skip to main |
skip to sidebar
On our approach to Belhaven, we discovered that our dripless shaft seal was about as dripless as our stainless steel is stainless. The shaft seal is the thingy that is supposed to keep water from intruding into the boat through the hole where the shaft enters the boat from the propeller on the outside on it's way to the engine on the inside.
This would involve hauling the boat out of the water, pulling the shaft partially out, sliding a new seal (and also a spare) onto the shaft, then reattaching the shaft, realigning the engine, putting it back in the water, and paying the bill with a smile.
We ordered the seals and set up an appointment with Bock Marine which is not far from Beaufort, NC. After leaving Belhaven, we anchored for the night in Back Creek , a tad north of Oriental.
The following morning our anchor was up by 5, very dark...and it was foggy. The entrance to the creek has several sharp turns to avoid shoals and we would not have attempted it in the dark and fog without radar and a chartplotter. Once we got out into the Neuse River the fog got thicker. We were going slow and on the verge of turning around to reanchor in the creek, but we decided to proceed past South River before giving up on the day. We did not want to enter the Adams Creek part of the ICW with thick fog. After passing South River the fog lifted and it turned into a beautiful day.
Fishing boat on Adams Creek ICW.
We arrived at Bock Marine just before 9 am, and we were out of there by 2:15. They seemed to do good work, but it's the first time we have ever been charged 42 feet for our 40 foot boat.
We like the town of Beaufort, but the anchorage is waaaay too crowded for us and the marina is very expensive with 3rd world quality restrooms and showers. So we continued on out the inlet, hung a left and made our way to Cape Lookout Bight. Our anchor was down before 5 pm. Cape Lookout Bight is an easy place to make a departure in the dark which suited us well. Our next stop was Wrightsville Beach which would be a long summer day sail--but this wasn't summer, so we would need to leave in the dark.
Pretty boat anchored next to us at Cape Lookout Bight. Notice the bike on deck.
We stayed put for a day waiting for the wind to change direction and to take advantage of a cold front which would bring brisk but favorable winds. We were underway by 4 am with 20 to 25 knot true wind just off our stern. The winds were supposed to abate through the day--which they did, but they stayed brisker than the forecast which enabled us to sail more and make a fast passage.
Sometime late morning, we picked up this very tired passenger.
We made good time and were anchored near the bridge at Wrightsville Beach by early afternoon.
The Motor Vessel Mi T Mo anchored behind us. Notice the car and the carport on the foredeck.
We were weighing anchor by 5 o'clock Saturday morning ready to take on mucho restricted bridges and a lock. Half way through the weighing anchor process our chain brought up a 5 foot long pipe off the bottom of the Elizabeth River. A couple of days worth of reversing currents had wrapped our chain around the pipe, tying a pretty good knot around it. Of course that section of chain and the pipe were caked with yucky mucky gross mud--and I had been feeling all nice and clean and ready to go. Ten minutes later I wasn't feeling so clean anymore and neither was the front deck of the boat. But we were on our way.
We had left early in hopes of beating the crowd to the lock, but got held up a long time waiting for a train. That gave everyone a chance to catch up, so we basically got up early for nothing, but the weather was perfect.
Bow Babe on duty at the lock.
We wear our life jackets at the lock so that we don't get yelled at in case we have to get off the boat to secure it.
These boats are tied up at the town of Great Bridge, which is just after passing through the lock. There is good provisioning here, but we have yet to stop. We are usually stocked up at this point and it tends to get very crowded here.
Later in the day we sensed that something had passed us. We couldn't see this man and his dog, so we know you can't either. We thought we were all alone, but then we noticed a wake.
Last year we had 25 to 30 knot winds while on the Alligator River--quite nasty. This year it was dead calm--wonderful.
Near the end of our second day we passed under the Wilkenson Bridge on the Alligator/Pungo River Canal. The clearance from water to the bottom of the bridge was only 63.5 feet. Our mast with wind instruments and antennas is about 58 feet above the water so no problem for us.
High Priority, a 40 foot Catalina, drew 64 feet in the air.
So he stuck his wife out on the end of the boom to tilt the boat over. You might want to blow this picture up.
OK... Maybe your brother, or a couple of water jugs, maybe the dinghy with water in it--but your wife?? Bad move dude.
He said there were only a couple of scrapes on the bottom of the bridge--could of used a fatter wife (he didn't say the last part).
I called the galvanizing place on the appointed day and they reassured me that our chain and anchor would be shiny and new, ready to be picked up at noon the following day. Because the process involved a 3 mile walk, then renting a car and driving 120 miles each way, I asked for, and was granted, assurance that it would be ready by noon.
You win the prize for guessing right. When we got there, they had not started on our stuff--it was sitting on a pallet looking lonely in the middle of the yard.
When I walked in and they realized their goof, they went into panic mode. They assured us they could get it done by closing late that day, and that quality of job would not suffer. We returned shortly before closing time and waited until they finished up, then loaded our treasure into the car.
These guys are good people, and really stepped up for us after initially dropping the ball. I suspect our business is sort of "nuisance business" to them (they do tons of big commercial jobs), but they treated us like we were important and made things happen.
Major thunderstorms with big time lightning and wind hit Annapolis shortly after we got back, so Lisa with her better judgement, decided we needed to go to a 7-Eleven and hide out until it blew through. After things cleared up somewhat, we went through the process of transferring the chain from the car to our floating car, and then to the mothership. It is wonderful not to have rusty chain anymore.
With the chain back on the boat we were ready to head south. A big front with lots of wind and rain was due to arrive in 2 days, so we hightailed it to the Patuxent River, passed Solomons and wound our way up to the beautiful St. Leonard Creek. This is one of our favorite spots--and a good thing too, because we would be there for a few days. The creek offers good protection and a front row seat to watch bald eagles show why they are our national bird.
The wind and rain came. We got 13 inches of rain in 2 days. One of the days had over 10 inches.
Real men make French toast.
After the bad weather cleared, we made the 2 1/2 hour trip to Solomons. We saw the crew of Voyageur, the Island Packet that had been struck by lightening on our way up the Chesapeake. They just got their boat back after several months of repairs and all new electronics. We enjoyed spending an evening with them.
After leaving Solomons, we had a lively sail to Mill Creek off the Great Wicomico River. That was followed by a windless day and the use of the motor to Chisman Creek.
We passed this dudet that was heading north on the Chesapeake.
