[Kevin's Post]Happy Halloween! Today we got up at 4am in order to make the 83 mile passage outside from Beaufort to Wrightsville Beach. There's only a few places we can go out on the ocean and still get back inside before sunset with the days being so short and this was one of them. There was virtually no wind so we ran one engine the whole way. In the afternoon the wind piped up out of the south to 10 knots so we could at least raise the main and get another half knot on top of the engine. We trolled a line most of the afternoon. I tried a few different lures, starting with my smaller lures and working my way up to my biggest lure changing it out every two hours. I finally caught a fish on my largest lure. Briefly. It escaped before I could reel it in. It was so small that I'm not even sure when I caught it. Usually the reel make noise when there is a fish on it, but this one just bent the rod slightly. It somehow managed to wiggle off the hook as I was reeling it in, but it is just as well, I don't think the fish was much bigger than the lure. I think I need to get a 3' lure so I can catch a 3' fish. Anyway, we made it to Wrightsville Beach about an hour before sunset and are anchored with about 50 other boats just below the bridge.
The picture was taken at the Norfolk maritime museum and I have been saving it for Halloween. Don't ask me why the maritime museum had an exhibit on bones.
Where we are:
Location=Wrightsville Beach, NC
Lat=34 12.380 N
Lon=77 48.043 W
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Monday, October 30, 2006
Cape Lookout, NC
Boy, am I annoyed. I am annoyed for two reasons; one reason being that today is the first day that we have been underway since daylight savings time started. DST is the stupidest concept I can think of. I can understand that it made sense back in the days before electricity, and supposedly it cuts down energy costs and has many benefits that I'm sure make it worthwhile for millions of people to have to remember to simultaneously reset their clocks. But for cruisers like us it means that on Saturday we had until 6:30pm to get to our anchorage safely, but on Sunday we now have to be done by 5:30 (or earlier as the days get shorter). And what's worse is that in order to make the most of the daylight, we now have to get up an hour earlier. Damn you, Benjamin Franklin!
The second cause of my annoyance is the railroad bridge in New Bern. Yes, the same one we were stuck waiting for on our way in! This morning we wake up and have the anchor up well before sunrise (remember, we are Saving Daylight!) We know that the US 70 highway bridge (the one after the RR bridge) is restricted due to rush hour and only opens once between 6:30am and 8:30am. So we want to get to the US 70 bridge at 6am and get on our way. We motor up to the railroad bridge and, sure enough, it's closed. No VHF response, no response to horn signals. We can see the lights on in the little bridgetender house but can't tell if there's anyone inside. So we wait in front of the bridge for half an hour, maneuvering the engines to keep ourselves in place. Finally at 6:30 we turn to the side and re-anchor, since no train has come and the guy is clearly ignoring us. Kevin put it this way: "he has the easiest job in the world -- keep the bridge open unless a train is coming. But obviously he figured out that his job is even easier if he just leaves the bridge closed ALL THE TIME." I am royally ticked off, so I actually plug in the PC, get on the internet, and look up the phone number for the Norfolk and Southern railroad to register a complaint. By 7am, just as I am speaking to the right person on the telephone, we finally hear the telltale whistle of a train and the bridgetender walks down the train tracks to the bridgetender's house. So all this time he wasn't even there! Where was he? Who knows? Maybe in his car with the heater turned on, or getting a latte at Starbucks. But he sure knew the train schedule well enough to know exactly when to walk out across the bridge on the tracks. You'd think if he knew the schedule so well he could've left the bridge open and just came out ten minutes earlier to close it for the train. Details, details.
So it's the longest train ever, and we are on the VHF to the next bridge asking if they'll hold the 7:30 opening for us because otherwise we will have to wait an hour til 8:30 when rush hour traffic clears. Luckily the train passes and the railroad bridge slowly opens and we race through it just in time to catch the next bridge and we are on our way. Phew! That's the last time we anchor in New Bern!
So it's been a long day but now we are at Cape Lookout. It is a fairly protected spot with pretty sand dunes and a lighthouse. The anchorage is actually outside the Beaufort Inlet. Since we are planning to "go outside" tomorrow to Wrightsville Beach, this means we can get up before dawn and within a few short minutes be out on the open ocean and on our way. The best part of going outside? No bridges!
Where we are:
Location=Cape Lookout, NC
Lat=34 37.298 N
Lon=76 33.048 W
The second cause of my annoyance is the railroad bridge in New Bern. Yes, the same one we were stuck waiting for on our way in! This morning we wake up and have the anchor up well before sunrise (remember, we are Saving Daylight!) We know that the US 70 highway bridge (the one after the RR bridge) is restricted due to rush hour and only opens once between 6:30am and 8:30am. So we want to get to the US 70 bridge at 6am and get on our way. We motor up to the railroad bridge and, sure enough, it's closed. No VHF response, no response to horn signals. We can see the lights on in the little bridgetender house but can't tell if there's anyone inside. So we wait in front of the bridge for half an hour, maneuvering the engines to keep ourselves in place. Finally at 6:30 we turn to the side and re-anchor, since no train has come and the guy is clearly ignoring us. Kevin put it this way: "he has the easiest job in the world -- keep the bridge open unless a train is coming. But obviously he figured out that his job is even easier if he just leaves the bridge closed ALL THE TIME." I am royally ticked off, so I actually plug in the PC, get on the internet, and look up the phone number for the Norfolk and Southern railroad to register a complaint. By 7am, just as I am speaking to the right person on the telephone, we finally hear the telltale whistle of a train and the bridgetender walks down the train tracks to the bridgetender's house. So all this time he wasn't even there! Where was he? Who knows? Maybe in his car with the heater turned on, or getting a latte at Starbucks. But he sure knew the train schedule well enough to know exactly when to walk out across the bridge on the tracks. You'd think if he knew the schedule so well he could've left the bridge open and just came out ten minutes earlier to close it for the train. Details, details.
So it's the longest train ever, and we are on the VHF to the next bridge asking if they'll hold the 7:30 opening for us because otherwise we will have to wait an hour til 8:30 when rush hour traffic clears. Luckily the train passes and the railroad bridge slowly opens and we race through it just in time to catch the next bridge and we are on our way. Phew! That's the last time we anchor in New Bern!
So it's been a long day but now we are at Cape Lookout. It is a fairly protected spot with pretty sand dunes and a lighthouse. The anchorage is actually outside the Beaufort Inlet. Since we are planning to "go outside" tomorrow to Wrightsville Beach, this means we can get up before dawn and within a few short minutes be out on the open ocean and on our way. The best part of going outside? No bridges!
Where we are:
Location=Cape Lookout, NC
Lat=34 37.298 N
Lon=76 33.048 W
Thursday, October 26, 2006
New Bern, NC - Southbound Cruisers Rendezvous
As I mentioned in a previous post, we are in New Bern to attend the Southbound Cruisers Rendezvous. We wanted to see what a gathering like this was all about, and so far we have really enjoyed ourselves. There have been discussions on weather, safety, internet/wi-fi antennas, etc. Some seminars have been more useful than others but it is always interesting to hear other people's experiences and opinions. Cruisers are an opinionated bunch and even on the rare occasions where there's a general consensus there always seems to be a few dissenters. So you can ask a simple question, such as "Will I find wi-fi access in the out islands?" and you will invariably get answers ranging from "it's not reliable, and you have to have an expensive high-powered antenna to pick up a signal" to "great -- I have never had a problem finding a free connection with just my internal PC antenna". So while it is nice to hear someone else share their information, no two cruising experiences are the same so you just gather the info and make your own decision. We are planning to head south in January and work our way through the Caribbean islands down to Grenada, so we wanted to hear other people's experiences, good and bad. We still plan to hit each island (within reason) and form our own opinion, but sometimes it is so useful to hear firsthand information. For example, we met a wonderful couple (John and Jenny from Al Shaheen) who have been that far south already and are heading back down this season. We had previously read that it wasn't worth spending too much time in Puerto Rico so we had just planned it as a provisioning stop, but they offered a different opinion and recommended renting a car to see all of the island. So now we are planning to spend a little more time there and rent the car for more than just provisioning. We have met many other couples who have also given us sound advice based on their experience. So the side trip up the Neuse River to New Bern has been well worth it.
The town of New Bern has been a nice stopover as well. Did you know that New Bern, NC is the birthplace of Pepsi-Cola? No? Well, now you do. Some of the local cruisers have volunteered to shuttle people back and forth to Wal-mart, and a few trusting souls are willing to just give you the keys to their car. So this morning we and several other cruisers piled into a van driven by a soccer dad who lives here now but has sailed with his family (including three boys all under the age of 14 and a dog they added while in Puerto Rico) throughout the Caribbean. After hearing how they all lived pretty cozily for several seasons on a 42-foot (I think) monohull, I vowed never to feel cramped on our boat again!
This evening we headed to a restaurant run by a local Mennonite family. The food was simple but inexpensive and, after being welcomed personally by the owner, as a bonus he and one of the traditionally-dressed waitresses serenaded the dining guests with an a capella spiritual hymn. It was very moving and an interesting change from the waterfront pubs that we usually head to. Of course a drawback is that Kevin now wants to grow a Mennonite-style beard (no mustache). I told him to go for it, but I'm not going to wear a lace hat.
The town of New Bern has been a nice stopover as well. Did you know that New Bern, NC is the birthplace of Pepsi-Cola? No? Well, now you do. Some of the local cruisers have volunteered to shuttle people back and forth to Wal-mart, and a few trusting souls are willing to just give you the keys to their car. So this morning we and several other cruisers piled into a van driven by a soccer dad who lives here now but has sailed with his family (including three boys all under the age of 14 and a dog they added while in Puerto Rico) throughout the Caribbean. After hearing how they all lived pretty cozily for several seasons on a 42-foot (I think) monohull, I vowed never to feel cramped on our boat again!
This evening we headed to a restaurant run by a local Mennonite family. The food was simple but inexpensive and, after being welcomed personally by the owner, as a bonus he and one of the traditionally-dressed waitresses serenaded the dining guests with an a capella spiritual hymn. It was very moving and an interesting change from the waterfront pubs that we usually head to. Of course a drawback is that Kevin now wants to grow a Mennonite-style beard (no mustache). I told him to go for it, but I'm not going to wear a lace hat.
Sunday, October 22, 2006
New Bern, NC - Train in Vain
Another long day on the ICW. We woke up well before dawn and had the anchor up by the time the sun rose. Our plan was to make it from Belhaven to New Bern, NC. This week the Sheraton in New Bern is hosting the Southbound Cruisers Rendezvous, which is a three-day get-together with information sessions for cruisers who plan to go south for the winter. It starts on Wednesday but the weather on Monday and Tuesday is supposed to be kind of iffy so we wanted to try to make it all the way there today - 70 miles. Luckily today's route included lots of rivers with deep water so we could use the autopilot and just set it and forget it. (It's much less stressful when you don't have to worry about staying inside a narrow channel.)
So at the end of the day, around 5pm we are approaching New Bern. To get to the anchorage, you have to pass through a highway swing bridge and then a railroad swing bridge a couple hundred feet apart. We hail the first bridge and the operator opens right up for us. The next bridge is a railroad bridge. Typically the RR bridges are left open all the time except when a train is coming. However most of them are not manned and they operate automatically. Just our luck the railroad bridge is closed. We try hailing the bridgetender (in case there is one) and the other bridgetender answers and says he doesn't know what the train schedule is for the railroad bridge but it always opens up after the train comes through. So we wait. It is fifty minutes til sunset, but the bridge was already closed when we got there so surely the train will come soon, right? We can see the anchorage which is literally a few hundred feet away on the other side of the bridge. Ten minutes pass. No train. Another ten. For a brief instant I see someone at the door of the bridgetender's shack on the bridge. I yell to Kevin to get the binoculars but it is too late, whoever it was went back inside. Nothing on the radio. A guy dinghies by and we wave him over and he says, sure, the bridge was open a couple of hours ago. So now we think the train must be just around the corner. We are a little nervous because if the bridge doesn't open it means we have to go back through the other bridge and find some other, less ideal, place to anchor. In the dark. We have now been waiting for thirty minutes and sunset is twenty minutes away so Kevin goes below to look up the correct sound signal for bridge openings (the plan being to blast the guy with the air horn), when the train guy peeks out the door of the shack again. We frantically wave at him and he waves back. Kevin shouts to him to find out when the bridge will open. He shouts back something unintelligible. I maneuver the boat closer to the bridge so we can hear what he's saying but he ducks back inside. We hear a loud mechanical clank that might be the bridge. Nothing moves. Five more minutes pass. The guy walks out onto the bridge with some tools. He goes back in the shed. Slowly the bridge begins to swing aside. And when I say slowly I mean it takes a full ten minutes for it to open. The guy peeks out the door and waves for us to hurry on through. We look at each other and wonder if he is supposed to even be opening the bridge for us, what if a train really is coming? Regardless, we want to get anchored so we go through and hope that a train doesn't come barrelling down just as we cross. We get to the anchorage and spend another twenty minutes trying to find a decent spot (there are already several boats parked in there). It is fifteen minutes after sunset when we finally shut down the engines and then, only then, does the train appear. If the guy hadn't opened the bridge for us we would've waited for almost an hour! But at least we got through and are anchored and looking forward to spending the next five days in one spot.
Where we are:
Location=New Bern, NC
Lat=35 05.849
Lon=77 02.552
So at the end of the day, around 5pm we are approaching New Bern. To get to the anchorage, you have to pass through a highway swing bridge and then a railroad swing bridge a couple hundred feet apart. We hail the first bridge and the operator opens right up for us. The next bridge is a railroad bridge. Typically the RR bridges are left open all the time except when a train is coming. However most of them are not manned and they operate automatically. Just our luck the railroad bridge is closed. We try hailing the bridgetender (in case there is one) and the other bridgetender answers and says he doesn't know what the train schedule is for the railroad bridge but it always opens up after the train comes through. So we wait. It is fifty minutes til sunset, but the bridge was already closed when we got there so surely the train will come soon, right? We can see the anchorage which is literally a few hundred feet away on the other side of the bridge. Ten minutes pass. No train. Another ten. For a brief instant I see someone at the door of the bridgetender's shack on the bridge. I yell to Kevin to get the binoculars but it is too late, whoever it was went back inside. Nothing on the radio. A guy dinghies by and we wave him over and he says, sure, the bridge was open a couple of hours ago. So now we think the train must be just around the corner. We are a little nervous because if the bridge doesn't open it means we have to go back through the other bridge and find some other, less ideal, place to anchor. In the dark. We have now been waiting for thirty minutes and sunset is twenty minutes away so Kevin goes below to look up the correct sound signal for bridge openings (the plan being to blast the guy with the air horn), when the train guy peeks out the door of the shack again. We frantically wave at him and he waves back. Kevin shouts to him to find out when the bridge will open. He shouts back something unintelligible. I maneuver the boat closer to the bridge so we can hear what he's saying but he ducks back inside. We hear a loud mechanical clank that might be the bridge. Nothing moves. Five more minutes pass. The guy walks out onto the bridge with some tools. He goes back in the shed. Slowly the bridge begins to swing aside. And when I say slowly I mean it takes a full ten minutes for it to open. The guy peeks out the door and waves for us to hurry on through. We look at each other and wonder if he is supposed to even be opening the bridge for us, what if a train really is coming? Regardless, we want to get anchored so we go through and hope that a train doesn't come barrelling down just as we cross. We get to the anchorage and spend another twenty minutes trying to find a decent spot (there are already several boats parked in there). It is fifteen minutes after sunset when we finally shut down the engines and then, only then, does the train appear. If the guy hadn't opened the bridge for us we would've waited for almost an hour! But at least we got through and are anchored and looking forward to spending the next five days in one spot.
Where we are:
Location=New Bern, NC
Lat=35 05.849
Lon=77 02.552
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Belhaven, NC
[Kevin's Post] 75 miles! Today we crossed Albemarle Sound motorsailing with light winds out of the north. Last fall when we went south we motored the whole ICW with both engines cranked because we were worried about how long it would take to get to FL. This time around we are trying a bit harder to conserve fuel and use the engines less. Running both engines burns twice as much fuel, but you only go about 10% faster. Of course that 10% made us faster than everybody last year, this year we are slower than everybody. But we don't care too much, running on only one engine means fewer fuel stops and fewer oil changes, etc. So today we ran on one engine, sails up as long as we could use them and were pretty pleased with the miles. We literally motored through the Belhaven breakwater at 2 minutes past sunset and got anchored just as it was getting dark.
Where we are:
Location=Belhaven, NC
Lat=35 31.741 N
Lon=76 37.219 W
Where we are:
Location=Belhaven, NC
Lat=35 31.741 N
Lon=76 37.219 W
Friday, October 20, 2006
Broad Creek, NC
[Kevin's Post]We only made another 30 miles today since the wind was a bit too strong to cross Albemarle Sound (for us anyway). The forecast was for 15-20 knots, but we saw winds 25-30 with a few gusts to 32. So we are anchored at the last anchorage north of Albemarle Sound and plan to cross it tomorrow. From Norfolk south, there are two routes you can take: the Dismal Swamp route and the Virginia Cut route. We've always gone the Dismal Swamp route before so decided to try the other one this time. The Dismal Swamp is too slow for all the big motor yachts, so they all come this way. Every hour a parade of massive motor yachts would blow past us all bunched together due to the bridge timings. You would think that in 20 miles they would spread out, but they don't. I guess one of them decides to go 25 and the rest want to go 26 and they tailgate just like they were in cars. Most of them slow down when they get close to us, but even going slow they throw up huge wakes. And when a bunch go by in succession the wakes seem to build on each other and today we got hit by some big ones. We're in North Carolina now.
Where we are:
Location=anywhere
Lat=36 12.050 N
Lon=75 57.227 W
Where we are:
Location=anywhere
Lat=36 12.050 N
Lon=75 57.227 W
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Blackwater Creek, Va
[Kevin's Post]We actually set an alarm to get up early this morning since we wanted to be waiting for the first drawbridge south at 8:30. One look out the cockpit door and we knew we weren't going anywhere anytime soon. The fog was so thick we could only see about 150 feet. We haven't seen fog like that since New England last summer. So, we went back to bed. The fog finally broke around 11:00 and we got moving. Today was a slow day, we went through 1 lock and 7 drawbridges having to wait for each, and only covered about 30 miles. Some of the bridges open on request, and some of them only open on the half hour or hour. So if you don't time your arrival at the bridge, you have to maneuver around and try to hold your position against the wind and current. Tonight we're anchored in some marshes just north of the VA / NC border.
Where we are:
Location=Blackwater Creek, VA
Lat=36 35.888 N
Lon=76 04.011 W
#end
Where we are:
Location=Blackwater Creek, VA
Lat=36 35.888 N
Lon=76 04.011 W
#end
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Norfolk, VA
[Kevin's Post]When we originally got to Hampton they said we had to leave by this morning as lots of boats were scheduled to arrive for the Caribbean 1500. The Caribbean 1500 is a race of cruising boats from Norfolk to the British Virgin Islands, a 1500 mile trip taking 8-14 days. It starts in early November, but boats are starting to arrive to provision and get their boats ready. We left Hampton this morning and traveled 12 miles down the Elizabeth river to downtown Norfolk, VA and anchored off Hospital Point. The Norfolk piers are packed full of Navy vessels, including a couple of aircraft carriers. In fact if you look on Google Earth and follow the Elizabeth River north looking to the east side you'll probably see a bunch of big Navy warships. The last two times we went through Norfolk we didn't stop so this time we were determined to go ashore. We dinghied across the river and tied up at Waterside marina. There is a pretty cool naval museum (I know we said we weren't going to go to anymore, but we did anyway) which is worth going to. The museum has an actual battleship, the USS Wisconsin, that you can walk around. This particular battleship was used in WWII through Desert Storm. They said it is still in reserve and can be redeployed if necessary. The Wisconsin had retired navy volunteers aboard, some of which had served aboard it as far back as the 1950's. After the museum we went to see the movie 'Departed', and then to Outback for some beers and a bloomin' Onion.
We're anchored at mile 0 of the intracoastal waterway, which as we've probably already explained, is an inland waterway of rivers, bays, and dredged canals stretching from Norfolk to Florida allowing you to travel the entire distance without ever going out to open ocean. This time we hope to go outside some of the distance from Beaufort to FL, weather permitting. 987 miles to go to Stuart, FL.
Where we are:
Location=Norfolk, VA
Lat= 36 50.729 N
Lon=76 18.068 W
We're anchored at mile 0 of the intracoastal waterway, which as we've probably already explained, is an inland waterway of rivers, bays, and dredged canals stretching from Norfolk to Florida allowing you to travel the entire distance without ever going out to open ocean. This time we hope to go outside some of the distance from Beaufort to FL, weather permitting. 987 miles to go to Stuart, FL.
Where we are:
Location=Norfolk, VA
Lat= 36 50.729 N
Lon=76 18.068 W
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Hampton, VA - Man At Work
So this past week we have been at a marina in Hampton Virginia. We usually try not to spend so much time at marinas but this week was an exception for two reasons: 1. we wanted to have our rigging inspected, and 2. Kevin did some remote computer programming work for Starwood (our previous employer).
The rigging inspection was set for Wednesday. Basically since the boat (and its rigging) is ten years old, we wanted to have it inspected before we leave the country in January. When we first bought the boat over a year ago we had the rigging inspected and the inspector recommended having it replaced within 1-3 years. So we figured we'd have it re-inspected by a different company and if they recommended to replace it we would have time to do that before we left the US. So the guy goes up the mast and looks at all the standing rigging (which are the wires that support the mast) as well as the running rigging (which are the lines that raise and trim the sails, etc). They also inspected other stuff like our lifelines (which run around the boat and -- hopefully -- stop a person from falling overboard) as well as our dinghy lift/tackle system (which helps someone as wimpy as me lift our couple-hundred-pound dinghy). We were pleasantly surprised when they said there were no problems and that they couldn't see any reason to replace the standing rigging. They did say we should replace a few of the lines (ropes in the running rigging), but that is going to cost much less than replacing the standing rigging would've been. So we are happy.
The other reason we wanted to stay at a marina was to use the wi-fi access so that Kevin could do a little programming work for Starwood. Of course the minute he agreed to start on the work, the wi-fi access stopped functioning, so he ended up having to use our cell phone to dial in. Since our cell phone charges 45 cents a minute if we go over our minutes, Kevin was working nights (between 9pm and 9am) and all weekend (when our calls are free). He worked like a fiend and finished everything, but I think he got a total of eight hours of sleep over the past five days. Two words: grumpy bear. But now he is well-rested and back to the normal, non-grumpy, Kevin I married.
Where we are:
Location=Hampton VA
Lat=37 00.443
Lon=76 18.982
The rigging inspection was set for Wednesday. Basically since the boat (and its rigging) is ten years old, we wanted to have it inspected before we leave the country in January. When we first bought the boat over a year ago we had the rigging inspected and the inspector recommended having it replaced within 1-3 years. So we figured we'd have it re-inspected by a different company and if they recommended to replace it we would have time to do that before we left the US. So the guy goes up the mast and looks at all the standing rigging (which are the wires that support the mast) as well as the running rigging (which are the lines that raise and trim the sails, etc). They also inspected other stuff like our lifelines (which run around the boat and -- hopefully -- stop a person from falling overboard) as well as our dinghy lift/tackle system (which helps someone as wimpy as me lift our couple-hundred-pound dinghy). We were pleasantly surprised when they said there were no problems and that they couldn't see any reason to replace the standing rigging. They did say we should replace a few of the lines (ropes in the running rigging), but that is going to cost much less than replacing the standing rigging would've been. So we are happy.
The other reason we wanted to stay at a marina was to use the wi-fi access so that Kevin could do a little programming work for Starwood. Of course the minute he agreed to start on the work, the wi-fi access stopped functioning, so he ended up having to use our cell phone to dial in. Since our cell phone charges 45 cents a minute if we go over our minutes, Kevin was working nights (between 9pm and 9am) and all weekend (when our calls are free). He worked like a fiend and finished everything, but I think he got a total of eight hours of sleep over the past five days. Two words: grumpy bear. But now he is well-rested and back to the normal, non-grumpy, Kevin I married.
Where we are:
Location=Hampton VA
Lat=37 00.443
Lon=76 18.982
Saturday, October 7, 2006
Hayes, VA - Severn River Marina
[Kevin's Post]After leaving Fishing Bay we made our way south to Mobjack Bay where Severn River Marina is located. Our plan was to get dockage for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday night, crank out some boat projects on Wednesday and Thursday, do some provisioning, then rent a car and go to Busch Gardens on Friday. That was the plan at least. On Wednesday, we pulled all our anchor chain out on the dock so that we could rotate the chain end to end and put some more zinc galvanizing on it. It's kind of like rotating the tires on your car, the galvanizing on the chain doesn't wear evenly, so you are supposed to rotate it periodically. On Thursday we dropped off some parts we needed modified at a local machine shop and went to Sam's Club and Walmart in our rental car. Back at the boat, we re-marked the chain, hauled it back onto the boat and reattached the anchor. Then, Thursday night we go to check the weather for our day of Busch Gardens fun and see that it is probably going to rain. We decide to wait and see, sometimes they are wrong, you never know. Then Friday morning we check the forecast and see this:
GALE WARNING IN EFFECT THROUGH LATE TONIGHT
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY NOW IN EFFECT FROM LATE TONIGHT THROUGH LATE SATURDAY NIGHT
TODAY
NE WINDS 20 TO 25 KT EARLY THIS MORNING...INCREASING TO 30 KT WITH GUSTS UP TO 45 KT THIS AFTERNOON. WAVES 3 TO 4 FT EARLY THIS MORNING...BUILDING TO 4 TO 6 FT. RAIN WITH VSBY 1 TO 3 NM.
TONIGHT
NE WINDS 25 TO 30 KT. GUSTS UP TO 45 KT...DECREASING TO 35 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. WAVES 4 TO 6 FT. RAIN WITH VSBY 1 TO 3 NM.
(BTW, for you non-nautical types 45 KT is 52 mph)
It hasn't rained in about 10 days, and now we get a full blown Nor'easter. No Busch Gardens for us. The weather deteriorated throughout the day. We were able to make a run to the video store at low tide. Shortly after we got back, the finger pier next to the boat disappeared under the water. The strong winds are causing a storm surge and tides which are several feet above normal. The main dock here is typically 4-6 feet above the water and then there are finger piers which stick out from the main dock and go between the boats. The finger piers are supposed to be 2-3 feet above the water. High tide came at about 9:20 PM and at this point 2-3 foot waves were coming over the dock and through the marina. The boats in the slips on either side of us were bucking wildly against their dock lines. The water level was so high that the pilings were only sticking 3 feet out of the water and didn't even go up to our rub rail. We listened to the wind howl all night and wished we were at anchor instead. At least then we would be laying with the wind. This morning high tide came again at 9:40. The main docks were underwater, the parking lot was underwater, the marina office and ship's store were flooded, the power was out, and the only way to shore was by dinghy. And of course, the rental car was due back by noon. I dinghyed to shore thinking that maybe the roads would be ok. Before I even got to the car, I ran into the marina manager who said the roads were 2-3 feet underwater and he barely made it through in his full size truck. My Hyundai wasn't going anywhere. He also said that this was the worst storm surge they have seen since Hurricane Isabel. We called the rental car company and told them what the situation was and they said to try to return it after the water went down. So we waited for low tide at which point the water level was low enough to return the car and hurry back before the finger pier disappeared again. The wind has started to subside and we think it will be ok to leave tomorrow.
The picture shows the marina floating docks 2 feet above the fixed docks which can be seen just above the waterline. They are typically 3-4 feet below the fixed docks and are used by smaller boats and skiffs that would be too far below the fixed dock to climb off. Our rental car is the blue one in the background.
Where we are:
Location=Hayes, VA
Lat=37 18.238 N
Lon=76 27.249 W
GALE WARNING IN EFFECT THROUGH LATE TONIGHT
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY NOW IN EFFECT FROM LATE TONIGHT THROUGH LATE SATURDAY NIGHT
TODAY
NE WINDS 20 TO 25 KT EARLY THIS MORNING...INCREASING TO 30 KT WITH GUSTS UP TO 45 KT THIS AFTERNOON. WAVES 3 TO 4 FT EARLY THIS MORNING...BUILDING TO 4 TO 6 FT. RAIN WITH VSBY 1 TO 3 NM.
TONIGHT
NE WINDS 25 TO 30 KT. GUSTS UP TO 45 KT...DECREASING TO 35 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. WAVES 4 TO 6 FT. RAIN WITH VSBY 1 TO 3 NM.
(BTW, for you non-nautical types 45 KT is 52 mph)
It hasn't rained in about 10 days, and now we get a full blown Nor'easter. No Busch Gardens for us. The weather deteriorated throughout the day. We were able to make a run to the video store at low tide. Shortly after we got back, the finger pier next to the boat disappeared under the water. The strong winds are causing a storm surge and tides which are several feet above normal. The main dock here is typically 4-6 feet above the water and then there are finger piers which stick out from the main dock and go between the boats. The finger piers are supposed to be 2-3 feet above the water. High tide came at about 9:20 PM and at this point 2-3 foot waves were coming over the dock and through the marina. The boats in the slips on either side of us were bucking wildly against their dock lines. The water level was so high that the pilings were only sticking 3 feet out of the water and didn't even go up to our rub rail. We listened to the wind howl all night and wished we were at anchor instead. At least then we would be laying with the wind. This morning high tide came again at 9:40. The main docks were underwater, the parking lot was underwater, the marina office and ship's store were flooded, the power was out, and the only way to shore was by dinghy. And of course, the rental car was due back by noon. I dinghyed to shore thinking that maybe the roads would be ok. Before I even got to the car, I ran into the marina manager who said the roads were 2-3 feet underwater and he barely made it through in his full size truck. My Hyundai wasn't going anywhere. He also said that this was the worst storm surge they have seen since Hurricane Isabel. We called the rental car company and told them what the situation was and they said to try to return it after the water went down. So we waited for low tide at which point the water level was low enough to return the car and hurry back before the finger pier disappeared again. The wind has started to subside and we think it will be ok to leave tomorrow.
The picture shows the marina floating docks 2 feet above the fixed docks which can be seen just above the waterline. They are typically 3-4 feet below the fixed docks and are used by smaller boats and skiffs that would be too far below the fixed dock to climb off. Our rental car is the blue one in the background.
Where we are:
Location=Hayes, VA
Lat=37 18.238 N
Lon=76 27.249 W
Tuesday, October 3, 2006
Fishing Bay, VA
[Kevin's Post] After spending 3 nights tied up at Jack and Jo's dock we left this morning to continue south. Not much wind today so we didn't bother to even take off the sail covers, we knew we were going to be motoring. Recently the boat hasn't been motoring as fast as it used to, so I swam down to check the propellers while were at Jack and Jo's and found that the propellers had a pretty good growth of barnacles on them. The antifouling paint that is on the rest of the boat underwater doesn't stick to the props, so stuff can grow on them, especially if you sit for a long time like we did at Solomons. I scraped them all off, and it seemed to make a difference. We were going about 1/2 knot faster today at the same engine speeds.
We motored south out the Rappahannock and into Fishing Bay. As we entered Fishing Bay, we noticed a very large sailboat that appeared to be anchored off the channel. As we got closer, we could tell there was no anchor rode, they were aground. I looked at them through the binoculars and they were waving at us trying to get our attention, apparently they didn't have a radio. We motored over as close as we could get without going aground ourselves, the charted depth was 4 feet, and it was exactly low tide. They said their draft was 9 feet, so they were just on the edge of the shoal. We said we would anchor and try to haul them off with our massive dinghy which probably has more horsepower than their primary engine. We were in the process of anchoring, and fortunately they managed to get off the shoal under their own power without our help. So everything worked out.
Where we are:
Location=Fishing Bay, VA
Lat=37 30.486 N
Lon=76 20.807 W
We motored south out the Rappahannock and into Fishing Bay. As we entered Fishing Bay, we noticed a very large sailboat that appeared to be anchored off the channel. As we got closer, we could tell there was no anchor rode, they were aground. I looked at them through the binoculars and they were waving at us trying to get our attention, apparently they didn't have a radio. We motored over as close as we could get without going aground ourselves, the charted depth was 4 feet, and it was exactly low tide. They said their draft was 9 feet, so they were just on the edge of the shoal. We said we would anchor and try to haul them off with our massive dinghy which probably has more horsepower than their primary engine. We were in the process of anchoring, and fortunately they managed to get off the shoal under their own power without our help. So everything worked out.
Where we are:
Location=Fishing Bay, VA
Lat=37 30.486 N
Lon=76 20.807 W
Lancaster, VA - Fugawee Wharf
Earlier this week, we emailed our friends Jack and Jo on Maggie Rose (we met them last November in Myrtle Beach, SC). They live on Myer Creek, which is a tranquil spot off of the Rappahannock River. They invited us to tie up to their dock behind their house, and we took them up on the invitation. Their home (which they designed themselves) is on a beautiful spot, surrounded by shady trees, with lots of windows and a view of the creek out back. The first night they had us over for dinner and drinks and we had a great time catching up on each other's respective trips south (us to the Bahamas, them to Florida). Over the next couple of days we hung out and ate lots of good food (including Jack's awesome fried chicken and Jo's delicious sweet potato pancakes -- not at the same meal, of course!). Both Jo and Jack are such personable people we had a great weekend with them and by the end of it we felt like family. It was such a pleasant visit and so nice to see some friendly, familiar faces.
Where we are:
Location=Myer Creek, VA
Lat=37 41.703 N
Lon=76 29.469 W
Where we are:
Location=Myer Creek, VA
Lat=37 41.703 N
Lon=76 29.469 W
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)