2022: AGLCA Rendezvous - Norfolk VA

 3 May 2022
AGLCA Rendezvous Day 2. No boat travel.

Today was the first full day of the AGLCA Rendezvous with presentations going on all day. Dinner was included with the program last night. We were told that tonight we would be on our own for dinner and to explore Norfolk as we wished.

 Our slip assignment was the most convenient for the restrooms and closest to the Sheraton where the sessions of the gathering were held. That was the good news. The bad news was the ferry that loudly blew its horn whenever it left dock starting at 6:00 a.m.

One loud, long blast with 3 short blasts
with every departure from the dock!
Starting at 6:00 a.m.!

The Rendezvous programs included route-planning presentations for the sections of the loop between Norfolk and the Tennessee River. Clark presented today on the portion of the loop from “C&D Canal to New York Harbor”. We worked together on putting the presentation together. He had two parts to the show – charts / navigation and pictures along the route. While he took Q&A, he ran the pictures on a continuous loop. Everyone said it worked well. My job was to push the arrow button every time he said “next slide”.

The other choice of program for the attendees were the “How to …” series. This included, to name a few, how to shop for a looper boat, how to finance and insure said boat, basic navigation, anchoring “made easy”, and weather. Multiple vendors, i.e., sponsors, were at the rendezvous to give talks, hand out brochures, and answer questions from the loopers.

AGLCA Rendezvous Norfolk 2022 
Agenda

Seems like everywhere we go, folks tap into Clark’s well-rounded boating knowledge. Today, he had an “appointment” with a woman who wanted to learn how to splice line. He invited her to the boat, she brought old sections of line, and they had a powwow on splicing. I sat inside the boat reading and occasionally hearing a word or two of their dialogue. When she left, she poked her head in the door to tell me thank you. I did not do a thing to deserve thanks! I left them 100% alone.

 After travel to get to the Rendezvous, and then being on the go all day yesterday and today going from meeting to meeting, Clark and I decided to rest, stay on the boat, and have a homemade meal tonight. We have visited and seen Norfolk a number of times. With all the meals being provided at the rendezvous during the week, we saw no need to find a restaurant. We enjoyed a quiet night onboard.

 

4 May 2022
AGLCA Rendezvous Day 3. No boat travel.

 Each day of the Rendezvous from 3:30 to 5:30, attendees could visit looper boats in the marina that had signed up on a list beforehand to “crawl” through the boats to take a look. Clark put our boat on the list for today. We expected a large crowd since a number of folks asked if we had our name on the list, and several showed up at our boat yesterday hoping for a tour. We were given a red card to display when the boat was open for viewing and advised to let no one on board who was not wearing their AGLCA Program ID Card.  As expected, we had a steady stream of folks who came to admire the boat. My feet hurt by the end of the experience.

 Again tonight, we had another event dinner provided by the AGLCA and one of the sponsors. As with the event on Monday night, our hostess, Kim, spun a roulette wheel to get the names of winners for door prizes provided by our sponsors. Unbelievably, my name came up on the roulette wheel as a winner of a tote bag. As Clark did on Monday, I told Kim to “spin again”. Besides being a Gold Looper, I have bags coming out of my ears. I hardly needed another one even if it did have other goodies stuffed inside. On a second spin, some lucky planning or in-progress looper got a new tote bag to take home. Clark and I never win anything. It is hard to believe that his name came up on Monday and mine today as there were many, many attendees. Who would think it possible!

 We made a point at dinner of sitting with our looper friends we met at Faro Blanco a number of years ago. Being Gold Loopers, i.e. having completed the loop, we made ourselves available for every other meal and sat at tables with folks we did not know. Before we left, I wanted to have time with “The Lower Place” team. I met Robin from “The Lower Place” when we both tried our hands at pickleball. Neither of us turned out to be agile enough to play this sport well and quickly retired our paddles for our own personal safety!

 Robin and Charlie have a different boat from the last time we saw them, so after dinner we stopped by for a quick visit to get the 50-cent tour. We got there at 8:30 and left after midnight! So much for a quick tour. Robin and I shared boating stories while Charlie and Clark discussed alternators and batteries.  When I finally climbed off their boat, I was amazed at how far down from the side of the boat the fixed dock had become.  I definitely needed the step ladder they had in place to get off. Clark, on the other hand, jumped down to the dock like it was nothing. (He truly is a monkey!)

 I thought the height issue of boat gunwale to dock was a “The Lower Place” issue, but when I got back to our boat, I found it riding way higher in the water than we had seen at any other time at this marina. We had been stepping over the gunwale to board. Clark jumped over the gunwale as usual, but I needed Clark to open the door to manage boarding.

 

Norfolk, VA at night near Waterside Marina

5 May 2022 - AGLCA Rendezvous Day 4
Depart: Norfolk, VA Waterside Marina 4:20
Arrive: Old Point Comfort anchorage 6:00
Distance: 11.5 nm
Conditions: Cool, rain and heavy winds starting tomorrow

 Between the 6:00 ferry alarm and going to bed after midnight last night, I was dragging myself around the rendezvous today. I attended the route presentation on the Wisconsin side of Lake Michigan since we did not do that on our loop. Then I went back to the boat for a shower and some quiet time. At noon we had the awards program where Clark received recognition for his presentation on New Jersey boating.

CW AGLCA Certificate of Appreciation

After that we attended the “Tips from Gold Loopers” discussion but left early. Clark had another “appointment” to attend. This time a boater with a Fleming had alternator issues and wanted Clark to take a look. When Clark returned to our boat, he said he had given the boat owner two options on what the problem might be. One would be a relatively easy fix and the other would mean serious trouble. The Fleming owner had a professional boat electrician coming and, with Clark’s input, knew what to discuss with him as to repairs.

The big topic of discussion at today’s meetings was the weather. Heavy rain, strong and gusty wind, as well as tornadoes in some areas are predicted for the upcoming days just as loopers plan to get going to their next destinations. Clark thought long and hard about what we should do. The open waters on the lower Chesapeake Bay can get real nasty. Clark thought that if we could get to the upper Chesapeake before the heavy weather came in, we could continue to travel northward.

The other factor Clark was considering regarding travel was the current. He said we would have to leave before 9:00 tomorrow morning to get the current leaving this area. At some point it hit Clark that, even though we had paid for tonight, we could leave today and get a head start on our northward travels. Although it was well after check-out time by the time Clark considered this option, the dockmaster told him that if he left, he would refund his money.

We decided we would wait to see how long it took Clark on the Fleming issue to decide if leaving made sense. Since Clark returned relatively quickly (for him), it made sense to leave. In expectation of going, I did some preparation although I did not remove any lines in case we ended up staying. I had invited Robin to come over to the boat, so before we threw off our lines, I texted her to say we would be departing. She came running from the hotel to say goodbye and give a hug.

 I later got a text from her to let me know that, not more than 15 minutes after we left the marina, another boat pulled into the space we vacated. Robin said it was at least 80’ long. I expected that they might have a boat waiting for a slip. Earlier in the day another looper left, and no sooner were they gone than another boat took their place. Unlike us, who wanted to get going, many boaters were anxious to come into a marina with bad weather coming.

 We only traveled 11 nautical miles. The advantage of leaving included catching the current for a boost as well as allowing us to get away more quickly in the morning. Besides that, we did not have a 6:00 ferry horn to wake us in the morning!

Old Point Comfort Lighthouse

So many cranes  - 15!

View from anchorage

6 May 2022
Depart: Old Point Comfort, Hampton, VA anchorage 8:30
Arrive: Solomons Island, MD anchorage 7:20
Distance: 89 nm (~11 hours travel time)
Conditions: Humid, light south wind, 64 degrees but with 75% humidity

 Clark wanted to get us as far north today as possible. He picked out an anchorage just south of the Potomac River as his target. As we proceeded, we found the waters to be calm and the weather pleasant. When we got to the turn off to the anchorage at 3:00, he offered up two choices – turn in or keep going.  If we kept going, we would have to find a place north of the Potomac River which would mean about 4 more hours on the water. I decided that I could make dinner quickly once we got in and we decided to go for the long haul. 11 hours after leaving Hampton, VA, we had our anchor down in Maryland.

With almost nothing but water to look at, we took almost no pictures today. 

One of Many Chesapeake Bay Lighthouses

For the most part we were alone on the Chesapeake Bay. For a couple of hours, I drove while Clark napped. He picked a spot where I had nothing to do except stare at the water. No boats. No traps. No course changes. So exciting! Not! When the autopilot signaled end of route, Clark got up and took over from me. Later, I napped. We were both trying to regain some sleep after our busy week at the rendezvous.

Unexpectedly, we had no television available at this anchorage. Our satellite dish is not working most likely due to lightning back in September timeframe. We scanned for Over-the-air channels and found none. Clark turned on music and I pulled out a book for a quiet evening. Clark used Paramount Plus to get the weather report at 11:00.

Anchorage at Solomons in MD

7 May 2022
Depart: Solomons Island, MD anchorage 9:20
Arrive: Dun Cove anchorage #2 (near Knapps Narrows) 2:15
Distance: 35 nm
Conditions: rain and heavy winds expected

Well today did not turn out at all like we had hoped. The bad weather came in much earlier than expected. As we traveled north on the Chesapeake Bay, the wind speeds continued to climb as did the heights of the waves. Depending on how the waves controlled the boat, we saw speeds as low as 5.5 knots. In these conditions and rate of speed, progress was slow and miserable. Most of the time I was literally “holding onto my seat”! With salt spray continually hitting the front panel of the full enclosure, visibility was significantly reduced. Thank goodness, no fish traps littered today’s route.

The beginning started out smoothly. I took a couple of pictures of osprey nests as we left the anchorage area. The momma birds were all sitting on their nests keeping their young ones warm today.

The first picture does not show it well, since I was late to grab my camera, but I was surprised at how sloppy this nest looked given the wide platform the bird had to work on. It had enough sticks to make two nests.

Then, this one where the nest sits on top of a pointed object is neat and tidy. 

Note: even the green has a nest. 

Our hopes of a decent travel day rapidly went downhill from here.

Initially, Clark targeted the top of the Chesapeake Bay at Elk River for our anchorage destination. That turned out to be super optimistic, and he adjusted his goal to a Mill Creek anchorage on the west side of the Bay / north of Annapolis that we have used in the past. Unfortunately, as we saw the winds continuing to build much faster than anticipated, that anchorage also turned out to be too optimistic.

Around noon he decided that we needed to bail out now and get to the most protected spot possible. Looking at the charts, he found a hidey-hole on the east side of the Bay where we could “hang out”. The problem was that it took forever to get there, and it was not in a direction we would normally want to go, i.e., out of the way for our ultimate destination. On the plus side, although it was still not ideal, the change of direction greatly reduced the wave action as we made our way to protection from the storm.

We finally got to the spot he had chosen and dropped our anchor. We found the waters so still here that one would never have a clue that the winds and waves were behaving badly elsewhere.  Not wanting to leave my seat and attempt making lunch earlier, I finally made something for us to eat at 2:30 after we were safely at anchor. What a ride!

Hiding from the wind and waves
on the east side of Chesapeake Bay

Screenshot of "Rainy Days" radar
just after we anchored

The weather looks miserable for the next few days. Upcoming travel takes us on Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean past New Jersey. Neither of those legs of our journey are viable under current conditions. We decided that we would stay at this well-protected anchorage for at least tomorrow before thinking of moving to another spot. If nothing else, at some point the need for a holding-tank pump out will force us to make a move.

8 May 2022 - Happy Mother's Day

I told Clark that a Mother's Day with nothing to do but sit in an anchorage sounded like a dream come true, so here we sat waiting for the weather to move along and the waves to settle down to reasonable heights. We have not had rain today, but we could hear the winds. The weather report showed them gusting up towards 40 mph. We were not rocking in this anchorage but would occasionally, gently swing from side to side. Clark could not have found a more-protected spot had he tried. With no pressing things to do, I managed to bring the blog up to date!

2022: Great Bridge to Norfolk VA

 29 April 2022

No Travel.

Conditions: high 40s overnight; 55 degrees in stateroom this morning; ran generator before getting out of bed to get dressed to heat up the room

Boaters are allowed to moor near the Great Bridge bridge for up to 48 hours, so we took advantage and stayed for two nights. When we arrived at the bridge, I was disappointed that we could not tie up to the fixed dock and had to tie up to the wall on the far side of the bridge. After realizing that not only groceries, but laundry, the Dollar Store, and Walgreens, were within walking distance of the wall, I changed my mind big time.

Because we were so close to everything, I got multiple chores knocked off my list with Clark's help. The first thing I did was collect up all our laundry and hike it up to the laundromat. Clark came with me to babysit the laundry while I went to the Dollar Tree, Walgreens, and Kroger's grocery store. As I was throwing clothes in the washing machine, I got a big surprise. Suddenly, someone in the laundromat said, "Is that Clark and Evelyn Woodworth I see?" 

I turned around and found our boating friend Robin McVey also in the laundromat doing her wash. We agreed that the amazing thing about our boating lifestyle is that we never know when we might run into someone we have met on the waterways. Robin had a car, so I asked her to run Clark and the groceries back to the boat while I folded laundry. The car she had rented was the size of a peanut. It barely held 2 people. I told her to be sure to return Clark, and she agreed to give him back to me.

When Clark returned and with my folding done, we headed back to the boat for lunch. Robin offered to drive us again, but I told her it was so close there was no need. We headed off towards the boat, and Robin and another boater with her headed off to Walmart.

As I made lunch, I realized that, in my haste to do the shopping, I had forgotten some items I meant to buy. I convinced Clark to walk back to the stores with me to do a bit more shopping. This time we went to Dollar Tree, Walgreens, and Krogers. (The same list as before!)

Walking to and from stores, we passed a monument. I finally walked over to look at it and found that it was a Revolutionary War Memorial erected in 1900 by the Daughters of the American Revolution! The statue had been moved here at some point from its original location.

Revolutionary War Memorial

After my second shopping expedition, I set to work repairing holes and torn seams in the dinghy cover. By the time I was done, I felt like I had resewn the entire cover. Every dart and seam had torn stitches. Using my mother's rule, "a stitch in time saves nine", I decided to attack every place with worn stitching. It took me all afternoon to do the sewing. Thank goodness my Singer is a real trooper! 

When I was done, I realized I was covered in pollen from dragging the cover around to work on it. Achoo! I quickly changed my clothes after a good wash! I had planned on doing some other work on the boat, but after the amount of time it took for the dinghy, I had no energy for another project.

Later, when I went to pull food out of the freezer for dinner, I realized that I had not bought meat thinking I had a sufficient amount. Unfortunately, what I had was an excess of frozen meatballs making it look like I had a pretty full freezer. Unfortunately, I had very little of anything else. This turned out to be my worst day of food shopping preparation. 

30 April 2022

Depart: Great Bridge bridge wall 11:50

Arrive: Hospital Point anchorage, Portsmouth, VA 3:00

Distance: 10.5 nm

Conditions: Sunny, cool, in the 40s overnight

I thought it would be quiet and boring moored at the wall, but that could not have been further from the truth. We had interesting boat traffic pass by. 

"Knock Na Shee"

Huge pleasure craft with 7' draft. 
(Previously used by the military.)

A family of geese swam by with mama goose honking every few seconds to keep her babies in line.

We woke to find the grounds nearby covered with parked cars. Today was day two of a 2-day plant sale by local Master Gardeners. It appeared to be hugely popular.

We walked over to check it out. I found a "garage" sale to explore, and Clark found an amateur radio group location.

Garage sale outside Amateur Radio building

"Battlefield Park South" 
location of Master Gardener Plant Sale

Lots of interested buyers

Antenna on top of Amateur Radio Building

Clark said we should leave the wall just before noon to catch the 12 o'clock bridge / lock opening. Having dwelled on it overnight, I asked Clark if we could take one more walk to the grocery store to buy meat to fill the freezer. We got back at 11:00, and I had time to put the meat up in the freezer before we got ready to leave.

When we pulled away from the wall, Clark called the lock master to let him know we would be in line for his next opening. Clark wanted to be first in line for the lock. We did not know how many boats would be coming through when the bridge opened.

Multiple power and sailboats behind us 
tied up on the lock wall as we wait
for the gates to close.

Clark had heard from Robin at the laundromat that the marina "Top Rack" had "good" fuel prices. He wanted to stop there to take on fuel and empty the waste holding tank. The good news here, besides the price, was that they have a high-velocity fill. It only took 20 minutes to add fuel to both tanks. After another 10 minutes for the pump out, we were on our way.

Top Rack Marina: Diesel @ $4.60 / Gallon
We took on about 280 gallons.

As we approached the Norfolk area, we encountered slow moving boat traffic and had to wait for the Norfolk #7 RR bridge to open. For a short distance, this portion of the trip always seems to take a lot of time.

Slow LPG-carrying vessel with tug

Work boat with large crane

Obligatory Norfolk Warship photo

We finally arrived at the Hospital Point anchorage Clark had chosen for the next two nights just before 3:00.  The view from the boat included Norfolk Nauticus Museum on one side and the Naval Medical Center on the other.

Blue dot marks our anchoring spot

Nauticus

NATO Festival near Waterside Marina, Norfolk

Naval Medical Center

Also visible from anchorage

1 May 2022

No boat travel.

Since we planned to attend the AGLCA (America's Great Loop Org) this week, we spent today at anchor cleaning the boat. Clark said that if I cleaned all the chrome (railings and steering wheel), he would follow along behind and apply wax to try to help it stay clean longer. It took us hour to do the whole boat. 

As I busily scrubbed the chrome rails in the cockpit, two ducks came by expecting to be fed. They were disappointed.

After we finished the chrome polishing, we took down the window shades in the pilot house and scrubbed the dust off of them. When we had finished both jobs, I was entirely spent. I told Clark, "I have nothing left in me!"

Around 5:30 we got a call from our granddaughter in Idaho looking for a guitar lesson from Clark. Last time he taught her the G Chord. Today he worked with her on the C chord. He gave her homework to practice. 

2 May 2022

Depart: Hospital Point Anchorage, Portsmouth, VA 11:20

Arrive: Waterside Marina, Norfolk, VA 11:30

Distance: negligible

Conditions: huge difference in temperatures, 80s today; ditched the long pants and hoodie for shorts and t-shirt

With check-in time at the marina being 11:00, we had time to kill before we left the anchorage. I took the opportunity to spruce up the inside of the boat. Clark added our name to the list of boats that folks could "crawl" on / explore during the rendezvous. Given that, I wanted the boat to look its best. Having been traveling non-stop for weeks, the boat needed some cleaning up to get rid of the "lived-in" look.

We had some entertainment at the anchorage.

A copter went over. What a racket this guy made as he went overhead.

At one point, I looked out the window and got quite a surprise. A cruise ship was in the process of docking across the way from us.

Ocean Liner "Norwegian Joy" backing up to dock

Pleasure boat appears in miniature next to ocean liner

Even the LPG tanker looks small in comparison

At 11:00 Clark called the marina and got the go ahead for us to come into our slip at Waterside Marina. We got a convenient docking spot close to the restrooms. 

View from our cockpit

We did find a significant drawback to this particular slip. It is right next to the ferry to Portsmouth, VA.

Ferry at Waterside Marina

Starting at 6:00 a.m. the ferry begins its trips back and forth between Waterside Marina and Portsmouth. Every 20 or 30 minutes, the ferry blasts its horn one long and three short jarring blasts! Every boat in the marina can hear the horn, but we are the closest and get the brunt of the impact.

Once settled in, we went up to register for the AGLCA Rendezvous.  We should have eaten lunch before going. I thought we had a limited window of time in which to register. Instead we stayed there a very long time chatting with vendors and other loopers. We finally ate lunch much later than usual. I had to drag Clark away to get something to eat.

As we sat on the boat relaxing, along came a longtime friend of ours, Kevin from "Koastal Karma", to say hello. He lives nearby in Virginia Beach, but I was still surprised to see him. He brought his daughter Kelly with him, and their visit was delightful. After spending some time with us, they walked the marina looking for other loopers they knew and found some.

Dinner this evening was an AGLCA banquet funded by one of the organization's sponsors. After dinner our host gave out some door prizes. They spun a roulette wheel and it randomly chose the name of a rendezvous attendee as the recipient of a prize. Clark's name actually came up as a winner. He told them to spin the wheel again to hopefully give the prize to someone currently looping. The person whose name came up on the spin whooped in joy at getting the prize.

The educational sessions begin tomorrow, Tuesday, and conclude on Thursday. Clark gives a presentation on "How to Survive the Jersey Coast" on Tuesday morning.

2022: New Bern NC

 22 April 2022

Depart: Town Creek Marina, Beaufort, NC 10:45

Arrive: Fairfield Harbour, New Bern, NC Anchorage 3:15

Distance: 32 nm

Conditions: Warm, sunny, cool breeze

We managed to take care of a few boat tasks this morning and finally made our way out of the marina mid-morning. The trip up the Neuse River is a side trip we normally take to visit Ralph and friends on the way north / south each season. Ralph gives us the run of the house, and we get to visit "Chewy" each time.

Chewy is always happy to have us visit! He goes crazy saying hello in his special doggy way that he has. It is always a delight to spend time with Chewy and Ralph and his friends.

Chewy calm after a rambunctious hello

We only had a brief time to say hello to Ralph before he headed off to work for the late shift at the airport. Just after he left, one of his neighbors, Darlene, showed up to take Chewy for a walk around the neighborhood. Clark and I joined the two of them to stretch our legs and chat with Darlene for a bit.

The walk wore Chewy out!

We anchored in Fairfield Harbour. Sometimes Ralph has room at his dock and sometimes he does not. When we drop anchor in the area, all the neighbors gawk at the boat and tell us how pretty she is.  I brought a load of laundry with me when we came to the house. While that was going, we kept Chewy company and then I gave him one more walk before we headed back to the boat just before sunset. Clark needed to turn on the anchor light before the sun went down.

Sunset at Fairfield Harbour

23 April 2022

Since, this time going north, we are not in a rush, we decided to stay put in New Bern for several days. Initially, we expected to have today on our own as Ralph had a yacht race to attend. Sadly for him, the race and associated banquet got canceled at the last minute due to Covid. The good news was that we got to spend the day with Ralph and meet his new friend Helen.

Ralph offered to take us all in to New Bern on his 25' boat for lunch and shopping. We docked at the town docks where there is no charge but there is a 4-hour limit to one's stay there. 

After tying up, we strolled through town and did some window shopping. We walked past the birthplace of Pepsi Cola. 

Ralph wanted to stop in and get a Pepsi Nitro. I had never heard of it, so Ralph had me taste it. I am not a fan, but then again, I do not drink any soda.

At one o'clock we decided we better eat. The first restaurant we stopped at said they had a 45 minute wait. I quickly said uh-uh to that as I was starving already. We left there and went to another place nearby that only serves breakfast and lunch with emphasis on breakfast - Baker's Kitchen Restaurant & Bakery. The omelet I had was delicious but too big to finish. 

After lunch, we decided to head back to the boat for the ride back home. Walking through town, we saw lots of bears, which New Bern is known for.

Ralph and Helen with New Bern Bear

Sign says "do not sit or climb on bear" 
It says nothing about giving the bear alcoholic beverages!

The walk back to the boat took us along the Trent River and under the bridge.

Clark liked this artwork in the park.

While in New Bern, Ralph got a call from his son that he had lost steering on his boat. We took a detour on the way back to Ralph's house to drop off some equipment to help bleed air from James' steering line.

Ralph's son, DIL, and grandchildren 
rafted up to a friend's boat.

After that side trip, we went back to Ralph's house. It felt like we had just eaten but the clock said we should figure out dinner plans. The original plan had been grilled steaks, but lunch was so filling that the steak plan got thrown out the window. We finally, after much debate, decided to go to a local place to share a pizza - Sara's Big Apple Restaurant.

We decided on a pizza called "Aurora" made with alfredo sauce and chicken that was magnificent. We all enjoyed it. The surprising thing we found when we got to the restaurant was Ralph's daughter-in-law and his two grandchildren sitting at the table next to the one we took. One of the girls is names Aurora, so we told her we had ordered her pizza for dinner.

By the time we got back to the house, the sun was going down yet again, and it was time to return to Sunset Delight for the night and to turn on the anchor light.

25 April 2022

On Sunday, Ralph had to work until 5:00, and we had the house to ourselves (with Chewy of course). Out of desperation for clean underwear, I had done one load of wash when we first arrived. Today I did another 4 loads including sheets, towels, and less-used clothes. What a relief to get caught up and without using a hundred quarters in the process. In between loads, Chewy and I explored the neighborhood together. 

Ralph also insisted that I use his oven to bake my applesauce cake for Clark, so I took advantage of that as well. Otherwise, Clark would have had to run the generator to produce electricity for me. As I did chores in Ralph's house, Clark took some time to play his guitar on the boat.  He also did a bit of ferrying of me or my laundry back-and-forth from the boat to the house to the boat to the house ...

At 4:00 Helen arrived at Ralph's house bearing a tray of cookies and a huge container of homemade potato salad. Shortly thereafter our friend Pat, who we met on the loop (2015-2016 timeframe) arrived bearing a crab-dip appetizer for our picnic dinner tonight. Later, Ralph and Pat's husband, Dick, arrived. Ralph cooked and we had hot dogs, hamburgers, and sweet or hot sausage for dinner. 

25 April 2022

Ralph took a friend to the shooting gallery this morning. Clark and I took some time to work on cleaning the boat. While I cleaned inside, Clark scrubbed the rust stains off the swim platform. I would love to say that the boat was spotless afterwards, but the boat never seems to stop getting dirty. 

When Ralph got home, Clark picked him up and brought him to our boat for lunch. While out there, he spied his neighbors and, after some shouting hellos back and forth, we invited them to come see the boat. Lois and Bill enjoyed the boat tour Clark gave them very much. To help people remember his name, Clark introduces himself as Clark "like Clark Kent". So, Lois said she was Lois "Like Lois Lane". I guess I won't forget her name any time soon.

After lunch, Clark took Lois and Bill back to their house, took Ralph back to his house, and eventually collected me and my laptop and took me to Ralph's place. I set up my laptop and worked on a Blog update while Ralph and Clark put their heads together discussing Amateur Radio. Ralph is a proficient and Clark is interested in this hobby.

Besides working on the blog, I got to spend more time playing with Chewy. Clark took a few pictures of me feeding bits of cheese to Chewy. Chewy is loads of fun!

26 April 2022

Depart: Fairfield Harbour 8:20

Arrive: Upper Pungo River Anchorage 5:10

Distance: 65 nm

Conditions: Sunny with cool breeze

Clark and I put together a tentative schedule for where we would stop over the next few days on our way to Norfolk for the AGLCA rendezvous. Well, as with all boating plans, that schedule went out the window day one. Instead of the short trip to Oriental dock that Clark "promised" me, we spend 9 hours traveling to the entrance to the Alligator River - Pungo River Canal. 

Coming out of Fairfield Harbour, we found a couple of the green markers hard to see due to the huge osprey nests covering them. The green markers are flat on top (unlike the triangular red ones) and make perfect platforms for nests. 

There's a green marker under there somewhere

Another one with mommy osprey at home
keeping the eggs warm on a somewhat chilly morning

We passed a home with a unique design along the trip. Clark wondered if the tower was a lighthouse in the past. 

Modern home with tower attached

Clark asked if I wanted to stop at R.E. Mayo on the way by to check out their hardware department. I said, "Sure. Just don't ask me if I want to check out their fish." I tried it once and was not a fan.

R. E. Mayo - great boat hardware and fish market

Fishing trawlers lined up at R. E. Mayo

Clark spent $8.15 at R. E. Mayo on hardware. Now I just need to convince him to install the items he bought! He seems to have buyer's remorse and is not sure he bought the right thing. 

Unfortunately, the docks at R. E. Mayo are not the best. I threw a line around each of 3 poles to hold us while Clark went shopping. One of the lines dropped down between the pole and the dock. When I pulled it out, I found it dripping creosote. I have about a 2-foot length of what was a favorite line covered in creosote now. It is sticky and it stinks! Looks like we need to buy a couple of lines. We damaged one at Marlin Bay and now we have another one ruined. 

After the stop at R. E. Mayo, the rest of the day was uneventful. We listened to stories on NPR radio and chased birds out of the way on the ICW. Twice I saw seagulls drop their catch in their hurry to move as "Sunset Delight" approached. It is not our fault they wait until the very last minute to decide we are a danger to them!

Thanks to Helen in New Bern, I am now fully addicted to a new game on my Droid - "Classic Words Solo". It is basically Scrabble, but apparently they cannot call it that. I have always loved Scrabble. We used to play it on family game night when I was growing up. My Dad was the king of 2-letter words that he found while reading the dictionary. I learned a lot from him. I have advanced from normal to hard to very hard and still I beat the droid more than the droid beats me. This game kept me well-entertained on the boat today and made the time go by faster.

With bad weather predicted for today, we had some debate over when we would leave Fairfield Harbour. Ultimately, we stayed with the original plan and left this morning. Clark tucked us in at an anchorage on the Upper Pungo River to protect us in case we got high winds with the storm.

As the clouds came in, we really thought we were in for something big. 

Ralph even called us to check on us. He said it had just started raining where he was. Most of the storm bypassed us. We got rain, but we did not get anything exciting other than a couple of bolts of lightning off in the distance. 

27 April 2022

Depart: Upper Pungo River anchorage 9:35

Arrive: North River anchorage 5:30

Distance: 62 nm

Conditions: Significant temperature drop from yesterday due to the cold front that came through last night, 60s today!

When I walked out into the salon today, I asked Clark, "Why do I smell a chemical smell?" He responded, "I was going to ask you the same thing." Clark has a much more powerful nose than I do. If I could smell it, it must be something bad. Given neither of us had an explanation for the potent smell, we had to go on the search for the source. We had the boat closed up due to the drop in temps. Normally the windows would be open. 

Since we could smell the odor in the salon, Clark started his investigation there. Ultimately, we found a concentration of the odor when we opened the hatch to the lazarette (storage area in stern of the boat). Since Clark has a lot of supplies down there for cleaning the boat, it meant a lot of digging to find the source of the odor. We agreed that it smelled like paint thinner, so that allowed us to eliminate other cleansers. The source turned out to be a leaking can of carburetor cleaner, which Clark informed me is highly flammable. Oh joy! 

We removed it from the lazarette, double bagged it in ziplock bags, and placed it in the cooler I have in the back. This particular cooler I use as a place to store excess garbage when we have been on the hook for a number of days. Clark thinks he might try to use it up by spraying it into the outboard engine. Until we empty it, we can't throw the can in the garbage because it is hazardous waste!! Meanwhile, I am not happy to have it still on the boat.

With that unexpected adventure out of the way, we finally pulled up anchor a lot later than expected and made our way along the Alligator River - Pungo River Canal to our next stop.

Looking back at the bridge near the start of the canal
(Pungo River end)

The view along the canal was mostly trees (alive and dead), marsh grass, and tree stumps in the canal itself.

Clark was looking for a green marker than he could not find. Finally, he thought he had found it. It did not look quite right as normally on the ICW, the markers are on "sticks" instead of cans floating in the water.

"Green Marker" that turned out to be a 
floating clump of green grass shaped like a can!

We dropped anchor on the North River. Other times here we have anchored in Lutz Creek nearby. 

The weather forecast did not look favorable for a night on the anchor. Temperatures were predicted to drop down into the 40s overnight. In the past we have used an electric blanket to warm up the bed. Unfortunately, the one we had stopped working. Not really knowing if we would need it any time soon, we bought one and sent it to Ralph's house. 

We decided to unwrap it and put it on the bed tonight. As I was disappointed when I read the directions, which clearly stated "Do not use with generator or inverter". My thoughts ... "Now you tell me!" I asked Clark what he thought we should do, and he told me to turn it on to see what happened with the amp hour usage. After seeing how much "juice is sucked", he said we could use it but in limitation so as not to drain the battery down too far.

The wind direction we had at the beginning of the night surprised Clark (that's unusal), and we found the boat significantly rocking in the wind. I told him it reminded me of nights at Marlin Bay. During the wee hours of the morning the wind changed direction and the boat stopped rocking.

28 April 2022

Depart: North River anchorage 9:45

Arrive: Great Bridge Bridge Wall 4:10

Distance: 41 nm

Conditions: 48 degrees with a north wind last night; wind gusts to 30 mph; 62 degrees in stateroom this morning; wearing thermal underwear and multiple layers today.

Clark ran the generator this morning to get us heat and hot water before we left the anchorage. It worked so well to heat things up that I had to tell him to turn off the heat after a while as I was roasting.

We did not see anything too exciting on the water today. 

ICW Marker on Stand instead of Stick

Dead trees in waterway behind Red Marker
Don't go on the wrong side of the red!

ICW Mile Marker 50
means we are 50 miles from the beginning of the 
ICW in Norfolk, Virginia

Coinjock Marina
- either empty or packed bow-to-stern docks 
depending on time of day

Coinjock Marina
near NC - VA border

Some of nature's artwork
in the middle of the waterway

As we approached the North Landing Swing Bridge, we learned that only one of the two sides of the bridge were operating. We would need to "squeeze" through with just one side open. Clark told me too late to grab a picture of the "broken" bridge.'

Only the side on the left is operating.

Once again we got to see lots of dead trees and tree stumps as we traveled north today.

As if watching out for tree stumps in the waterway is not bad enough, we had to shift over for a barge to come through.

Phew! We made it without hitting a barge
or a stump!

Uh-oh! Look out for cannon fire 

Near Centerville, VA

Clark tried to get a "down the tracks" picture. 

Too early on the shutter!

Our plan for today called for us to tie up at the dock near the Great Bridge bridge. From an aesthetics point of view, I prefer the side before the bridge that has a fixed dock. We hoped for a place there. Unfortunately, a bunch of sailboat space hogs got there before us. Had the sailboats tied up with less space between them at least one more boat could have docked here. That might have been us!

So, instead of being tied up for the night at 3:20, we had a long wait for the 4:00 bridge opening hoping that we would find space on the less-pretty side of the bridge. We found two slots available. Clark grabbed the larger one near the end.

Tied up on the wall at Great Bridge

I am not a fan of the grass covered in goose poop, but I was happy to get a space for the night. I had my heart set on a trip to Kroger's near here to stock up on food. As I was walking around the area later, I saw two women from the sailboat behind us climb on their boat carrying a full garbage bag. I immediately searched the internet and found that a laundromat was very near by. I added that to my agenda while tied up here. We can, and planned to, stay for 48 hours. That would give me plenty of time to do laundry as well as grocery shopping.

Scullers going by the boat where we
are moored at Great Bridge. 

We let our friends, Dorothy and Clayton, know that we managed to grab a space at the bridge. They came by to pick us up at 6:00 to go out to dinner together. Dorothy suggested we go to a nearby Mongolian Barbeque. 

Although we had more than enough food at the Mongolian BBQ, Clark requested an ice cream stop. I found a Dunkin nearby that also sold ice cream, so we went there. I took advantage and got a scoop of ice cream for dessert and a dozen munchkins to take home. Sinful!

The pandemic and other events have kept us separated for a number of trips up and down the east coast. It was great to get together and catch up.