay, I rolled out 3/4 jib to help with the boat speed.  As we turned north and the winds rolled down the open Choptank, the ride was pretty bouncy on the 3 foot, close seas.

All the forecasts called for 12-15 knot N-NE winds.  I don't think we saw anything less than 15 all day.

I kept counting down the miles until we were behind the land at Tilghman Island and the seas should be better.  Eventually, things did calm down behind the last after a few "death rolls" on the larger waves coming around the tip of land.  

This picture is just after noon after things had calmed down.

The weather forecast for the next couple days kept changing.  Now tomorrow looked good for motoring up to the Sassafras River where we planned on spending several days.  After tomorrow, there were several days of storms.

We had planned on going into Back Creek (near Annapolis) and picking up a mooring for a couple days before sailing up to the Sassafras.  But now, we decided to skip Annapolis this trip and head to Sassafras tomorrow.

I picked an anchorage just north of Annapolis near Whitehall Bay and it started raining about 30 minutes before we anchored at 1:45pm.  It was a short day but we both were tired from the storms last night so we used the afternoon for nice naps.

It turned out to be a quiet night at this anchorage and we appreciated it.

Saturday, May 11th - Annapolis to Sassafras River (Day 39)

Clear and sunny (yea!).  53 degrees last night with high of only 64 today.

38 nautical miles today.  1,277 total trip miles

We pulled the anchor up at 8:45am and motored back to the Chesapeake.  I told Laura we'd have light winds and calm seas today.  She said, "I'll believe it when I see it..."

There was a light chop from the north when we first motored out.  This was about an hour after leaving the anchorage.  We were north of the Bay Bridge and looking back.  You can see there is still some chop on the water.

The day was nice but chilly as we motored through the open part of the bay and entered the narrow northern section.  We did have the tidal currents for a couple hours but they eventually turned against us.

Here we are turning into the Sassafras River around 2:30pm.  Notice how much the water had calmed.

Yesterday I had called Sailing Associates (in Georgetown) and made reservations for us on Monday and Tuesday.  We had a couple days to kill and planned on anchoring in the Sassafras enjoying the calm water anchorage.

We anchored just around the first turn by Turner Creek at 3:3pm.  Winds were forecast to be S to SE this evening and tonight so this anchorage should be very protected from winds and waves.  

I started the Honda generator and turned on the heat to warm up the boat.  It was only low 60s inside.  Our "Cruise Air" type heat works great and it warmed up the boat quickly.  We kept it running until bedtime.

We had burgers off the grill and green salad for dinner.  The little Sun poking through the clouds had the cockpit warm enough for us to eat dinner there again. 

The temps tonight were going down into the high 40s and storms again tomorrow.  I called Sailing Associates and eventually was forwarded to Brooke on her cell phone.  She told me the marina office is not open on weekends but the calls are sent to her.  She OK's us coming in tomorrow instead of Monday.  We'll have full-time heat tomorrow night!

Some storms passed around us in the evening but no big winds or thunder.  It was a quiet night but I did hear rain falling just before sunrise.

Sunday, May 12th - Sassafras River to Georgetown (Day 40)

Cloudy with storms and light winds.  Temps in the 50s

5.5 nautical miles today.  1,282 total trip miles

Since we were only going about 5 miles to the marina today, we slept in and took our time with coffee and breakfast.  I even started this blog!

Around 11:30am we decided to pull anchor and head into the marina.  Neither of us had checked the radar on our cell phones.  That wasn't too smart....

As I was pulling the anchor, I heard thunder behind me to the west.  As I looked over my shoulder, I could see dark clouds heading our way.  What should I do now?  I decided to keep pulling the anchor and we would motor a couple miles up the river to an anchorage more protected than this one.  I didn't want to be near the marinas and lots of other boats if a thunderstorm came through.

A few minutes later we were on our way watching the storms to the west.  1/2 hour later we anchored off Knights Island with storms all around us.  I couldn't believe we got re-anchored before the rain started.

We let out our "storm" length of anchor chain and sat back to watch the show.  I came back downstairs to work on more blog.  At one point a big storm passed just south of us.  I went up into the cockpit and could see rain where we were anchored just an hour ago.  Hey!  We did something right!

Finally, around 2pm, things cleared up enough that we decided to head into the marina.  No problem as we pulled the anchor for the second time today and motored the remaining 3 miles to the marina.

Brooke had given me great directions to our slip and it was wide open going in.  I didn't even have to turn the boat down a marina fairway or anything.

By 3pm we were tied up and I was happy with the lines and fenders.  Here is Second Wind tied up at Sailing Associates.  I did brighten this picture a little because of the cloudy day with a little Sun in the background.

We'll be staying here for at least 3 nights.  Maybe longer if the weather is crappy when we get back from NJ on Tuesday.

Myrtle Beach, SC to Great Bridge, VA

Sunday, April 21st to Tuesday, April 23rd - Myrtle Beach (Days 18 - 20)

Storms and cooler Sunday and Monday morning.  Warm and sunny Tuesday.

Sunday was a down day for Second Wind.  We relaxed and in the afternoon after the storms, took a short walk around the marina and bay.  Pam and Russ had decided to stay the extra night Monday and we extended our stay too.  We had a pot-luck dinner on Apre' Ski with good food / drinks and nice company.

Several years ago I had purchased and installed a digital counter for our main bilge pump.  I always wondered how often the pump ran which is the type of thing that bugs me until I do something about it.  After installing the counter, I could see when we had some small leaks (usually from the shaft log which drains into the bilge) because the counter would increase 1-2 runs of the pump in a couple days.  I would search the bilge and fix them.  For the shaft log, this usually entailed tightening the packing nut 1/16 of a turn which stopped the drips.

Monday morning, while walking past the counter, I saw it read 13.  Yikes!  I thought I had reset it to zero just a day or two ago.  Where was all that water coming from?

I took a search light and looked around the engine room not seeing any dripping water.  But, I had a small job on my list to tighten the alternator belts so got a few tools and climbed down next to the engine. 

While I was tightening the belts, I noticed something that wasn't good.  We have a metal pan under the engine that catches any oil or water leaks and prevents them from going into the bilge.  We had put a couple oil "diapers" on the pan so I can see where the oil leaks are.  During my morning engine checks I always look under the engine but hadn't seen any issues.  Now that I was closer to the diapers, I could see that they were floating on water and the water was a little stream down the edge of the pan into the bilge.  AH HA!

After tightening the belts, I again searched the engine for leaks.  Still didn't see anything so I decided to start the engine and see what happens.  Holy Cow!  As soon as I walked back down to the engine room, I could see a stream of water shooting out of the transmission like a fire hose.  I quickly shut off the engine but the water was still draining through.  This was why the bilge pump had run so much.

10 years ago, after replacing our transmission for the 3rd time in 4 years (that's another story), I had installed a transmission cooler which was recommended by the transmission dealer.  This cooler is just a heat-sink bolted to the side of the transmission that has cool water flowing through it.  The cool water is part of the engine raw-water cooling system.  A pump on front of the engine pumps seawater through a heat-exchanger (like a radiator in your car) to cool the engine's internal cooling system (like the antifreeze part of your car).  From the heat-exchanger the water goes through the transmission cooler then into the exhaust elbow.  

I found that the transmission water cooler had corroded and the raw water pump was filling up the boat with seawater.  Also, when the engine was off, the transmission cooler was below the water line so it was slowly siphoning water past the pump impeller into the boat.  Not nice!  I closed the raw water seacock which stopped the water from coming in.

After examining the transmission cooler, I removed it from the transmission and took it up to the workbench.  Here was the part of it I could see everyday looking down at the top.  Doesn't look too bad, right?

 

 Here is the bottom and the side next to the transmission.  Oh yuck...

My guess it had gotten worse over the past few days and finally blew out the big hole.

I could bypass the cooler and just put a 1" fitting between the two hoses - I happened to have one of these in my spares.  But, I would rather fix it if possible. 

As I said, this was 10 years ago so I looked up my records (Yes.  I am anal that way too...) and saw I had purchased it from Hansen Marine in Massachusetts.  Let's give 'em a call!

It turns out they still made these coolers and Hansen had one!  Woo Hoo!  They agreed to ship to me overnight and I gladly gave them a credit card for the $200.  $60 for the cooler, $20 for the one hose adapter they had, and $120 for shipping.

Hansen emailed me a shipping notice that I used to track the shipment.

We extended our stay at the marina for another day. 

Our long-time friend Sandy lives in North Myrtle Beach and we had seen her a few times in the past few days.  Tonight she was taking the 4 of us out to dinner at a local Italian restaurant.  We had a great time and somehow I forgot to get a group picture.  I'll blame it on the tequila.  The restaurant was Crave in North Myrtle Beach.  Highly recommended.

I didn't sleep well that night wondering if it was the right part and if we would get it tomorrow.

Tuesday morning Pam and Russ left for points north while we waited with a broken boat.  Around 11am I saw on-line that the part had arrived at the marina so I walked up to the office and brought the box back to the boat.  I was VERY happy to see it was the exact same cooler except painted Beta Red instead of Perkins Blue.  I was OK with that.

Yesterday I had been able to get the hose fittings out of the old cooler by putting the cooler in a vise and using a 2 foot pipe-wrench.  The two 1" fittings looked pretty good and I cleaned them up with a wire brush.

Just 1/2 hour later I had the new cooler installed and the engine running to test it.  It looked and worked great.

 

 

Hopefully, this is our one big mechanical problem of the trip.  Last year was the engine pulley bearing that started smoking while we were motoring up the Waccamaw River.  Hmmm.  The was only 20 miles south of here.  Is it something about this area?

 

We had a quiet dinner on the boat and relax a bit.  I think I partied a little extra during our happy-hour to celebrate not only finding the problem but fixing it quickly.  Even though we love this marina and restaurant, their prices have increased over the years and we are now paying $130 a night.  Time to head north again.

Wednesday, April 24th - Myrtle Beach, SC to Carolina Beach, NC (Day 21)

Partly cloudy.  Mid-70s.  S winds at 10 increasing to 20 in the afternoon

46 nautical miles today.  811 total trip miles

Because of the south winds and larger seas today, we decided to take the ICW from Little River to the Cape Fear River.  We sometimes take the ocean route here which bypasses the two shallow areas of Lockwoods Folly and Shallotte Inlets.  But, we had a high tide at 9am so plenty of water to help us through the sometimes shallow areas.

For the second year in a row the tides on the Cape Fear River would probably be against us when we got there.  Currents can be 2-4 knots so this would be a slow trip.

Tides were rising as we left the dock at 8:30am.  No problems getting out of the marina but we had a slight current against us as we motored toward the Little River Inlet.  An hour later we passed the inlet and speed picked up.  

We crossed into NC just passed the inlet and rolled our a little jib to help the boat speed.  The south winds had picked up to high teens so I didn't want a lot of sail out to turn the boat on gusts.  That's not good when traveling a narrow channel.

No problems with the two inlets as we followed the deeper channel with our AquaMaps charts and U.S. Army Corps depth soundings.  Easy piesey.

We entered the Cape Fear River at 12:30pm as the ebb current was increasing passed 2 knots.  Geez.  It felt like we were dragging an anchor or something.

Last year I found that motoring against the currents here was much better near the edges of the channel.  This year we also had help from the jib with the south winds. 

We motored across the channel from Southport and gradually picked up speed from 3 to 5 knots.  This section is about 8 miles so that's a big difference in how long it takes.  The winds helped our speed but not the ride.  Now there were 20 knot south winds blowing against a 2-3 knot ebb current.  In the more open sections, the waves were 2-4 feet and very close.  Our good friend Hank would call these "square waves."  

We kept to the eastern side and motor-sailed on the deeper side of the 2 fathom line on the charts.  That is 12 feet which give us plenty of room for our 5.5 foot draft and shifting river bottom.

Just before 2:30pm we exited the Cape Fear channel back onto the ICW for the short ride to Snows Cut.  Entering the cut we had a little current with us so it was a quick ride to Carolina Beach.

Sunday I had made a mooring reservation here for Tuesday on DockWa.  Since we had to stay an extra day in the marina for repairs, I cancelled that reservation and made another for tonight.  DockWa and the Carolina Beach City Marina were great about it.  My credit card showed a $30 charge, a $30 refund, then another $30 charge.  Perfect.

Laura did her usual great job of picking up the mooring lines and we were tied up around 3pm.  We talked about dropping the dinghy and putting on the outboard but, for some reason, decided to just sit and relax on the boat.  I think it was because we had just left a marina where we had land access for 4 days.  No worries.  I played flute in the cockpit for a bit then we had a quiet happy-hour and dinner.  

Tomorrow we have to time the bridges again.  Not a rush day since we decided to not try for the longer run to Swansboro and just stay at Mile Hammock Bay.

Thursday, April 25th - Carolina Beach to Mile Hammock (Day 22)

Start of week4!

Sunny and warm with light NE winds.

45 nautical miles today.  856 total trip miles

It is 12 ICW miles to our first bridge - Wrightsville Beach.  It only opens on-the-hour.  Figuring that is about 2 hours for us, we left the mooring field at 7:45am figuring that left plenty of time to make the 10am bridge opening - even if we had tidal currents against us most of the trip.

Seemed like more big boat traffic on the ICW today with a combination of power and sail. 

Somewhere between Carolina Beach and Wrightsville Beach we pass the 1/2 way point from Marathon to Catskill.  It is about 850 miles in each direction.

No problems making the Wrightsville Beach Bridge just before the 10am schedule.  We went through with 4 other boats.

Now it was only 5 ICW miles to the Figure 8 Island Bridge.  Since we run at 6 knots (about 7 ICW / Statute miles per hour), I slowed down the engine so we wouldn't get there early and have to try and hold the boat in one spot waiting for the bridge.

Again it worked out well and we were through the Figure 8 bridge at 11am.  Now we were free!  It was another pretty day on the water.

We enjoyed the ride to Mile Hammock Bay on a pretty day.  Just as we turned off the ICW into Mile Hammock, I could see two Coast Guard RIBs in the bay near the southern shore.  One of them called us on the marina radio to say there were divers in the water and to stay clear.  Turns out they were Marine Corps patrol boats painted the same colors as the Coast Guard.  Interesting...

There were 6 boats anchored already and we anchored between them maybe a little closer than I would in most circumstances but the Marines divers were all around the south end blocking off about 1/3 of the anchorage.  It turned out fine and I was happy where we ended up after putting out 70 feet of anchor chain.  The winds would be clocking east in the night but not too strong so I wasn't worried about other boats dragging.

We spent a quiet evening watching 5 or 6 other boats come in and anchor.  Eventually, the Marines picked up their divers and that area filled up with anchored boats too.

Later in the afternoon Laura called Casper's Marina in Swansboro to book a slip for tomorrow night.  No room at the Inn.  Bummer.

Instead I called the City Marina for a spot at their Church Street Docks.  I was able to book 1/2 of the 100' face dock which was fine with me.  Marina again tomorrow!

Friday, April 26th - Mile Hammock to Swansboro (Day 23)

Mostly clear with 10-15 knot NW winds.

14 nautical miles today.  870 total trip miles

We had a short day since we wanted to visit my cousins Tim and Karen who live on Emerald Isle.  The closest marinas are in Swansboro which are about a 15-20 minute car ride from their house.  

On the way to Swansboro, we passed a sailboat with the Captain standing up, hand steering.  We've seen many boats being driven this way over the years and I don't know how folks do this hour after hour.  I'm guessing they don't have a good autopilot, don't know how to use it or don't trust it.  I sit back relaxed and just push a few buttons once in a while to change course on our autopilot.  Other than leaving the dock / anchorage in the morning and pulling back in the afternoon, I never touch the steering wheel.  Won't this guy get tired?

I called the dockmaster as we were coming into Swansboro and he suggested we tie up on the north end of the dock facing north.  I wasn't too happy with this as we would be docking with the current and wind on our stern.  But, I had docked this boat (and many other boats) 1,000s of times so I knew how to handle everything, right?

My plan was to go slightly passed the docks and back into the wind and current towards the dock.  This typically is the best way to dock a single engine boat (or most boats) with the current behind you.  As you turn the stern of the boat toward the dock, the current will push the whole boat that way.

It worked out beautifully as the boat ended up right against the dock where we wanted to be.  This was where I made a bad decision which got us into trouble.  In hindsight, I knew that we should have tied up the stern of the boat first.  You never do this normally because I can typically control the stern fairly well with the engine and rudder.  It's the bow that I have little control over.  But, with the current trying to push us forward, a stern line would have held everything in place.

Instead I had Laura give the dockmaster a spring line and told him to tie it aft.  I could now turn the rudder away from the dock which would push the stern in with the engine in forward.  This worked well and Laura next threw him the bow line. Oh man.  Why didn't I tell her stern line next?

The current started pushing the stern away from the dock and I couldn't keep it there with the engine and rudder.  The dockmaster threw the bow line back to Laura and tried to untie the spring line.  But, by now the boat was perpendicular to the dock and I was in high reverse to keep the bow from smashing against it with the spring line holding us there.

Also, at the time I didn't know that the dockmaster had no idea how to tie a proper cleat hitch.  There is a way to tie your boat to a cleat that will never slip and you can always get it off.  It's not a secret and taught in every basic boating class.  Instead, he had tied some kind of knot that wouldn't come off under load.  We were stuck in one of the worst situations of my 45 year boat running experience.

After a minute or so, the dockmaster was able to get the line off the cleat and we were free.  I backed away and slowly motored around until Laura change our docklines to the other side of the boat.  We easily pulled up to the dock into the current / wind and were tied up 10 minutes later.  I had to sit down and relax for a bit to keep telling myself, "All's well that ends well..."

Karen drove into town and joined us a walk around town then a nice lunch at Yana's Olde Drug Store and Restaurant.  I was a bit hungry by now and ordered their double cheeseburger.  My second mistake today although this one wasn't as dangerous.

The waitress comes back with two giant cheeseburgers on a hoagie roll.  I was able to cut the roll in half and eat one side.  The menu said a cheeseburger with two patties.  Yeah but...

We eventually made our way back to the boat and picked up our laundry plus some wine and munchies for dinner at their house.  After our arrival, we decided to take a walk to the beach (about 10 minutes from the house) for a little seaside excursion.

After a nice happy-hour together Tim made Buffalo Wings and Karen drove to a local pizzeria for one of our favorite pizzas.  It was a fun dinner together.  Once again, I forgot pictures.  Sorry.  

A few hours later Karen drove us back to the boat where we said sad good-byes.  We always try to stay an overnight here which makes things a little easier on them but the weather dictated we get underway tomorrow to Oriental. 

Saturday, April 27th - Swansboro to Oriental (Day 24)

Sunny and warm (again!).  Winds E @ 10-15

43 nautical miles today.  913 total trip miles

We left the dock at 8am with no issues.  I was a little worried because a sailing catamaran had docked behind us with a 22 foot beam.  This would have made leaving more difficult if the current was on our bow and I tried to spring out the stern.  But, they had left and the current was behind us so no problemo.

The east winds were on our nose as we motored out of Swansboro and through Bogue Sound so we ran a little slower than normal.  In addition, the tide was rising at Beaufort Inlet so, as we got closer, the current against us slowed us down even more.

Oh boy.  Once again the tides were going to be perfect against us.  High tide at Beaufort Inlet would be just before we got there so we'd have the tidal current against us after we passed and turned north to Oriental.  Dang!

It was a nice day for cruising so we just relaxed and enjoyed the ride.  Several large powerboats passed us but they were all nice and didn't try to "rearrange our furniture".

As usual for a nice weekend day, there were 100s (1,000s?) of small boats on the water.  The worst spot seemed to be right before the ICW turns north in Morehead City.  This is a large open area and we had to zig-zag through the gauntlet of small fishing boats.  After passing under the high-rise bridge, things calmed down except that yes, we had the current against us again.

Just passed the bridge, we saw this large barge tied to the dock.  It was carrying huge cylinders with a tug on each end.  The cylinders were closed off so neither of the tugs would be able to see passed the barge.  I thought this was pretty interesting.

Once we entered the Newport River we were able to roll out 3/4 jib to help with the boat speed.  "Ya got the wind now Boss!"  The wind helped all the way up to the bridge on Adams Creek where we pulled it in because the wind was now blocked by trees and buildings.

Lots of pretty housed along Adam's Creek.  This was one of my favorites.

Just before the Creek opened up at the north end, we were passed by the Tow-Boat pulling a catamaran.  This guy was having a really bad day.

It was a pleasant ride across the Neuse and we tied up at the Oriental Harbor Marina face dock at 4pm.  D was there to help us tie up along with the dockmaster.  It was a nice reunion.

D took Laura for some grocery shopping while I spent a while adjusting docklines for the little swell coming in from the river and to move the boat back about 10 feet from the boat in front of us.

We could have docked next to D and Don at Zimmerman's Marina in Whittaker Creek but the south winds predicted for tomorrow would have lowered the water level enough that we wouldn't have been able to leave for several days.  So we decided to only spend one night in Oriental and take advantage of the light winds tomorrow morning for the run up the Neuse.  This has been a problem area in the past if the winds kick up the shallow water.  

D and Don came over for cocktail hour and lots of munchies.  We had a fun reunion with great friends.  Sometime during the night we reminisced about when we first met in Grenada 16 years ago.  Doesn't seem possible if was that long ago.  

They left around 9pm and we said sad goodbyes including the cruiser-goodbye of "See you soon!" 

The south wind had finally died and the boat was very calm at the dock for a nice night aboard.  

Funny that I never went more than about 30 feet from the boat to talk to our neighbors - the same sailing cat that was behind us in Swansboro last night.  So much for being ashore!

Sunday, April 28th - Oriental to Tuckahoe Anchorage (Day 25)

Mostly sunny with light southeast winds increasing to 10-15 in the afternoon

67 nautical miles today.  980 total trip miles

Everything was very calm as we brought in the power cord and untied lines from the marina.  We motored out onto a calm Neuse and turned east toward the Bay River and ICW. 

This was the view behind us leaving Oriental.  Calm waters and not a cloud in the sky.

About an hour later we turned a little more north and we able to take advantage of the light SE winds with the jib.

It is about a 12 mile run east on the Neuse River before turning north on the Bay River.  A short time later we entered Gale Creek.  Laura took this picture of a house that was really secluded in the middle of nowhere.  

It was a nice ride on a warm day as we motor-sailed through Goose Creek, across Pamlico Sound and up the Pungo River toward Belhaven.  We averaged over 6.5 knots for the day as now we were away from the ocean tides and currents plus the wind helped a lot.  We had planned on anchoring before the 21 mile Alligator-Pungo canal but we were there early enough to run through and be anchored before dark.

Just before the canal, we passed that huge barge again only this time they were underway making 2.5 knots.  I was so glad we were able to pass them before the narrow canal.  It they got in first, I would have just anchored for the night.

In the afternoon, Laura informed me that our aft head was not pumping water to flush.  Oh oh.  Time to put on my plumbers hat!

Laura ran the boat up into the Alligator-Pungo Canal while I tore the boat apart.  Well...  not really but it seemed like it.

The aft toilet pumps seawater from a thruhull, seacock and strainer under the floor in our galley.  I first turned off the seacock and took apart the strainer figuring the head had sucked up something from the water.  Nope.  This part wasn't bad at all.

I then went back to the toilet and disconnected the water hose coming in.  This is below the waterline so should be a constant stream.  It wasn't.  Something was blocking it.

I spent the next few hours running around in circles.  At one point I thought the incoming line was clear and the pump was bad so spent over an hour rebuilding the pump.  That didn't fix anything and I wasn't too happy.  I eventually had to admit defeat until I could think of something else to try.  We have another head on the boat in our forward cabin so we would use that one for a day or so.

Shortly after exiting the canal, we turned west off the ICW into a nice anchorage at Tuckahoe Point.  (I like that name.  Wouldn't it be a good boy's name?  "Tuckahoe!  Stop that!").  It was a quiet anchorage with the SE winds.

The past couple days I've been looking at the weather for crossing Albermarle Sound which is now only about 15 miles away.  Tomorrow didn't look too bad so we were going for it.  If the water was rough, we could come back and anchor along the western shore of the Alligator River.

Monday, April 29th - Tuckahoe to Broad Creek Anchorage (Day 26)

Sunny and warm.  West winds 10 increasing to 15-20 late morning

39 nautical miles today.  1,019 total trip miles

I was up early to work on the problem toilet again with no luck.  I have a great tool that can apply air pressure to clean out hoses (called a "Swoosh Drain Gun" available on Amazon) but that wouldn't blow through the hose from the toilet to the strainer.  Something was in there and I was hoping I wouldn't have to replace the whole water line.

Eventually we were underway at 9am and motored out onto the Alligator River before turning north, pulling out our main and jib, then sailing almost the whole rest of the day with engine off.  It was great to be sailors again.

We sailed up the Alligator River.  I like staying off the ICW channel so we are not having to interact with powerboats all day and it was deep water all around.  But, this entails keeping a close watch for crab trap floats that seem to be everywhere sometimes.

No problems until we approached the Alligator River Swing Bridge.  Two large powerboats had gotten there a little before us (10 min?) and the bridge tender wanted them to wait for us.  No complaints except the powerboats were sitting back 1/2 mile from the bridge.  We would typically close to less than 1/4 mile because we can't just push up the throttle(s) and zoom to the bridge when it opens.  Plus, this is one of the few ICW bridges that lets you sail through the bridge.  They almost always open in time for us to just keep sailing without even having to slow down.  

I think the bridge tender would have done that this time but we had to bail-out from sailing and slow down when we got to the powerboats.  Just a minute or two later the bridge opened and the powerboats zoomed away.  We had pulled in our sails but rolled out the jib again to help get through the bridge quickly.  The whole thing was a little weird for us but worked out OK.

After the bridge we again pulled out both big sails and turned off the engine.  I was able to sail through the big "S" turn before Albemarle Sound and it was an excellent sail for the 12 miles across the sound.

This picture was in the middle of Albemarle Sound.  The boat was heeled over about 15 degrees but ran very stable with the winds just aft of the beam. 

Seas were light (1 foot?) until we were about 3/4 of the way across.  Then the wind increased and the seas were much higher (2-3'),  By time we turned north to enter the North River, winds were 18-22 and we had taken reefs in both sails (rolled them in a bit). 

We were able to sail into the North River before pulling in the sails then slooooowly motor west against the 20 knot winds to our anchorage by Broad Creek.  As we neared the land by Broad Creek around 3:30pm the seas calmed and we were able to anchor and enjoy a restful evening on the boat.  Norfolk tomorrow!

Tuesday, April 30th - Broad Creek to Great Bridge (Day 27)

Mostly sunny and nice.  West winds 10-15

44 nautical miles today.  1,063 total trip miles

We wanted to find a spot at the free dock in Great Bridge so left early hoping we would get there early enough to find a spot.  

Anchor up at 7:15am.  We were able to motor-sail with the jib up the North River until the ICW starts snaking around Buck Island where we pulled in the jib until the ICW straightened out again.

My goal today (other than finding a free dock in Great Bridge) was to get through the Centerville Bridge before their 4-6pm lockout for rush-hour traffic.  This meant I needed to get to the North Landing Bridge (opens on the hour and 1/2 hour) before 3pm since it would take us an hour between bridges.

It was awesome having help from the jib almost all day.  I watched as our ETA for the North Landing Bridge hovered just before 1pm.  That would be very nice if we made that opening.

An hour or so after leaving the anchorage, Laura was on eagle-watch and spotted this one sitting way up on the top of a tree.  Can you find him/her?

Here it is zoomed in a little.

We motor-sailed passed Coinjock a couple hours later.  They are a famous marina for cruisers including their Prime Rib dinners.

Once past Coinjock we entered a mostly calm Currituck Sound.

We enjoyed the motor-sail until crossing into Virginia and entering Blackwater Creek.  Laura was on wildlife watch again and spotted these happy turtles sunning on a log.

We were able to make the 1pm opening of the North Landing Bridge.  I guess they were trying to limit the wear-n-tear on the bridge so only opened 1/2 of it for us.  Will we make it?  Sure.  No problem.

After North Landing Bridge, we slowly motored the 5 miles to the Centerville Bridge.  We easily made their 2pm opening and picked up speed to Great Bridge.

As we approached the free dock in Great Bridge, we could see that it was full.  We could see there was room at the free dock on the other side of the Great Bridge Bridge.  

But first, we also wanted to stop for fuel at Atlantic Highlands Marina and that dock was wide open.  We pulled in and tied up quickly before taking 66 gallons of diesel.  We didn't bother with water since we had over 1/2 a tank (about 80 gallons) and would be at our friend's dock in Reedville in just a couple days.

We use waterwayguide.com to find the best fuel prices on the ICW and I was disappointed to find that even through this marina advertised "tax included", they added on 6% sales tax.  Another 20 cents per gallon.  That wasn't nice.

I tried to hurry as we only had about 25 minutes before the bridge opening that was only once and hour.  No problems as we pulled away from the fuel dock with 7 minutes to spare.

We motored through the bridge at 3pm and tied up to the northern free dock with no problems.  After we tied up, Laura took a picture of the many geese around the area.  I was waiting with the camera if one of the mamas came after her.  I kept telling Laura, "Closer..  closer..." but she stayed back.  That would have been a much better picture...

Since the Chinese Buffet in Marathon had closed, we decide to take a short walk into town for Chinese food.  When we got to the Taste of China restaurant, we were the only ones there.  What was that about?  Was this place OK?

Turns out the food was pretty good and we took lots of left-overs back to the boat after a brief stop at Dairy Queen for our ice-cream fix.  

Another quiet night on the boat after we closed windows to cut down on traffic noise over the bridge.  

Plans for tomorrow are a short (15 mile?) run to Old Point Comfort than a run up Chesapeake Bay the next two days to Reedville.