2021: New Bern to Wrightsville Beach NC

 24 October 2021

Depart: Private Dock New Bern, NC 10:15

Arrive: Moorehead City Yacht Basin 2:50 - 3:30

Distance: 35 nm

Conditions: Bright sun; Forecast 52 -> 77 degrees

We enjoyed our bed and breakfast at Ralph's house - we provided the bed and he provided the breakfast! I got some more time to play with Chewy!

Play time with Chewy

Clark needed non-ethanol gas for our dinghy. While Ralph took Clark to a place to fulfill this need, I took Chewy for a walk around the neighborhood. Or perhaps I should say, Chewy took me for a walk.

Chewy on alert!

We walked, mostly with Chewy leading the way, for the full time Ralph and Clark were away. We both got a bit of needed exercise. As soon as Clark got back, he started prepping the boat for departure. We got underway shortly thereafter. 

Traveling down the Neuse River, we saw very little boat traffic. As soon as we turned onto Adams Creek and the ICW, we were back in a long line of boats heading south.

Back in the ICW parade of boats

With plans to visit our boating friends, Dave and Bev, we made reservations at the Moorehead City Yacht Basin marina. As we arrived at the marina at 2:50, we found ourselves fourth in line to get into our slip. We floated outside the marina for a full 40 minutes and finally had our lines tied at 3:30. When Clark went up to check in, he found another long queue and a slow check in person. It took Clark until almost 5:00 to come back to the boat. By which time, our friends Bev and Dave were sitting on the boat chatting with me.

We quickly closed up the boat and headed out. Our friends were kind enough to offer their laundry room for my use, agree to take me to a grocery store for some fresh vegetables, and make a reservation for dinner at a local restaurant. We had a lot to do and the clock was ticking. By the end of the visit, we had accomplished everything on the list and had a great time reconnecting. Dave and Beverly dropped us off at our marina around 10:30. 

Given I cannot use my electric oven without running the generator when we are at anchor, I planned to make Clark his favorite bedtime snack - Applesauce Cake. Even though we got back to the boat quite late, I decided to go ahead and make his treat. I finally climbed into bed around 12:30 a.m. I set the alarm for 7:30 knowing I would be dragging the next day.

25 October 2021

Depart: Moorehead City Yacht Basin, NC 8:15

Arrive: Wrightsville Beach, NC 5:35

Distance: 72 nm

Conditions: Overcast skies with rain in the forecast

Clark had hoped to travel on the ocean today, but the weather had other plans. A front approached and the conditions on the ocean were not inviting - even for us! As we got ready to pull in our lines to continue down the ICW, I saw lightning and very quickly heard thunder. I checked with Clark to see what he planned. He looked at an app on his phone, said, "The storm is to the east. Let's go!"

We pulled in our lines and headed out. Although we got light rain / drizzle off-and-on througout the day, we never saw any more lightning or heard any more thunder. We did, however, had an interesting show of clouds all day long.

I posted the below picture on Facebook and learned from our friend, Ralph, that this sky is called a "sucker hole". It refers to a short display of good weather that lures in a "sucker" thinking that weather is improving. 

As we traveled along the ICW, we saw several frolicking dolphins and playful pelicans. None of these guys posed for the camera.

Clark said that our target for today would be the Mile Hammock anchorage. However, at 12:15 he decided that we would arrive there too early to call it a day. He looked for some other anchorage further along the ICW. We passed by Mile Hammock around 1:00, so that decision made sense. 

Some pictures we took on today's leg of our journey.

We missed the scheduled 4:00 opening at the Figure 8 bridge. Clark said that we could "slide under" if we lowered the mast, so that is what we did. The Wrightsville Bridge came next, and thinking that there was no way we could slide under that one, we raised the mast and the antennas. 

As we approached the bridge, Clark thought that perhaps we could have made it under with everything down. Oh well, we only had to hang out a few minutes waiting for the 5:00 opening. While we waited, I asked Clark how much further he planned on traveling. When he told me, it would be another 12 nm. I groaned and complained. I hate pulling into an anchorage at sunset and having to rush to make dinner after so many hours on the water. 

Palm tree and flag on an "Island" on the ICW

Wrightsville Bridge

Wrightsville Beach, NC

Clark took pity on me and found an anchorage located just after the Wrightsville Bridge. Yay! I got to sit and relax for a few before cooking dinner. While I chilled, I watched the clouds and the sun setting.

Wrightsville Beach, NC

Sun setting at anchorage

Sunset at anchorage

2021: North River anchorage to New Bern NC

 22 October 2021

Depart: North River anchorage 7:35

Arrive: Pongo River anchorage 3:35

Distance: 65 nm

Conditions: Cool, humid; Low 70s

Sunrise on the North River in North Carolina

Our cockpit, i.e. area in the stern of the boat, was taken over by a ton of bugs last night and still occupied that space in the morning. I think they might have been midgie flies. Regardless of bug type, the cockpit was definitely off limits! 

View out our window of just a few
of the many bugs enjoying our cockpit.

While bringing up the anchor this morning, we got to watch a parade of boats passing by. Everyone at Coinjock Marina must have coordinated their departures. "Okay! Drop lines now! And go!" Once our anchor was up, we cut into the line of boats and joined the parade.

We all started to bunch up as we approached the Alligator River bridge. Fortunately the winds were only gusting in the 20 knot range, so we did not have to worry about bridge closure due to wind. The bridge tender could see us all coming and told the boaters that arrived first that they would have to wait for more of us to catch up. Then he'd let us all go through together.

Looking back at the Alligator River Bridge closing 
after the sailboat cleared the bridge

MM 100
The ICW occasionally has mile markers to show 
distance from Norfolk (mile 0). 

Alligator River - Pungo River Canal

Clearly, boaters need to stay away from the edges 

I thought I saw a lighthouse on the canal but knew that was not the case.

Red / White Striped Something on the canal

Turned out to be a tall tug boat with a barge;
Tug named "Royal Engineer"

Sometimes the obstructions appear in the center
waiting to do damage to a non-observant boater

For tonight, we targeted an anchorage where the Alligator River - Pungo River Canal ends and the Pungo River begins. It is a large anchorage, and that is a good thing because many boaters from our parade opted to stop here for the night. 

Just as we pulled into the anchorage, it started to drizzle. Then I saw some lightning and heard some thunder. We managed to get the anchor down and get back under cover before it started to rain properly. 

One other boat shared our "corner" of the anchorage. It looked to be anchored normally when we came in, but later when we looked at the boat, it was facing the wrong direction. Later, Tow Boat U.S. showed up to pull the boat into deeper water as the boat was hard aground.

Grounded Boat being towed off by Tow Boat U.S.
(picture taken from inside boat due to bugs in cockpit area)

Boat being towed backwards out to deeper water

The rain storm passed and we saw a nice sunset.

Boats in the Pungo River anchorage

23 October 2021

Depart: Pungo River anchorage 7:40

Arrive: Neuse River anchorage 3:30

Depart: Neuse River anchorage 5:15

Arrive: Private dock Fairfield Harbour near New Bern, NC 5:35

Conditions: overcast / foggy

Foggy sunrise at Pungo River anchorage

Clark counted around a dozen boats in the anchorage with us. One by one we left the anchorage, and once again we traveled in a caravan of boats down the ICW.  Along the way we passed the docks of R E Mayo where we saw lots of fishing boats at dock. Clark asked if I wanted to stop to buy seafood, but I declined.

Fishing Fleet at R E Mayo docks

Our journey today took across Albemarle Sound. We had a smooth ride.

Following the crowd across Albemarle Sound

We left the crowd after turning onto the Neuse River. As we passed Adams Creek and kept going, we watched all the other boats turn off to continue on the ICW. We were happy to get out of the congestion.

We took a side trip up the Neuse River to visit our good friend from our Great Loop trip - Ralph from "Mazel Tug".  We planned to arrive at Ralph's house around 5:30 when he got home from work. With time to kill, we dropped anchor in the Neuse River to relax for a while before heading in to Ralph's dock. We decided to take showers while we had time to spare.

Having taken a day or two off on vacation, our gremlin returned today, and I learned he has a sense of humor. I took my shower first with no issues. Clark was no so fortunate. A short while into his shower I hear him yelling, "What happened to the water?!" Our gremlin has waited until Clark was soapy to mess with the water pump! 

A couple of times in the past, the water pump needed to be reset. Usually this can be done at the circuit breaker, so I turned the breaker off and then on. I checked the galley tap and water was flowing, so I told Clark it was good to go. A few minutes later I heard him yelling again.

As he was rinsing off the rest of the soap, the pump stopped again. I tried multiple times to reset the pump at the breaker, but it was a no go. (This has not happened before.) Clark had to abandon his shower, pull out the user manual, and climb down into the bottom of the boat to check on the pump. He pushed the reset button on the water pump itself, and that seems to have fixed the issue.

Around 5:15, we pulled in the anchor and made our way into Fairfield Harbour to Ralph's dock. After tying up, we all went out to eat at a local Italian restaurant for a lovely dinner. Afterwards we returned to Ralph's house where I had great fun playing tug-o-war with his dog, Chewy. Chewy has a stuffed pineapple with a squeaky toy inside that he loves to tear apart and thoroughly enjoys fighting over.

Chewy says, "Come play with me and my toy!"

 20 October 2021
Bluewater Yachting Center, Hampton, VA

No boat travel.

Since the person to help us with the fuel problem did not come yesterday, we signed up for another night at Bluewater Yachting Center. While waiting for him to come today, I decided to do the laundry. When I walked back to the boat with my folded clothes, I passed the truck, so I figured the guy would already be at the boat. As it turned out, he, Dave, followed me down the long dock all the way to our boat without me even realizing it.

 

Dave and Clark worked from around 12:30 when Dave arrived until 3:30 removing the 200 gallons of bad fuel oil – one 20-gallon drum at a time.  Then for the next hour, they moved some fuel from the starboard tank to the port tank and used the fuel polishing system to clean out any residual bad fuel from the engine. Dave left around 5:00. At that point we had 14% of a full tank on the port side and 24% of a full tank on starboard. Time to go buy more fuel.

With plans to leave in the morning, Clark said we needed to get the holding tank pumped out tonight. So, we pulled in the lines and the power cord and set off for the pump-out station. Clark’s plan was to do the pump out and then take the boat for a quick run to make sure everything looked in order. However, after completing the pump-out, we passed by the fuel dock and found a too-good-to-pass-up fuel price for diesel. We decided to fuel up right then as opposed to waiting until tomorrow.

We added about 514 gallons of fuel and won the prize of a volume discount that kicked in at 500 gallons. Sadly, the pump had the slowest fill ever. We sat at the fuel dock from 5:30 until almost 7:00 watching the dial on the fuel pump slowly tick away the gallons and dollars.

The sun went down as we sat at the fuel pump. We canceled our plans to cruise around to check out the fuel work. If the work was not successful, we just wasted a lot of money putting over 200 gallons in the tank! 

We tied up at our assigned dock at 7:15 in the dark. Fortunately, the woman on a neighboring boat came and helped with our lines.

 

Sunset view from the marina fuel dock

21 October 2021
Depart: Bluewater Yachting Center, Hampton, VA 8:15
Arrive: Public Creek North, North River, NC (just south of Coinjock Marina) 6:30
Distance: 88 nm

 Clark told me before I went to bed last night that “because tomorrow would be a short day”, we would go for a walk in the morning. Then we would take a cruise down a nearby waterway we have not been on before to do some sightseeing before continuing on our way south. This lovely bedtime story turned out to be fairy tale.

At 7:00 this morning, Clark got out of bed saying we needed an early start to the day to get as far along on our way south as possible. What happened to a leisurely and short travel day?! Clark said that a boat in the marina woke him up using the boat thrusters. Poof! Fairy tale gone!

Before leaving, Clark took time to fill our water tanks, and then we were on our way south – no walk, no short sightseeing cruise, no short travel day.

As we approached Norfolk, I told Clark not to take a hundred pictures of battleships. I already have a lot of battleship pictures – many of them duplicates or triplicates from prior trips.

Naval fuel barge with tug

Tug "Connie Ann" underway with man
on very top putting up flags
(would not want to be him!)

Right after we passed under the Norfolk-Portsmouth RR bridge, the bridge came down. The tender must have been waiting for us to pass. On the other hand, as we approached the Old Virginia Railroad Bridge, the bridge came down right in front of us. We sat there waiting for a very slow, but thankfully short, train to appear and creep by. 

Train on the Old Virginia RR bridge

Just as it looked like the train would exit the bridge, it stopped. Finally, it continued on its way and 20 minutes after we arrived at the bridge, the bridge went up and we could proceed.

Don't stop there! Just a little bit further please!

Some other Norfolk, non-battleship pictures:

New I-64 bridge under construction

Next, as we approached the Southern #7 Railroad Bridge, we heard boat and bridge tender chatter about travel delays. We arrived at the bridge at 10:30. Apparently, we were lucky as we only had to wait 20 minutes here. We did not know how long the boats already sitting there ahead of us had been waiting.

Some of the chatter we heard from the bridge talk was that there were “about 30 boats” queued up waiting for the lock at Great Bridge. The bridge tender announced to those of us waiting to proceed that it would be into the afternoon before we got through the lock-bridge combo.

Later, as we neared the lock, we joined the end of a long line of boats bobbing in place waiting to pass through the lock. It looked like the bridge tenders announcement would be an accurate one.

Joining the end of a long line of boats 
waiting for the lock

Not surprisingly, we missed the 11:00 and the 12:00 bridge openings. However, we were very lucky to get the last available slot on the port side of the lock lined up for the 1:00 bridge opening. 

Note: The lock and Great Bridge bridge are next to each other and work their schedules in tandem.

The line of sailboats behind us would have to wait for the 2:00 bridge opening.

We exited Great Bridge at 1:10 p.m. 

Our delays for the day continued as we had two, low, swing bridges to deal with before it would be clear sailing for us. We had a relatively short wait for the Centerville Turnpike Bridge to prepare to open. Just before the bridge did open, the tender announced, “This is a slow bridge. It takes about 3 minutes to open.” One of the boaters in line for the bridge replied, “That will be the shortest wait of the day!”

Unfortunately, the next bridge in line, the North Landing Bridge, is scheduled to open on the same schedule as the Centerville Bridge, i.e. on the hour and half hour. Sadly, at our travel speed, we could not make the next opening at North Landing Bridge. As we neared thay bridge, we saw the bridge closing meaning we had to wait for almost half an hour for the next opening.

 All told, it took 3 hours longer than usual to travel 28 nautical miles, but the worst part of the day was behind us. We were glad that we had fueled up the day before. If we had added fueling time to today’s agenda, it would have made it an even harder day.

When we locked through, we were behind a 65-foot boat named “Imagine”. The captain told me that he tried to get a spot for the night at Coinjock Marina but could not get in as they were fully booked for the night. As we passed by Coinjock Marina, we were amazed at the number of huge boats docked bow-to-stern along the dock.

Boats lined up on Coinjock dock

As the sun got lower and lower in the sky, I anticipated dropping our anchor after the sun went down. I was correct. The sun disappeared behind trees just before we reached the anchorage Clark chose for the night.

Sunset near our selected anchorage

Later, after a quickly-prepared dinner of leftovers, I stepped outside briefly to look at the full moon. When I came back in, a swarm of mosquitoes came rushing into the boat with me. I used a hand vacuum to suck them up. No way would I venture back outside with the camera as I planned!

What a ridiculous day this turned out to be! On the bright side, I am not aware of any gremlin-related boat issues today. Maybe things are looking up.

2021: Hampton VA -- Another Day Another Problem

 19 October 2021

Depart: Old Point Comfort Anchorage 2:55

Arrive: Blue Water Marina, Hampton, VA 3:30

Distance: 3 nm

Last night Clark said we would have a short trip today and could sleep in this morning. That sounded wonderful and I went to bed with visions of a great night's sleep and an easy, short travel day to follow.

None of that turned out to be our story. I went to bed just before 11:00. Before Clark came to bed, he looked outside and found that a catamaran had dropped anchor right beside us. He put fenders out and pulled in 25 feet of line to move our boat forward. The boats were still too close. 

I woke when I heard the anchor line  but did not think much of it. A short while later I heard 4 blasts on our horn. I wondered what was happening. When Clark came back into the boat, he explained that he was trying to get the attention of the "intruding neighbor" with no success. He tried again with lights and an air horn aimed directly at the other boat. No response. 

Boat docked "on top of us" with no anchor light

Clark decided we had to move our boat and drop anchor somewhere new to get out of the danger zone. When I got dressed to help move the boat, the clock read midnight. After repositioning the boat, when I finally got to climb back into bed, it showed 2:00 a.m. (We struggled to find a suitable place to drop anchor.) It took more than an hour after we climbed back in bed for Clark and I to get to sleep after our adventure. 

This morning we got up around 9:00 to get going. When Clark did his routine engine checks, he found a non-routine situation in the engine room. He found about a pint of water in the port-side Raycor fuel filter, and the diesel fuel for our port engine looked more like tomato juice than diesel fuel -- opaque, not clear. Not good!

Some history .... Late July, when we planned to take our grandkids out on the boat for a day trip, Clark went to add water to our water tank and accidentally added the water to our port fuel tank. We paid almost $1000 to have a professional service come out to remove the water and clean the fuel. We thought everything was good. 

For the first time while cruising since this episode, we had rough seas. Even the Atlantic Ocean was tame. Being knocked around yesterday on the water apparently stirred up some water that was hiding somewhere in the system.  Clark spent the rest of this morning and early afternoon making phone calls, following up with texts, and working to rectify the situation. 

Finally, the decision was made to move to a nearby marina  -- traveling on the starboard engine only. A local representative from the company we used in July will be coming out to work on the boat. His solution will be to remove the fuel from the tank. Sadly we just added fuel in Cape May. All that money will quite literally go down the drain. 

Today's trip was all of 3 miles long. I managed to get a couple of pictures as we passed by a construction site near the spot where we anchored last night. 

After we tied up at the marina, we got some time to relax as we waited for the rep to make it to the boat today. Unfortunately, he did not come. We knew that was a possibility, but we hoped. Now, we are expecting him some time tomorrow.

The gremlin on the boat is getting more malicious every day. Instead of the normal, long-but-relatively-relaxing trip south, this year we have to wonder each and every day -- "What next?!"

2021: Bohemia Bay MD to Fort Monroe VA Anchorage

 17 October 2021

Depart: Bohemia Bay Yacht Harbour, Chesapeake City, MD 7:45

Arrive: Patuxent River / Mill Creek Anchorage 6:00

Distance: 70+ nm

Conditions: Sunny; low 60s; Winds gusting to 35 knots; Rough waters on the Chesapeake Bay

Although we were up early as usual, we saw no sunrise today due to the boat being under cover at the marina. I looked but could see nothing!

I am convinced that the boat has gremlins. Almost every day of the voyage thus far we have had a problem. Day one we found the satellite TV stopped working, next we discovered that the holding tank monitor was "wonky". Then the regulators for the batteries went out of wack and had to be reprogrammed. Today, the master chart plotter failed. When Clark went to select a route for our travels, he found all the route data had disappeared from the memory card. It would be nice to have a day where nothing failed.

During Clark's attempt to resolve the missing route data problem, we also lost the chart data. The only thing left was the waypoints. He swapped the memory card from the master to the repeater and got the charts back, but the route data has vanished.

As we traveled, Clark went through the somewhat painful process of creating a new route for the length of the Chesapeake Bay. I made a list of the relative waypoints and then read them back to him as he created the route. We now have one route in our database. Yay!

We had a windy travel day with gusts up to 35 knots. The water on the Chesapeake Bay was rough even with stabilizers. Even so we pushed through to travel for the full day to get as far down the bay as feasible for the day. 

Lighthouse Getting a Face Lift

Chesapeake Bay Bridge!

More Chesapeake Bay Lighthouses!

When we finally arrived at the Patuxent River, the sun was already very low in the sky. Clark said he was not sure we would have a view of the sunset due to trees surrounding his planned anchorage. I took a pre-sunset picture as we entered the river.

Rays of sun breaking through the clouds

By the time we navigated the meandering Mill Creek and dropped anchor, the sun was setting. Clark managed to grab a couple of great shots.

18 October 2021

Depart: Mill Creek, MD anchorage 7:45

Arrive: Fort Monroe / Old Point Comfort VA anchorage 6:30

Distance: 92 nm

Conditions: Chilly - low 60s; Gusty winds; Rough seas 

With no heat on the boat (when at anchor), I took time to add an electric blanket to warm up our bed for a good night's sleep. That worked to keep us warm and cozy through the night.

I could not see the sunrise, but I did manage to capture some early morning views of our anchorage on Mill Creek.

Other than an occasional lighthouse, we spent a very long day staring at the water of Chesapeake Bay.

Point No Point Lighthouse

92 nautical miles and almost 11 hours after leaving our anchorage this morning, we arrived at the Old Point Comfort / Fort Monroe site we selected for tonight's spot to anchor. Having been tossed about on the waves for a good portion of the day, we were glad to drop anchor to rest.

At the anchorage, we could see the full moon on one side of the boat and the sunset on the other.

Sun setting behind bridge