Hi There,

Dock at Morehead City Yacht Club was a “side tie” affair, with current and wind blowing us off.  Made “parallel parking” the Girl a challenge, but she was up to it.  M.C. is pretty much an overnight for boats on the Intracoastal, as there isn’t a whole lot going on here.  We take a quick walk around (what there is of a) town, and grab dinner at the Ruddy Duck.  The food is good, and delivered in copious quantities-leftover Jambalaya will feed us another day.  The location is good, overlooking a back creek.  Looks like it might be a rockin’ place in the summer, during season.  Back at the ranch, we ask the dock dudes about getting over to Beaufort, and find out that it’s not a very pedestrian/bike-friendly couple miles.  As we want to get over there to visit a museum, and get a glimpse of the wild horses that inhabit some of the barrier islands off Beaufort, many from shipwrecks on this coast ,“White Star” is launched for tomorrow’s expedition.  Sunday dawns cloudy, and threatens rain, but what’s a little more water?  It’s a five mile trek by sea, but now that we can trust our outboard, no worries.  While we’re in Beaufort, we’ll look for a little flip ICW chartbook that the Admiral has been lusting after since seeing another cruiser with it many weeks ago.  Our day-long field trip was a total success.  Horses on one of the Rachel Carson (remember “Silent Spring”) islands-check.  Aforementioned chartbook-check.  Beaufort Historic Museum, with a beautifully done video on Edward Teach’s (Blackbeard) life and artifacts recently recovered from his sunken vessel, “Queen Anne’s Revenge”-check.  I shouldn’t forget to mention $4 Bloody Mary Sunday at “Finz”.  After dodging the drops all day, even seeing a little sunshine, we felt some sprinkles on the way back that evening.  Almost not enough for our rain jackets, but we put ‘em on anyway, as the wind was brisk, and as evening fell the temperature was dropping.  Weather report didn’t look good for the next evening-cold front, and winds 35-40 knots.  No need to brave thunderstorms while on the hook, we decide to stay another day and give the Girl a bath, and a coat of wax on her high-weather spots.

Good call on staying another night.  Lotsa thunder and lightning, and the cold front left us with 40 degree temps, winds 24 knots, but crystal blue skies for our morning departure.  On our way down Bogue Sound, the dolphins are playing in our bow wave, right beneath our anchor.  The sun is in the wrong place for snappin’, so we’ll get some pics another time.  We don’t make great time today, as we’ve got a bridge to wait for, and have to time our transit past Camp LeJeune to coincide with the Waterways’ closed every-other-hour schedule where it passes the firing ranges there.  There’s no shortage of entertainment, as the Marines are playing with their toys, the most interesting being a heavy-lifting helo picking up and dropping off a 40 foot long steel I-Beam.  Mile Hammock Bay, our anchorage for the evening, is on the base, so shore excursions are strictly verboten, and enforced by men with big guns.  We’re not too interested in getting the dinghy down anyway, as the temp has held around 40 degrees all day, and on this cloudless night, it’s gonna drop like a rock.  A couple of sailboats that we passed earlier in the day, with their occupants dressed in down jackets and hats pull in right around sundown.  I love my diesel furnace.  Next morning, its anchor up at 0645, and man, is it cold!  Temperator says 24 degrees, and the anchor washdown hose confirms it.  #$%@!!!  Frozen solid.  Had to hose down anchor/chain with our drinking water hose, and am I happy to get inside when the tackle’s up.  Three bridges today, all open on a schedule (as opposed to “on demand”), so timing will be key.  On the way out of the anchorage, we overhear the sailboaters talking to one another on the VHF-seems they slept in their jackets last night.  Along the way, another trawler, who has been behind us for a few hours, requests to pass us-no problem?  As we’re chatting on the radio, he tells us that they have a long day planned.  “Oh, really?  Where ya’ headed?”  “The Bahamas”.  Cool-they’re taking their turn at the plate, and so it goes.  Nine hours later we’re pulling into Southport Marina.  Hank, who is a retired meteorologist and now owns a yacht service company, does a nightly weather briefing there, and covers trouble spots on the ICW at this marina, and we want to hear what he has to say,.  There isn’t a whole lot to Southport, NC, but we need a walk, so we get a couple hours in before dark.  Dinner at “Fishy Fishy” overlooking the ICW (not remarkable), but nice location.  Hank’s presentation was very informative, and we got some new weather sites.  The segment on “trouble spots”  between here and Savannah was actually kinda scary (South Carolina and Georgia don’t spend a lot maintaining the Waterway-so shoaling and shallow spots require some timing of tides).  All in all, though, a great service for cruisers. 

Bald Head Island was recommended as a must-see, so we’ll backtrack a few miles, and head out there.  It’s blowing like stink as we head across the Cape Fear River, and we’re happy for the short trip.  Bald Head Island is the anchor for Cape Fear, and has quite a history, from the Revolution, through the War of 1812, and the Civil War.  The oldest lighthouse  in NC, “Old Baldy” is there and open for tours.  There are about 1,000 homes on this sparsely-inhabited, 3 mile by 1 mile island, and none of the residents have cars.  Transport is by golf cart or bike.  Suz and I spend the better part of 2 days riding bikes, and exploring.  Definitely worth the trip, and we’ll be back next Spring.  The marina is well-maintained, and protected from all winds.  Oh, so we’re at the hardware store in the middle of the island picking up a new tube for Suzanne’s middle of the ride dead-flat tire, and she strikes up a conversation with Margo, whose brother was the architect for many of the homes here.  Next thing you know, we’re invited for a 5-7 at their place, which is down by the marina, where their boat is docked.  Margo’s husband, John, has been out fishing all day, and is ready for a sip.  Both of them have just retired this year, and they’re getting ready for their Turn- just aren’t exactly sure what that’s going to look like.  A couple bottles of red pop, a tour of their boat, a tour of our boat, and we all agree that we need to stay in touch, and get together on our way through next year.  We’ll be heading down to Myrtle Beach Yacht Club tomorrow, which is actually in Little River, north of North Myrtle Beach, where we have a car rented for our road trip to my sister’s place in Ohio for Thanksgiving.

-Later

Good Morning,

November 6, warm, rainy morning in Portsmouth, and the ferry ride across the river is short.  Nauticus opens at 1000, and we’re waiting at the door.  This is a center that houses an extensive museum covering the gamut from war history, port history, commercial shipping, NOAA and etc.  The Wisconsin, an Iowa Class battleship is also part of the Nauticus complex.  We start the day with 2 guided tours of the Wisconsin.  The first is the “Main Street” tour, taking us down below decks, exploring a variety of accommodation spaces.  The second is the deck tour, which covers the deck, and spaces within the superstructure rising above the main deck.  The tours are led by ex-Navy guys who are very knowledgeable about the ship, and are enthusiastic about their (volunteer) jobs.  Every dollar that is paid for the tours goes directly back into the ship for more renovations and upkeep-cool.  The Wisconsin was commissioned just before the end of WWII, and participated in the attacks on Iwo Jima and the shelling of islands in Japan.  After the war, she was mothballed several times, but saw duty in Korea, Viet Nam, and Iraq 1.  In fact, the video clips that we all watched on television of the nighttime cruise missile launches in the initial salvo of the attack on Iraq were taken from the deck of the Wisconsin.  After our 3 ½ hour tour, we headed to Freemason Abbey restaurant for lunch.  Back at the museum, 1700 closing time came way too quickly-could have spent a few more hours easily.  The night brought gale force winds as a cold front moved through, and Friday morning dawned clear and crisp, with a full moon setting.  At 0900, we were off up the Elizabeth river, heading to the northern entrance of The Dismal Swamp Canal.  This canal was conceptualized by George Washington in the 1760’s, and hand dug by slaves from 1793-1805.  Cost overruns halted construction in 1796 for a few years, but the project was eventually completed.  The Canal allowed the Swamp, which was rich in White Cedar, and other commercially viable tree species to be harvested and shipped out economically.  We opt to traverse this route instead of the Virginia Cut, because of its wilderness beauty, and its’ historical importance.  We pass through Deep Basin Lock at 1100, and are entertained by Bob, the lockmaster, who regales us with tales, and completes our transit by playing “When the Saints Come Marching in” on a conch shell.  I have to break out our conch horn, and give him a few toots-he confides to the Admiral that I need to work on my tongue rolling (I’m not even going there).  The D.S. Canal is just a straight, 22 mile long, 6’ deep, tree-lined ditch, through  beautiful wilderness.  The depth is pretty consistent, but there are many submerged logs and branches, providing numerous bumps and bangs along the way.  We were forewarned, so after the first few, it’s no thing.  Just over the state line, the North Carolina Welcome Center has a seawall that’ll be our stop for the night.  There’s plenty of room at the wall, but Changing Course and The Girl raft up to make room for the boats that we know are behind us.  The Welcome Center is associated with a state park, so we get a little hike time in before dark.  The rest of the boats in the canal are in right around dark-they’re all sailboats, and raft up three deep at the other end of the wall.  I make the rounds with the contents of our icemaker, as most of the sailors don’t have that luxury.  Pun intended, this gesture is always a good icebreaker. The sailboats decide that we all need to be off the wall by 0700, so we agree, as we want to be ahead of them on the waterway (they’re generally slower, and passing in a narrow channel can be dicey).  At 0630, it’s cold enough to “freeze the balls off a brass monkey”.  Hold on, let me explain.  Back in the day, cannon balls needed to be stored in stacks on deck.  Since they are round, they tend to roll around if not restrained.  To accomplish this, square trays were formed with sixteen concave depressions.  The balls were placed on these depressions and stacked in a pyramid, 16 on the bottom row, then 9 on the second, 4 on the third, then 1 on top.  Since the cannon balls were made of iron, they would naturally rust, so the trays (monkeys) were made of brass, to keep the balls from adhering when they rusted.  In extremely cold weather, the iron and brass contract at different rates, allowing the cannon balls to escape and roll around the deck-hence “Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey”.  Anyway, it was so dang cold that there was ice (I’m not talkin’ frost) on deck.  We had to take our shoes off to keep from sliding around.  It was another sunny, clear day though, and the canopy of trees was in its’ full autumnal splendor.  When we arrived at South Mills Lock, “Two by Two”, a Nova Scotian 47’ (That we first met in the Saguenay Fiord off the St. Lawrence) was tied to the approach wall.  Three trawlers and four sailboats locked through, and we were on our way to Elizabeth City, NC on the Pasquotank River.  I have to say that this is a town that has the boater economy thing figured out.  They have free tie ups on several city seawalls, as well as free internet.  They only ask that you patronize local businesses during your stay.  What a contrast with Anse St. Jean QC, where they charged you $10 to tie up your dinghy (and we said “To heck with that”, and ate on the boat, foregoing probably spending $100 at the bakery and restaurant in town).  Elizabeth City, which seems to be a town kind of down on their luck did have a beautiful, state-funded Museum of the Albemarle, and an art gallery for local artists, both of which we visited.  We then proceeded to do our part for the local economy-drugstore, bookstore, and the Cypress Restaurant, which turned out to be a delightful, nouveau cuisine place with many of seafood selections.  Back on the Girl, the Admirals’ (and Captains) meeting mapped out our course for the next few days.  Tomorrow, Sunday, we’ll head across the Albemarle Sound to Alligator River, and anchor in its’ southern end, about a 50 mile trip.  Lisa has furnace envy-when the heat kicks on, she has to whine just a little bit, although I’m pretty sure it’s just for Bill’s benefit.  After they split for their little ship, I can’t find a CBS station that’s carrying the Spartan game, so after finding out that the Wolverines have squeaked out a 10-9 victory over Northwestern, I hit the rack.

G’Night

GOOOOD MORNING!

Eleven and a half hours later, we’re pulling into Smith Creek, just west of Point Lookout on the North shore of the mouth of the Potomac.  We’ve read some mixed reviews about this spot, but the location is right.  There’s a brand new fixed face dock, but a lot of single boat slips that are in really poor shape.  I guess that accounts for the mixed reviews.  Anyway, Alec, the dock dude directs us to the face, and we’re secured in a flash.  Decided not to anchor out, as the forecast is for 25-30 knots with gusts to 40, and if we ended up here for a few days, didn’t want to have to move.  Also, Justin trailered our dinghy here from Solomon’s today, and put it in the water here.  We need to grab it.  White Star is tied at the wall, and she’s reunited with Alizann, secured on deck within 20 minutes.  We’ll take a test drive later, as it’s getting pretty dark.  There are some very tired boats here that don’t look like they’ve been moved in a long, long time.  Besides us, there is only one other transient boat here.  On “Lady Gus”, Wayne and Linda tell us that they arrived just today, and are going to wait out the weather here.  We don’t get any “Trick or Treaters”, so we’ll just have to eat the treats ourselves.  Through the night we can hear the wind rising, and as predicted, it is gale force by morning.  Waves out on the Chesapeake aren’t too big yet, but the winds are supposed to continue until Monday.  As we don’t want to get stuck in an anchorage half way to Deltaville, we decide to hang here.  During the day, Suzanne and I get some office work done, me in the pilothouse with the laptop, her down in the office, doing month end on the desktop.  One of the cruisers across the way has some pretty loose lines, and is banging the adjacent boat.  I give Alec a call, and he goes out to retie.  45 minutes later, I look up, and the piling that the bow has been retied to is leaning at a precarious angle, the end poking into the starboard porthole on the bow.  Alec and I go out.  I bring a 200’ line so that we can snag the piling and pull it across to the next dock over.  Bad news, the tide is falling, and the piling top is jammed under the lip of the porthole, and won’t budge.  We try to heel the boat by standing on the opposite rail-no dice.  Okay, A call to his boss.  Another 45 minutes of falling tide, and Joe shows up with a comealong so we can really crank on my line.  Long story short (sort of), half hour later, in the driving, 50 degree rain, we get ‘er retied, and the errant piling pulled away into the adjacent empty slip.  I ask Joe if he should call the owner, and he tells me he doesn’t know who it is-boat hasn’t moved all summer.  I’m thinkin’ maybe the guy would have been happier if we’d let her go-seems like there are a lot of boats tied up here with the same stories.  Tied here, slip fees not paid-just abandoned.  What a shame, I’m sure that there are folks that could give these boats enough love to revitalize them if given a chance.  We have Wayne and Linda over for a 5-7, and what a story!  They’re from Minnesota, have never had a boat larger than a runabout, and decided that they wanted to liveaboard.  They retired, found a 34 year old custom built 42’ cruiser, sold all their stuff, and moved aboard exactly 4 days ago.  A professional captain brought them through New York, and left them and their boat on the Chesapeake Bay.  After 2 days on their own, in moderate seas, they pulled in here, and are very anxious about leaving.  Seas are forecast to moderate by Monday (to 1-2’), so Suz and I suggest that we can help them off the dock, and they can travel with us.  We offer to swap crew, as both Suz and I are 100 ton captains.  They’ll think about it.  Hey, we’ve got our new digital antenna, but are out in the stix, and there ain’t no channels here.  The little restaurant here is closing today, and they’re having an emptythefreezer allyoucaneatbrunch today.  The joint has a couple of stools around the homebuilt bar, and a couple of tube type TV’s from the last century, but they have satellite-oh, and buck-and-half beers.  I’ve got control of the remote, ‘cause the bartender doesn’t work on Sunday, and we’ve got snacks (crab legs, mussels, rockfish, fried chicken, wings, crab cakes, fries, onion rings,-you get the picture).  After Brady vs. Manning XVI, we roll back home to find that the “Lady Gus” gang is contacting their captain to take Wayne and the boat to the Intracoastal Waterway, while Linda drives his car down.  We’re a little concerned about their level of preparedness for living Their Dream.  Maybe we’ll see them along the way.

Monday morning dawns crisp and clear with a 15 knot breeze. We have a gorgeous run down to Deltaville, VA, complete with dolphin and pelican (they started appearing around the Potomac) sightings.  We’ll do a quick overnighter, maybe picking up a few extra oil filters and impellers for our spare parts bin, as there are a couple of boatyards and a West Marine there.

Signing off for now-        

Helloooo,

October 22, and we’re finally underway again.  Forecast was for 20-25 knots out of the North, and 3-5’ seas, but there is hardly a breeze as we pull off the dock in Solomon’s at 0730.  The Girl rounds the corner to head down the Chesapeake, and Hello! There’s the forecasted conditions-on the nut.  Beam seas of 2-4’ heading out of the creek, but once we turn South, they’ll be on our stern.  Fine with us, our little ship loves following seas.  The sailors following us out aren’t having so much fun, rolling 20 degrees and sitting in the mist created by the tops of the waves blowing off.  Sipping my second cuppa, and munchin’ on my egg muffin I be smilin’.  Gonna be a windy, gray day, so “White Squall” starring Jeff Bridges sounds like good entertainment.  Five hours later, the entrance to the Potomac is a washing machine.  Wind and current are opposing the incoming tide, and the waves are standing straight up.  Our intended anchorage is dogmeat, even though it is mostly in the lee, so we abort and tuck in on a shallow creek behind Cobbs Island. As it turns out, it’s not as shallow as the chart would indicate, and since it’s off season, there aren’t many other boats around.  I fact, we’re the only boat moving at all.  We shoot down the hook in 10 feet of water, and the drizzle turns into a downpour, which really simplifies the “washing the boat” deal.  Next morning, the weather’s an instant replay-gray and windy.  If Suz didn’t have a flight out of Reagan in the morning Friday, we probably would have stayed put.  I’m not sure what I expected, but the Potomac River is really wide at its’ lower half, and is quite rural.  Even on this gray and windy day, the scenery racing by at 7 knots is quite beautiful.  About halfway to D.C., we start seeing more and more military installations cloistered behind restricted waters dotting the otherwise uninhabited banks, as well as a few centuries-old forts.  My fertile imagination runs wild as we pass antenna farms, huge satellite dishes, little harbors with military vessels tucked in, truck-sized tunnels exiting the bank above the shore (with no road or apparent access from the water), and Quantico-replete with its cadre of Osprey VTOL aircraft and helicopters.  Could be the backdrop for a spy novel-maybe Jack Ryan or Jack Reacher.  Our excitement level elevates as we pass Mount Vernon (home and burial place of George Washington) on our port side.  Half an hour later, the Woodrow Wilson bridge rolls into sight just below Alexandria.  Next, the Washington Monument and the Jefferson Memorial appear low on the horizon.  I’m not sure which sight stirred the old patriotic juices more, this or the Statue of Liberty-let’s just call it a draw.  The Gangplank Marina will be our home for the next week.  It’s pretty funky, but well-protected, and just a walk from the National Mall, with a Metro (subway) stop right there too.  As we’re tying up the Docklady, Dianne, tells us that this is the largest liveaboard marina on the East Coast.  Off the boat, we take a quick walk to get our bearings.  Suz and I took our 2 day honeymoon here after being married in North Carolina, on our way back to school and work in Ann Arbor.  During a period in my previous life I spent a bit of time here as the chairman of my professions’ political action committee, but entering any city from its waterfront provides a completely different perspective.

Friday morning we hop on the Metro to get the Admiral out to Reagan for her flight to Madison, Wisconsin for some wedding dress shopping with our daughter, Ali.  After returning to the boat, I decide to trek over to the marine supply store for 6 gallons of oil, filters and etc. for some routine maintenance that I have planned.  Our neighbor, Greg gave me the keys to his truck, but I’m kinda uncomfortable driving his nice truck in downtown D.C.  Can’t be that far, can it?  Yup, sure is.  Especially with 45 pounds of oil and assorted stuff.  After a few unsuccessful attempts to bum a ride from other customers, the service manager takes pity on me and has a tech drive me back to the marina.  How come these quick jobs are rarely quick?  I’ve got 2 frikkin’ oil filter wrenches onboard, but do you think I can find one?  Thank God for the “chain link” visegrip.  At least I got to listen to the Sirius 60’s station asloudasiwanted for an hour and a half, and nobody was there to hear me cursing.  Chores done for today, I’m reading on the back porch as my neighbors are returning from work.  It’s really strange to see folks walking down the docks in their suits, with their briefcases, and hopping on boats.  The next few days passed pretty quickly, filled with small boatchores, touristing, reading, and WATCHING FOOTBALL!  Did I mention that Scottie and I put in a digital TV antenna?  Now I can get the local network channels in addition to our satellite stuff.  (Don’t even get me started on why my satellite provider couldn’t provide me with the networks-it’s a convoluted FCC deal-RV’s can, boats can’t).  Suz is back before I know it.  Mission accomplished-wedding gown ordered, rehearsal dress purchased, and the Admiral’s dress picked out.  I’m gonna have to clean up my diet-she’s not a fan of Cheetos and beer for dinner ( I wasn’t that bad-I had salads a couple of nights too), but sometimes you just gotta do it.  Over the next few days we hit some museums and the Capitol, as well as monuments.  Everyone has their favorite attractions in D.C., so I won’t get into a lot of recommendations, BUT, if you haven’t been to the Holocaust Memorial, I can guarantee that visiting will be a Powerful Experience.  I went the week that it opened, back in the day, and again this trip.  Both visits were unique.  If you don’t have favorites because you’ve never been to D.C.-go!  (It’ll make you prouder of being an American).  Okay, I’m off the soapbox now.  Thursday the night of the30th, and we’re off to Safeway, a short walk from the marina, to provision.  I know that they have Cheetos, but find out that they also have great fresh produce as well.

Halloween morning, 0600, and it looks like the clear, 75 degree days that we’ve enjoyed for the past week are at an end.  It’s overcast and 48 degrees-good day for rollin’ down the river.  We’ll do a long one today, to the mouth of the Potomac-I’m guessing about 11 hours or so.  Justin will drop our dinghy off at the Lookout Point Marina near the Chesapeake Bay, so we can grab it there.  He says it’s running like a top-we know he worked his butt off to get it right, and it’s one of those Ka-Ch$ng moments for us.  In reality, it is for him too, as he put in a lot of hours that he didn’t bill us for, ‘cause(as Scottie says) he’s that kind of guy (refreshing).  Passing  Mt. Vernon, we spot a pair of bald eagles nesting on the green buoy directly opposite-I’m thinking old George is smilin’.  The rest of the way down the river, the depthsounder is lighting up nonstop with schools of fish-we heard the Stripers (aka Rockfish) were running, but I’m too snuggly warm and lazy to break out my rig.  Ah, almost forgot.  There was an awesome fresh fish market that I found on my way to get oil a couple of days ago.  I’m not too sure what the health department says about it, but what this Farmers Market for fish lacks in cleanliness, it makes up for in quantity/variety (I know that doesn’t make sense, but it sounded good to me).  Crustaceans, mollusks, cephalopods, and fishes could be found in abundance-and the prices were right.  I love living on the ocean.  Just passing our anchorage from last week, Cobb Island.  Seas are much kinder today, and a couple of hours to go.  Our plan is to head South on Saturday, but the forecast is for 5-7’ seas, so we’ll see.

-Hasta Luego