6000 Nautical Miles!

6000 Miles!

It was hard to pick a good title for this blog update, because a lot has happened since our last update, and we've come a long way, baby!  Besides 6000 Miles! it could be Sailing with a Pup Tent OR Two Steps Forward, and One Step Back OR Weather Waiting...Again OR Rain, Rain Go Away OR Last Ocean Passage OR New York, Here We Come!   Whatever the title, here's what we've been up to:

Wednesday, May 17, 2017, continued

It was a hot, hot day in St. Michaels--33 degrees, and felt like 39 (according to the Weather Network).  After all of our work was done, we walked through the shops on Talbot Street, looking for shade.  We bought some herbal teas--one to help me sleep and one to ease Carey's aches and pains. Then, we stopped at the Lighthouse and enjoyed sesame encrusted tuna and filet mignon.


Thursday, May 18, 2017

We left the dock at 8:10 with the smell of fresh baked bread wafting up from the galley.  We ate on the road.  It took a couple of hours to get out of the Miles River and back in the Chesapeake. It's such a winding river that we had to motor the whole way.

Just after 10:00, we finally turned northward up the Chesapeake. The winds are blowing 15 knots from the south, right on our stern, so we continued to motor.  Very soon the winds reduced to 9 knots.  We went under the William P. Lane Bridge at 11:45.  We have current helping us along, so we are moving at 7.5-8 knots per hour. Love it!

After lunch, we put out the sails just to give us a boost.  We ran the engine at 2200 RPMs and our SOG was 7.4.  Not bad. Saving a bit of fuel and still moving along quite well.

By 1:50, we were close to our destination. Since it was still early, we decided to go further. We veered toward the east shore and headed for Worton Creek, another 7 nm.  We were more abeam of the wind then, so we tune off the engine and were still moving at over 7 knots.

Then, we decided to go a little further--to Bohemia River.  This puts us much closer to Cape May, so if the weather forecast looks okay, we may do the long trek through the C&D Canal, down the Delaware Bay, and around the hook to Cape May and the ocean tomorrow.  With the longer days of sunlight, we have more options than when we came south.

We didn't stop!  We kept going until we arrived at the Summit North Marina in the C&D Canal at 7pm.  Once we had decided to go on, I made supper and we had it on the way.  This cuts down lots of mileage for tomorrow.  We travelled 75 nautical miles today.

The Summit has beautiful floating docks.  It was very calm there, almost nonexistent current, and we had a gorgeous sunset.

Friday, May 19, 2017

We got up at 4:45 this morning. We were hoping to take advantage of the strong ebb tide current in the Delaware Bay.  The Delaware has 6 foot tides--huge!--so it has a strong current when coming in or going out.  We'd like it helping for most of the trip instead of against us.  High tide is at 5:37 am and low tide is at 12:43 pm.  By the time we get out of the C&D Canal, we should catch the tide just right.  Sunrise was at 5:44, and was beautiful.

Best laid plans. When we got out into the canal, at 5:20, the train bridge (which is always open except for trains) was down. Grrrrr.  I called the bridgemaster who said he would open it as soon as the train went through. When was he expecting it?  Soon.  Hmmmmm. We idled in the canal, waiting.  By 5:45, the train had rumbled through, the bridge had sloooooowwwwwlllyyyy opened, and we were through.

In the canal, we were going against a 1 knot current. It was 7:00 when we exited the canal and entered Delaware Bay. 60 miles to go.  By 7:15, we were getting 1 knot of current helping us along and at 7:40 we put up the sails. 9 knots of wind on a close reach, and we were moving 8.6 SOG. Woohoo!  We love positive currents. We actually hit 10.5 knots SOG today!  Amazing.

The Erie Canal opens today...but we're not there yet.  We are still 230 nautical miles away, as the crow flies. Too bad we're not crows!  Speaking of birds, Carey saw a number of bald eagles and blue herons, and a white swan on the C&D Canal.

The Delaware has a lot of shipping traffic, so we try to stay just out of the channel. We have two sailboats ahead of us today.  We'll try to catch them, of course.

Just as the wind died down and we were about to switch to the "big guy," we saw a hump back whale!  He was less than 150 feet away. Oh, my, so cool.  Later, we saw dolphins, too.

We switched sails and picked up speed again.  Lovely day for a sail. Small swells, comfortable wind, fast current.  When the wind died down somewhat, we motorsailed.  By noon, it had totally died, so we furled the sails and motored. By then, the tide was against us, so we revved it up to 2500 RPMs.

The flies have returned, and they bite, so Carey spent a few hours with the flyswatter.  They are such pests, and they are the worst when the wind is this calm.

At 1:00, the Cape May light was only 3 miles away.  We saw several more dolphins near the mouth of the Delaware and a bunch in the mouth of the Cape May inlet. It took two hours to get around the cape, so we didn't anchor until 3:00 pm.  After dinner, we lifted anchor and found a new place not far away.  The original spot was a little too close to another boat, the channel, and a rusted barrel in the water.  The new spot was much better.


Saturday, May 20, 2017

We had quite a storm overnight--lightning, thunder, and extremely high winds.  Good thing Mr. Mantus dug himself in deep!  Even so, we were up a lot, checking things out. We are anchored near two other Canadian sailboats (Perfect Match and Magica), and we're glad that nobody dragged overnight.  I had a huge sinus headache all night, so that didn't help my sleep, either.

This morning the winds continued. We are swinging madly and there are whitecaps in the anchorage. Cape May is a very busy port and there are tugs, dredgers, fishing and pleasure boats constantly going in and out.  It looks like we may be here for a few days.

I made a big breakfast this morning with all of Carey's favourites--hash browns, sausage patties, eggs over easy, coffee, orange juice, and toast.  Delicious!

When we are at anchor, we are constantly looking at landmarks (other boats, channel markers, crab pot markers) to check if we are dragging.  Around 10:30, I noticed that the Norwegian-flagged sailboat in the anchorage seemed much closer than last night.  However, we had all swung around 180 degrees, so it was easily explained away.  Then, at 11:00, I noticed that he was right beside us, and into an area that I thought was getting very shallow.  We wanted to alert him, but knew he'd have his VHF radio off, so Carey suggested calling the Coast Guard.  We did, and told them that a boat in the anchorage was dragging and asked if they could send a boat over to hail him.  Shortly afterward, a Marine Police boat showed up.  They motored up close to the Norwegian boat and blasted their horn until the captain came on board. Immediately, he realized that he had dragged.  He was all by himself, so we were worried about him lifting the anchor by himself in these strong winds, and not being blown into shallower water, but he was able to do it and motored away to safety.  He went further upriver to find a different anchorage.  Our good deed done for the day (although it was part self-preservation), we went back to work.

I finally got rid of most of the headache by 11:00, so I was ready to start working.  Carey vacuumed, I made raisin bread, and we both did several other chores throughout the day, including checking the weather several times, of course.  We had lots of distractions, though.  A power boat that had anchored nearby called TowboatUS and had to be towed away; a sailboat left the inlet when we knew they would encounter high winds and swells; a few more boats came in (presumably from Delaware Bay, because they came from the east, not the ocean inlet); several Coast Guard boats motored by; and the big tugs were constantly moving their dredgers around.

After dinner, we watched a couple of sailing yachts come in.  They looked frozen, wearing their full foul weather gear. Haven't they heard of the pup tent?  We sail with a full canvas enclosure, our pup tent, so that we have protection and climate control in almost all weather.  I feel sorry for these poor souls who have to sail in the elements all the time.  Cold, wet, and exhausted.

This anchorage is starting to get as packed as a sardine tin. Many of us stayed an extra day, waiting for a weather window, and now newbies have arrived and squished in to a small area.  One sailboat took over an hour to find a spot, dropping and lifting their anchor numerous times. Well, at least it's entertaining!


Sunday, May 21, 2017

It was very noisy most of the night with the waves slamming into the stern and the wind blowing.   We tried to sleep in a bit, and by the time we got up most of the other boats in the anchorage were gone. Only two remained--Magica, one of the other Canadian boats and another sailboat. We ate breakfast before we left and headed out of the inlet at 10:00.  As we were leaving, we saw the Canadian boat, Perfect Match, coming in.  Carey hailed them on the radio and they said that they had left an hour and a half before, but it was just too uncomfortable for them. Not dangerous, just lumpy and uncomfortable. Their boat is a little smaller than ours, and RC Wings doesn't seem to roll as badly as some others, so we decided to carry on.

When we got out, it was about what we had expected--lumpy, rolly, and swells just off the nose.  As long as we can keep the bow from slamming down too often, we can put up with this.  (Every once in a while, we get a huge swell that we seem to launch over.  Those ones aren't any fun.)  We have 33 miles to go today to get to Atlantic City, so it should be a fairly short day compared to some of the others we've had lately. Unfortunately, to catch the swells at the right angle we had to lower our speed. Our SOG was 3.5-4.5 and RPMs were 2200.  We prefer to go at 6 knots per hour, so we were hoping to speed up once we made the turn around the point, which is 4 and a half miles away from the Cape May inlet.  We have 16 knots of wind, but it's right on the nose, so we are motoring.

It was around 11:30, when we were able to turn a bit west.  This helped a bit, but the swells seemed to be getting bigger as we went along. The forecast was for 3.5 foot swells from the north, which is almost on the nose.  It is do-able, but not comfortable, as we are rolling and rocking. Plus, we have to deal with every "tenth swell" which is two or three times the height of the normal swells.  Usually, they come two or three in a row.  We have to brace ourselves and hold on constantly.

By 1:00, the seas were building and knocking us around a lot. For lunch we had prepackaged snacks--granola bars, Balanced Breaks (cheese, nuts, dried cranberries), and water.  When I offered to make something for lunch, Carey said, "No knives!  It's too dangerous to use a knife in these seas!"  Okay, then, prepackaged it is.

We finally arrived in Atlantic City at 5:50.  It was a terribly uncomfortable ride all day, so we were tired out.  We had to go around a huge dredger to get to the small, narrow entrance to the anchorage.  It's high tide, and they have a four foot tide here, so we should be okay, but this anchorage is very shallow, so we are moving cautiously.  We crept in slowly and found a spot to anchor.  However, the depth gauge only read 8.6 feet and this was at high tide!  Gulp!  Oh, well, we may be sitting on the bottom at low tide, but we were too tired to move.  We settled down, had supper, and went to bed early.

We have now travelled over 6000 nautical miles. Woohoo!



Monday, May 22, 2017

We got up at 5:30, did engine checks, and slowly crept out of the anchorage at 6:00.  Phew, we didn't go aground. That was a relief.  By 6:20, we were heading out of the inlet following two big powerboats. It's drizzling this morning and chilly.  The swells are big, but not breaking so far, which makes a huge difference.  Around 8 o'clock, we put up the sails and turned off the engine.  We are getting 10-14 knots on a close reach.  We have a double reef in the jib and a single reef in the main, and we're moving well.  We're heeling a lot, which isn't great with the swells on the beam, but we haven't had any breaking waves hit us abeam yet.

It was so cold and rainy that at 10:30, we donned our full foul weather gear.  That's the first time on this whole trip.  Much more snuggly with these on.

We turned more north at 11:00, once we were past the point at Barnegat Inlet.  We shook out the reefs and were sailing on a beam reach with 8 to 10 knot winds. 

The swells calmed down throughout the day, although we still get that rogue wave that hits us broadside and wakes us up.  The swells also turned more on our hind quarter, so today it was MUCH more comfortable than yesterday.  Just a gentle rocking from side to side.  The wave period makes such a big difference to the swells.  These swells are further apart, so we're not crashing into or over them.

Around 1:30, the winds suddenly calmed and turned astern, so we furled both sails and turned on the engine.  We revved it up so that we could get over 7 knots per hour. We want to get there as quickly as possible today.  It's been raining all day, sometimes pouring and sometimes drizzling.  Everything is damp and dripping, and we're chilled.  Unfortunately, without the main to stabilize us, we really roll back and forth with the swells.

At 5:15, when we were about two miles from the New York Harbor entrance buoy, a pod of dolphins swam in front of our boat.  What a great way to welcome us to New York!

 At 6:00, we rounded the Sandy Hook buoy and headed for the anchorage, which was another 45 minutes away.  We dropped the anchor at 6:45. We had just completed our last ocean passage (at least for this particular trip).

When we arrived, everything was wet. We laid out the cockpit cushions all around the salon, and set up our Mr. Heater to warm us and dry them. Worked great on both counts.

We travelled 84 miles in miserable conditions, so we were tired out. We had a quick supper, turned off the heater (too dangerous to leave it on untended) and went to bed.




Tuesday, May 23, 2017

We were up, had breakfast, and were ready to go by 8:20.  I called the fuel dock at Atlantic Highlands Marina to see if they were open, and he said to come on down. When we got there, a large powerboat was at the fuel dock. I radioed in again and asked for a time estimate and the dock guy said it would be about ten minutes and asked if we could idle in the basin until the dock was clear.  A half hour later we were still waiting just like last September when we were here. Déjà vu all over again. At 9:10 the boat cleared the dock and we moved in.  We fueled up and were on our way by 9:30.  On to the anchorage at Haverstraw Bay on the Hudson River, 50 miles north.

We went under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge (which connects Staten Island and Brooklyn) at 11:20am.  This bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world at the time of its completion in 1964, surpassing the Golden Gate Bridge by 60 feet.

We were going against a 2+ knot current through the Narrows under the bridge.  Our SOG was 4 knots, but our boat speed said 6.8. Yikes!  Good thing we fueled up!

We were prepared for the hectic insanity of the New York Harbor that we had encountered last fall when we were here.  We were here on a Sunday, though, and today is a Tuesday.  We can't believe the difference!  It's still full of boat traffic, but not nearly as crazy.  Staten Island Ferries are large, fast, and imposing, and they don't seem to care who is in front of them. We tried to get out of their way.

It was after noon by the time we motored by the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline. The current is killing us!  We are only going 3.8 knots here. At this rate it'll be midnight before we reach our anchorage.

Unfortunately, we were only going at 3 knots for quite awhile. We didn't get over 4 knots until 2:20 in the afternoon. We are either going to have to find a closer anchorage or continue on in the dark. The Hudson has lots of flotsam and debris in the water, so we will have to really watch so we don't hit anything in the dark. The alternatives for anchorages are at Nyack, just after the Tappan Zee Bridge, and at Croton Bay (near Sing Sing prison), about five miles south of Haverstraw.   At 3:30 we finally started going 5 knots per hour and I had renewed hope that we might make it to either Haverstraw or Croton.  At 4:40 I noticed that we were getting over 6 knots. Woohoo!

Around 5:30, as I was about to serve supper in the cockpit, Carey yelled to come up.  When I went up into the cockpit, we were being pulled over by a police boat.  Wow, that's a first for us.  (Carey must have been speeding!  Haha.). They hailed us on their loudspeaker, saying, "Captain, put it in neutral, and we'll come alongside of you."  Carey complied and they pulled up beside us and tied off on our cleats. They asked for our cruising license, passports, and proof of boat registration. These are all Customs items.  The officer was very polite and friendly.  He checked and recorded all documentation and then handed everything back to us.  They took off their lines and, once they had motored away, we could resume our travels.  Of course, by then, our supper was cold. Grrrrr.  (Of course this would happen when we're trying to make up time.)

We only had about eleven more miles to go to reach Haverstraw Bay so we moved on and ate our cold meal.  We anchored at 7:30.  Finally, a spot for the night.  It's so nice having these long days of sunlight, because we can go further, if needed.

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Lotsa Flotsam

We lifted anchor and left the bay at 7:05. Once again, we had breakfast on the go.  However, we had to take turns eating.  On the Hudson, one person needs to be on watch all the time. Besides having to navigate the many bends and turns in the river, we also have to avoid hitting the flotsam--floating debris.  There are many floating twigs and chunks of bark, but it's the large submerged logs that are the biggest peril.  Some logs are waterlogged and just below the surface, which could cause great damage to our hull if we hit them. I wouldn't want to be in a fast power boat going up this river.

Today, we are hoping to travel the 60 nm to get to Hop-O-Nose Marina in Catskill, NY, where we will have the mast taken down.  First, though, we will have lots of work to do to prepare (i.e., remove the sails, fish the lines, disconnect the wiring in the mast, set up the wooden mast cradle, etc.).  (Sidebar: There are several places around New York that have "kill" in the name--Kill Van Kull, Bronx Kill, Peekskill, Fresh Kills and many more--so I looked it up.  A "kill" is a creek.  The word comes from the Middle Dutch word "kille" meaning riverbed or water channel.)

We are moving right along this morning, because we caught the flood tide which is giving us a boost of an extra knot.  Woohoo, we love speeding along at 8 knots!  The tide will turn around 1:15, so we're getting as far as possible before then.

Quaint Villages and Poor Forecasts

Thursday, May 11, 2017...continued

Tim arrived at 12:30, suited up, and slid into the water.  After a quick check, he came up to tell us that, besides the long trails of sea grass growing along the water line, we had barnacles on the bottom!  Yikes!  No wonder we were going so slow.  We were probably losing a knot or more of speed.  Tim worked for about two and a half hours, scrubbing and scraping.  It's very physically taxing work.  When he was finished, at around 3:20, he only charged us $100.  Great deal (even with the tip).  

As soon as he was out of the water and paid, we left the dock.  We motored out of the inlet and immediately into swells that were much bigger than forecasted.  Thinking that the swells were worse because we were in shallow water, we weren't too concerned.  Well, as it turned out, the swells never lessened.  As a matter of fact, they seemed to get worse as we went along.  We were being pounded.  So much for RC Wings' nice freshwater shower.  Now she was being doused with cold, saltwater right over the bow and through the canvas onto our cushions. Aaaarrrrgggghhhh!

We had to work our way northeast, pounding into the swells, then north, with the swells on the beam, and then west, surfing crazily.  The wind was blowing over 18 knots with gusts up to 25 knots.  Once we got under the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and into the Chesapeake, we thought the swells would diminish a bit.  Nope.  We headed north and then northeast toward Cape Charles, but the swells didn't calm until we were almost at our destination.  

Poor Carey stayed on the helm, hand steering, the entire trip. It was a true work out for him, and we were freezing.  I even had to change into warmer clothes, including my jeans, toque and mittens. 

Glad we didn't wait at Virginia Beach, but we were sore from bracing ourselves, holding on, and shivering from the cold.  We arrived at Cape Charles at 9:00--in the dark.  Never our favourite thing to do.  Scarily, one of the green channel markers was unlit and if we hadn't been right in the channel we would have hit it.  We had been told that we could go to a dock when we arrived, but it was too dark to see anything, so we dropped anchor right in the middle of their harbour.  Poor Carey (again) had to go out on deck in the cold and rainy 20 knot winds to drop the anchor.  He said the rain felt like sleet.  Brrrrrrrr.

We hoped that any incoming boats would see us through the night.  Just to be sure, we left our deck floodlight on as well as our anchor light.  

I made Carey his favourite meal for working so hard--homemade pizza.  We were so cold and tired, we were almost falling asleep at the table, so we hit our bed as soon as we were done eating.  

Friday, May 12, 2017

We had a very quiet sleep, and no other boats hit us, which was wonderful.  

We checked the weather immediately upon getting up.  We saw that it was going to start raining by 8:20, so we decided to move to a dock right away.  We hailed the marina on the VHF radio and they said someone would meet us at the dock.   When we got over there, "Spencer" was there to catch us.  The slips seemed quite narrow, between two posts, of course, but we made it in without too much fuss.  Unfortunately, though, the flag staff hit one of the wooden posts and snapped off.  Spencer was proud of his hometown and gave us lots of good information about this quaint little town.  

Nestled between the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, Cape Charles on the eastern shore of Virginia is a friendly place.  As soon as we were tied to the dock, we went to The Coffee House on Main Street (one of Spencer's recommendations) for a delicious breakfast and several cups of strong, hot coffee.  When we returned, we registered with Charlie, the harbour master.  We will stay here for a couple of nights until the high winds and big swells subside. 

Since it started raining when we returned to the boat, we started doing some odd jobs.  Carey connected our shore power and checked the dock lines, while I planned a 25-30 nm trip for Sunday (when it looks like we could leave around 11:00), plus a proposed itinerary to get us to the Erie Canal and then to Buffalo, New York.  We also searched for the source of a small antifreeze leak after we found a few small drips under the engine.  My iPhone has been a great aid in seeing hard to get to places.  In this case, I was able to reach my arm in and under the engine to snap a few photos.  

We had hot soup for lunch and then Carey set up the Mr. Heater propane heater for the first time.  We were still feeling chilled from last night, so it was time to get some heat in here.  Ahhhhh, the heat felt wonderful!

We had a stir fry for supper and enjoyed a relaxing evening.  It's so cold these nights I have to wear my "jailbird jammies" (the long sleeved blue and white striped ones I bought last summer just for this occasion). 

Saturday, May 13, 2017

We woke up to another rainy, cold morning, but I convinced Carey to go out for breakfast anyway.  He hates walking in the rain!  Once at the Coffee House, though, he was happy he had gone.  After breakfast, we looked for a laundromat, but it was a rundown affair with only a few working machines, so we passed.  Then, we went to the iconic Watson Hardware Store.  This place has been around forever, apparently, and is more like a museum.  They have tons of stuff to buy, but also tons of stuff that looks a hundred years old. Carey could spend hours in there...and did. We found a few things, including a new flag staff.  Most of Cape Charles' stores and businesses are located on their main drag, Mason Street, so we wandered along the street checking things out.  

Next, we visited the Gull Hammock Gourmet Market.  It's full of gourmet cheeses, crackers, breads, wines, salsas, and lots of other delicious, but expensive, things.  We bought a few things and sipped their sample of peach champagne.  On the way home, we stopped at Kelly's Gingernut Pub, which looks about as authentic an Irish pub as you could find outside of Ireland.  (It really reminded me of an English Pub we were in in England.)  The pub had originally been built as a bank, and we ate in the cozy vault. We shared a Reuben sandwich and a turkey, bacon, apple and Brie panini.  Both were delicious!  

When we returned to the boat, we had a few tasks to accomplish: fill the water tank, add more dock lines onto the upwind posts (to keep us off the dock), modify and install the flag staff, download a navigational app (Garmin BlueChart Mobile with ActiveCaptain), check the weather forecast, and update our itinerary.  

After our work was finished, we turned on our Mr. Heater and had a few appetizers for supper.  

Sunday, May 14, 2017

It's sunny today!  Woohoo!  We enjoyed the delicious cinnamon swirl toast from the Gourmet Market for breakfast and then got ready to go.  One of the guys from a neighbouring boat threw off our bow line for us.  (He had been telling me about an "incident" they had had on the way over in which a swell caught their boat and pushed them into the clipper ship, Alliance.  Their bow was pushed up right under the Alliance's dinghy and put a hole in it.  Ugh.  Time to share the insurance information.)

We left the dock at 9:20.  At 10:20, after motoring out through the channel, we put up the sails and still had 35 miles to get to Mill Creek.  The winds were 13-16 knots and the seas were small, so we were moving right along, going 7.6 knots per hour. 

When the wind dropped to 12 knots, at noon, we put out "the Big Guy"--the Code Zero.  By 1:00, the wind was up to 19 knots, so we were really moving (and heeling).  By 2:00, the "big guy" was being overpowered, so we switched to the jib.  By 2:20, we were getting gusts of 24 knots, so we reefed both the jib and the main.  Yes, plenty of playing around with the sails today. 

There's lots more traffic here in the Chesapeake, and many boats don't have AIS, so we can't be too complacent.  

We are getting crazy winds today--unforecasted, of course.  The wind is blowing at 25 knots, sustained, and, since we were close to our anchorage, we dropped both sails and motored in the last five miles.  It's amazing that they can't forecast correctly even a day ahead. Frustrating.  

We dropped anchor at 4:20.  I love arriving so early, because it gives us a chance to relax a bit in the evening.  This is a beautiful spot, which we visited on our way south.  We even have a little protection from the northwest winds, and we were able to eat our spaghetti dinner outside. Nice!

After dinner, we sat outside for awhile. We are still seeing cool things in nature here.  There was a tiny jellyfish beside our boat, pumping itself along, a striped bee or beetle that was as big as my thumb, spinning in the water, fish jumping and splashing, and birds tuh-weet-weet-weeting.  Besides that, the sunset is beautiful.  As always, we are awed by nature. 

Monday, May 15, 2017

After breakfast, we lifted anchor, but it took a little longer than usual.  Sometimes the anchor swivels the wrong way and Carey has to use a boat hook to get it turned properly before bringing it up onto the bow roller.  It was 8:10 before we started our way out of the anchorage. 

Although the forecast was calling for 10-13 knots of wind, we were getting 25 knots.  What?!  We were heeling over, no sails up,  just from the windage on the canvas.  The swells were bigger than forecast, too, of course, and right on the nose, which makes for a very bumpy, lumpy (and slow) ride.  

We are heading for Solomons Island today, a pretty spot on the west coast of the Chesapeake. Our anchorage is about 47 miles away, which should take about 8 hours, but in these conditions it will take longer.  

By 10:00, Carey suggested looking for a closer anchorage. The wind was up to 26 knots and the waves were getting steeper.  We were doing too much crashing into the waves and the weather didn't look like it is getting any better. Smith Creek was a little closer, up the Potomac River, but still over 20 nm away, so we headed there for the night.  We were going less than 2 knots per hour, SOG, even though our RPMs were 2200. We were going against a current (or ebb tide), strong winds, and choppy waves, and we didn't want to crash down on the waves. Everything was slowing us down today. 

Carey loves the challenge of our sailing adventures every day.  He doesn't want it to end. I'm ready to get home and see everyone, although I'm still enjoying the travel and the sights. 

After pounding and crashing for hours (and getting nowhere) we finally gave up going up the Potomac River and turned toward our original destination, Solomons Island.  It is over 20 miles away, but we can go a bit faster because we have the swells more on the beam instead of crashing into them. 

The new route was so much more comfortable.  We went up the coast and were out of the worst swells.  Our speed over ground was around 6 knots per hour, so our new ETA is 7:00pm.

We dropped the hook at 6:58 pm. We were surrounded by marinas and docks and restaurants, but it'll be okay for the night.  They make a great wind break. 

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

We had a peaceful night with only a few fishing boats leaving wakes that slapped against the side of the boat around 6:00am. The winds had totally died overnight and the anchorage was as smooth as glass. We lifted anchor and were on the way by 7:45, planning to eat breakfast underway.  It was a bright, sunny, warm day and the Chesapeake was as smooth as molasses. In this kind of water, we can make excellent time, but since there was no wind, we couldn't sail. Sailors are never happy.  

We are travelling 47 nm to St. Michaels, a very popular vacation town on the Chesapeake. Since we were close by, we thought we should check it out.  We will stay at the St. Michaels Harbor Marina for the next two nights.  It's expensive at $3 per foot, but it's right in the middle of St. Michaels' downtown, and we'll be able to fuel up there.  Since we'll be at a marina, we won't have to launch the dinghy.  

We know we're back in the Chesapeake, because we are constantly dodging crab pots.  They're everywhere!  

Entering the river to St. Michaels is amazing. It is lined with huge estates along both shores.  It's a winding route to get back into the town harbour, adding 15 nm to our entry and exit, so we hope a visit to St. Michaels is worth it.  I think this might be the playground of the rich, if not the famous.  What are we doing here?

Chris, the red headed dock guy, caught us at the fuel dock where we filled our diesel tank.  Then, he jogged around and caught us at our dock, set up our fenders for the posts, and set our dock lines to accommodate the tides.  What a nice young man!  And so calm!  He gave us the rundown about the marina and how to get around town, including a recommendation to what he called "Lemon Shell", the Italian restaurant here.  We are definitely going to check that out! 

After tying to the dock, we walked down the street for dinner at Limincello, the Italian Restaurant.  My meal had shrimp, scallops, calamari, mussels, clams, and pasta.  

 

Carey's had pasta, pancetta, bacon, carmelized onions and cherry tomatoes. Double delish!  The coffee cups were as big as soup bowls.  Luckily, they had bottles of wine on for half price, so we had our entire meal, including wine, salad, coffee, and dessert for less than a hundred dollars.  Pretty amazing when you consider it was one of the best meals we've ever had.  (Are the meals really that good or are we just starving?  Hmmm, perhaps a little of both.  We certainly enjoy our food.)

Later, we checked out the other establishments up and down the main street and then wandered back to the boat to relax and read.  Tomorrow, we'll visit the Maritime Museum here.  

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

USA Today rated St. Michaels as one of the top 10 best coastal small towns in the USA.  Pretty impressive, and we can see why.  It's a cool little town, with lots to do.  

After a breakfast of fruit crepes and ham, cheese, and egg crepes, we toured the Maritime Museum.  Fascinating stuff.  As we arrived a school group was just going out on a historic sailing ship. What a great school excursion!  

The lighthouse was especially interesting to me, because I just read a book (The Light Between Oceans) about an Australian lighthouse keeper.  The museum lighthouse (which was an actual working lighthouse in Hooper Strait) really brought the lighthouse keeper's world to life.  It was quite dangerous (and lonely) at times.  In order to get to shore and civilization, they had to row five miles in a small rowboat, sometimes in big waves.  More than one capsized and drowned.  Women and children weren't allowed to live on the lighthouse, because of the dangers. 

Next, we stopped to pick up provisions and carried them back to the boat.  Then, we threw in a couple loads of laundry, filled the water tanks, washed the boat with freshwater, had lunch, and (most importantly) updated the blog while I had wifi.  

Scary Cape Hatteras...not

Friday, May 5, 2017

The rain started at 10:30 last night and continued raining off and on all day--mostly on.  We were very happy to get a decent night's sleep in the vee berth, although the wind was blowing us sideways into the dock, so we were rocking.

Since we were stuck inside for the day, we put our free time to good use.  We changed the oil and oil filter, the gear oil, and the fuel filter.  So nice to get all of that done!

The wind was blowing incredibly hard all day.  I was afraid I'd be blown right off the dock!  The neighbouring boat's paddle board was about to sail right off his boat, so Carey went over and retied it.

We had worked so hard all day that we decided to treat ourselves to a lovely dinner at the City Kitchen.  The name makes it sound like a cafeteria, but it's really an excellent restaurant with a chef who knows how to create a gourmet meals.  Everything is so delicious, from their rosemary infused olive oil and focaccia bread to their shrimp and grits to their pan seared grouper. MmmmmMmmmmm.

Afterward, we slogged through the heavy wind to get back to our floating home.  We were heeled over and smushed up against the dock with the strong winds, again.



Saturday, May 6, 2017

This morning, we borrowed the courtesy car from the marina and did some running around.  First, breakfast at the Beaufort Cafe, then we got our small propane tank refilled at Country Air.  After that, we picked up a few more groceries at Piggly Wiggly (love that name) and a few bottles at the ABC Liquor Store.

Then, it was back to the boat and back to work.  Carey replaced the cooling water intake impeller while I did the laundry.  Then he replaced the bilge pump and problem solved the same for ten hours, because of course it wouldn't work properly!  Aaarrrrgggghhhh!  He finally figured a solution around 9:30 pm.

While Carey was having fun with the bilge pump, I was equally happy spending ten hours to figure out that there was no way we could go up the ICW to avoid waiting for a weather window to go around Cape Hatteras.  I called and emailed everyone under the sun and continually got bad news.  The Wilkerson Bridge is only 64', so even at low tide we'd be too tall. The other route, through Pamlico Sound and by Roanoke Island would go under the 65' Washington Baum bridge. This would work if they had at least a 3 foot variation in tide height.  Alas, no, their tide difference is less than a foot usually.  The other option I looked into was to go through Pamlico Sound and out the Oregon Inlet.  However, one of the marine towing guys I talked to said that he would definitely not recommend it for us.  There is a 65 foot bridge over Oregon Inlet, constant shoaling, and whirlpools of dangerous water under the bridge.  I guess we're doing Hatteras.



Sunday, May 7, 2017

The winds are much calmer today, which will help the swells lay down over the next few days. More navigating and planning the trip north this morning.  We found out that there are no inlets to layover in from Cape Henry at the Chesapeake Entrance to Cape May (the whole Atlantic coast east of Chesapeake Bay).  If we wanted to go the outside route in the ocean, we'd have to do another overnight passage.  We really aren't fond of the overnights, so we will head up the Chesapeake, through the C&D Canal and down the Delaware to Cape May.  Then, we can coastal cruise north and into the New York Harbor.

Today, we have another long list of jobs that have to be done.  Carey removed the barbecue from the stern and set up our new, bigger, Canadian flag. (I insist on having our flag waving out there,  but when it flaps against the barbecue, it gets shredded and rust stained.).

The only residual issue from the high winds is that the boards that we stuck over the bimini and under the solar panels disappeared.  We didn't even notice they were gone for awhile.  They blew right out of their slots.  Fortunately, Carey spotted one of them on the dock here in the marina.  Now, we just have to find the other one.  (The other two slid out when we were on passage from Norfolk to the BVIs and are long gone.)

The next items on our list will be to put the canvas back on, fill the water tank, make raisin bread, empty the garbage, and remake the bed with the freshly laundered sheets.  All completed by suppertime.

I made Margaritas and tacos for supper.  Mucho gusto!

We checked the weather and it's a go for Tuesday to get around Cape Hatteras and get to Norfolk. Yahoo!

We have a beautiful sunset tonight.

Monday, May 8, 2017

It is chilly overnight, so we are sleeping with blankets now.  It was 16 degrees C when we got up.  The forecasted high today is 22 degrees, which is quite warm in the sun, but it's chillier with the breeze. It's still quite nice, but we wore light jackets in the morning.

This morning, we hoisted the Code Zero back up and put the last few panels of the canvas back on, plus fixed a small tear in the jib with some sail tape.

We planned to go to the hardware to buy a small piece of hose to create a loop for the bilge pump, but someone else was using the courtesy car, so I pre-made a tuna casserole for our dinner tomorrow during the passage and Carey stowed the extra fenders in our aft locker.  Hopefully, the courtesy car will be available in an hour.

Carey loves all of the planes, helicopters, and jets that fly overhead here.  There is a city airport right across the road from our marina, plus a US Navy Marine Corps Air Station just 27 km away at Cherry Point.

We borrowed the courtesy car around 1:00 and drove to the Ace Hardware to find a flexible hose for the bilge pump.  They sent us to Ace Marine in Morehead.  They sent us to Williams True Value over the second bridge in Morehead.  Finally, we were able to get what we needed. Next on the agenda was to drive to the Taylor Creek waterfront.  If possible, we'd like to move there for the night.  Otherwise, we have to catch the 6 a.m. bascule bridge opening, because the next opening isn't until 8:30 a.m., which is after high tide.  We checked it out and it looked like a go, so we will move.  We made a quick stop at the Piggly Wiggly and then raced back to the boat to catch the 3:30 bridge opening.

I have to say that the people at Town Creek Marina have been fabulous and so very helpful while we've been camped on their doorstep.  Thanks, Carol and team!

We caught the 3:30 opening of the bascule bridge, and motored to Taylor Creek.  We tried to pick up a mooring ball that the dockmaster had suggested, but it didn't have a ring on the end of the pennant line. Carey dropped it and we motored further downriver looking for a possible anchorage site.  The river is very narrow, with a fast current when the tide is coming in or out (which is always), and you are supposed to stay out of the channel when anchoring, so it was tough to find a suitable spot.  However, we dropped anchor about a mile from the river mouth and about two miles from the inlet.  We'll stay here tonight.

We saw a herd of wild horses on Bird Shoal Island, on the sand dunes, as we were coming down Taylor Creek and when we were at anchor.  Horses were set free in the 1500s when Lucas Vasques de Ayllon's colony failed and the horses have thrived ever since.  They are beautiful, healthy looking animals.



Tuesday, May 9, 2017

We lifted anchor at 6:45 and motored down the glassy river toward the inlet.

Even in the inlet the swells are very small, which is almost unheard of, in our experience. Great day for travel so far.  We have to go all the way around the Cape Lookout Shoal, going southeast, before we can turn northeast.  It takes almost four hours for us to get to the Cape Lookout Shoal light buoy.  We can see breaking waves on the shoal to our left, so we are glad we didn't take a shortcut over the 12 foot section shown on the chart.  Shoaling is a huge problem on the east coast, especially with the high winds and waves we've had recently, so we have learned to be cautious.

Today, we are doing an overnight passage to Rudee Inlet, just south of the Chesapeake Bay.  We hope to arrive there late tomorrow afternoon or early evening.  This trip is around 230 nautical miles.

Carey unfurled the main at 10:00 to reduce the rolling from the swells.  The swells are still quite small, but since they are on our beam we do roll a bit.  It's quite comfortable so far.

Throughout the day, the winds came and went, but the swells always stayed fairly small.  It's been very strange the way the winds will go up to 14 knots and then die down to 6, then go up again.  It did this all day long, so it was really hard to pick a sail that would work for us.  On passage, we just put in time.  We put up the sails, adjust them, switch the jib for the Code Zero, adjust the sails again, take down the sails, repeat, read our books, play iPad games (not Carey, of course), eat, clean up, and watch for other boat traffic (which is almost non-existent).  Carey usually finds some reason to adjust something on the bow while we're out on the ocean.  Today, it was the Code Zero that got stuck when we tried to unfurl it.

To get around Cape Hatteras safely, we have to go over 9 miles out of our way (to the east) so that we don't run aground on Diamond Shoals.  There are a lot of scary stories about Cape Hatteras.  They say it makes its own weather, probably because it's so close to the warm waters of the Gulf Stream.  That could be problematic for us if a storm suddenly comes up while we're out here.  We are trying to get around Hatteras as quickly as possible--in a sailboat--so we are leaving the engine running to give us the needed boost to keep us going over 6 knots per hour.

When we left Beaufort, the water temperature was 75 degrees F, but by 6:00pm our gauge was reading over 83 degrees F and by 7:45 it was over 89 degrees F and by 8:20 it was 91 degrees!. By the time we were rounding Cape Hatteras the temperature was up to 96 degrees and later it went to 100!  These high temperatures mean that we are in the Gulf Stream.  Let's hope the current from the Stream gives us a speed burst, too!

We took turns being on three hour watches while the other one tried to sleep.  Sleeping is not easy on a moving boat, with the engine running, but we tried.  As the night wore on, the ocean got even calmer.  There are a few small boats like us out tonight, as well as several cargo ships.  Most of them we don't ever pick up visually, but they show up on AIS.  Thank goodness for AIS!

By 5 o'clock in the morning, the full moon had peaked out from behind the clouds on my left, and the sun was preparing to rise on my right, so it was relatively light.  Moonlight shining on the water is quite a sight at night.

Wednesday, May 10, 2017 (Day 2 of passage to Rudee Inlet)

Calm winds and calm water this morning.  We took in the sails at 11:00, because the wind died to just 2 knots, and continued motoring.  I took my turn to crawl out on deck, to release a caught jib line.  We always wear a life preserver when we venture out on deck.

In the morning, I emailed Cason Barco at Rudee Inlet Station Marina to see if he could haul out our boat to clean the bottom. It is covered in green slime, even though we got it cleaned two months ago in Puerto Rico.  A dirty bottom (I know, it sounds like we need a diaper change) really slows us down and makes the engine work harder.  Cason said they don't have haul out facilities, but he knows of a diver who could do it on short notice.  I called Tim, the diver, and booked him for tomorrow.  Fabulous!  He will come to the boat around 12:30 (because he works all night at another job and needs to sleep).  So, the plan is that we will anchor out tonight in Lake Wesley and, in the morning, we'll go to the marina to fuel up and get a slip.  Once Tim is done, we can leave on Friday morning to start our trek up the Chesapeake.

After lunch, Carey went for a nap.  We never get enough rest when we do a passage, so it's important to nap when we can.

Even in the daytime, we need to be watching the water ahead of us. We've gone by several milk jugs that are probably markers for fishermen.  (Hopefully, it's not someone's garbage they've thrown overboard.)  We definitely don't want to get the lines that are attached to these jugs wrapped around our prop.  Also, an oil drum went floating by at one point.  Hitting that could have caused serious damage to our hull.  Every once in a while we see mylar balloons, which were probably filled with helium at one point and "set free."  All examples of how we are polluting the world's oceans.

Just before arriving at the inlet, we decided that we might as well stay at Cason's dock tonight, too.  It's cheap, and Lake Wesley looks pretty tiny, so it may be tough to find an anchoring spot.

We arrived at Rudee's Inlet at 4:15 and wended our way through the narrow opening to get to the Virginia Beach Fishing Station where we wanted to fuel up.  It has terrible docks, with tall posts, ideal for big fishing boats, but not for sailboats that don't have rub rails.  However, we were able to fill up, sidle out without hitting anything, and move to the private dock just down the tiny lake.  Cason Barco and I had been emailing back and forth about this inlet and whether it was safe and deep enough for us.  He offered us a spot on his brand new 80 foot floating dock (which is right in front of his house) for just one dollar per foot.  What a bargain!  We had an easy docking and Cason greeted us and said he would drive us to a nearby restaurant (which he just happened to own) called Rudee's On The Inlet Restaurant and Cabana Bar.  We sat on a glider table and chairs.  So fun!  I had seafood tortellini with shrimp, scallops and tuna in a red pepper pesto sauce.  It was one of the most delicious meals ever!  The seafood is fresh caught daily right here.  Carey had sea scallops that were as big as large marshmallows and so tender.  Oh, my.

We walked the half hour trek back to Cason's house.  We walked by Kerry Lane in Rudee's Inlet.  (They got the spelling wrong on both. Ames, but that's okay. LOL)  Seems like our kind of place!  Once back at the boat, we had quick showers, read for a bit, and crashed, tired from a long two days.

Tomorrow, after lunch, Cason's cousin, Tim, will clean our bottom of all of the yucky sea moss that is growing there.


Thursday, May 11, 2017

It rained overnight and it is raining this morning.  Supposed to be an all day and all night rain. Too bad, because we wanted to walk along the popular Virginia Beach boardwalk.  Oh, well, we will stay in this morning and wait for our diver.  The good news is that the fresh rain washes the salt off of RC Wings.  She is saying ahhhhhhhhh.  She loves a freshwater shower.

We did some planning and navigational work this morning, because after we checked the weather and realized that we will have big swells in the morning, we decided to find a place close by but in the Chesapeake.  We don't want to try to get out of this narrow, rock bordered inlet in big swells.  No, thank you.  We found a harbor about 20 nautical miles north in Cape Charles, on the east coast of Chesapeake Bay.  However, we can't leave until Tim, the diver, is finished with the bottom cleaning.  Hurry up, Tim!  (Tim works nights, so he is coming over after he gets some sleep.)

Nature's Gifts, Groundings, and Crazy Swells

Saturday, April 29, 2017, continued

There are at least 25 kite surfers in the river today, as well as several windsurfers, and every size of sailboats.  Great Saturday for the locals to get out on the water.

OMG!  Three dolphins came so close to the boat that I could have jumped on their backs!  Wow!    Have I mentioned how much I love dolphins?  I could watch them all day. Oh, yeah, I HAVE watched them all day. LOL.  Earlier, a pelican flew only a few feet behind the boat.  Pelicans are huge birds, graceful flyers, and so interesting to watch. We are getting a real nature show today.   While we were watching the dolphins throughout the afternoon, Carey and I both thought we saw a different tail flip above the water. We, separately, described it as black and thinner than the dolphin tail.  Could this be a Right Whale?  Hmmmm.  We never did get confirmation, but we believe it's a strong possibility.

Sunday, April 30, 2017 and Monday, May 1, 2017

We left this morning by 7:20.  By 9:00, we had both sails up and were sailing on a close reach in 10-15 knots. Our SOG was 5.8 on average.  The wind gradually freshened and the swells got a bit bigger throughout the morning, but nothing too crazy.  After lunch, the swells still seemed to be getting slowly bigger, but the wind came and went, fluctuating.

The water in the inlets and rivers is usually brackish and brown now.  Yuck, it's giving us a yellow moustache on our bow. In the ocean, coastal cruising, we've been staying close to the coast in 30-50 feet of water. Here, isn't the deep blue of the ocean or the aquamarine of the BVIs; more like a pretty green shade.

At 4:00, we were approaching Winyah Bay, our destination, but we decided to bypass it. Instead, we decided to go to Murrel's Inlet, another 23 miles further.  Since tomorrow looked like the weather and swells might be iffy, we'd rather have a shortened day tomorrow.  By going the extra 23 miles today, it reduces tomorrow's trip to closer to 45 miles.  If we leave early in the morning, we hope to be at Southport at Cape Fear no later than 2 or 3 o'clock...before the swells start to build to an uncomfortable height.

Around 5:00, suddenly, Carey said, "Turn off the autopilot, something's in the water, right in front of us!  It looks like a diver!"  I took control of the helm and turned way right.  We looked at the thing in the water, just 20-25 feet from our boat, and it was a Right Whale, clear as day!  Wow, it was right on the surface.  It was black with white markings.  So cool.  Good thing Carey was watching and we didn't hit it!  Once our heartbeats went back to normal, we carried on.

Unfortunately. the next time our heart rates went ballistic was nothing good,  As we were approaching Murrells Inlet, I suddenly started noticing the depths were quickly getting shallower.  Almost immediately, we went aground.  This was out in the ocean, about 2 miles from shore, in an area that was charted at over 20 feet.  We should have been fine, but we weren't. Carey jumped on the helm and tried to get us out of there, but every time we moved forward, we hit again.  Thank goodness it was sand and not hard coral!  The waves started to break onto us, right on the beam, which was when it got scary.  Sideways, we were getting hammered.  Carey was able to turn us into the waves and get us moved forward (out to sea) one swell at a time.  Then, we'd hit bottom again.  It took several minutes, which seemed like hours, but we were finally in deeper water.  We were definitely not going into Murrells Inlet for the night.

That left us with a few options--either enter one of the small, unknown inlets in the dark, or we could do an overnight passage to Wrightsville Beach, or go to Southport at Cape Fear, a deeper, wider inlet, and arrive in the dark.  We decided on Southport to avoid an overnight passage.

By 2:00 AM, we had 17-19 knot winds and 5 foot swells on the beam.  Not a comfortable ride, especially scary when we can't see the waves that are about to slap us on the side

We arrived at the Cape Fear Inlet at 3:00 AM and experienced the entrance from hell --that's not why it's called Cape Fear, but it should be!  It took over an hour to get through the inlet.  We had whitewater, breaking waves as we were entering, because the tide was ebbing, which means it was going out against the incoming swell, which makes them steeper and higher and causes them to break. We were surfing into Southport!

Our plan was to anchor somewhere for the rest of the night, and then figure out what we wanted to do.  However, once inside the channel, we had a terrific current pushing against us, along with choppy waves, and nowhere to anchor.  We couldn't anchor in the channel and it was too shallow outside of the channel to anchor.  Plus, there were no marinas open until 8 and 9 o'clock....aaaarrrrgggghhhhh. We were exhausted, famished, and homeless.  Plus, I had a ferocious headache.  We motored around in a daze, wondering what to do.  Finally, at 7:20AM, we went to Southport Marina and tied up on their fuel dock, waiting for them to open.  Then, we laid down for a quick nap.  Nope, no nap.  The dockhand came out around 7:45 and said they were full, even the spots on the fuel dock!  We had to leave.  Now, what?  He suggested that we try the marina just up the channel.  We called them--no room at the inn.  We called Deep Point marina--no room at the inn.  We called Bald Head Marina--yea, they had a slip for us, but, boo, it was so shallow there that we'd be sitting on the bottom during low tide, if we didn't mind.  Aaaarrrrggghhh.  Yes, we did mind.  Then, we called South Harbor Village.  Yes, they did have a slip, but it would be on the outside of a dock with ICW traffic passing right by and the strong forecasted winds blowing us right on the dock.  Fine, we didn't care and, by then, we weren't choosy.  It was just a mile up the channel, but we still had to get off of this dock.  We "sprung" off again, which is a technique we've had to use a few times when strong winds were holding us on the dock.  It worked again, but it's always nerve wracking.

We arrived at South Harbor Village Marina in minutes, pulled a u-turn in the channel, and snuggled up to the dock.  Finally, a home!  After tying up to our satisfaction with extra fenders, we ate reheated leftover pasta, had quick showers to wash off the sea salt, and crawled into bed.  A few hours later, we were up.  We went to the Dead End Cafe for dinner and then crashed early.



Tuesday, May 2, 2017

This is Mom's moving day. Woohoo!  Good luck on the move, everybody!

Okay, back to us.  LOL

After a lazy morning on the boat, we walked a mile into town for lunch.  Cheap, good food.  My favourite.  However, why does everyone insist on cash?  No credit cards accepted, but they would take a personal cheque.  Go figure.

Our next step was to get to Wrightsville Beach.  This meant getting out of the treacherous Cape Fear inlet and travelling the 61 nautical miles around Frying Pan Shoals to get to Wrightsville Beach.  The other option, was to try the ICW route, which included a 65 foot fixed bridge. Our mast height is 67 feet, so this would only work at low tide.  However, this route was only 17 miles, and we could go today and not have to wait for a weather window for the outside passage.  We decided to try the ICW route.

We "sprung" off the dock (again) at 3:10 PM for the 17 nautical mile trip to Wrightsville Beach.  We wanted to arrive at the Snows Cut Bridge at low tide, which is at 7:45. 15 minutes either way would be fine, too.  We are giving ourselves lots of time, just in case we run into any delays on the way.

The ICW canals and waterways that we are going through are very narrow with extremely shallow waters on each side.  Stressful!

We arrived at the bridge well in advance of the low tide mark.  Our plan was to go under the bridge at 7:30, but we were there at 6:00.  The tide was ALMOST at its lowest ebb; just short by point 8 of a foot.  That still meant that we should have enough room to go under the bridge. Fingers crossed.

We decided to go for it.  We crept closer, and closer, the current pushing us forward, us holding our breaths.  We reached the bridge and I stared up at the top of our mast.  It looked like we would hit for sure, but, miraculously, it didn't!  We floated through without even tinging our VHF aerial on the bridge struts.  Oh, happy day!  I can't tell you how relieved I was! Wow, we made it through our first ICW bridge.

Next, we had to get to the anchorage just around the bend.  No problem, we thought, this'll be easy.  Think again.  We pulled into the anchorage, which seemed shallow, but it was in our guidebook so we continued.  Uh, oh, not good.  Carey went up to get the anchor ready, and I went aground.  Aaarrrggghhh!   I was able to back off of it and then retrace our steps back to the canal.  Then, we had to find a new home for the night.  Just a little further, we saw a mooring field, with a billboard that stated prices.  Yahoo!  We quickly picked up a mooring ball for the night.  Then, it was time for a celebratory drink and dinner.  We totally enjoyed the quiet, stress-free evening on the mooring ball. Bed early, though, because we have an early departure in the morning.



Wednesday, May 3, 2017

We dropped our mooring ball at 6:26 am and were on our way to Beaufort, North Carolina.  (That's Bo-Fort, not its South Carolinian cousin, Byew-Fort.)   We have to go over 10 miles on the ICW to get to the Masonboro Inlet which will let us out to the ocean.  By then, it will be low tide, so I hope it's deep enough for us.  According to our charts, we should have lots of water under our keel, but we know how that goes.

There are many pelicans around here.  They are funny to watch, because they dive right into the water, but also because they play follow the leader.  Five or six pelicans will fly in a line and they copy everything the leader does--fly low, glide, flap, fly higher, glide, flap, turn.  So delightful!

Carey navigated us up the narrow ICW canal. Watching for shallow water all the time is not relaxing.  Give me open water any day.  Along the way, we saw dolphins, pelicans, terns, a cormorant, and Canada geese.  We are starting to see some of our northern birds.  The fishing boats go roaring up and down here, and there are many of them, seemingly oblivious of the "No Wake" signs.

Around 8:00, we were going through the Masonboro Inlet to the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Phew, we made it out.  Very small swells today, so an easy exit through the inlet, for once.

Once out of the inlet, we turned onto our course of 079 degrees, and put up the sails. We left the engine running, because we need to get to the marina by 5:00, because that's when their office closes for the day and no one will be there to direct us to our slip after that.  (RPMs 2200; SOG 6.8-7.1; wind speed 11-15 knots; close reach.)

We have reservations at the Town Creek Marina in Beaufort.  They have floating docks and are protected from the strong current and south winds.  The forecast is for very high winds of 25-30 knots on Friday and Saturday, so we want somewhere secure.

Pretty soon the wind clocked to the north and we had to furl the jib.  We left the main up, just to reduce the rolling from the swells, but it was flapping around a bit.  The ocean is so calm today.  We are just being gently rocked back and forth from the swells.

Diny sent us a new weather word today: cairies. Pronounced just like Carey's.  It means "swift moving clouds". Seems appropriate for a sailor.  We have no cairies in the sky today, just a Carey in the boat, and he would like to be moving swiftly!

At 2:00, the wind had freshened, so we put out the main and the Code Zero. This increased our speed and we were able to slow the engine to 1800 RPMs.  At 3:00, we turned off the engine and just sailed.  Getting 7-8 knots SOG!

We followed two Coast Guard vessels into the Beaufort inlet, surfing our way in on smaller swells.  We got to the Highway Bascule Bridge just in time for its 6:30 opening (even though the bridgemaster was sleeping and had his radio turned down), and then docked at the marina face dock easily.  No one was here at the marina to catch us, but it was an easy landing on their brand new floating dock.  As soon as we had snugged up the boat, we walked to City Kitchen Restaurant right here on the dock for dinner.  I had the best grouper dinner and Carey's prime rib eye steak was delicious.  Sated, we returned to the boat and relaxed for a while before bed.






Thursday, May 4, 2017

After breakfast, we checked the weather forecast, again, and I called Customs.  Customs wants us to call frequently on our way up the coast, because they want to be able to keep track of us.  No problem with our call in.  We are cleared in.  Next call will be to Norfolk CBP.

The Town Creek Marina is charging us $1.50 per foot instead of the regular charge of $2 per foot, because we are Towboat US members. Awesome!

After checking into the marina, we decided to try moving to another dock--one that is more protected from the winds and out of the main channel, so protected from boat wakes and tidal currents and waves.  The wind was starting to increase, but today's forecast was just for 15 knot winds, so it should have worked.  We had the dock hands throw off our lines and headed toward the new slip.  It was a tight turn and our bow was being blown hard over by the wind, so there was no way we could make it. Carey aborted the attempt and we tried to turn into another dock.  Nope, no way.  The boat was being blown sideways right out of the dock channel.  We returned to the face dock, but backed in, to the same spot we were in before.  Phew, safely tied down once again.  (We have no shore power here, but that's okay.). When I checked the wind gauge it said that we were getting gusts up to 28 knots!  What!?!   No wonder it was hard to maneuvre.  Carey did a great job getting us out of there and back to a safe dock.  This wind wasn't forecasted until tomorrow and Saturday.  It's blowing so hard already that the cover on our chartplotter was blown right off, twice.  It's now safely put away, although Carey eventually put it back with a bungee cord around it.  We also took down our US courtesy flag.   No use it getting flogged to ribbons.  Carey also took off most of the bimini canvas to reduce the windage during the high winds.

At 3:00, we borrowed the marina's courtesy car and headed for their downtown.  We walked downtown on Front Street on the waterfront.  Sound familiar?  Lots of shops and good restaurants.  Happy days--we found a new Canadian flag!  Yippee!  Our original one was shredded from too many days in the harsh sun and sea air.

Later, we drove to the Food Lion grocery store.  They have everything!  I feel like a person who has lived through the depression and now feel I have to stock up on every good thing I see.  American grocery stores have all kinds of delicious, easy meal, pre-made stuff.  For example, there's a rosemary, olive oil sauce for fingerling potatoes.  Just coat the potatoes and bake. Yummy!  We also love the Bear Creek soup mixes. Just add water and you have a hearty soup.  This stuff is so handy on a boat.  This is so unlike the Caribbean stores we visited, with their high prices, poor produce, and lack of variety.  I took in two reusable cloth bags and came out with four large ones. Oh, well, we're stocked again.

Back at the boat, I made supper while we both put away our goodies.  We have to eat indoors tonight, because our food would blow right off of our plates if we were outside.