48 hours...

It was an uneventful but looong haul - about 280 nautical miles from Morehead City, NC to Savannah, GA. Weather is everything.  If it's not the right conditions, it just isn't right to try. The seas were calm enough that we could easily sleep, or just be below. I don't think I'd ever want to do a transatlantic passage---10 days or so.  No thanks!

We did manage to pick up HDTV and internet as we were about 10 miles out.  That meant I got to watch the "dancing with the stars" finale and Luke got to watch "V".

We had only 1 exciting event.  Late in the day we left, Tuesday, we were 26 miles offshore when we spotted 2 dolphins swimming wildly towards the boat.  They were literally jumping completely out of the water in their efforts to reach us.  We lost them as they approached the boat but suddenly realized that they had come over to play in our bow wave.  There were 3 of them, swimming beside and under the bow, breaking the surface, and just simply playing.  Luke got a good video but I can't show it here.  Here is a picture of one of them --- look carefully and you'll see the head of the second one, greenish, just under the surface to the left of the one out of the water.

It rained off and on Tuesday and was cloudy on Wednesday. We were treated to a spectacular sunset on Wednesday as we were off Charleston, promising a starry night, which we indeed had, along with a last quarter moon to brighten things up...

There are some difficulties in trying to maintain a normal life while underway for so long.  One is cooking.  The stove has little arms that "hold" the pots to keep them from sliding off of the stove.  They help, but I have to say, they do lack something. Like a level cooking surface.

Anyway, we arrived safe and sound and tired around 11 this morning, staying again at the private dock of our friends on the Skidaway River.  We are off to Savannah for the next few days.  Landlubbers for a while!

Leaving Morehead City

We are planning to leave Morehead City, NC, around noon today, Tuesday, and head out for a 40-48 hour sail to Savannah.  We should be there by mid day on Thursday.  The weather window looks great.
So, we'll be posting probably not before Friday.  Everyone have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!!

Southward to Morehead City

The weather improved and we left Elizabeth City early -- very early -- on Friday, Nov. 20.

Back into the ICW, along the Alligator River/Pungo River Canal.

We spent a quiet night at the mouth of the canal, passing the E.C. Mayo shrimp processing plant en route.  You can actually tie your boat up here for the night, about $1/ft, a real deal.  Of course, there are no amenities like toilets, but it's a good stop on the ICW.

Then to Oriental.  The plan had been to pick up a part (delivered to the marina by West Marine!).  One of the large marinas had agreed to let us tie up there for 1/2 hr or so to receive the part.  After talking to the dock master as he helped us dock the boat, we were offered the opportunity to stay there for the night at no charge.  We took it!  That meant we could walk into town and have dinner with friends we met at Elizabeth City.

The harbor in Oriental is small and houses shrimp boats, but very oriented for the transiet boaters.  Besides two marinas, boats can anchor out in the tiny harbor.

We left at barely daylight this morning and arrived in Morehead City by 9:30.  It was a usual beautiful sunrise.

We met our friend Michael for lunch and a tour of town.  With luck and a good weather window, we'll leave tomorrow afternoon and contine the trek towards more of our southern friends and the Bahamas. 

We're on the Elizabeth City harborcam!

Until 6am tomorrow (well, until dark actually) you can see us on the Elizabeth City Harborcam  http://www.ecncweather.com/harborcam.php
You can't see us terribly well, but that's the bow of our boat just behind the big motor boat in the foreground.  Maybe they'll move today....

Checking out the old days with dad

We enjoyed the day with dad and his two grand-nieces.  Not youngsters, you understand.  Dad's father was 72 when he was born, dad being the last of 14 children of 3 wives.  He had half-siblings that were 50 when he was born.  His father died when he was 7.  Interesting family tree to say the least...
We did a tour of the places where dad lived, including the family cemetery where granddad is buried.  It's simply in the middle of a soybean field now, the old home and buildings long gone.  The images and memories that it brings up for dad are things that I can only imagine.

Another detour by the reputed Blackbeard's home on the Pasquotank River, part of the ICW.  It's been long rumored that he lived there, killing 2 of his wives there.  However, the historian/restoration expert working on the house right now states that the house was built in 1735 --- Blackbeard was killed in 1718.  So much for rural legend.
A stop by the Dismal Swamp, checking out the tall cyprus trees in the still water.

Then on to the home where dad's grandnieces were born.  The house is long deserted, but the women state that the tree by the house is old, their mother remembers it being tall before they were ever born.  That's at least 85 years.

And a booster shot to my Southern heritage... one of the grandnieces has a bobcat skin rug in her home ----little thing with legs spayed out, head up in a most ferocious manner, teeth showing like a big cat.  Her husband was a well respected hunter, bagged a bear at 7, etc, so I asked if he got the bobcat.  "Nope" was the reply, just a simple "dawg got 'em".  I really should have gotten a picture...
One last picture of one of Luke's favorite subjects, a barn.  Very North Carolina-ish style. 

Not sure about tomorrow.  The weather is windy, blowing in the wrong direction for good travel.  We'll make a final decision on crossing the Albemarle Sound tomorrow morning.

"Boating Schedule" is an oxymoron...

The two just don't go together.  We had the best plan - out early, get divers to clean the barnacle encrused prop, fill with diesel and water, hit the bridge opening at 8:30, and to the first lock in the Dismal Swamp for the 11:00 opening.  ok, we got out of our great dockage easily and the divers were waiting.  The propellar, keel, and were all barnacle covered after sitting for 6 weeks in Deltaville.  The divers worked quickly and cleaned the boat easily.  Nice, smooth ride now

Then for diesel and water..simple enough, right?  Only when the diesel pump works.  We waited and waited.  Luke did a little dew-whop moping while we waited. 

Finally the marina gave us directions to another pump, very close, and off we went, undocking lines and redocking.  A little slow, but we finally filled up all of our tanks.  We threw the lines, zipped back out into the Elizabeth River in Norfolk only to be stopped by a bigggg police boat with lots of guns telling us that a Navy aircraft carrier was coming thru, to clear the river, and to find a place to dock for an hour or so.  So, back to the fuel dock, tie up again, and wait.  The carrier WAS impressive, lumbering slowly past.

We just barely made it through the first "usually open" bridge before the bridge tender closed it for an hour "for minor repairs". So, ultimately we missed the 8:30 lock opening because of the necessary diving, and then the 11:00 lock opening compliments of the Navy. Had to call dad and reschedule him a couple of times.

We finally made it to the lock and successfully picked up dad.  The gregarious lock keeper actually let dad operate the lock!  It was good to have dad aboard for the trip.

The Great Dismal Swamp Canal had all the charm we remembered.

We did get attacked by a tree as we dodged a log in the water.

We spent the night at the NC Visitors Center, getting there at dusk, in part due to the friendly lock keeper demonstrating his conch shell playing prowess before opening the lock.

As we wound our way down the Pasquotank River,

we thought that our back luck was back as we neared Elizabeth City.  Heard a call on the VHF radio asking if any boats were in the area and intended to ask for an opening of the Elizabeth City bridge.  Turns out they were getting ready to close the bridge for an extended period for some QC work.  sigh.  The nice bridge tender kept the bridge open for us until we were able to clear it.

Finally, in Elizabeth City!

The trip felt a bit like a video game with the bad guys popping up at every turn. Boating and schedule is indeed an oxymoron.  But on the good side, we had a successful trip and met 5 new boating couples.  We all had a nice dinner together in Elizabeth City, comparing cruising experiences and getting to know each other.

Elvis has left the dock!

At 7a.m. we threw the last of the 10 storm dock lines (usually have only 5-6) and headed out of Fishing Bay

and into the calm Chesapeake, destination Norfolk.  For our future reference, our long/lat were 37deg 32.544N, 76deg 20.354W.  It was 55 degrees and the water temp was 57.7.  It will be interesting to us to compare that when we get to the Bahamas, especially the southern Bahamas.

We had an uneventful trip to Norfolk, passing Ft. Monroe as we entered the Elizabeth River.

Then past the usual BIG ships

and to our new discovery (courtesy of the dock master on the Dismal Swamp), a free dock in Portsmouth, at the High Street Landing.  It's a great place.  Old town Portsmouth.  We will be walking to the little renovated cinema down the street in a bit -- the new Disney 3-D movie Christmas Carol for $4.50 each plus dinner for $7. Cute little tables, phone to call in for more food, drinks...Can't beat that!

The boat has a bit of vibration which we attribute to barnacles on the prop (the waters in Fishing Bay are notorious for them).  So, we've got a diver lined up at 7:15 tomorrow morning at one of the Norfolk marinas to check it out and clean the prop...SHOULD take care of it!

Windtossed, dry, and fine

It was a heck of a storm.  Still not pleasant -- the water is as high as it's been the whole time, the wind is still blowing at 24 knots, and it's chilly (55), but the rain has stopped and the forecast is for slow improvement.  The worst is over.
We are still boat bound - the water is up about another foot from the picture we sent yesterday.  Here's the comparison.  The top picture is from yesterday, the bottom one from this morning.  Note the white electrical outlet in the bottom of the picture and the dock (or lack thereof) beside the little motor boat.

The wind howled at times last night.  Our peak reading wind gauge recorded a shocking maximum of 99.9 knots...

Luke says it's not probable, but.....the little gauge has been accurate before AND we knot that the the weather stations were reporting 74 knots in the Chesapeake yesterday evening.  73 knots is hurricane strength....

Anyway, based on the water over the dock, we're still boat bound for a while, maybe all day.  I haven't checked the weather yet, but I suspect it may be Sunday before we can leave.

Pinned down in Deltaville ---- damned rain ----and wind----

Well, we sure aren't going anywere soon!  The winds and rain continue to pound the east coast (I'm sure you got some of this in Roanoke, too!). 

The rain has raised the tide to a level we haven't seen here. It is covering our dock (no, we aren't leaving the boat to walk in it).  We moved the car from the water level parking lot to a higher point yesterday and walked back to the boat before the water got this high.

The wind gusts have reached almost 40 knots over night.  The forecast is over 50 knots, maybe as high as 60 knots, later today and tonight.

We haven't lost electricity yet, as the water isn't over our electrical outlet yet --- that's out wire, the yellow line under water on the dock.  The wire itself is waterproof.  It's the outlet that we need to worry about.

Our outlet is actually up about 10 inches from the water level now BUT the forecast is for another 10 inches of tide during the high tide tonight.  That will put the tide level at the same height as during Hurricane Isabel. We'll go out during the afternoon low tide and unplug the boat.  That'll mean no electricity, but we don't want to ruin the wire.

So, we're safe and sound and boat bound.  It's still supposed to be high water and wind tomorrow and Saturday.  I guess we'll leave Sunday -- we'll have to check the ICW and see if the Dismal Swamp passage is open.  This flooding will bring a lot of debris into the water.

Our visit to Judy's in Norfolk was fun.  We had a great dinner, spent the evening and night with Judy, and then did some sightseeing before heading back to Deltaville on Tuesday.  First was a visit to the Cape Henry Lights.  The beautiful old one...

and the more functional newer one   

There is a interesting twist to our Revolutinary War history at this point on the bay.  In "The Battle of the Capes", the British fleet of about 19 ships, under Admiral Graves, came down the coast from New York to resupply and reinforce General Cornwallis at Yorktown. They  surprised the French fleet under Admiral DeGrasse, with 24 ships, landing troops, and preparing to help General Washington attack Yorktown. Even though the French fleet was caught undermanned, and had to struggle to get out of the Chesapeake one ship at a time, rather than attacking, Admiral Graves waited 'till the French ships were all out of the bay, and both fleets could form the traditional "line of battle". The result was more or less a draw, leading to a few days of the fleets eying each other from a distance. On the fourth night of this, the French snuck back to the Chesapeake, denying Cornwallis much needed reinforcements, joining Washington in the attack, and forcing Cornwallis to surrender at Yorktown. That was a major blow to the British attempt to quell the colonists' rebellion. For more details than you probably want --- Second Battle of the VA Capes

Next, a quick ride to the downtown Virginia Beach boardwalk.

Then we spent the afternoon at the Maritime Museum - could have spent a lot more time there!  They have a great display on the Union ironclad Monitor and the Confederate version, the CSS Virginia (the captured Union sailing ship known as the Merrimack, radically converted into the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia ).

The museum has the turret of the Monitor, recovered off Cape Hatteras in 2003.  It's in a huge chemical bath, slowly being restored.  You can't see anything but the tank, but here is one of her cannons, being restored in a similar chemical bath.

Interesting historical insight: Having few naval resources, the Confederacy eagerly embraced and successfully impemented new technologies, such as ironclads, and even submersibles, and caused great constenation in the Union navy. The Monitor was built in 100 days in response to the Confederate ironclad threat. Even though from pictures it looks like a little pill box floating on the water, it's actually about 140 ft long, and quite opulently finished below decks.

The wind seems to be picking up and we need to check things, so I'll quit for now.  Then I can knit some more!

Waiting in Deltaville

oh, well, so much for good intentions....the weather forecast for Wednesday/Thursday is awful.  40-50mph wind gusts, steady 20-25mph wind, and rain.  We've talked about it and decided that if we have to wait out that kind of weather, we'd much rather be here, safe and sound at our dock in Deltaville than at an unknown anchorage with a lot of other boats.  This is the peak time of the year for the cruising snowbirds to be headed down the ICW.  We aren't sure how many we'd find, but you can be sure, every one of them will be at the safest anchorage possible - exactly where we'd want to be.  And not everyone is as good at anchoring as we are.  We don't want someone dragging into us.  Also, locks and bridges don't open in high wind. So, we'll stay put.  Our plan is to drive to Norfolk today (Monday) to see Judy via car instead of via boat.  When we do leave, probably Thursday or Friday, we'll just leave really early and push for a long day, hopefully making it to the first Dismal Swamp lock (Deep Creek) if the weather/current cooperate.
oh, yes, and there is juuuust a little fog this morning...These are the boats beside us at the dock.

Almost ready to head south

We are still in Roanoke, but have plans to leave on Saturday, Nov. 7, and go to Deltaville.  A couple of days there to provision and do a few boat chores/upgrades, and we should be able to head south down the Chesapeake, with Norfolk our first big stop. It's been nice to be home in Roanoke - what a gorgeous time of the year to be in the Blue Ridge!  It's been wonderful to see all of our family and friends.  But the water and warm Bahamas are calling...we'll be on our way soon.