Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Shedding Clothes

 

In the past two days we've traveled with our friends on Hawkeye and covered the better part of South Carolina.  Finally yesterday we saw temperatures over 70, and were able to shed our foul weather gear and several layers of clothes. 

Today should land us in Beaufort SC, if all goes well and the Lady's Island Bridge is opening.  The bridge has been have some mechanical difficulties and is only opening twice a day for ICW traffic.  We should be there in time for the 2:00 pm opening, assuming we don't run aground and get delayed on any shoals between us and the bridge.  But at least the temperature is up to 62, the sun is shinning and it's only 9:30am.

Once in Beaufort, we plan to stay at least 3 days, possibly longer.  Now that we are clear of the unpredictable weather in North Carolina, we can slow down and work on some boat projects.  We may even get started on varnishing teak if the temperatures stay warm enough to work outside.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

South Carolina

 

We are now into our third day in South Carolina.  We stopped over in Surf City for about three days, since we were in a marina and plugged into shore power we had the heater running.  Since it was below 30, and the wind was blowing, we weren't in a hurry to leave.  Since leaving we have had an uneventful trip.  A usual day:  wake up at 6:00 am, get up at 7:00 am, put on a lot of clothes (3 pairs of pants, 5 shirts, down jacket and fowl weather gear), start water for coffee, turn on instruments, turn on engine, pull up anchor and start moving.  We usually make 35 to 40 miles in a day, depending on tides, bridges, etc.  When we choose our new anchorage, we could stop anywhere between 2:00 and 4:00 depending on location of anchorages to choose from, tides, bridges, etc..  Once anchored we have our afternoon cocktail, bake something in the oven to warm the cabin up, eat some dinner, and we're in bed between 6:00 and 7:00. 

Today we met up with some friends from our home marina, and we will be traveling with them for the next day or two.

For the questions about how much time we spend actually sailing (the answer being none since we left the Chesapeake) I'll try to get some pictures up of the waterway, as long as my internet connection holds out.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

A Practice In Patience

 

Having gone aground in our slip at low tide, we woke up bright and early in Morehead City so we could hang out and watch the water rise.  Once we were bobbing and could get underway we headed up to our first obstacle, yet another supposedly 65' bridge.  They had a nice helpful tide board that read 62' and the tide was still rising.  The only thing left to do was turn around and get comfortable somewhere.  After dropping anchor for a couple of hours we realized it would be 2:00pm before the tide dropped enough to get under the bridge.  So we moved over to the dock at the Sanitary Restaurant and tied up for the night in deep water.  5:30am was our wake up time the next day, we made it under the bridge at low tide, and watched the sun rise behind us.

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful, we got stopped briefly at Camp LeJeune where the military was having some firing practices and they only open the canal every hour or so.  We went aground, but quickly got back under way.  And we ended our day at Beach House Marina in Surf City.




Saturday, November 15, 2008

Seek Safe Harbor

 

Those are the words we heard on our VHF today during a coast guard announcement of serious thunderstorms in our area.  And the announcement made perfect sense as rain had just started pouring down, we were heading into 25-30kts of wind, with 4-5 ft waves, preparing to enter a narrow channel in Adams Creek and wondering if we should have stayed put in South River.

As soon as we entered Adams Creek, the winds died down going over the land and the storm system continued North, leaving us with some scattered blue sky.  We decided to keep moving, and arrived safely at Morehead City.  The wind is still howling, but we are parked in a slip at a local marina. 

Hopefully the winds will die in the morning and we can continue south.  We are feeling the need to get clear of North Carolina, known for unpredictable weather in November. 

Unplanned Delay

 

Two days ago, we anchored in South River for the night.  Initially we were headed for the small town of Oriental, but stopped just before we got there to avoid a small potentially crowded anchorage.  Thursday morning we awoke to rain and high winds, we weren't going anywhere.  All day the winds howled and the rain fell, by nightfall all had become dead calm.  We rested well wondering if we would leave in the morning.  As we awoke with dawn, all sounded promising.  Until we looked outside.  There was no land, no other boats, no wind, and no sounds.  We were completely surrounded by a dense white fog.  The genetically modified crocodiles could be climbing aboard any moment now.  I think one just passed by the starboard bow!

We patiently biding our time, watching the fog.  If it lifts we will leave today and try to get farther south, if not we may be here a while.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Past the Wilkerson Bridge

 

We made it through the Wilkerson Bridge without even clipping an antenna.  There is an accurate tide board before the bridge, and we were told a boat with a 64' mast made it through earlier in the day.  Even with this information, going under was a bit nerve racking.  I'm sure we had 6 or more inches to spare!  Looking up at the bridge from the deck of the boat there is no clear way to tell if the mast will clear or not. 

We anchored at Bellhaven tonight and will continue south tomorrow.

Manteo to Alligator River

 

11-10-2008   After a brief visit to Manteo, we decided to take advantage of the pleasant although slightly chilly weather to keep heading down the ditch.  We made it to ICW mile 101.1 in the Alligator River.  So far we have not seen any alligators, but have been advised not to go swimming. 

Tomorrow's destination is yet undecided.  Our only concern is for the Wilkerson Bridge, that is a stated height of 64' at mean high tide.  The standard for fixed bridges is 65'.  Our mast is 63'.  During exceptionally high tides there will be less clearance at the bridge.  From the information I have read the tidal marker is not present at the bridge.  It should be a fun day.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

11-09-2008

 

After being delayed by weather, we finally left Portsmouth on Friday morning.  Our first day in "the ditch" went by without a glitch.  Our 12 mile day had the most bridges we've encountered yet, and through gritted teeth we had no problem clearing the 65' fixed bridges.  We tied up at Great Bridge and met up with some friends from our home marina.  Saturday we got an early start and traveled with our friends approximately 50 miles and anchored at Broad Creek, just before the Albemarle Sound.  We jumped in our dingy to socialize on our friends boat, remembered to grab a camera and finally have a picture of little boat. Just check out the photo gallery.

Today we said goodbye to our friends, crossed the Albemarle Sound and veered off the ICW to stop by Manteo.  Just before we took our last turn into Manteo we saw a group of dolphins swimming by.  




Thursday, November 6, 2008

Pull To Inflate












Winslow Life Raft
Winslow Life Raft





The instructions begin, "Do not inflate unless there are no other options." A very sensible instruction indeed. Compared to this 50 lb package, Passport seems like a much better place to be. After a couple days of calling Fedex and finally tracking it down, our liferaft is now safely stowed aboard our vessel. So long as the gods smile upon us, we will tote around this little package on our voyage and never see it's contents. What an expensive purchase for something we never plan to see! But then much of life never goes according to plan, so we have a backup plan, when all else fails "Pull to Inflate".

After stopping in Portsmouth to collect our liferaft, we had planned to journey on down the intercoastal. We arrived on Monday, it's now Thursday, we are still here. So much for plans. For two days we have been waiting for the winds to die down. Maybe tomorrow we will depart and journey further south.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

11/01/2008


We are now anchored on day 3 of our voyage. The day was beautiful for traveling, gentle winds, sunny skies and near 70 temeratures. Planning to do some minor work on the boat, we stopped early in Deltaville. No work has yet been done, and we are enjoying the tranqility of the anchorage, as the sun slowly sinks in the sky.

And We're OFF!

Our dingy is trailing behind us, we made it out of our slip and we are headed south like the birds.  Our departure date was a bit questionable when the night before our planned exit we discovered our out board motor was non functioning. First thing the next morning we got the the motor in working condition (thanks Spike!) and we were on our way just in time. Due to an unusual low tide we just made it out of the slip only dragging a little on our way out. 

We are now on night two of our trip, anchored in Mill Creek off the Great Wicomico.  We saw a wonderful sunset and two bald eagles resting in a nearby tree.