Annapolis to Atlantic Highlands

On Tuesday morning we left our mooring on Spa Creek and motored the 4 miles to Bert Jabins boat yard on Back Creek. We needed a quick haul to clean and inspect the bottom, and to change the zincs on our prop shaft and the keel cooler for our refrigerator/freezer.

Our intent was to use the Haven Harbor yard in Rock Hall, but we were having trouble contacting the guy we needed to schedule with. We were desperate to get out of a very hot and windless Spa Creek so we decided to use the Bert Jabin yard. They did a good job with the pressure wash, but were a little pushy to splash the boat back in the water. We had less than a half hour to clean the barnacles off and to change the zincs--and they were not busy. The guy that received us on the dock, was not one that made you feel like you would want to come back--I'll just leave it at that. But the yard looks first rate as far as facilities go.

At 5:30 am we left our mooring on Back Creek and headed up the Chesapeake for the C and D (Chesapeake Delaware) Canal and then to Reedy Island on the Delaware River. The plan was to anchor behind Reedy Island that night and then leave with a fair tide at 10:00 am the following morning to shoot down the Delaware River and Bay, round Cape May and sail overnight to Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey.


Sunrise at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.


The Chesapeake Bay Bridge a bit later. The bird thinks it's all about him.

After passing under the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, we fought a slight foul current until we reached the C and D Canal, where the tide finally turned in our favor. For a non planing displacement boat, it is essential to time your arrival at the C and D Canal and the Delaware River when the tide is pushing the water the same direction you want to go. Once we neared the end of the canal, we were going 4 knots over our hull speed.

It was an uneventful day and shortly before 4:00 pm we entered the narrow cut that took us from the Delaware River to the other side of Reedy Island.


Obligated to take a picture of the nuclear plant when it's right in front of you. For the full story check our July 2009 entry about half way down the page.

As mentioned earlier, the tidal currents are quite strong on the Delaware River. The further north the stronger the current--presumably because it is narrower. We are not fast enough to ride a fair current all the way to the Atlantic before the tide reverses, so we plan it to take advantage of the stronger current on the north end.

This had us weigh anchor at 10:00 am, and we picked up an extra 3 to 3 1/2 knots all the way down the Delaware River and half way through the Delaware Bay before the tide turned on us.


Ship John Shoal Light on the Delaware.

Rumor has it, this lighthouse was named by a Chinese English student while eating shrimps on fried rice.


This marker shows the current that you don't want to run against.

As we rounded the shoals of Cape May, passed Wildwood, and Atlantic City I could almost feel the sting on my back from the many sunburns of yesteryear at those beaches.

Shortly before 11:00 Friday morning, we entered Sandy Hook Channel which led us into New York Harbor. We knew we were in the channel because we had to dodge a plethora of anchored fishing boats.

We hung a left and headed to the harbor in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey. The anchor was down at 12:20 pm.

While at the dinghy dock, we met an Austrian crew who sailed their Amel across the Atlantic, went to Venezuela, came back up the Caribbean and are now sailing the East Coast of the US.

Richard

Minutes after getting settled on Spa Creek we got word that my brother in law, Richard, had succumbed to cancer. He fought with courage through surgeries, rounds of chemo, radiation, a strict diet where he didn't eat anything that tasted good, and eventually paralysis from the waist down.

Richard was a good friend and the kind of man you want your sister to marry. He had a huge impact on my life. We miss him.


Richard and Ruth.


At John G's in Florida a day or so after Dad's memorial in late February of 2010.


Richard's wonderful family posing with a ceiling fan. Robert, Ruth, Amy, Ryan


Ryan instructing the help to turn the fans on high so he can achieve the Farrah Fawcett look. Their friend, Paul, is in the middle--he doesn't care if the fan is on or off.


My sisters, Mom, Lisa and I joined the crowd.

Solomons to Annapolis

We left St. Leonards Creek under sail and jibed back and forth all the way to Solomons Island. Not a long trip at all but it was slow, peaceful and refreshing in the cool, light breeze. We basked in the tail end of the brief cold front with the knowledge that the next heat wave was about to make things uncomfortable again.

We took care of business in Solomons then crossed to the east side of the the Chesapeake and up the Choptank River, then the Tred Avon River to the small town of Oxford. After buzzing the inner harbor, we decided to anchor in Plaindealing Creek on the other side of the Tred Avon River.

Recreational crabbing is big in this area but they use a different system. Most places use cages with a buoy attached similar to what lobster men use. Here they use a long line of 1000 feet or so with a buoy attached to either end. The line has bait tied to it every x number of feet and is laid on the bottom of the river. The crabber returns with a pipe sticking out the side of the boat, they drape the line over the pipe and motor at idle speed from one end of the rope to the other. The idea is when the bait comes up to the boat a crab is attached to it, unwilling to let go.

We stayed 3 nights while we walked the town of Oxford. We got buzzed by quite a few local boats who feel no one else is supposed to be in "their" waters. One guy draped his crab line across our anchor chain. It was tempting to raise anchor and... but in the end we acted like adults. There were also many cordial local boaters. Oxford is a beautiful, quaint town and the people are very friendly.


'Nuff said.

Our next destination was St. Michaels, which has a very high volume of boat traffic--especially on summer weekends. Our timing was not good, because we would arrive on a Friday afternoon. On our arrival at Miles River, we were treated to the most incredible pleasure boat traffic we have seen yet. It was truly amazing. Lots of sailboats and lots of power boats. Fortunately, as many were going against us as with us. We were able to sail almost the entire way and were pleased to find adequate anchoring space when we arrived at St. Mikes.

It also happened to be the Wooden Boat Show weekend. So we had a great view of beautiful wooden boats passing by---knowing someone else did the varnishing for us.


Sunset at St. Mikes.


This bridge tender must have been trained in New Orleans. The tide was obviously too low for boats to pass but there was a schedule to keep. Oh wait, that schedule thing wouldn't make sense in New Orleans either. I'm so confused.

Our next stop was Rock Hall. We needed to make a pit stop at Haven Harbor Marina to have some general warranty maintenance done on our engine.

Haven Harbor Marina.

This area is a bit different than we are used to. We only had 6 to 12 inches of water under our keel in the channel. When we were assigned the first slip near the bulkhead, we were assured that there was plenty of water for our draft. We ended up turning into the second slip before we realized it was the wrong one. We went aground 1/2 way in but managed to get tied off. When we found out the slip belonged to a charter boat, we figured we better move over one slot to our assigned slip. I figured it would have less water since it was up against the bulkhead, but was assured once again that it had plenty of water. It was a hard slip to get in and out of but we managed it with no problems other than going aground again.

The engine work went well and we ended up getting 2 nights in the slip for free--with our blessed air conditioning. A lot of yards (including Zanhisers) charge you for dockage while having work done. We highly recommend Haven Harbor.


It was unmercifully hot, and a great relief to be plugged in so that we could use our air conditioning.

We made an early morning departure because that's when high tide was and we were floating. Once we made it to the deeper part of the channel near Gratitude Yachting Center, I noticed the engine was hot, so we shut it down and dropped anchor.

It ended up being an air lock in the closed part of the cooling system. While working on the engine, we had also flushed the cooling system and put new antifreeze in. We ran the engine in the slip at operating temperature, but probably should have run it in gear. Anyway, I love it when it's an easy fix. We had already purchased extra antifreeze (at $25 a gallon) so it didn't take long to get under way again. Anybody have $25 dollars I can borrow?

We then went to Weems Creek where we spent several very hot days. The heat index was 103 degrees with no breeze. We are used to being cold, not hot. After that we made our way to Annapolis and Spa Creek where we could leave our boat while we made a trip to Dallas.

Norfolk to St. Leonard Creek

Mobjack Bay is a natural place to stop either on your way south to Portsmouth or if you are headed north up the Chesapeake. The Severn River, Ware River, North River, and East River all empty into Mobjack Bay. Last year we spent time on both the Ware River and East River, so this time we headed for the North River. All of these rivers are somewhat out of the way if you are in a hurry going either north or south, with the Severn being the most convenient but probably the least scenic.

There was no wind at all, so we motored the whole way. We went as far up the North River as our draft would allow, then came about a third of the way back down and dropped anchor where we could catch any breeze that might be kind enough to come our way--it was hot. We figured with the 5 knot wind forecast, being a bit exposed would be a good thing--did I already say it was hot? Big mistake. We couldn't figure out why a wicked swell developed, but it ended up being a very uncomfortable night.

We were out of there early the following morning and were able to sail all the way to Fishing Bay near Deltaville. It started out as a lively sail, but mostly it was slow and peaceful.


Nice clouds that evening, but this system bypassed us---missed us by thaaat much.

We spent the following day checking out all the marinas in the area. We walked many miles, but also hitched a couple of rides. The second guy was a freelance writer who writes for Spinsheet, and several other sailing magazines.

Upon leaving Deltaville we were able to sail about half the way to Horseshoe Bay near St. Marys before the wind died and we had to use the evil engine. It was hot and the jelly fish (they call them sea nettles here) had not yet arrived, so we swam in the bay at Horseshoe Bend.

We then bypassed one of our favorite anchorages on Mill Creek off the Great Wicomico River and headed for another Mill Creek on the south side of the Patuxent River. This was our first time on this creek, and bad weather was forecast so we were anxious to drop the anchor and get settled.

It was a Sunday afternoon and this creek is not far from Solomons, which has about 2 million boats give or take 1.98 million. We had to use great care that our anchor didn't hit a skier on it's way down. To make a long story short, we reanchored 4 times without getting it to hold properly. On the 4th try it still would not hold (this is very unusual), but the storm had arrived so we elected to leave it down with a lot of chain, stayed at the helm and we kept the engine running. We had been closely monitoring the weather and they were talking about lots of lightning, damaging winds and possible tornadoes.

We started tracking it on our radar and it got to us very quickly, but as soon as it got to us it slowed to almost a stop. That was good because we got no strong wind, just a lot of rain and---OK it wasn't all good because we got a lot of lightning that was way too close for comfort. Fellow Texans on an Island Packet got hit by lightning from this same storm while anchored in Reedville--just a bit south of where we were. So they got hit by lightning and had to smell the fish plant at Reedville--not a good way to spend an afternoon. All their electronics got fried.


After the rain and lightning.

The following day we headed a few miles up the Patuxent River to explore St. Leonard Creek before turning around and heading back down river to Solomons. Solomons has fuel, water, pumpout, laundry and groceries so we usually stop there.

The day brought the first cool and pleasant air we had felt in a while and we were quite taken by St. Leonard Creek, so we dropped anchor and stayed a couple of days. One of our favorite spots yet, but don't tell anyone.


Beautiful Creek.


We were able to land the dinghy and do a lot of scenic walking. This deer kept trying to get away, but I track like an Indian. I mean a Native American.


Can you believe a butterfly on my blog? Am I trying to get a job with the White House or what?

Beaufort, NC to Portsmouth, Va

Our jog from Beaufort to Belhaven was wet and rainy, but otherwise uneventful.

While we were browsing in the commercial fishing supply store, Lisa made the mistake of telling the salesman how much we liked Belhaven. That's when we learned that the town had voted the mayor out of office 3 times before he got the idea that he had been fired. He had been mayor for 28 years. After briefing us on the dirty deeds of several other city officials, the salesman looked Lisa in the eye and asked "so what is it about Belhaven that you like?" One thing we don't like is that our cell phone doesn't work there.

We waited for favorable weather for our next leg. It involved 20 something miles on the exposed Alligator River and then crossing the Albermarle Sound. While transiting the Pungo River/Alligator River Canal we spotted a black bear eating berries not too far from the water. He scurried off when we passed him. A couple of miles later we saw some deer on the opposite shore. This from a crew who did not spot a single alligator from Texas all the way to Florida. We anchored at mile 59 on the ICW in the middle of 3000 crab pots.

Our final day on the ICW involved a healthy supply of restricted bridges and 1 lock. All went very smoothly. Our anchor was up at 5:35 am and we spent most of the day in the vicinity of a 2 pack tow that had anchored across from us at mile 59. He ended up in the lock with us and about 6 other boats. He took up the whole north side of the lock.

We made it to our anchorage near Hospital Point in Portsmouth/Norfolk by early afternoon, but it took 2 tries to get the anchor set. It is nice to be done with the ICW for a while. There is a 5 mph speed limit in the ship channel here, so there are virtually no wakes even though there is a ton of traffic. Because of all the ship traffic and ship yards it is quite noisy here, so if you are trying to get away for a weekend it may not be your first choice, but we get plenty of time in secluded anchorages so the noise doesn't bother us much.

Cruise ships dock right across the water from where we are at. Patrol boats keep a constant guard. One patrol boat stopped about 15 pleasure boats in a 2 hour span when we first arrived.

We are also right next to the turning basin. It is amazing watching these monsters turn 180 degrees on a dime.


Using his thrusters (maybe pods) to spin around.


After about 15 minutes, he completes his turn and heads out to sea. The next cruise ship was from the Carnival fleet and was much newer and bigger--but you can only take so many pictures of cruise ships.


German restaurant in Portsmouth.  You would think of all people, the Germans would know how to spell beer.

Monday morning we had a nice chat with a World War II veteran while we were waiting for the Memorial Day Parade to start. It is always interesting listening to a WW II vet talk--we listen with reverence and great gratitude. A big THANK YOU to ALL our veterans (and their families) who gave their lives for this incredible country. We do not take you for granted.


After the parade, we took the ferry across the river to Norfolk. We visited the Naval museum and toured the USS Wisconsin. It served in WW II and retired after the Gulf War.


Me thinks his anchor chain is larger than our anchor chain. The ugly foot is in a size 13 flip flop.

Fernandina to Beaufort, NC

We returned to the dinghy dock after getting propane and groceries only to find all the dinghies stuck in the mud. We have spent a fair amount of time in Fernandina and have never seen the dinghy dock go aground before. This was a new moon low tide, so we joined another stranded couple for some drinks as we waited for the tide to come up some.

The following morning we were off the mooring shortly after 6 and headed to Charleston, SC. It was a wonderful sail for most of the morning before the wind decided to die down. The rest of the trip ended up being a motor sail. We made good time and arrived at the Charleston Ship Channel earlier than I had anticipated, so we decided to keep going and enter the Winyah Bay Inlet at Georgetown, SC.

We arrived at the inlet just in time to take the full brunt of an ebb tide--and it's a loooong inlet. We fought the current all the way to Thoroughfare Creek which is at about mile marker 390 on the ICW. One thing we learned is you need at least 2 crew to enter or exit this inlet in mid May. One to drive the boat and one to kill flies to protect the helmsman.

When we arrived at Thoroughfare Creek we felt way out of place. It was late Sunday afternoon and the creek was full of speed boats with all their water toys. They all stared at us like we were aliens--but then they all went home and it turned out to be a great anchorage. Just don't plan on staying there over a weekend.

Skipper Bob suggested using a trip line on the anchor. I don't like trip lines for several reasons, but we decided to use one in case the anchor got stuck on a submerged log. That evening, 2 ladies in a speedboat thought they found a free fender and they were bound and determined to take it home. When we informed them the fender was ours and attached to our anchor they weren't inclined to believe us and they were not too happy--but they did leave it alone and moved on.


Thouroughfare Creek is quite beautiful.

Lisa had a bit too much time on her hands and after a rereading Skipper Bob's, decided we were not going to do this next section of the ICW. Soooo, we backtracked the 27 nautical miles to the Winyah Bay Inlet--this time with a fair tide, and we killed more flies.

We had a small window to get to Beaufort before the wind would turn NE (on our nose) for several days. So long as we got to Beaufort before late pm the following day all would be well.

It was another beautiful day and we were making great time. Some thunderstorms started to appear when we approached Cape Fear and Frying Pan Shoals around 10 pm. We were able to alter course to avoid one cell, then we had to slow way down to let another cell pass in front of us. So far so good. Later that night the wind and waves prematurely clocked NE right on our nose and increased to 15 - 20 knots. Needless to say, from then on it was a miserable night. And slow.

Last trip north we stopped at Morehead City Yacht Haven in--you guessed it--Morehead City. It is a great marina with nice facilities, but there is not much within walking distance. This time we decided to check out Beaufort.

Plan A was to try and anchor in front of the town docks and plan B was to check into the marina if the anchorage was as bad as the guide books say it is. Well, we chose plan B and checked in at Beaufort Town Docks. The anchorage was very congested, with half the boats anchored in the channel.

The marina has very nice docks but that's about it. The restrooms and showers are serviceable, but sort of campgroundish. For 2.25/ft + 12.50 electric per night, we would expect a little better. But the people are very nice and the dock hands are superb.

This is the first time we have been plugged in to electricity in over a year. How nice to be able to run our air conditioner! We thought about running our vacuum cleaner all night just because we could.


Wooden boat shop.


Wooden boats from the wooden boat shop in the water.


The marina has loaner cars they let you use for an hour at a time to run to the grocery store. We took advantage of that and stocked up with heavy stuff. Then I made the mistake of opening the trunk to put the groceries in. The problem was, it wouldn't shut (it had been backed into in a previous life), so I had to tie it almost shut with a grocery bag.


Docked next to some much bigger friends.

We have enjoyed our stay here, and really enjoyed being tied to a real dock for a couple of days.

Lake Worth to Fernandina

We decided to leave our boat on a mooring in Stuart, Florida while we visited Mom and Carol. The mooring field is run by a municipal marina with very reasonable rates. It's a fairly new facility located about 8 miles off the ICW on the way to Lake Okeechobee. There are many opening bridges between Lake Worth and Stuart, and most of them are restricted, only opening at set times. We were delayed at one bridge which was being worked on, but the rest of the day went smoothly.

Carol and Mom picked us up and we had a great 2 week visit with them. Now Carol and Mom can get some rest!

When we returned to the mooring field, we were able to get some projects done. I got all 3 alternator belts changed, changed the impeller on the raw water pump, and stripped and varnished the exterior teak. We have lots of teak inside, but thankfully not too much outside. Old Chinese proverb--- "teak inside good, teak outside bad". When we got the boat it came with Cetol on the outside teak. Some people like Cetol, but we don't. It looks so so right after it is put on, but eventually it looks like brown paint. Since I'm basically lazy, we decided to live with it until it needed to be redone, then we would strip it and varnish it. The day arrived when it needed to be redone, so now it is varnished.

After a year and a half sans radio, we decided it was time to install a stereo, so we were able to get that done as well. This of course involved long bike rides to West Marine for overpriced screws and Home Depot for wood to reinforce where the speakers are hung.

Just to make things interesting, we got a tear in the hypalon on our dinghy. The marina has a great dinghy dock, but you have maneuver between some sharp rocks and the end of the dinghy dock to get to where you tie up. It was dark and there was a dinghy tied up on the end that I had to get around. It was low tide which made it narrower and I slid on top of a submerged rock and then heard the dreaded hiss. It was one of those how could I be so stupid moments. We had been in and out of there a hundred times. But no do overs. An expensive mistake. We limped back to the mother ship (the dinghy has 3 separate air chambers, so we still had 2 full of air). We were able to get it fixed by a dinghy shop--they put a patch on the inside and on the outside and it looks great.

While at the marina, we met Rusty Hightower who works for Massey selling Hunters and Island Packets. In 2001 he sold us a Catalina 36 when we were on Lake Texoma. Small world. Yep, he tried to sell us a Hunter.

It was time to head north so that our insurance would remain valid. The first day we did 83 miles from Stuart to a bit past Melbourne. After leaving Stuart we took the St. Lucie River through Hookers Cove and then directly through Hell Gate. I did not make up the names nor put them in that order.

We were up early again the following morning, and made good another 83 miles to Daytona. Along the way we saw a very large dead turtle. On behalf of the Kinder and Gentler One, I would like to apologize to France for this uniquely American transgression.

The following day took us 53 miles to St. Augustine. This time through, we stayed in the main anchorage. There is a strong current here and the boats do funny things at anchor. Most of the boats were behaving, but the full keeled boats were running around putting their ground tackle to the test.


6:15 am in the St. Augustine anchorage.  A young teenage couple with a dog appeared to be living on this boat.

It was 63 miles to Fernandina. At some point we were attacked by horse flies. This kept Lisa entertained for a while.


This is the result of about 45 minutes of Lisa's day. I'm so proud. When she reached her limit, we threw the rest overboard so we wouldn't get fined. Horse fly stir fry anyone?


As we neared the St. Johns River, the military's presence became pronounced.

Other than the fly hunt, the day was uneventful until we passed the St. Johns River. From there on it got hairy. We arrived an hour or so before low tide (7 foot range) one day before the new moon. This water is not like the Keys or Bahamas. You read the chart and the rest is Braille, because you certainly can't see through it. We bumped the bottom as we left the St. Johns River to rejoin the ICW on the other side, but made it through OK. After that we had several close calls but were able to find the deeper water. About 2 and 1/2 miles before arriving a Fernandina we finally ran aground. In trying to get free, I expertly maneuvered us harder aground. It was almost dead low tide, so we decided to wait for the tide to come in and float us off. It wasn't 2 minutes later when Tow Boat Us showed up. He had a spy watching that section for potential business (we were his 3rd of the afternoon at that same spot). We have tow boat insurance with Boat US, so we let him pull us to deeper water. If we had to pay for it we would have read a book and waited for the tide to fill in. After we were free, we barely made it through the next 100 yards, but then it was deep water the rest of the way.

Now we are fueled up and on a mooring. I hope to change oil, transmission fluid and the primary fuel filter tomorrow. We also need to get propane. Then the plan is to leave Saturday to go offshore to Charleston, South Carolina.