To Summarize

First some statistics

We (Robert Brown and I) left Dinner Key marina at 7:20 am on Tuesday, April 26. We did the trip north in 4 hops

1. Dinner Key to Beaufort, NC (643 nm in 75 hours
2. Beaufort NC to Dowry Creek Marina (63 miles in 10 hours)
3. Dowry Creek Marina to Coinjock Marina (72 miles in 11 hours)
4. Coinjock Marina to Baltimore (203 miles in 31 hours)

The entire trip took 7 days and 5 hours (171 hours)
We had 128 engine hours
We used 127 gallons of diesel (or just about 1 gallon/hour - we were running the engine around 3200 rpm from about Coinjock to Baltimore...mostly to try to outrun storms...not entirely successfully...which probably explains the relatively high fuel usage)

Next, Some thoughts

Ocean voyaging is tiring. With two people aboard we did 3 hours shifts from 8pm to 8am (I did 8pm to llpm and then 2am to 5am and Robert did the others). Even though the seas were relatively calm this trip the boat was rolling a lot and I found it difficult to sleep and so felt somewhat sleep deprived. I'm told that after about 3 days you get more used to the rhythm of the seas and the shifts and are able to sleep better, but we weren't at sea long enough to achieve that state. Had we gone up the ICW from Florida we would have slept every night, but it would have taken several weeks, rather than several days so that was a good tradeoff. But I'm still not sure how much I would enjoy and extended ocean voyage. Except for the occasional dolphin there is not much to see during the day except water stretching to the horizon in all directions. At night there are beautiful skies, far more than you can see on land (there is no light pollution at sea) but that comes with the anxiety of making sure you are watching for other boats and such that can be difficult to see at night. To this point, I very much appreciate the wonders of AIS which lets you see and identify vessels over 20 miles away making it easier to avoid them and making it easier to contact them by radio to negotiate a safe passage. Radar would be helpful for smaller boats that don't have AIS, but there don't seem to be many of them out in the ocean..I saw hardly any while we were 100 - 150 miles offshore.

I must admit that I don't understand how short-handed crew (e.g. a couple) are able to cross oceans, spending 30 or so days at sea and claim they enjoy the time at sea. I do understand how nice it is to get to the destination and then use the boat to cruise around wherever it is they end up, but I'd worry about the effect of sleep deprivation. Again, it may be just that I haven't been at sea long enough to "catch the rhythm"

I do very much enjoy the ICW voyages, especially the scenery through the countryside and the stopping in small towns, meeting the people and "seeing the sights".

I have come to believe that such trips should be taken slowly, much the way we took the trip from Baltimore to Charleston last fall. We took 3 weeks and found it enjoyable. Coming back this spring we covered about the same distance in 3 days and it was more of a chore than an enjoyable voyage.

The next time, and I'm hoping there is a next time, I'll do it slowly both ways.

Oh My God!!

The day started just like the last two days...cast off about 6:15 into cool,cloudy, not too windy weather and I thought this would be as uneventful as the last two days.....Wrong Again!

We crossed Currituck sound without going aground, a departure from last year and things were looking good. Up the North River and the sun came out and things were looking real good. We listened to the weather report and there was much talk of southerly winds and things were looking so good we decided that we just pass through Norfolk and continue up the Bay, sailing overnight to arrive in Baltimore on Tuesday..Maybe not so good.

Things started to go sideways when we got to the Great Lock...till then things were again uneventful, but as we waited for the Great Bridge bridge (gotta love the name) we notee that not one but five tugs pushing barges joined the queue. 

The bridge opened, we all filed through on our way to the lock, but this time there were two lines, the one on the right had the 5 barges (the first in line was a double barge) and the line on the left was the usual collection of power boats and sail boats...but then one sail boat started cutting the line, moving ahead accompanied by much yelling from the boats he was cutting off. But he ignored all that and ended up near the beginning of our line.

The lock opened. The double barge went in first and occupied the entire North wall (the one without the rubberized wall). The power and sail boats started filing in but immediately there were problems..The line jumper didn't know what to do and ended up cross-wise to the lock. The Lock Tender, who was quite frazzled spent too much time trying to help with with the result that several of the other boats were ending up cross-wise as well - again accompanied by much yelling and screaming. The boat in front of us kept backing up into us so we bowed out to avoid hitting him, The boat behind us ended up facing the opposite way...and so it was up and down the line..

We finally got tied up, the water level went down about two feet and off we went

Things started looking good again.  The sun was out, there was a gentle breeze - from the West, but that's good too and so we went on through Norfolk and started up the Bay by about 4pm...Robert grilled some steaks on the grill pan I have, sautéing onions and peppers as a dressing for the steak and things were indeed looking good.

But then a very loud alarm came from the VHF...it was the NOAA weather alert warning us of impending thunderstorms bearing high winds, dangerous hail and much rain and lightening. We looked up and sure enough, off to the East was a large black cloud. We turned on the radar and there it was in all its red glory....Foolishly we push on, after furling the sails.

Within minutes the rains came..then the lightening!  I had the first watch and all through it there was torrential rain with lightening crashing all around. Most bolts were cloud to cloud but some cloud to sea (and besides, with all the rain and fog we were really in the cloud). One bolt must have landed within a few hundred yards and the crack of thunder was nearly simultaneous with the bright white light of the bolt.

The radar kept showing more of the red blobs (indicating active cells) coming towards us. Most passed behind us (I had turned the engine up to its max of 3400 rpm to get away as fast as possible) but a few managed to hit us full on. This lasted all through my 3 hour watch and through most of Robert's watch...a most harrowing ride. 

Happily (luckily) besides getting wet there was no harm

In retrospect of course it was foolish to go on, but once we were in the storm, which was very fast moving,  it was probably just as well to stay away from land as much as possible. Perhaps we should have not started up the Bay, but the weather forecast said "possible thunderstorms in the evening", which is what they say nearly every day, all summer long, on the Chesapeake. We could have waited a week and not heard a different report.

Perhaps the right thing is not to even consider night travel on the Chesapeake and do what we did coming down (in company with Hayden and Radeen), which is to anchor each night...I now think that is the wise thing to do on the Chesapeake.

But, as I write this, it is 8am on Tuesday morning, 7 days and 1 hour since we left Dinner Key Marina and we are passing the Rhode River. We are traveling at 6.7 knots and should be in Balltimore in about 5 hours.....All in all, not a bad run.

Finally...to Coinjock

We cast off from Dowry Creek at 0615 into a cloudy, cool morning headed for Coinjock which is 73 miles away.

We were quickly into the famed Alligator-Pungo canal, a 28 mile long, 100 foot wide canal that runs straight like an arrow from the Pungo River to the Alligator River, which we reached 4 hours later. From there it was a two hour run to the Albemarle which happily was calm and quiet today and then into the North River which led us to Coinjock - 11 hours after we started today journey

We had a bit of excitement just before coming into Coinjock...a tug pushing a barge holding a large part of a bridge

Was coming down the North River as we were going up. We called ahead to the tug operator asking him where he wanted us to be to stay our of his way (he has very limited maneuverability so it's incumbent on us to stay out of his way. We scooted to the inside part of a curve as he swung around the outside part of the curve...we passed without incident

Coinjock Marina was just a bit further on

You can see the office in the background with boats lined up along the dock..we went past, turned around into the current and found our place in the line of boats.

After briefly tidying up we went into the restaurant and partook of the. Main Event - a 32oz Prime Rib! (Robert only had the16 0z portion)...As before it was wonderful...I only took a small portion back to the boat to have for lunch tomorrow

We haven't yet decided whether to stop off in Norfolk tomorrow or continue on through to Baltimore (which means an overnight trip up the Chesapeake Bay)..We'll look at the weather tomorrow and make our decision while underway

Beaufort to Dowry Creek

After a nice meal at Floyd's (open since 1921 and still serving good food) located one block from the marina, we retired early and got an early start

We cast off at 6:30am and had an uneventful, but long (10 hours) trip to Dowry Creek Marina. It was cloudy, cold, with wind on the nose. The thermometer claimed it was 65 degrees but it felt like 50...we were both as bundled up as could be, but we both packed thinking it was almost summer...wrong!!

But the scenery is beautiful.

Heron admiring the view on Adams Creek

We were mostly on winding rivers and canals with few houses excepting when we crossed the Neuse River and later the Pamlico Sound. Both were reasonably calm today hence the trip was uneventful. Then up the Pungo River (I don't know why  but I love that name) and into the Marina. 

Priority in her slip at Dowry Creek Marin

The Dowry creek Marina is run by a couple about my age (but mostly run by Mary, and a few dock hands) and it's a friendly, welcoming place. They have a happy hour every evening where the cruisers gather....this evening there were about 5 other couples, all but us on Trawlers and we sat around a table telling stories of our travels. One couple was halfway through "the Loop". They started in St. Louis, down the Mississippi and several other rivers to the Gulf and now they are going up the east coast, eventually to the Erie Canal and then down the Mississiippi and back to St. Louis. They've been travelling 7 months so far.

Another couple was a retired Cop and OR nurse from Greenwich CT on their annual "snowbird" trip, but this time in a new 40' American Tug Trawler.

All nice folk.

Tonight Robert is "cooking" gnocchi, which I think means unfreezing and then heating in a marina sauce. I'm not belittling it..its more than I could do! and I look forward to it. 

Tomorrow we are off to Coinjock Marina tomorrow morning, famed far and wide for their 32 oz prime ribs! I'm very much looking forward to a fine meal. 

Arriving Beaufort

After an uneventful night (not counting the Dolphins, the Lightning show, and the star filled sky, we arrived at Beaufort Inlet around 10:30 Friday morning. It turned out the last few miles of the trip were the hardest

First, the weather turned miserable with clouds, wind, scattered showers (scattered over the boat) and a low fog. But we were motoring along to the first marker of the inlet when I heard "Priority" being called over the VHF radio by "Warship 24". I answered and was told that they were an aircraft carrier heading for the same inlet and would we mind standing by while they went ahead. We looked around and sure enough, coming out of the fog, was this aircraft carrier

What do you say when a really big ship asks if I'd mind?  So we hung around in the rain, the cold, the wind, the bouncing seas while they went into the inlet, stopped to pick up a pilot, and continued on into Beaufort. We followed at a respectful distance behind. 

By the way, the reason they knew our name is that we had our AIS ship identification system on. They didn't which is how they snuck up on us. 

At any rate, we arrived at our slip in the Morehead City Yacht Basin at 1 pm, tied up, took showers (it had been three days) and went for a walk  it's a little sad to see all the for sale signs in what seemed to once have been a bustling town. Not sure why it's gone downhill, but it has

Just before we got to our slip we stopped at the fuel docks to refuel. We took 48 gallons and when added to the 15 gallons we had added while underway we used a total of 63 gallons, so while it was good to have the extra fuel, we really didn't need it (our tank hoids 85 gallons

Thursday night

Last night (Thursday into Friday) I was treated with remarkable nature displays. 

First, beginning about an hour before sundown, dozens of Dolphins surrounded the boat and kept me company till dark (Robert had gone to sleep early and missed the fun). The jumped, pirouetted, did belly flops, raced away and then raced back even faster. It was amazing to watch. I tried to take photos but they move too fast and I didn't know where to aim the camera from moment to moment. 

Then, after dark, I was treated to amazing displays of lightening - off in the distance thankfully!  It was in the east, further out than I was (and we were about 100 miles offshore). It was mostly cloud to cloud with occasional jagged bursts to the ocean. The clouds lit up in beautiful colors of yellow and orange and occasional bursts of red. The ground (I mean water) bursts were bright white that lit up the sky. It lasted over an hour

Then the sky lit up with a gazillion stars, more than you could possibly see from land (there is no light pollution at sea)  of course I was reminded of our trips to planetaria with the grandkids, most recently last weekend. I do wish I had a better memory so I could name the constellations (or had the wit to open one of the apps I have on my iPhone), but I enjoyed it just the same

I do hope Josh gets his telescope, which of course he couldn't use out at sea, what with all the bouncing around

Thursday - Start of day 3

It's now around 9 am Thursday, April 28 and we have begun our 3'rd day at sea. We've had a pretty good ride so far, with winds when we started out of the Northeast at about 10-15, steadily clocking around so that that are now out of the Southwest, still at 10-15knots. We had a good push from the Gulf Stream and we were moving about 9-10knots till we passed Jacksonville when we slowed to about 7-8knots. We've been motor sailing with only a few hours under sail alone. Our goal is to be at the Beaufort inlet tomorrow (Friday) morning when, depending on the time and how we feel we'll either pull into a marina or push further on and either find another marina or anchor out

Earlier this morning we hove to (more or less stopped) and added the 15 gallons of fuel to our tank we had brought along in the jerry cans. The exercise involved manhandling 3 40lb Jerry cans to the side deck, trying not to lose them or fall overboard in the rolling seas and pouring most of the fuel into the fill port. Luckily I have a "jiggler" which is sort of an automatic siphon, and so we didn't spill a drop. We probably don't need the extra fuel but it couldn't hurt. Also checked the oil and it's fine. 

We've now settled into our usual daytime routine of sitting back, relaxing, and napping. 

Robert has already assumed the position and is hard at work relaxing. I'm about to take the other chair and have the coffee waiting for me

We tend to have sandwiches or salads for lunch and dinner (don't feel much like cooking with the boat rolling about). At night we take 3 hour shifts with one person on watch and the other person sleeping. I've been taking the 8-11 and 2-5 watches and Robert the 11-2 and 5-8 watches. I find I get a bit sleep deprived and I'm told you get used to the rhythm and sleep better after about 3 days, but we'll be ashore by then so I won't find out

Shortly before noon a line of squalls came through. You first see a line of clouds off in the distance, then, when you look at the radar you see balls of color - green to yellow to red - with the intensity and color indicating the severity - red being the worst. It's easy to see on the radar how big each squall is, how far away they are, what direction they are moving in, and if or when they'll hit you. They bring gusts of wind and variable amounts of rain. These lasted about an hour or so and the sky turned back to being nice and blue. We had reefed the sails before they hit and once they were gone they were unreefed and we went back to our relaxing

 

And we're off

MReady to cast off at 0645 hrs when I noticed the alternator wasn't charging. Robert dove right in, carefully studied the alternator wires and noticed the field exciter wire connector had come loose. Reconnected and we were charging again!

So we finally cast off at 0745 hrs. We worked out way across Biscayne Bay, through Biscayne channel and past Stiltsville, a strange collection of houses on stilts at the edge of Biscayne Bay

We are now (0915 hours) off Miami Beach all sails up and drawing and motor sailing at 7 knots expecting to enter the Gulf Stream in about an hour

Preparation

The day was taken up with preparations for the trip.

The bicycle was stowed, the water tank was topped off (it holds a total of 145 gallons which is a lot for a boat of this size), the water hose was stowed.

I had planned several routes before coming down to Miami and these were uploaded to the computer at the Navigation table. Later in the day I received an up to the minute chart of where the Gulf Stream is and where it will be for the next few days (it meanders like the river it is) and I updated my routes with this new information. I then transferred the routes to the Chart Plotter at the helm so we can view them without having to run down to the cabin to see the route on the Mac on the Nav table

Robert showed up at 10:30. He drove from Punta Gorda (which is on the west coast of Florida) and so before he returned the car we went shopping for provisions at the local Publix...we bought enough for a month long trip...we'll be eating very well thank you.

Of course we then had to stow all that, but happily Priority has lots of storage and it was no problem...The refrigerator is a bit full however.

We also filled some Jerry cans (not sure why they are called Jerry cans) with extra diesel fuel. We have 3 on board and each holds 5 gallons. Adding that to the 85 gallons in the tank gives us 100 gallons. Priority gets better than 6 (typically around 7) miles to the gallon so even if we have to motor all the way we can make it (it's about 640 miles from Miami to Beaufort, NC). The Gulf Stream adds about 3 knots (~4.3 miles/hour) so gives us an even bigger safety margin (by nearly 50%)

Our work done, we walked into town, had a very nice meal at the GreenStreet Cafe where we sat outside and enjoyed the delightful weather....hoping it might continue for the next 3 days at least, when we should be arriving at Beaufort, NC.

We leave tomorrow morning around 7am. By the end of that day we will probably be far enough away from shore that I won't be able to add to this blog, but you will be able to follow our trip wy clicking on the link to the map at the top right corner of the blog

Bye for now

Home Again, Home Again

This starts a new post chronicalling the trip home from Dinner Key Marina in Coconut Grove to Harborview Marina in Baltimore. 

Today, Monday, will be devoted to provisioning and stowing, with the goal of casting off tomorrow morning to head offshore to Beaufort, NC. 

I've set up the inReach device to provide details of our trip and you can follow along even when we are away from land (which means away from internet connectivity). Just click on the top-right button to see the updated map.

Dinner Key remains a wonderful marina

Always beautiful, always under construction. In the background you can see the sun rising over the Marina, in the foreground is the ongoing construction...this time involving tearing down the old office and replacing it with a park. This has been going on all winter and will likely continue through the summer.

And so to work