Down the ditch to Belhaven

Awoke early and cast off at 7am. Sun came up soon after and painted a beautiful morning sky

Within minutes we were in the Alligator-Pungo canal and settled in for a 21 mile run. We were part of a flotilla 

With boats in front and behind us stretching out to the horizon on both sides, all heading south. We did pass one barge heading north 

But the 3 hour trip was otherwise uneventful. In another 2 hours we had sailed (actually motored since there was no wind to speak of) to Beljhaben and tied up at the town dock 

After a quick lunch we took a walk around town, met a nice lady who ran the “Welcome Center”.  She explained that Belhaven called itself the birthplace of the ICW. It turns out that the last piece of the ICW - the Alligator-Pungo canal was completed in1928 and a big celebration was held with dignitaries from the armed services, Washington, the News Media and evening Hollywood attended. There were many speeches and it was such a good time that it was repeated for many years on the anniversary of the dedication. It was forgotten after a while but is now being resurrected as Belhaven is refashioning itself as a tourist destination with new restaurants (one of which we’ll try for dinner)  there are several Ned and breakfasts that we saw on our walk around town and one mansion that was recent rebuilt by the townsfolk (all volunteer labor) which is now used for weddings and such. It is on the waterfront and quite elegant 

We invited ourselves in and had a nice tour

We continued our walkabout (the entire walk encompassing most of the town took about 1/2 hour, not counting the stop at the Mansion

The restaurant for tonight’s dinner is “Spoon River artworks and market” and rated one of the best restaurants in all of North Carolina. We’ll see

Crossing the Albemarle

We slept well after the wonderful dinner last evening, awoke early and cast off at 7am, even before the sun rose.

We motored down the north river. Heading into the rising sun and the into the Albemarle sound, a 15’ wide estuary that empties into the ocean at Manteo and Kitty Hawk. But we went directly across to enter the Alligator River. 

As we entered the Sound we raised sails and turned off the engine. Sadly the wind was light and after a while we turned the engine back on and motor-sailed the rest of the way 

Soon we were waiting, only briefly, for the Alligator River swing bridge to rotate open. Then down the river (or is it up the river) nearly to its source where we turned into an anchorage named Tuckahoe point. Its positioned just before the entrance to the alligator-pungo canal, a 21 mile long canal that the army dug some years ago to connect the Alligator River, which extends from Albemarle sound to the Pungo River, which extends to Pamlico Bay. The intent was to serve and enhance commerce by offering an alternate means to ship goods and while there is indeed barge traffic, it’s mostly used by snowbirds going up and down the ICW

Five boats were already anchored when we got to Tuckahoe and another five came in after we had anchored. Happily all but one clustered together near the entrance to the anchorage in a tight pack but we had gone about 1/2 mile further up and were all alone (except for an Island Packet 350 from Rhode Island that anchored near us (but not too near) 

We set the anchor in about 9 feet of water, checked it twice and then declared that the sun had passed the yardarm and had some refreshments 

It’s a beautiful evening in the anchorage. Calm, sunny and surprisingly warm (predictions are for temps in the low 50’s or even 40’s but it’s in the 60’s just now as the sun is going down.  Water temperature is 69, so that’s probably helping

One amazing piece of technology.. this anchorage is somewhat remote with little cellphone coverage. To my amazement, while I couldn’t make a call I could send and receive text messages and so was able to tell Molli that we were at anchor.  I did work on this Blog but was not able to publish it (I suppose it’s too much Data for the limited bandwidth)

Later that evening Drew made Gruyerre cheese omelets with a side of chicken sausages and of course ice cream for dessert. We are eating well on this voyage

And so to bed. Early start tomorrow to arrive in Belle Haven in time to see the sights

On to coinjock

The rest of the evening was anticlimactic. A bit of wine mellowed us out, then Drew made Waygu beef hamburgers and I added a salad of lettuce and tomatoes and a balsamic vinaigrette and olive oil dressing. It was all delicious, finished with some more of Ben and Jerrys ice cream (Cherry Garcia and phish food)

And so to bed

The next morning the dock master came by and confirmed that Rambling Rose did not have a reservation at all and was just lying

We cast off at 10am and headed off to Coinjock. It was uneventful till just before the North landing bridge when we ran aground, right in in the middle of the channel. There must have been a little underwater hill that we managed to hit. We backed off and continued to the bridge and only had to wait 10 minutes for the opening.  We were finally on the way to coinjock!

We arrived at 3:30, tied up

And went to look at all the big boats that had passed us on the way. Several we’re impressively large (not on the level of John Henry’s, but still). 

We went back to the boat and relaxed till dinner at 6:30

Dinner time.. and we were off to eat

I had pre-ordered so dinner arrived quickly

Drew was so impressed he took some photos, as did others at surrounding tables. As if they’d never seen a  gigantic piece of meat

It was wonderful

Of course I finished the entire piece

Savoring every bite!

Of course we had to have dessert 

Which Drew and I shared

We staggered back to the boat and spent the rest of the evening sitting in the cockpit, digesting and listening to some very nice Rachmaninov

It started raining but the wonderful enclosure the Drew has kept us cozy and dry

Tomorrow we are off to cross Albemarle sound and on to an anchorage at the far end of the Alligator River, just at the entrance of the Alligator-Pungo canal. It’s 48 miles away, an 8 hour trip. Should be nice and we may get a chance to sail across the canal

I doubt that I’ll have any connectivity at the anchorage (not to mention no electricity and no heat) so there probably won’t be an update tomorrow 

Continuing the saga

So after waiting tied up in the Great Lock the gates opened at 5:45. We untied, left the lock, only to come to the Great Bridge not 100 feet downstream that remained closed till 6pm. More 

The great bridge finally opening

milling around and finally, at 6:02 we were off. Our four was the Centerville Marina where we had a reservation. We had talked with them several times during the day explaining our progress and finally, recognizing we wouldn’t get there till after they closednatn5’pm they told us to come into the fuel dock where they reserved a spot for us between two trawlers. 

When we got there at 6:30 we say one of the very large powerboats (about 70’) pulling into to what was supposed to be our spot. There were no other spots

Much yelling ensued - from our side. Several of the folk from other boats, one of whom had been in the dock masters office during our last call with them, took our side. Finally, at 7pm, the large boat (Rambling Rose, full of “good old boys” from the south pulled out to go anchor down stream someplace. We finally pulled in, tied up, plugged into power....and had a bit of wine. No idea what we’re doing for supper, if anything (it’s now 8pm)

Coinjock tomorrow where a 32oz rib eye has my name on it

Crewing for Drew

Today we start down the ICW on Shawnee, an Island Packet 380 owned by Drew and Deb Sunstein. Drew left Marblehead where he normally keeps the boat and with the help of a friend Don worked his way down to Hampton, Virginia  Don got off on Oct 15 and I got on the boat on October 20. Today, Monday October 21 we cast off from Hampton Public Piers and headed off down the ICW. We soon were passing the Navy base in Norfolk

With lots of destroyers and aircraft carriers and soon after we passed the battleship Wisconsin that Tyler, Mom and I toured this summer while at Colonial Williamsburg

Then a series of bridges, one in Gilmerton that opened on request and the others high enough for us to pass under. Drew and I too turns at the Helm and Drew maintained the log while underway

We got to the Great Lock at 2:30 which should have been good since it usually allows boats in till 2:45 but the lock keepers decided to close the lock and 4 of us boats were told to wait for the next opening at 3:15. After an hour of milling around we were allowed into the lock and tied up, only to be told that they wouldn’t let us out till 6 pm because the Great Bridge immediately after the Great lock would be closed for rush hour car traffic till then. Apparently this is a new phenomenon caused by construction on the Centerville bridge, wherever that is. So there we sat!

We have reservations at the Centerville marina for the  night but they close at 5. We’ll be getting there after sunset and hopefully there will be enough light to tie upMore to follow

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.