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.
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.
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