Oct 10
The weather for the next several days is forecast to be pretty crummy, but we are leaving anyway. We will be in the ICW, so the weather isn't as much of an issue as sailing offshore, except for our comfort. From Norfolk south, there are several bridges to be opened and one lock to be dealt with. We are not going to use the Dismal Swamp route this time, so that means only one lock, not two. Since today is a federal holiday (Columbus Day) the bridge schedules are different than usual. Usually on a weekday, the bridges around Norfolk won't open during rush hours. So if we were leaving on a normal weekday, we would have to have waited until 08:30 for the first bridge which is just a few miles south of the marina. Since it is a holiday though, they open on demand. As it turned out, by the time we were ready to go, the 08:30 opening would have been perfect.
We arose about 06:45, started the coffee pot, and headed up to the showers. The promise of cruddy weather came true, as it was cool and drizzling. Back at the boat, we had coffee and started preparing. We undid the hose, the cable TV coax, the power cords and stowed them all in their proper places. We bought a new power cord (we use two) in Annapolis to replace one that has an end scorched. We debated over what to do with the old one. It is still usable, so I hate to throw it away, but it is bulky. We found that if we stowed my dive fins back in the v-berth where they started the trip, that left room to stow the extra power cord in the outside locker with the others.
I have heard about the migration of boats north in the spring and south in the fall. We did not experience this on our way north, since we were coming up later than most. But this morning it is obvious. Just in the time we were walking to and from the showers, we saw about ten power boats headed south. I would think the sailboats would get an earlier start since they are slower, but that isn't the case this morning.
Back on the boat, I started the engine to warm it up. First thing I noticed was the fuel gauge was still around half full. I thought that even though I knew we had short-filled when we got here, we had more that that. A little quick math and I realized that I just wasn't thinking when I came to that conclusion. So, I called the office on the radio and asked them to send the dock hand down to the fuel dock. We left the slip and moved the whole seventy feet or so to the fuel dock. Barb threw the dock lines to the dock hand. The wind was blowing us off the dock, so even though I was right alongside as I approached, by the time he got the lines secure, we were a good fifteen feet off, and he had to pull us in. He was one of the least experienced dock hands I have dealt with, and he didn't get the concept of using a spring line to let me motor it in, or even understand that if he put the line around a cleat it would give him an advantage in pulling strength. He just tugged us in until we were about five feet off the dock. He passed me the diesel hose and I put another twenty gallons in. I guess we weren't full! I went up to the office and paid and got a bag of ice. We were underway at 08:20, which would put us at the first bridge about 08:30. So much for the advantage of it being a holiday.
At the first bridge, there was a large powerboat about half a mile ahead of us, and I expected the bridge tender to make him wait until I caught up so he could make one opening. To my surprise, he opened for them, kept it open for me, and then kept it open for a barge that was a good mile behind me. Must have been some upset drivers on that road. The next bridge is about three miles away. The powerboat got ahead of me again, although they were not going very fast. At this one, the bridge tender made them wait until we got there, I was going as fast as I could so as not to make them wait too long. The bridge opened with perfect timing so the powerboat got underway and I came through right behind them still at full speed.
The next bridge is several miles away. I noticed a neat trend around here between the bridge tenders. As we passed under the Jordan Bridge (first one) it's tender called ahead on the radio to the Gilmerton Bridge (second one) and told him there was one power and one sail headed his way. When we passed under Gilmerton, he called ahead to the Steel Bridge with the same news. So, when we got to the Steel Bridge, which was several miles) I was surprised to see the powerboat stopped there preparing to drop their anchor. I thought since it was a holiday all the bridges opened on demand. Turns out this one normally opens on the hour and half hour, but since it's a holiday it only opens on the hour. It was 09:15 now, meaning we had to wait forty-five minutes. I opted not to anchor since there is little wind or current. I just kept backing up slowly about a thousand feet and then drifting back towards the bridge. While we were waiting, another power boat and two other sailboats caught up and waited too. At 10:00, the bridge opened and we all proceeded. The two powerboats went first, followed by us and then the other two sailboats.
Our next challenge is the Great Bridge Lock. The lock operates on a schedule too. They lock in northbound boats on the hour and then southbound boats are timed so they finish the locking on the hour. So, the bridge delay really didn't hurt, since we would have been held up here anyway. When we got to the lock, there were no northbound boats, and we entered the lock at about 10:30. All five of us fit with room for many more. The lock will take us up about one foot. This lock separates the tidal waters of the Chesapeake and Norfolk Harbor from the river waters which make up the ICW from here south. About 10:50, the water in the lock rose and we exited the south end. Just about a quarter mile away is the Great Bridge Bridge which opens on the hour in conjunction with the lock. We passed through the bridge, and the other two sailboats immediately docked at the free docks there. While the thought of a free dock is tempting, we are not nearly far enough to call it a day. Maybe since it's lightly raining, they don't want to be uncomfortable. That's why we have our cockpit enclosure.
After Great Bridge, there was Centerville Bridge in about three miles. So far, the distances between the bridges have kept the powerboats from getting too far ahead of us. So, we all go through together, and we aren't holding them up. Centerville was no exception. The next bridge is the North Landing swing bridge and it is about five miles from Centerville. At this distance, the powerboats got out of sight. North Landing opens on the hour and half hour even though it's a holiday. I was doing the math in my head and I didn't think that even at full throttle we would make the next opening. I knew from the radio that the two powerboats were already there waiting. At about four minutes before the hour, we were a mile from the bridge. I called the bridge on the radio and told him we were coming as fast as we could. I left it up to him if he could hold the bridge an extra minute or so or if we would have to wait half an hour. He said to "pour it on". We cleared the bridge about a minute after the powerboats, and I thanked the bridge tender profusely.
There are no more bridges on the route today. We eventually got to Coinjock, NC, which is a popular boating stop. There are several marinas right on the ICW here, and all the large powerboats we had seen earlier in the day were tied up here. By large, I mean anywhere from the two we have been traveling with, which are in the forty-five to fifty foot range, to seventy-five foot and larger motor yachts. I guess they don't do anchorages, which is what we have planned.
We go about another five miles, pass a real barge which is unusual along the east-coast ICW, and then find our anchorage behind Buck Island. There is one other sailboat anchored already, although they are kind of out in the middle of nowhere. The possible anchorage to be out of the ICW is quite large, but I want to go the half mile or so out of the ICW and get as close to the shore as possible. There is still about a ten knot breeze blowing from the north, so I figure the closer to the south shore of the island we are, the less the wind will affect us. We anchored in about ten feet of water, a couple hundred feet offshore. No other boats anchored here later.
We spent some time reading and enjoying a beverage or two, had dinner, and then retired just after dark (which was only about 19:30). The wind never did get any worse, and we had a good night's sleep without worry of the anchor being secure.
GPS N 36-14.826 W 75-55.973 Miles made good this leg 54. Total miles covered 2871.
Oct 11
We have a relatively short day ahead of us today, so we didn't rush to get up, although after going to bed so early we were ready to get up before 07:00 anyway. We took the time to have a nice breakfast of egg/onion/tomato tacos and sausage. Having the easy day was perfect timing as the food needed to be used before it went bad. While eating, we noticed the procession of large powerboats going by. I'm sure these were all the boats that spent the night in Coinjock. Again, I'm surprised the big powerboats get underway so early, but then again, they probably make the trip south in half the days we do. Even with our leisurely start, we are underway before 08:30. The other boat that had been anchored with us got underway just about the same time, and we ended up just behind them once we were back out in the ICW channel. They were running just a tad slower than I would have, but I opted to just follow them for the first five miles until we got out in the open waters of Albemarle Sound.
The conditions today are about the same. Ten knots of wind directly on the stern with following seas. Once in the open waters, I unfurled the main and kicked up the engine to cruise at about seven knots. We passed the other boat, and settled in for a straight forward run down Albemarle Sound to the Alligator River. The only bridge of the day is the Alligator River Bridge. It opens on demand anytime. We had been catching another sailboat and were about three-quarters of a mile behind him when he got to the bridge. The bridge tender asked him to wait until we caught up so we could go through with one opening. We throttled up to full speed and slid through behind the other boat, again without breaking stride. We slowed a little after the bridge, but stayed ahead of the other sailboat that we passed right after the bridge.
Our destination tonight is the place at the north end of the Alligator-Pungo Canal, where we stopped on the way north and it was dead quiet. If you don't recall, when we stopped here on the way north, once we shut off the motor, the silence was deafening. There were no birds, no bugs, no sounds from the woods which are within a few hundred feet of the anchorage. No lights, no sounds of traffic in the distance. No cell phone signal, no TV. And the wind was dead calm, so there was no water movement noise. Well, this time, there are sounds. For one thing, the wind is blowing pretty good, so there is water lapping on the hull, the wind generator is running, and the wind whistles through our screens to give a nice hurricane sound to a ten knot breeze. Also, there are lots of birds this time. There are seagulls, cormorants, and terns. There also are two other boats who came in after us, and six other boats about a mile away in another cove. It's still a nice anchorage, but not the same as that first impression.
We noticed after dark that the anchor light doesn't seem to be on. I'm sure it was on last night. I tried the wiggle test on the wires at the base of the mast where the problem was before we left Texas. Still no light. So, I turned on the steaming light instead. Better the wrong light than no light.
GPS N 35-40.410 W 76-05.830 Miles made good this leg 44. Total miles covered 2915.
Oct 12
The night was ok, but not the best sleep. I awoke several times and checked that we were secure. The wind blew fairly hard all night, but we didn't move. What was disconcerting though was the way the boat was moving. We are at the southern end of the Alligator River, which is very wide and more like a bay. At the southern end, it narrows, and we have gone around two zigzags to the anchorage. The wind has been blowing hard from the north all day, and there was a large swell rolling south out in the main part of the river. Well, that water all has to go somewhere, so there is a constant rolling from the side where this water is finding it's way around the zigzag. The boat is pointing into the wind, but this swell hits us on the side, making for an interesting motion. It almost feels like we are tied to a dock and are getting waked by a passing boat. We went to bed quite early (20:30) so I guess it was ok that I was up at least four times to make sure we were in the same place.
We have a very long day planned today, so when I awoke at about 06:00, I got up even though it was still dark. Barb got up a little bit later, and we started preparing to leave as soon as there was enough light. We were underway at 07:00. While I thought we were starting early, both other boats in the anchorage left right behind us. The first twenty miles today is the Alligator-Pungo Canal. This canal is straight as an arrow, and fairly narrow, with one slight bend in the middle. It was here on the way north that we passed one of the few commercial barges of the trip, and today would be a repeat. The weather was drizzling and a little foggy. As we were leading the other two sailboats down the canal, I saw a dark spot looming in the distance. A quick check with the binoculars confirmed it was a barge headed our way. I contacted him on the radio and in a mile or so we passed with no problem. He was actually the first of three barges we would pass during the day.
The trip today takes us through this narrow canal to the Pungo River, which is fairly wide, but shallow enough that you have to stay in the marked channel. From there the route crosses the Pamlico River, which is about three miles wide at this point, to Goose Creek, another narrow stretch, but a natural twisty one instead of like the man-made canal. Goose Creek connects to Bay River via another man-made canal, and then Bay River joins the Nuese River which again is a large, wide body of water. At the southern end of the Nuese River is South River, where we anchored on the way north. This is where we plan to spend the night. We found that similar to last night, the north wind is making a large swell come down the Nuese River and into the mouth of the South River. We went much further up the South River than last time, hoping to get in some flat water. Three miles up the river, around two bends, we anchored in ten feet of water a few hundred feet off the shore. This will give us the best protection from the wind, but we found that, as with last night, the swell still makes it in from the larger body of water. We backed down hard on the anchor, so I feel good about holding, but it will be a rolly night.
When we got here, we noticed the bilge pump had run about ten times. I checked the rudder shaft packing, and it is leaking some, so I tightened the nut. I also did some more wiggling of wires at the mast base in hopes of making the anchor light work. It still doesn't. We will be spending the night at a marina tomorrow. Maybe I'll go up the mast to check it.
Where we were last night, there was no cell service, which means no computer connection, the same as on the way north. What is unique about today though, is that we are isolated from cell service almost all day. I need to make an important call today, as well as we need to make a reservation for the marina tomorrow night. As we approach Belhaven, a real town about half way through today's route, I have Barb keep checking the phone. No service. Surprisingly, near Hobucken, which is in the middle of nowhere, we got service. We made our calls, and even connected to get e-mail, then it was gone again. I guess I should look at it as practice for the Bahamas.
GPS N 34-56.953 W 76-33.569 Miles made good this leg 69. Total miles covered 2984.
Oct 13
We had a pretty good night although there was the constant motion from the incoming swell. We were up at dawn, just because we went to bed so early that we couldn't sleep anymore. We got underway about 07:45. I had been awake since about 04:00, worrying about getting the anchor up. This was because when we dropped the anchor, it dragged for quite a bit before it dug in. I was imagining that maybe the bottom was rocky and we finally snagged a rock. If this were the case, I was afraid it might not come out when we powered forward over it. Well, my worry was for nothing. Although it had held tight all night, the anchor came up amongst the easiest it ever has. As I was hauling in the chain, there was no mud on it, and I could feel sand in my hands. So, the bottom must be hard packed sand. I was much relieved, although I'm thinking that hauling a hundred feet of chain and a thirty-five pound anchor is no way for an old man to be starting his day everyday.
The temperature this morning is only sixty-five degrees, and the wind is still out of the north, but at least it isn't raining. In fact, the front must have passed because the air feels dry and there is no moisture on the boat at all.
Today's route will take us west across the southern end of the Nuese River, which is wide and long and will probably be rough since the wind has been blowing from the north all night. We will have to make about three miles with the waves hitting us broadside, before we turn south and the ride smoothes out. As it turned out, the ride was not great, but not as bad as I had expected. After the three miles west, we went about three miles south to Adams Creek. This is a natural river for about six miles, then becomes a straight man-made canal for another five miles where it joins the Newport River into Morehead City. At Morehead City, the route turns west through Bogue Sound for twenty miles to Swansboro.
We had a few points of interest today. The first was as we were entering Adams Creek from the Nuese River. The channel in the creek is relatively narrow and has a dog-leg at the end which you must follow to avoid very shallow water. As luck would have it, a barge was coming out of the creek, and the timing was going to be such that we met him right at the turn into this dog-leg. I called him on the radio to see if he needed me to wait while he negotiated the turn, and he said no, just bring it on. So we did. When I got to the marker at the entrance to the dog-leg, I turned sharp around it and passed the barge port-to-port as you normally would. It ended up being no big deal, but it kept me on my toes. A few miles further down the creek, we were approaching another turn and I saw the nose of a tugboat coming our way. Again, I called him to see which side he wanted me on. He said he was moving slow and just come on and pass port-to-port as usual. Well, it worked fine, but as we got closer we were amazed at what he was pulling. He was towing a large dredge, which is the size of a barge, followed by several barges full of pipes and small boats and signs and general stuff that's used to dredge, followed by at least five hundred feet of floating dredge pipe. About midway down this whole train of stuff were two little boats, one on each side, that were there to help control the steerage of the train. It was pretty amazing to think they were taking this whole mess out into the more open waters of the Nuese with it blowing like it is.
At the southern end of the man-made canal that connects Adams Creek to the Newport River, we spotted a dolphin. This is the first dolphin we have seen since leaving NY. It had come up for breaths a couple of times, showing it's fin like they do, then it disappeared. Next thing I knew, it was swimming at the surface right next to the cockpit, exactly matching our speed. It would drop down underwater a few inches, where we could still see it, then surface again. It did this for about a minute before it lost interest and went back to it's buddies. As we went on south, we saw that there were several of them there. Although we saw many dolphins on the way north, this was the first one that really interacted with us.
Bogue Sound makes me nervous. On the way north, this was where we ran aground and had to be pulled of by some folks in a trawler that we had met the day before. This body of water is between the mainland and the barrier island. It is very shallow except for the dredged channel, and the channel itself has many shallow spots in it. Today, there were several places where we got under eight feet deep in what is supposed to be a minimum twelve foot channel. But, we never touch bottom, and the place where we got stuck last time has either been dredged or the marker has been moved, because we never saw less than seventeen feet through there.
While traversing Bogue Sound, we saw a guy proving just how shallow it is. He was standing way out in the middle of the water, only up to his waist deep. He was pulling some kind of plastic tub behind him as if he were collecting some kind of shellfish or something. This in itself wasn't that odd. What was odd was that about ten minutes later, we heard an announcement on the radio from the Coast Guard of a report of a man in the water in the vicinity of marker 24. Well, that's where this guy had been. I considered calling the Coast Guard to say yes there was a guy in the water, but he wasn't in distress, but I didn't because I didn't have eyes on him right then, and maybe something had happened, or maybe it was somebody else. A little while later, I heard a Coast Guard boat talking to the local fire department rescue squad on shore and they were on scene. A few minutes later the Coast Guard base cancelled the alert and said the person had been located safe.
About 15:00, we approached Swansboro, NC. We are going to stay in a marina tonight for a break in worrying about anchoring. Dudley's marina is a little place we found on the way north. It is not fancy, but it is friendly and cheap. The docks are fixed and there are only a few slips near the end that will accommodate a sailboat's depth, but they have electricity, water, fuel at the slip, bathrooms and showers, a courtesy car and a convenience store. Best of all, it only cost $.75/ft. We got the same slip we had when northbound. It is exposed to the wakes of passing boats but at least you know you're securely tied when the boat rocks and not worried about the anchor.
We decided to stay here tomorrow too and take a break. I need to change the oil and fix a couple little things, and I could use a day off after four days in a row of ugly weather traveling. We showered and then walked about half a mile to Captain Charley's, a nice seafood restaurant. The marina will take you to any restaurant, and many of the restaurants will give you a ride back, but we figured we needed the exercise after four days aboard. The food was very good, and reasonably priced, but two things stood out. First, instead of bread before the meal, they bring a basket of hush puppies. What was unique was the hush puppies themselves. Unlike Texas hush puppies which are deep fried balls of cornbread, these were not cornbread. And, they were not round. They were deep fried pieces of bread which were shaped and sized very similar to a human finger. Some straight, some bent a little. We started joking about making sure each one was bread and not meat. We didn't want a Wendy's episode. The other unique thing they had was that every meal came with clam chowder. Well, I've had New England clam chowder, the thick creamy white kind. And I've had Manhattan style which is a red, watery, tomato based variety. This stuff was neither. Don't get me wrong, it was very good, but entirely different. It was watery and clear. It was like a fish stock that had onions and clam pieces and rice in it. Kind of like chicken and rice soup, but with clams instead. Another unique thing at this place was that when Barb ordered the deviled crab casserole, the waitress insisted on bringing her a bite to sample before she committed to it. As the waitress put it, people either love it or hate it, and they'd rather be sure with first-timers, rather than have them disappointed. Barb liked it and still got it, but I thought that was very cool that they checked like that.
GPS N 34-40.823 W 77-06.754 Miles made good this leg 50. Total miles covered 3034.