Oct 14

Happy 19th Birthday to A.J.!

We are taking a day off traveling today.  The cool, dreary weather just isn't fun to travel in, so we will do some things to the boat.  After breakfast, I tackled the list.  First, I installed the new TV antenna we bought in Annapolis.  As usual, no boat project is as simple as it should be.  This is a replacement, not a new install, so it should be easy right?  Well, first I put a new end on the coax.  Then I mounted the new mount on the rear arch.  So far so good.  Then I tried to screw the antenna onto the mount.  This should be a no-brainer, but it wouldn't thread on.  This is a stainless threaded mount, screwing into a plastic base of the antenna.  The threads are an industry standard.  After no luck, I took the mount off the arch so I could have a better grip on trying to start the threads.  All I accomplished was chewing up the beginning threads in the plastic.  After closer inspection, it seemed that the stainless mount was not threaded properly all the way to the end.  So, I took it up to the shop at the marina, and used their vice so I could hacksaw off about an eighth of an inch were the threads we not complete.  It then threaded onto the antenna fine.  I completed the mounting, and now we have real TV reception when we are not in a marina with a cable hook-up. 

Next I changed the engine oil and filter, and replaced the zinc that goes in the engine's heat exchanger.  Then I replaced the Lifesling cover which I tore up while docking in Annapolis.  I also relocated the whole Lifesling to the back rail, instead of the side, so I can't tear it up that way again.  I also retied the lines which are holding the jerry cans of fuel to the aft deck.  They had loosened up a bit over the summer. 

We also filled the boat with fuel.  There is a fuel pump right at the end of the dock we are on, so we didn't have to move the boat to do this.  Yesterday morning, I had calculated our fuel usage, and thought we should have enough to get to Swansboro without using a jerry can, but the gauge was on E, and that drove me nuts, so while underway in the calm canal waters, I had added one jerry can (5 gallons).  Well, when we filled the forty-four gallon tank, it only took thirty-six gallons.  So, we would have made it without me adding the jerry can.  Guess I should trust the math.  I didn't used to know how much fuel we burned per hour, but since we left on the trip, we have been keeping detailed records, so I have a good idea.  This confirmed the numbers are right.

After all that work, we borrowed the courtesy car from the marina and went to the grocery store.  On the way, we spotted a roadside sign about the highway cleanup sponsorship.  It was the Emerald Isle Parrothead Club.  Since we always participated in the highway cleanups that our club did, we were tickled to see another club's sign.

We enjoyed dinner aboard tonight, and watched nice clear TV with our new antenna.  About 21:00, I heard music outside.  I poked my head above and determined it was coming from the little bar across the bay, which we had walked past last night on our way to dinner.  The first song they played was Margaritaville !  We wondered if it was a Emerald Isle PHC event, and toyed with the idea of walking over to see.  But, we are leaving in the morning, and don't need a late night.  I looked for a website for the Emerald Isle PHC, and what I found didn't have a calendar, so we couldn't be sure. 

GPS N 34-40.823 W 77-06.754  Miles made good this leg 0. Total miles covered 3034.

Oct 15

We got up at first light as usual.  Unfortunately, first light these days isn't all that early.  It was about 07:15 when we got up.  We had a better nights sleep than the previous night, because the wind had died down during the night.  The wind had been blowing from the stern the previous night, which means the little waves it makes slap under the stern and really are annoying when you sleep in an aft cabin.  With less wind, there was less noise, thus better sleep.  We fixed coffee, made a bathroom run and got ready to go.

Any docking or undocking's success is based largely on the wind and current one must contend with during the process.  Where we are, the current runs strong either from the bow or stern, depending on the tide.  And the wind has been blowing strong from the north for days now, which would pin us on the dock.  I had been plotting our escape, and was delighted to find that when we were pulling out at 08:00, the current was slack, and the wind had shifted to be directly on our stern which shouldn't be a problem.  This should be easy.  We undid the spring line we had.  The bow and stern lines were looped around pilings and toed back to the boat.  So, we should be able to cast them off from the boat and be gone.  I undid the stern and held it while Barb cast off the bow.  She then came back to hold the stern while I got to the helm.  I started to back up, nice and straight and pretty as can be, and told Barb to flip the stern line over the piling.  Her flip didn't work, and we were backing out, so I told her to just let the line go and it would run around the piling as we backed out, and she could pull it in then.  Good plan, except the line had a tangle at the end which caught on the dock as it slid around the piling.  This, of course, stopped our backwards progress and made the boat twist in the slip, so the bow was against the dock and the stern was against the piling between our slip and the next one.  I quickly grabbed the boat hook and pushed us back towards the dock, while also powering back into the slip a little.  Barb started tugging on the line, and eventually got it loose.  Somewhere in the process, I knocked my full cup of coffee on the cockpit floor.  We then backed out very crooked, but got out with no damage.  I think we also got out without any witnesses.  That's what really counts.

Today's journey will take us through four bridges that we need opened, which all have specific schedule.  The first is the Onslow Beach Bridge, which is the  northern end of Camp Lejeune, the Marine base.  This bridge opens on the hour and half-hour.  When we were within a half-hour away, I started doing the math, and figured we would just miss an opening.  I was going as fast as we could, and it looked like we would be within a minute or so of making it.  I called the bridge operator (this bridge is operated by the Marines, not the state) and told him we were coming and could we make the opening.  He said no problem, and held it open long enough for us to pass.  I felt good about that one.  The next bridge is a couple hours away, and only opens on the hour.  As we get close enough to try and estimate our arrival, I figured we could not possibly make it, so we didn't push it.  I should mention that in this portion of the ICW, we are running just inside the barrier islands, so the ICW is very subject to strong currents as the tide changes.  This makes it harder to predict how fast we can go.  We can run almost nine knots with a good current, or as slow as five and a half at full throttle on a foul current.  Anyway, we got to the Surf City Bridge about 11:20.  We called the bridge and told him we were there, and confirmed that we had to wait until 12:00.  Over the next forty minutes, several power boats arrived, as well as another sailboat that we passed a long time ago.  I knew from listening to the radio that there was a barge northbound.  The bridge opens on demand for barges, and I had hoped he might have gotten there before noon so we could piggyback on his opening.  Well, this worked against us instead.  Since the bridge operator knew the barge was coming, he delayed the opening for fifteen minutes, so we could all pass with one opening.  That meant we sat there for an hour waiting.  As I have said before for the non-sailors, keeping a sailboat parked is hard to do, especially when you throw in some wind and current.  I was a bit frustrated at this point.  I usually go out of my way to thank bridge operators as we pass, but this guy got no comment from me.  Next bridge is the Figure Eight Island Bridge.  As we get close, around 15:00, I am doing the math again, and I don't think we will make it.  I keep us at full throttle though just in case.  As it turned out, we got a boost from the current and slid through just in time.  I thanked this bridge operator.  Last is the Wrightsville Beach Bridge.  It only opens on the hour, and it is less than four miles from the Figure Eight Island Bridge.  So, we cut the throttle back and coast along so we will get there at 16:00.  No sense rushing and then have to circle waiting.  We pass through between to large motor yachts and negotiate our way through about twenty little power boats that seem to have no regard for the traffic.  It's very similar to July 4th in the Clear Lake Channel back home.

Once though the mess, we turn into Mott's Channel which will take us into the anchorage at Wrightsville Beach.  We stayed here on our way north.  It is a good secure anchorage, although it is rolly before dark due to power boats and jet skis racing nearby.  After dark though it calms down.  There are fewer boats in the anchorage tonight than on our way north.  It seems we are ahead of the real rush of the southbound migration.  After a much needed adult beverage, we cooked burgers on the grill and relaxed under a full moon.  Since we haven't seen the sky in over a week, we did not know what phase the moon was at.  It was a pleasant surprise to see it rise full.

GPS N 34-12.475 W 77-47.947  Miles made good this leg 49. Total miles covered 3083.

Oct 16

We were up at dawn, as seems to be the norm when on the boat.  The night was good.  This anchorage has a current which reverses with each tide, but we held just fine.  This anchorage has two ways in and out.  We came in Mott's Channel, which is the northern of the two options, and we are leaving via Shinn Creek which is the southern and deeper option. 

We finally see the sun, although it was quite chilly this morning.  It was about 50 when we awoke, and got into the mid 70's during the day.  While the 70's are pleasant enough when you are sitting still, we are on the water with a good breeze on us all the time - either from the boat movement or the real wind.  As it was when we had the motorcycle, the 70's are cool when a breeze is added.

As we were motoring south through the anchorage, we could see another mast over the island of dredge spoils, also going south.  Once we were out to the ICW, this boat was about a mile ahead of us.  We didn't seem to be catching up to them, so we were surprised when about ten miles down the road, at Carolina Beach, where the ICW turns west through Snow's Cut to the Cape Fear River, we were suddenly right behind them.  Snow's Cut is a narrow channel, with high sand embankments.  The current runs through there at several knots.  On our way north, we were running against the current, and in places the water looked like a white-water raft trip because of the numerous swirls and eddies caused by the high banks.  Today we are going against the current again.  At first I thought perhaps the other boat just didn't have motor enough to make any speed against the current, so I slowed down.  There is a high-rise bridge over Snow's Cut that we were approaching, and I didn't want us to both get there at the same time.  After a minute, the other boat moved out of the main channel and seemed to be stopping.  We pulled up enough to holler at them and asked if everything was ok.  Turned out they have a 64-foot mast, and the bridge which should have 65 feet of clearance, was only showing 63 feet on the tide board.  We were just past high tide, and the tides have been higher than normal due to a full moon.  They would have to wait a couple of hours before they could pass this bridge.  I wished them well and carried on.

Snow's Cut, with it's strong current is only about two miles long.  On the western end, we entered the Cape Fear River.  The same outgoing tide that hurt us in Snow's Cut, will work to our advantage in the river.  Once pointed south again, we ran between 9 and 10.5 knots for the ten miles south in the river.  Whoo hoo!

About three miles before the Cape Fear River empties into the Atlantic, we turned west again in the ICW ditch.  From here the ICW is lined with homes.  Some modest, some outrageous.  It seems the bigger and fancier the home, the more likely it is empty and only used for vacations.  The more modest the home, the more likely it is really somebody's full-time home. 

About forty miles into the day, we were approaching Shallotte Inlet.  This is the place we anchored on the way north after we couldn't get into our intended anchorage because it was too shallow.  Shallotte Inlet itself has a place where it is badly shoaled.  We are passing through at low tide, although it isn't as low as back in July.  While I was nervous, we made it through seeing a minimum of seven feet.  About five mile further on is the only opening bridge on this leg.  It is the Sunset Beach Pontoon Bridge.  The only pontoon bridge left on the Atlantic ICW.  It cannot open during extreme low tides, since the whole center "pontoon" section has to move to the side where it is apparently too shallow.  They only open on the hour, and we would be there around the half-hour, so I just slowed way down.  This was easier than trying to sit still and wait.  We timed it almost perfect, so we only had to actually sit and wait a few minutes.

Our original plan for the day was to try to anchor at Calabash Creek, just a few miles past this bridge.  This is where we couldn't get in on the way north.  This morning I made the executive decision to not try this again, even though the water is higher now.  We will go about five mile past Calabash and stop at a marina.

There are several marinas along the ICW at Little River.  We picked the first one, since it is a little isolated from the rest, and we're already five miles past today's plan.  Cricket Cove Marina is a new looking place, with one fairway that serves about fifty slips.  At the ICW end of each rows of slips, there is a face dock, one with fuel.  At the inner end of the marina is a large powerboat dry stack facility.  They put us on one of the face docks, even though there are a number of empty slips.  I suspect the actual marina is not deep enough for a sailboat.  After checking in and relaxing a bit, we walked up to the restaurant that is part of the marina.  They have a band playing that we can hear from the boat, so we might as well go up and check them out.  The restaurant is called Baker Street Bar & Grille.  We had a couple of beers and a very good, reasonably priced dinner.  We have just crossed the line from North Carolina to South Carolina, and I noticed that the bar was stocked with the little 150ml bottles of liquor that we saw in Charleston.  The owner of the place was waiting on us, so when he came by the table, I asked him what the logic was behind this strange law.  Turns out it's all tax related.  The little bottles cannot be sold to the public, so the state can control the taxes better if the bars can only buy the little bottles.  The law is apparently changing though.  It struck me as funny that it has taken years for them to change this law and come up with a way to implement it.  Seems like there are forty-nine other examples of how it can be done. 

GPS N 35-51.847 W 78-37.224  Miles made good this leg 49. Total miles covered 3132.

Oct 17

Today was a cool morning again.  The night was perfect, as once darkness fell, the boat traffic on the ICW ceased so even though we were on the face dock, it was calm.  Unlike the Gulf Coast ICW, there is little or no commercial barge traffic on the ICW here.  We hiked up to the showers just as the sun was rising, about 07:00.  The showers were new and clean and very well laid out, with two shower rooms separate from the main bathroom.  The shower rooms included their own toilets and sinks, so it was just like your bathroom at home.  More marinas who advertise to transients should style their facilities this way.

Back at the boat, we were getting ready and having our coffee.  There is a swing bridge just a couple of miles south of the marina.  In South Carolina, most of the bridges open on request, instead of set schedules, so I had not been concerned with this.  However, I spotted another sailboat coming southbound and figured if we hustled, we could get out there and go through the same bridge opening.  We quickly stowed the power cords and undid the dock lines and were off.  The other sailboat was a Hunter 23 with a little outboard motor, so he doesn't travel nearly as fast as we do.  Once on the water, I heard a northbound boat call the bridge.  After they spoke, I called the bridge and told him we were a mile away in case he wanted to wait and do one opening for all three of us.  He thanked me for letting him know.  This meant the northbound boat had to wait a few minutes for us to get there, but when we passed we thanked them for waiting.  Had we not done that, we might have had to wait a bit for traffic to clear before we could have gotten another opening.  About five miles further, we came to the next opening bridge.  We had to wait a few minutes for this one, because they had workers on the bridge, but after about five minutes, we were through.

From here the trip was uneventful.  All of today is in narrow waters, some man-made straight sections and some natural rivers, but all fairly narrow.  Much of the route was lined with houses and their docks, again some mansions and some modest.  After about twenty-five miles we came to the only other opening bridge of the day. The Socastee Swing Bridge does have a schedule, and opens at quarter after and quarter to each hour.  We got there about fifteen minutes early and had to wait.  As we waited, two trawlers that had been a mile or more behind us caught up.  This bridge screwed us up on the way north since they were painting it and that meant their schedule was at the whim of the workers.  Well, the work is done now, and it looks like a brand new light blue bridge.  I complemented the operator on the new paint job as we passed, but I don't think he cared about my comment.  Once past the bridge, I contacted the trawlers and asked how fast they wanted to go.  They were both about a half a knot faster than me, so I slowed down and let them pass.

We got to Georgetown, SC about 15:30.  Another Georgetown.  By my count, there are twenty-four Georgetowns in the USA, and who knows how many in the rest of the world.  One of the international ones is in the Bahamas, so we'll see another.  Back to South Carolina, the anchorage here is right off the historic village.  As with our northbound trip though, we are just spending the night and not going ashore.  The Skipper Bob anchorage book says the holding here is poor in soft mud.  We didn't have a problem last time, but sure enough this time, when we backed down on the anchor, it would move through the mud.  I finally gave up on a good grip and hoped the wind would die down.  Skipper Bob's also said there we thirty-four newly installed mooring balls, which I would have gladly used, but the only moorings here are a handful of private ones with the same old boats on them that were there in July.  We do get pretty good TV reception though, so we will be watching to see if the Houston Astros will be going to their first ever World Series.

GPS N 33-21.747 W 79-16.862  Miles made good this leg 58. Total miles covered 3190.

Oct 18

Well, I guess the bad things really started last night, when the Astros lost the game in the ninth inning.  One pitch away from the World Series, and St. Louis hits a three run homer.  I'll blame that for number two.  When we got up in the morning, the batteries were too low to make coffee without starting the motor.  Turned out we left the water heater turned on all night, and that's a no-no when anchored and running off the batteries.  So, I started the motor, turned off the water heater, and we made the coffee.  Since the motor was running, we took off as soon as the coffee was ready.  We have a fairly long day today anyway, so might as well get an early start.

The night had been dead calm, which was good since I was not happy with the way the anchor was set in the mud.  When we hoisted it, I was surprised how well it did seem to be held.  It didn't put up a huge fight, but it was set better than I thought.  We were underway about 07:30.   It was good that we got an early start, because we were fighting a foul current right off the bat.

We are looking forward today to passing a boat that we know via their website.  We have been following the logs of Skybird for a couple of years now.  I also had communicated with Ed via e-mail to ask him a few questions as we were preparing to leave.  They are moving their boat to the Chesapeake and will be basing their cruising out of there for awhile.  We know that they anchored south of where we did last night, so we should pass this morning.

A couple of hours into our day, Barb happened to look at one of the channel markers and commented that it didn't have the ICW sticker on it.  All the ICW markers have reflective stickers on them so you can differentiate them when the ICW crosses another marked channel.  I quickly went below to look at the charts on the laptop, which have my plotted route on them.  Sure enough, the blue line (our planned route) was not on the screen.  I panned out and there it was - back a few miles it took a turn that I didn't.  This is a perfect example of why I hate the vector charts used by my chart plotter at the helm.  Looking back at where I missed the turn, there was nothing on the vector chart to indicate that the ICW split off the main channel of Winyah Bay.  We were headed offshore.  Fortunately, Barb realized this mistake right at the point where we could get back to the ICW without entirely doubling back, via a different channel.  In the end, we went four miles out of the way.  That doesn't seem like much, but it would prove to be problematic for two reasons.

As we made our way back toward the ICW and turned into the Estherville Minim Creek Canal, we heard Skybird hailing us on the VHF.  I immediately responded and we switched to a channel where we could chat.  Well, of course, they didn't take the same long way around that we did, so we had missed them during our little detour.  We enjoyed chatting for several minutes, but I was very disappointed that my mistake had aborted our opportunity to meet face to face, even if it was just while passing. 

I was also annoyed with myself that I made this mistake on a day when time was already an issue.  The way the ICW works in this part of the country is that it is very tidal.  That is to say, since we are very close to the shore, as the tide comes in or out, the currents in the rivers that empty into the sea can be quite strong.  These currents in turn flow into the ICW which cuts across the rivers as it makes it way down the coast.  Unfortunately, our timing today has us running against the current most of the day, so my little detour is hard to recover from.

One highlight was that we again got played with by dolphins.  On two occasions while in "ditch" parts of the ICW, we spotted dolphins which then swam along with us.  Once, two of them we side by side, swimming right next to the cockpit.  They stayed with us for at least five minutes this time.  The other time it was only one dolphin for less than a minute.  Regardless of the duration, these encounters are always a thrill that I don't think we will ever tire of.

The only opening bridge we have to deal with today is only about seven miles from the destination marina.  Being that far from our start, it just isn't practical to start planning to meet their schedule until you are closer.  There are too many variables, like the aforementioned tidal currents.  About 13:30 I was double checking the distance to go, and realized that the bridge has a black-out on opening between 16:00 and 18:00 on weekdays.  I started doing the math and realized we would be tight on getting there by 16:00.  I was already going almost as fast as we could, but I pushed the rpm's to the max to try and make it.  As we got within the last hour, it was clear that we were going to be on the money if we could maintain 7.5 knots, which we were doing at the time.  In a little while though, we crossed an inlet and were again faced with an opposing current that slowed us down a knot.  We would not make 16:00.  Sure enough, we made it to the bridge about 16:15.  I confirmed with the operator that we had to wait until 18:00, and then we dropped the anchor right there in the ICW to wait.  I was not going to deal with wind and current and motor back and forth for that long.  Thus the second effect of my little detour this morning.

At about 17:50, we hoisted the anchor and started inching towards the bridge.  Promptly at 18:00, the bridge opened for us.  We now have seven miles to go before dark to get to the Charleston City Marina.  Having been to this marina before, I'm not too worried about coming in at dusk, but I just want to get there.  Once across the harbor, we head up the Ashley River to the marina.  I contact them on the VHF, and they tell me they want to put me on the inside of their huge 3000 foot long fuel dock.  The river current runs strong through the marina, and it is best to dock pointing into the current.  My choices are: 1) to come in the fairway bow first and try to stop the boat at the dock with the current on the stern, 2) turn around outside the fairway and back a hundred feet down the fairway with the current pushing us, or 3) come in the fairway past where we are going to park, turn around and approach bow into the current.  Choice 1 didn't sound good because sailboats don't have the same power in reverse that they do going forward, so the risk would be to run into the next boat down-current.  Choice 2 was an unknown for me.  My boat backs up very well, but I have never backed it up with a strong current going with it.  Choice 3 sounded good because the boat turns on a dime, and the fairway went long past our spot.  We passed the spot where the dockhand was waiting to take our lines, and as we got to the next fairway intersection , I tried to spin it around.  Unfortunately, once we got broadside to the current, we stopped turning.  I slammed it into reverse to avoid hitting the boat now in front of us, but had to be careful not to back into any of the multi-million dollar yachts along the dock which was now behind me.  Remarkably (in hindsight) with several full-throttle forwards and reverses, I got the nose around pointed into the current, and didn't hit anything.  That fairway sure looked wider when the boat wasn't being pushed sideways down it.  Once pointed into the current, we slowly made our way back to the place where we were to park.  Driving into the current, it was easy to come up to the dock and toss the bow line to the dockhand.  Barb jumped off with the stern line and we were secure.  In hindsight, Choice 2 would have been better.  I could have turned around out in the open and then motored forward, but at a pace not enough to overcome the current.  I would have been able to maintain steerage and slowly let the current back me down past the parking slot and then motor in forward.  Another lesson learned.  And, I provided much amusement to the occupants of all those boats that I barely missed.  Remember how I've said before there are never witnesses when you do it right, but screw up a little and you have an audience.

Once secure and hooked up, we got checked in, took showers, and walked up to the restaurant.  The walk to and from the boat really is a trek.  The fuel dock, which we are about a hundred feet from the end of, really is three thousand feet long.  The walk from the fuel dock to the parking lot is another quarter mile at least, and then the restaurant is way over at the side of the parking lot.  It is easily over a mile.  We had a good dinner, picked up some beer at the convenience store next door, and headed back to the boat.

We are watching Hurricane Wilma, and she will probably affect our plans.  We will probably end up staying here a few extra days, then skipping one or more of our planned stops on the Florida Coast, so we still get to Key West by the 31st.  We'll see. 

GPS N 32-46.527 W 79-56.953  Miles made good this leg 62. (Including detour) Total miles covered 3252.