Dreamtime Sailing

5 & 6 May 2016 –  Coinjock, NC – Great Bridge, Virginia

Today was probably the most miserable day we have had on this trip.

We woke up to FOG and very poor visibility, even worse than yesterday.

It was downright cold, with the temperature not forecast to get to 60F/15C.  We layered up as best we could with 4 or 5 layers of clothes on and got ready to get underway.

We carefully pulled away from the dock and as we pushed away from the dock, and headed up the river, the fog rolled in thicker and thicker resulting in even lower visibility.  Today may be a long day!

As we began to make our way across Currituck Sound, the wind picked up causing the water to get even choppier and we took water over the bow several times, with it splashing all the way onto the dodger/windshield.   We were very thankful for the full enclosure because if it wasn’t for that we would have gotten very wet (and even colder) from the splashing water.

The fog slowly lifted but the wind did not for quite a while.  Once we were across the sound a few hours later, we had to traverse up a river/channel that was riddled with tree stumps and debris, always having to keep a look out for floating (and non floating) logs.  Not a very relaxing day on the water.

Along the way we were passed by two HUGE tugs and barges.  One was carrying scrap metal, and the other was pushing 2 old steel commercial boats side by side headed for scrap it appeared.  Of course these two passed us on a curvy narrow part of the river where we didn’t have much extra room to maneuver.

The third tug we passed was right after a bridge and a blind corner.  We knew there were two sailboats behind us and we tried to warn them on the radio of the tug’s approach to the bridge, but to no avail.  We later heard the tug on the radio telling the sailboats they had to change direction to let him pass.  It didn’t sound like any drama resulted, but it may have been better for all if the sailboats had responded and were warned beforehand.

There were also a few bridge openings we had to contend with.  One of the bridges had been hit by a tug and barge a month or so ago, and now only the northern half of the bridge is able to open for boats to pass.  So a bit of extra careful steering was necessary with the current and wind pushing us around through the more narrow opening.

When we finally were approaching our marina for the night in Great  Bridge, Virginia, we radioed the dock master to say we had just cleared the bridge and asked for directions to the fuel dock and pump out.

He told us to “pull up to the red pilings after we passed the large sign”.  We saw the sign but no red pilings.  Confused, we asked again.   He said the same thing.  Still confused as we were now at the marina passing the dock, a third enquiry of “which end of the marina is your fuel dock” with the answer being the North.  It was then I noticed the Great Bridge Bridge (a drawbridge) ahead, and said “Ohhhhh THAT bridge”.  The dock master finally realized he thought we were a different sailboat heading south and giving us incorrect directions and thus the confusion between us.

With that sorted we made our way past the face dock, where we didn’t see any real open space for our boat which made us wonder where/if we were going to get a slip for the night.  We’ll deal with that quandary after we fuel up and pump out.

Dock lines were rigged for a port side tie up and we pulled into the fuel dock without incident and filled the diesel.  We had also asked for a pump out of the holding tank (human sewage from the toilet).  But, the dockhand said, “nope”, their tank was full because they have had so many boats today.  Ugh!  As we only use our onboard head and when underway (usually walking to the marina’s facilities during the day) we should be good for another day – so no real drama just a bit more frustration.

The dockhand then said there were actually two spaces still available on the face dock we had just passed – one had 48’ and one had 50’ of space between the other boats.  He looked at our boat and said how long IS your boat?  Our boat is a 37’ boat, but when you add the bowsprit and dinghy davits it is 42’ per the specs.  But the reality is that with the dinghy ON the davits, and anchors hanging off the bowsprit we were about to learn the hard way that we are at least 48’!

Due to the wind we would go back down the river and approach from the North which would require a starboard tie-up.  This means Christina must hurriedly move the dock lines and fenders from one side of the boat to the other as Bob makes our way to the slip.

As we approached the 48’ space the dockhand was waiting for us. I was near the bow with a dock line in hand to throw to him and of course the wind chooses this time to pick up again.

Just to give you an idea of what we were about to attempt:  Imagine parallel parking a large SUV/Hummer/LandCruiser into a space that looks like it could possibly accommodate a compact car.

Christina looked at the available space and told the dockhand she didn’t think we would fit.  He didn’t say anything and just stood there waiting for the line.  She threw him the spring line, which is tied to the midship cleat, so he would have better control of our boat as he pulled us onto the dock.  It was then that we noticed we were getting too close to the boat we needed to be in front of.  Rushing back as far aft as possible, Christina fended off the other boat’s pulpit so we wouldn’t collide.

Because of the design of our boat, there is no deck to walk on for the last 1/4 length of the boat, and because of the enclosure we can’t reach out from the cockpit to fend off in this section.  So Christina found herself doing the unsafe thing of standing on the edge (toerail) as far back as possible reaching over the life line and pushing off their boat.  Any slip and she would find herself in the water.

As we continued forward she could no longer reach the offending pulpit or anchor on the other boat and we could tell their anchor was going to connect with something on our boat.  Sure enough, our dinghy outboard scraped by the anchor and it finally hooked to our dinghy davit.

Bob stopped the forward movement, the dock hand gave us some slack and Bob was able to un-hook us and began to ease our boat into the slip again.  Christina rushed to the front of the boat to throw the bow line and watch as our anchor on our pulpit came perilously close to the boat ahead.

Once we were tied up, our anchor was literally hanging over the transom of the boat ahead of us, and there were just inches between the anchor of the boat behind and our dinghy.  AMAZING!

Bob really did a superb job easing us into the slip with no damage to dock or boats.

He later revealed that because of the wind pushing us he actually had no control of steering in idle forward (think of the forward momentum of a car when it is in gear but no foot on the gas pedal) and so had to give it more throttle than he wanted and then pull back so we didn’t come crushing onto the dock.

We really didn’t know how we were going to get out of the slip when it was time to leave tomorrow, and hoped our neighbors ahead of us and behind us would leave before we did.  But we’ll worry about that tomorrow.  For now, it is time to pour a cocktail and breathe a sigh of relief that this day is done.

Bob’s brother lives in Virginia Beach and he came to the marina to go out to dinner with us, and we had a nice family evening out.

It was also this day that Bob shared his observation that the battery gauge had been reading less volts than usual.  The day prior we had heard the inverter start running as soon as we turned the shore power on which was unusual.  When he started the engine after fueling up today the engine was harder to start than usual.  These three things are telling us that something is different on the boat.  Although everything seems to be working we know that when something starts acting differently on the boat, it is the boat’s way of trying to warn you…and it is wise to not ignore the warning signs.

Not knowing exactly what was happening, we came to the conclusion that something was different with either the alternator, the voltage regulator or something else.  But because everything was ultimately working, we thought there was no immediate danger and we would continue to monitor and troubleshoot as we go.

 

4 May, 2016 – Albermarle Sound

This was our view through the dodger (windshield / windscreen) from the cockpit  as we crossed the Albermarle Sound.  Definitely not the ideal situation.

Visibility was only about a mile most of the time.  The only good news was that there were very few crab pots we had to navigate around.

After crossing the 10 mile expanse of water we made our way back onto into the river and the ICW.  At this point there are two routes for the ICW, the Dismal Swamp which we did on the southbound trip  and the “Virginia cut” which has more commercial traffic.  We opted for the Virginia Cut so we would be experiencing new places for the next couple of days that we haven’t seen before.   We tied up at Coinjock Marina for our last night in North Carolina on this trip.

Ever since we started planning for the trip on the ICW Bob had been hearing about Coinjock Marina’s prime rib dinner (which you have to reserve in advance), so we knew what he would be enjoying for dinner.   We reserved his prime rib upon our arrival, and ultimately ended our day enjoying a lovely dining experience.

 

 

2 & 3 May 2016 – With an eye on the weather, we knew that we would be “stuck” somewhere for more than a day with the forecast for strong northerly winds and heavy rain.

Our next planned marina stop was to be Alligator River Marina which is literally a truck stop on the side of a highway.  We decided that although there are no services or facilities nearby, this marina may not be the most comfortable experience but would be safe to sit out the forecasted weather if necessary.

The day was dreary as we meandered up the Alligator River-Pungo River Canal seeing a bit of wildlife along the way.

The trip was pretty uneventful, with the only real concern happening when we heard a loud thunk from below.  We saw nothing in the water but figured we had hit something like a submerged log.  There was no apparent damage, after checking to be sure there were no issues with the steering, we breathed a sigh of relief thankful for our heavy boat and the design of the hull which helps to reduce the likelihood of damage from these types of encounters.

We made our way to the marina/truck stop and got settled in for what would end up being a 2 night stop.

All our neighbors plan to leave tomorrow, not concerned by the weather forecast of rain and thunderstorms tomorrow.

We woke the next day, Tuesday, to pouring rain and thunder so we decided to stay put for the day.  At least a couple inches fell in a short time, and the way to the bathhouse was flooded to almost knee deep.  And those neighbors who were all planning to leave….. well they all stayed another day as well.

We hope for better weather tomorrow to cross the Albermarle Sound, a 10 mile (1.5 – 2 hour?) passage over an exposed body of water which can get very choppy with winds and weather which is also littered with crab pots which we have to keep a look out for.  We don’t expect it be a very relaxing part of the journey.

On the plus side – staying at Alligator River Marina for 2 days, we have unlimited access to southern truck stop fried food.

 

1 May 2016

Unfortunately the showers referred to in the title are not the lovely steam showers from the day before, but rather the rainy showers we are growing accustomed to and getting tired of.

We left River Dunes Marina and continued north on yet another dreary day.   Wind was in our favor and we unfurled the genoa (jib/headsail) to enjoy a motor sail.

We arrived in Dowry Creek Marina and had to reacquaint ourselves to tying up in a slip that requires a 4 point tie, two on the dock to the bow and two securing the stern to pilings.   Short finger piers means we can’t use our gate at mid-boat but instead require climbing over the life lines near the bow to get on and off the boat.  We already miss the floating docks with full finger piers we enjoyed further south.

We escaped the rain however until after we were tied up when the skies opened up for a full on downpour.

29  & 30 April

After we left Morehead City this is one of the vessels that passed us.  You can’t really get a sense of how huge these tug and barges are until they are alongside you.  We give them as much space as we safely can.

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We continued up the ICW to revisit River Dunes Marina, the resort marina we also enjoyed on our trip south.  Again, looking at the weather, and trying to plan for our crossing of the Albermarle Sound in a few days we opted to enjoy the facilities here for a couple of days.  The amenities include a hot tub/spa and steam showers which are incredibly awesome!  Imagine hot water (as hot as you would want) coming from above, plus four jets of hot water surrounding your body and then hot steam enveloping your entire body all at the same time!  Heaven whilst standing up!  Add to that, decadent dining at the exquisite restaurant, and this off day was indeed rejuvenating.

Can we stay another day?

But no – as we are watching the ever changing forecast we will continue on tomorrow for 47 miles to Dowry Creek and then assess if we hunker down another day or continue on to Alligator River to prepare to cross the Albermarle Sound.

25 – 29 April –

Our next stop was to Wrightsville Beach, NC where we reckoned we would have our last opportunity to make the decision to have another passage on the “outside” or continue up the ICW as we did at every major inlet.  Every time the weather or the winds were not conducive for making a passage, and Wrightsville Beach was no exception.

The forecasted winds did not sound appealing and the length of the passage to Beaufort, NC (pronounced Bo-fort and not to be confused with Beaufort pronounced Bew-fort, SC – locals take the differentiation of the pronunciations very seriously where even the marina staff won’t always respond if you try to hail with the wrong pronunciation) did not make us comfortable.    It was just a bit too long for a day sail, if we were to encounter any problems or were not able to maintain a steady speed we would arrive at the channel in the dark – and we prefer to arrive during daylight especially if we haven’t navigated the channel.  But the passage was not quite long enough to consider an overnight passage and we would arrive at the channel before daybreak and therefore have to kill time in the ocean for a few hours until sunrise.

We both were a bit envious of our friends who have a larger and faster boat (and a better weather day the day before) who were able to make the passage in one day as we continued making our way inland and taking 2 days to do what could have been done in one.

But over those two days we heard people on the radio as they were coming back to shore from ocean passages, and they all were talking about how bad the wind was, how it wasn’t from the right direction, how they were unable to get any rest and were exhausted.  We knew we had made the right decision to stay on the inside, even if it meant we were disappointed and most likely would not see the ocean again for a while.

From Wrightsville Beach we continued on to Sneeds Ferry where we again stayed at the funky and friendly Swan Point Marina.  Our evening entertainment consisted of watching a shrimp boat apparently having engine problems and trying to set his anchor (in the middle of the channel!), being unsuccessful and getting swept away by the fast moving current.  We were thankful that this meant he was now further down river and no longer threat of colliding into us.  The manager of this marina also bakes homemade delicacies and we were treated with a wonderful cinnamon coffee cake which provided us with two days of decadent breakfasts.  That alone is worth making the stop again in the future!

We continued on to Morehead City, NC (next to Beaufort).  On this day we experienced SW winds from 20 -25 knots – even greater than had been forecast – and again were glad we weren’t out in the ocean getting beat up.

Do you think we are kidding when we talk about shoaling off the channel?  This bloke is standing on a sandbar about 100 yards/metres away from our boat.  Yes, the water can get shallow quickly.

Navigating to our slip with the wind and current was indeed a challenge, and it took a few tries before we were able to get safely tied up.  We were very thankful for the bow thruster to help us control the boat and combat nature’s forces with this maneuver.

Due to weather and forecasted wind and rain (are you seeing a trend here?) we opted to stay two days in Morehead City taking advantage of some wonderful local seafood offerings.

23 & 24 April – North Myrtle Beach, SC to Southport, NC

We enjoyed a pretty uneventful day making our way to Southport, NC.  For some reason this section of the Waterway has quite a few partially sunken boats as landmarks.  

It was time to change the oil in the engine so we decided to spend 2 nights in Southport and do some boat chores and enjoy some wonderful local cuisine on our “off day”.

Our next door neighbor had a very inquisitive cat who decided to joined us and explore our boat, comparing the differences between her own motor yacht and our sail boat.   We definitely enjoyed playing host to Tito.

For our hospitality we were rewarded with a bowl of the most awesome crab bisque prepared by Tito’s mom.  It was a win win win for us!

One of the services offered at Southport is a most informative and free presentation by a meteorologist and sailor about the ICW and known trouble spots.  We attended the seminar to learn the latest news about potential upcoming hazards and conditions.  It was an excellent source of information and we used those notes for the rest of the trip, noting bridges that were not operational, new shoaling areas, actual surveys of depths in the channel, and one section where the recommendation was to ignore the channel markers and go outside the channel to find the deeper water – something we would never even consider without the briefing.   Thankfully we had no issues, but were grateful with the latest and most up to date information available.

22 April – Leaving the serenity of Osprey Marina, we continued our journey north to Myrtle Beach Yacht Club in North Myrtle Beach for our last night in South Carolina.
Today we passed by numerous golf courses and expensive homes along the waterway as well as this garden of buoys – now we know where all those missing markers from the channel hide out.

We passed by the outlet mall …. again…. and Christina still couldn’t convince Bob to tie up and do a little shopping.

We were able to witness our own confidence growth as we navigated the narrow Rock Pile with no incident and much more confidence than our first time a few months ago.

19 – 22 April, 2016 – We left Charleston, SC and continued our way North.

Next stop Isle of Palms – a very short day in terms of miles, but a convenient stop for timing bridges and tides.

We left early the next day, greeted by a gorgeous sunrise, and made our way up the 55 miles to Georgetown, South Carolina.

 

From Georgetown we got to relive one of the most beautiful and peaceful days on this trip on the Waccamaw River, arriving at the serene Osprey Marina outside Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, surrounded by woods and enjoying our turtle neighbors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

10 – 18 April, 2016 – After spending a relaxing 2 nights in Beaufort, South Carolina and watching the weather the decision was made to stay on the “inside” of the ICW, rather than making another ocean passage to Charleston, South Carolina for a couple of reasons:

1.  To go back out to the ocean from Beaufort, would mean spending close to 4 hours backtracking southerly to and through the Port Royal Inlet, thus adding 3 or 4 hours to the expected 24 hour passage.  This wasn’t really the main reason the decision was made, but rather because….
2. The winds and weather were not forecast to be favorable and therefore most likely we would not be able to actually sail and would be pounding into it with the motor going.

So…. what could have been a 24 hour jump resulted into a hopefully more comfortable and enjoyable 3 day/night trip stopping each night in a different marina, first to Dataw Island Marina where we were a bit disappointed to learn that the awesome on-site restaurant was not open on Sundays.  Then on to St. John’s Yacht Center which has the most awesome bathrooms of any marina we have visited so far….really worth the visit for that alone.  Finally arriving in Charleston on 12 April.  

We selected a marina within easy walking distance to downtown.  The wind was forecast to blow very strong from the NE so rather than beating into the wind either inside or outside, we decided to stay put and enjoyed a full week experiencing this lovely city.  We decided it was very livable, at least in Spring, but know summer’s heat and humidity would be a totally different experience.

The city and harbor was busy with the Sperry Charleston Race Week where hundreds of boats came to race.  Racers had to contend with the big winds and a few events had to even be cancelled.  Guess we made the right call to stay put for the week.

Even though we were safely tied up in the marina it offered minimal protection from the strong winds and the boat rocked hard while still tied to the dock.  We would get off the boat for a bit of relief and also to do some sightseeing, including touring the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown along with the destroyer USS Laffey and submarine USS Clamagore.  After living on the sailboat for almost a year, what used to be perceived as inhumanely small living spaces on military vessels seemed a bit more spacious to us.  It is all a matter of perspective.

At the end of the week another decision had to be made – do we go out to the ocean for what would be an over 24 hour passage to Beaufort, North Carolina (pronounced Bo-fort) (not to be confused with Beaufort, South Carolina pronounced Bew-fort).

Again, because of the forecast and because we figured the ocean would still be churning from the 7 days of NE winds we opted to stay inside and continue our way up the ICW.