Monday (Memorial Day) May 30:  Norfolk VA

     Tommie showed us in the night that she has figured out how to open the screens in the pilothouse and that she has discovered that she can push out the screen in the porthole over the salon settee and climb out onto the deck.  We have been at docks for the last three nights and she has had enough of being locked in the cabin.  Lucky for all of us, she didn’t go anywhere.  We think.  She’s a smart cat, you have to admire that.  But we were planning to go to a marina in Norfolk for at least one night, and we did not need a repeat of her disappearing act.  Neither do we want to have to close all the windows and portholes.  

     Dan came up with the idea of just crisscrossing a line in front of the porthole.  This will make it a pain if we have to close it - we’ll have to untie the line - but for now it seems to deter her from launching herself at the screen.  For the bigger windows in the pilothouse, Dan told me he could think of a way to lock them so they don’t slide, but she’s ruining the screen itself.  For today we need to keep them closed.

     We locked through the Deep Creek Lock at the first opening - 8:30 am - and by noon we were in Norfolk.  Last time we came through here it was very busy:  military and cargo vessels coming and going, ferries and tour boats running around, tug boats everywhere.  Lots of activity.  The water was a bit rough too, and it was windy.   Today it was very calm, and we saw maybe three other vessels out in the entire river.  There was no military activity at all - no helicopters or planes.  I guess this is what Norfolk is like on Memorial Day.  The light, steady rain probably helped too.

Welcome to Norfolk/Portsmouth VA

USS Wisconsin along with the schooner Virginia and several small racing sailboats.

     We took a slip at Rebel Marina, home of the ‘tugantine’ Norfolk Rebel.  This is a great place, run by David Briggs.  We’d used their facilities last fall when we passed through, and were looking forward to doing so again.  I took care of the laundry and then Dan and I borrowed one of the courtesy cars to visit Home Depot for some pet resistant screen.  (Dan is going to replace the screens in the pilothouse.  We’ll let you know if Tommie is able to claw her way through them.)  The rain started to come down harder.  What do you do in the rain?  We sat in the hot tub.  If you’re going to be wet, you might as well enjoy it. 

     Crab cakes and broccoli for dinner.     

Saturday-Sunday May 28-29: Great Dismal Swamp

     Saturday morning, just as we were about to get underway, a crab fisherman (crabber? cabman?) made straight for us in his little open boat.  He held up a cigarette.  Did we have a light???  Dan grinned and said we could probably accommodate him.  He went below and returned with some wooden matches we keep handy.  The man couldn’t wait to light his cigarette, he took one of the matches and struck it several times on our teak cap rail and finally got his light.  After one long, deep drag, he looked up at us.  “You want some crabs?”  

     Bucket of crabs on board, we set off for the Albemarle Sound.  Dan made an apologetic face to me and said since we didn’t have ice or a fridge, we should probably deal with the crabs sooner rather than later.  Since he was at the helm, he meant I should deal with them.  (Or he would, if I took the helm.)  I set a pot on to boil to steam them, and then sat down in the cockpit to pick them when they were cooked.  I have a HUGE appreciation for people who have done this for a living.  What a mess!  Fortunately, cockpits are easily cleaned, and Dan set up the shower bag for me to wash up with.  For seven matches we got eight or nine blue crabs, and out of them, we had plenty for a nice crabmeat salad for lunch.  It doesn’t get much fresher than that.

     Another beautiful day as we moved up the Pasquotank River to Elizabeth City, which marks this end of the Great Dismal Swamp route.  We debated stopping at the free docks there, but decided to press on.  As we approached the area, Artemis came up behind and Laura conferred on the radio with Dan about our plans.  She was considering stopping at the docks for a night or two.  We let her know we planned to move as far as we could.  The first lock of the Dismal Swamp Canal has specific opening times, and we didn’t know if we could make the last one at 3:30, but there was a place to anchor just before it, and that was our goal if the timing didn’t work out for us.  Laura took one look at the Elizabeth City free docks and decided the SE exposure didn’t seem like a good idea.  “I’m going to follow you.”  She said.  

Artemis

     We made the 3:30 lock opening with fifteen minutes to spare.  The Dismal Swamp Canal is beautiful in the fall, and is gorgeous in the spring.  Oak, maple, and magnolia trees are in full bloom, as well as what other trees line this still, tea-colored water.  There is a speed limit here, and because of the locks on either end, there are no joy riders in their pontoon boats or jet skis.  We could hear birds singing and see turtles sunning on the banks.  Now our goal was the Welcome Center some five miles away, where cruisers tie up and raft up at the free docks there.  We’d been there in the fall and met some great people as we all lounged in the building on the couches there, taking advantage of the free wifi.

Line handling in the lock.

See how still the water is in the canal!

     Well, as we approached the Center we could see there were already boats rafted three deep in two spots. We could have filled in the third spot but construction on the septic system at the Welcome Center itself was making the air quite odiferous.  Dan got on the radio to Laura “We’re moving on.”  She decided to stay with us.

     Ten miles further along the canal we came to a very small dock just adjacent to the feeder canal that led to Lake Drummond.  We had just passed over the border into Virginia and were nearly at the end of the Dismal Swamp canal, as well as twenty miles from the end of the Atlantic ICW.  We had traveled over 61 miles today.

     It was after five and we were all tired.  We tied to the dock and Laura rafted Artemis against us.  We invited her over to share our shrimp dinner and she gladly came over, supplying the hors d’oeuvres of hummus, crackers, and fresh cherries.  It’s always fun to have company for dinner and to hear of other people’s lives and adventures.  We spent a great evening sharing food and stories, until dusk fell and the mosquitoes drove us back to our own cabins.  

     Laura left early the next morning, needing to get on to Norfolk.  Dan and I decided to launch the dinghy and explore the feeder canal to Lake Drummond.  At the end of the two mile canal is a small park with a self-operating motorized trolley that portages your dinghy from canal to lake.  The lake itself is huge.  It’s part of the Dismal Swamp and seems pretty remote, although there are access roads, but we were the only boat on the lake as far as we could see.  We didn’t stay long, as the skies were clouding over and the forecast was for rain and thunderstorms most of the day.  It did begin raining when we were about halfway back to the Willie, but it was a light rain and warm and we weren’t too bothered by it.

Lake Drummond

     Back on board, we hauled the dinghy and set up the water collection apparatus and continued the last ten miles to the end of the canal.  We decided not to leave the canal today, but to take advantage of the last two free docks.  The first one is right in the town of Deep Creek, just across the street from a large grocery store.  We stocked up on produce and bought a steak to put on the grill, and some frozen crab cakes for tomorrow night.  Then, as a handful of others were taking advantage of the last lock through at the end of the canal, we went to the little dock in the park just before the lock and tied up for the night.  Grilled rib eye and more corn on the cob for supper, a nice ending for a fairly quiet, rainy day.

Thursday-Friday May 26-27:  Oriental NC up through the Alligator River

     We once again secured a spot at a free dock in Oriental, though space was at a premium.  This town loves cruisers, and provides two free docks as well as clean restrooms.  However, it is also a town that has fallen on difficult times.  Many houses are for sale, a factory right on the water is closed, and a few businesses on the main street have changed hands a few times and are now vacant.  One of the remaining businesses - the Island Provision Company, which also runs a small marina - now lends out courtesy bikes to cruises to make the run for groceries.  Thursday morning, we donned our backpacks and set off.  That store wasn’t yet open, so we set off on the hike to the Walmart Express.  A few blocks into our walk, a car pulled alongside us.  “You folks heading to the grocery store?”  They asked.  We were, we said.  “It’s closed.”  They informed us.  “We don’t have a grocery store anymore.”  They then pulled into a nearby parking lot and told us to get in, they would take us to somewhere with groceries.  Dan and I piled into the backseat and our hosts - former cruisers originally from Rhode Island - filled us in on the grocery store’s demise.  The Walmart Express chain, after having installed themselves into many small towns across America and successfully put smaller Mom & Pop places out of business, decided they weren’t making enough money and closed all of its operations.  (In Oriental it closed down a family-run grocery, and a local pharmacy.)  After many months of no grocery store and stalled negotiations to buy the building, Oriental will have a new Piggly Wiggly in place in the near future.  In the meantime… our hosts dropped us off at a Dollar General.

     We’ve been to one of these before.  Basically it’s a cheap general store that has a LOT of snack food and some canned goods along with all kinds of non-food items that are made and sold for next to nothing.  This one also had a cooler with some cheese and milk next to the dizzying array of soda.  We were mainly interested in fresh meat, fresh produce, and butter, but settled for a few cans of cat food.  While we were staring at the potato chips and beef jerky a woman came over to us.  “Are y’all cruisers?”  She asked.  “I saw you got dropped off.  Do y’all want a ride back to the boat?”  

    Back at the boat, we decided not to hang around for the consignment shop to open (at 10:30) and Dan prepared for us to leave while I made a quick trip back to the corner Island Provision Company, now open.  They have a small shelf in the back with bargains and I was hoping to find some stationery.  To my delight when I walked in, they had a large display of fresh produce.  “Trying to make up for the lack of grocery store.”  The owner told me.  They hosted a farmer’s market in the parking lot every Saturday, and kept this small stock of fresh produce during the week.  I snatched up the last tub of strawberries as well as some veggies.  

     Isn’t Oriental great?

     Thus supplied, we headed out and back onto the ICW.  Along the way, we were treated to a display of some kind of military vessel - two of them were zipping around with several men aboard each.  No one had uniforms, and there was no insignia save the American flag, so we figured they were test drives of new vessels.  We dropped the anchor in Slade Creek for the night, mile 140, off the Pungo River.   

Military boats out for a test ride

Sunset in Slade Creek

     Friday we left fairly early.  We hoped to get in more than 40 miles today, so we could be in the Dismal Swamp when/if the tropical whatever brewing offshore arrived.  This part of the ICW is part creek, part river, part canal.  There are more crab pots, but nothing like the minefields of lobster buoys in Maine.  It’s still sunny and hot, the beginning of the holiday weekend, and everyone with a boat is out on the water, private and commercial.

     We made a brief stop at RE Mayo, the fish processing plant we’d visited last fall.  This place is such a gem.  Where else can you just tie up at a dock, walk through the working part of the building and be greeted with smiles and directions to the little store where fish, marine supplies, and hardware is sold?  We’ve heard too, that if there’s room, you can spend the night right at the dock for forty cents/foot.  I selected some frozen shrimp and frozen flounder while Dan browsed for the right size bolt he needed to fix the arm of the helm chair.  Here we met Laura, who is single-handing Artemis after many years ashore working in mental health care.  We continued our journey together, though we parted ways when she went to Bellhaven and we went on to anchor in South Lake, in the Alligator River.  Grilled flounder and corn on the cob for supper!

RE Mayo, Hobucken NC.

Wednesday May 25: Shackleford Bank and on to Oriental

    We went into Beaufort for breakfast and wifi this morning.  We are so used to getting up and turning in with the sun, we haven't really noticed how early the sun gets up these days.  We ended up waiting a bit for the coffee shop to open at seven.  The waitress was cordial but apologetic - we were welcome to sit down when she unlocked the door, but they didn't start serving breakfast until seven-thirty.  No problem, we asked for the wifi password and Dan enjoyed a leisurely cup of coffee.  We were sitting on the upper deck overlooking the Beaufort docks, enjoying the view while Dan browsed the internet and I uploaded our blog posts.  A man nearby overheard my question about the name of the island directly across from us and strode over to chat.  His name was Gene.  He was eager to tell us the history of the horses located here.  He directed Dan's attention to a sailboat on the way out "We come up here for the morning's entertainment" he said, explaining that it usually involved boats running into each other as they left the marina while misjudging the strength of the current.  The sailboat they kept an eye on was headed out of the channel and would soon run aground.  Gene informed us that the channels here changed so often dredging couldn't keep up with them.  Eager for local knowledge, Dan asked a lot of questions about how best for us to go over to the outer bank - Shackleford Bank - to better view the larger herd of horses.
     Gene gave us great advice about how to get there and where to anchor, and then also told us to go visit the Old Burying Ground a few blocks away.  Beaufort has a great history, he said, and the best place to get a sense of it was to visit the graveyard.
     We decided to take him up on all his advice.  We walked over to the Old Burying Ground, a wonderful cemetery (if you can say that about cemeteries) with privateers, sailors, soldiers from several wars, including the pre-revolutionary war with Native Americans, and various dignitaries who fathered the town.  Just as we arrived at the gates, a local volunteer from the historical society came with the key to let us in, then urged us to follow her back to her office for a brochure with a map detailing a self-guided tour.  We learned about many of the dead, all of it very interesting.

The grave of Capt. Otway Burns, commander of the privateer Snap Dragon, one of North Carolina's naval heroes from the War of 1812.  Buried here with a cannon from his vessel.

     We walked back to the small historical district where another volunteer invited us to pick fresh vegetables from the historical garden. Seriously?  We happily gathered some fresh chard and several beets.  What friendly people.

The Beaufort Historical Garden.

     Back at the boat we hauled anchor and made our way out of Beaufort over to Shackleford Bank.  Thank you Gene for great information - none of our charts accurately showed the depth or even the coastline.  We anchored off the beach and went ashore to see the horses and to do some shelling.  A handful of other people had been ferried over by the local tour boats.  Some had set up camp on the beach with chairs, buckets, and umbrellas, others were walking toward the horses with cameras.  There was a small group of them grazing nearby.  Dan and I watched for a few minutes, then continued on to explore.

They don't know where these horses came from; they have 'always' been there.  Genetically they are related to Spanish horses.

     This island is just littered with shells.  I've never seen anything like it.  Most of them are clams or oysters, and some of them were very large!  We also found a row of washed up or possibly uprooted trees, a few different birds, and an area with little tiny holes.  They looked like someone had been poking the sand with a pencil.  Dan stood around pondering what could make such holes when he turned to me and asked for the camera.  "Look!  Crabs!"  I watched.  Sure enough, there were very small crabs - perhaps an inch big - scuttling around.  If you got close, they'd disappear into the holes. Dan managed to get a few on film.

Shells on the beach.

Tiny crabs.

Sanderling

     We spent a couple hours exploring the end of this island, then decided it was time to leave.  We still wanted to get to Oriental today.  We have recently become aware of a possible tropical storm developing and moving into this area over the weekend.  If we can get up into the Dismal Swamp, we will be well protected from any winds such a thing might bring.  So we returned to Willie, hauled anchor, and hit the ICW for a four hour run to our next stop.

Adam's Creek, on the way to Oriental.

     Oriental was one of our favorite stops in the fall.  There are free docks, extremely friendly people, and they have a marine consignment shop that Dan spent several hours in last time we were here.  He wants to make sure to visit it again tomorrow while I go up to the grocery store for a couple things.

Monday-Tuesday May 23-24:  from Camp LeJeune to Beaufort Horses

     Monday we left Carolina Beach Marina after topping off the water and fuel.  Yes, we just got fuel in Brunswick, GA, but Dan is now following some old advice: never pass a fuel dock without getting some.  We’re probably good until we get to the Chesapeake now.

     The front has fully passed and a stationary high has moved in with Northwest winds and chillier (to us) air.  I pulled out our fleece blanket for the v-berth.  It’s been in storage since we got to the Bahamas.  We’ve been making do with small fleece throws if we needed anything heavier than a sheet, but we’re ready for a blanket at night now.  It’s good sleeping weather,  but it feels strange to wear long sleeves, let along layers.  Dan was so chilled come Monday afternoon he asked for hot chocolate and his flannel-lined jacket.  I think our tropical tans are going to fade before we get home.

     I sat at the helm while Dan tinkered with Ziggy.  He had already moved the autopilot compass further away from the unit itself, and that did help its problem with refusing to travel due North, so Dan decided to see if moving the compass a little further would help Ziggy stay the course in tougher conditions.  So far, it seems to be working, but it’s pretty placid here on the ICW.

Crab pots stacked up on the bank.

Osprey guards her nest.

     We are back to the land of speed boats and fishermen who like to zip by at their top speed.  Most of them are too small to throw much of a wake, and the larger cruisers usually slow down as they pass us slower boats, but once in awhile you get a real jerk.  We had one who deliberately rocked us with a five foot wake.  We can say it was deliberate because we watched him do it to the sailboats in front of us.  Dan was the only one who notified the Coast Guard.  Frankly, they were not interested in hearing about it.  Dan was almost as upset with their response as he was with the irresponsible motor-boat who caused us to rock so dangerously.  We eventually heard from another vessel that the reckless captain turned off suddenly into the Wrightsville Beach area, presumably to hide.  This was during Dan’s lengthy conversation with the Coast Guard and his subsequent call out to others on the ICW to be aware of this motor-boat.  The other vessel thanked Dan for his diligence pursuing the matter.  Perhaps the speeder will think twice before such maneuvers again, especially if he thinks people are on the look out for him.  

     We ended up in the same anchorage with the other vessel - Sisu III, from Seattle WA - at Mile Hammock Bay.  This is a small, partially dredged area used for aquatic military maneuvers at the marine base Camp LeJeune.  When they are not using this bay, cruisers are allowed to anchor overnight, but may not go ashore.  Camp LeJeune has several miles of coastline on the ICW, plastered with signs warning about unexploded ordinance and prohibiting any trespassing.  We had heard the radio warnings about live fire exercises going on, and here at our anchorage we could hear them plainly.  Explosions and machine-gun rattatatat punctuated the evening and began again in the morning, while helicopters circled round and round all night.  Can’t say we weren’t warned.  

Sunset over the land of war games.

     Tuesday morning we were debating getting an early start to get in the 60 miles to Oriental, when Dan realized the nearby sailboat Arden was having engine troubles.  He hailed to Daryl, the owner, and after a short discussion about the woes of diesel engines, Dan offered to come over to help change the fuel filter.  The boat is new to Daryl, who is new to the mechanics of engines, and he was very glad to have us raft up beside him so Dan could come aboard to help.

Dan and Daryl on Arden.

     Daryl has a standard poodle named Rutledge who was very well behaved and agreed to stay below so as not to spook Tommie.  Tommie was a little peeved that Dan was working on an engine and she couldn’t help.  She kept a close eye on him from our deck, while I kept a close eye on her.  Fuel filter changed, fuel line bled, Arden’s engine turned over and started up just fine.  Daryl was very grateful and offered to pay but we asked him to pay it forward.  “Do the same for someone else.”  Dan told him. 

     It was too late then to go all the way to Oriental, so we decided to head for Beaufort (Bowfort) North Carolina.  We missed this place on the way down in the fall.  It's very small, pretty much a one-street town on the waterfront opposite small islands inside the outer bank islands, the gateway to the Shackleford Banks.  It's very busy now, even though their season has just begun, with tour boats and ferries taking people to the small islands opposite the town as well as to the beaches and light house of the outer banks.  We took a quick tour of the small maritime museum which featured pirates and walked through the National Park Headquarters to learn about the wild horses on the nearby islands.  Later we did a little exploring in the dinghy and saw some of those horses.  Tomorrow we plan to explore those islands a little bit more.

Rachel Carson National Estuary horses, a different herd of horses from those on Shackleford Banks.

Saturday-Sunday May 21-22: Crossing Long Bay, or “The South Carolina By-Pass”

     Once again planning our departure for a timely arrival time, we needed to get a good early start.  As soon as the oatmeal boiled we hauled our anchor and farewell to Georgia.  0630 we were underway down the North Passage of Ossabaw Sound, an un-dredged (the spell checker wanted to say “underaged") passage that by the chart showed plenty of water, in places.  We were able to see the shoals by color and by breakers so followed the deeper water out about 3 miles before turning to the North East for our passage across Long Bay. My time estimate for the crossing was 32 hours.  We would be anywhere from 10 to 20 miles off the coast along the way, sail thru the nite and arrive mid-afternoon Sunday at Cape Fear , North Carolina.

     The wind was just about right, an offshore wind from the West, which gave us another chance to set our drifter, which we managed to keep busy all day long.  We made good speed during the day, so good that I thought we might be a little early at Cape Fear.  Dolphins came to play in our bow wake, and I got a few videos of them. Here's a very short one:

  

     The wind lightened to 5 knot South in late afternoon making our apparent wind  just about zero, so we lowered all sail and went under power alone.  Squalls being in the forecast played heavily in this decision, and there would be much less running around during the night if the sails are already stowed.

     We took turns at the helm for one hour apiece until 1600 when Kathy went below to try to get a little rest.  Of course sleeping on a 30 foot boat at sea, with the engine running is never a great option, but one has to try.  At the least we will call it down time.  I got us passed the shipping lanes at Savannah where several ships had entered the river and several more were waiting at the pilot station.

Ships waiting to enter Savannah.

     Kathy took the 8 to midnite watch at the helm, which was tough, as Ziggy our auto helm was not handling the following sea very well, so hand steering was in order for this nite passage.

Sunset over Charleston.

     Our passage took us past Savannah, Hilton Head Island, past the entrance channels to Beaufort, pronounced Bewford, then on by Charleston, Georgetown and Myrtle Beach.

     The sea built somewhat during the evening to about 4 feet and continued thru the night.  The following sea was no fun to steer a compass course by as we had to fight every wave. Each watch was a four hour fight with the helm. Fortunately for me, sleeping in the galley bunk, I was very comfortable and in my dreams I was sure that Kathy had brought us back into the calm waters of the ICW.  Meanwhile she was at the helm fighting to keep a straight course!

     I came on watch at midnite and we were progressing along well, but not making the time we had during daylite and I began to worry that our timing for arriving at Cape Fear might not be so good.  We did not want to have a big sea coming in against the ebb current, which was going to be full ebb at 3 PM, just when I thought we would arrive.  The last thing we wanted was to get to Cape Fear and not be able to get in the inlet.

     Early in Kathy’s 0400 morning watch some dolphins put on a show all around the boat, leaping and cavorting. The moon was just about full so there was plenty of light.  At about 0600 I joined her on deck and we set the jib, hoping that it would make the steering a little easier.  By now what wind there was came from the North North West so we were on a close reach, of course still under power as well.  The NNW wind helped calm my thoughts about trouble in the inlet at Cape Fear, things were looking better.

     When Kathy went below at 0800 with a belly full of oatmeal, the wind kept hauling around to the North more and more, which put us close hauled.  We like to think that when the wind comes around and opposes the sea that the two tend to cancel each other out.  I guess the key word should be, “eventually”  because what we were in was a 4 foot south swell and 2 foot waves from the North East and once again they were climbing all over each other.  Kathy didn’t stay in the V-Berth long, she described it as being tossed around like pop-corn. Luckily we neither of us are prone to mal de mer!

     For the last couple hours the wind came around ahead of us enuf that the jib would not stay full, so we doused it. By the time we made the inlet, the sea had calmed considerably and the wind and current were in line making the inlet quite placid.

     We were able to push right in, backtrack just a few hundred yards South on the ICW to Southboro, and pull right in to the dock at the Fishy Fish restaurant, walk up the ramp and order a nice supper.  Kathy had the Fish and Chips, I had the Shrimp and Cheesy Grits, some good.  This was a celebratory meal: not only did we just jump over 200 miles of the ICW, we have now officially been living aboard for a year.

     After supper we found no room in the little harbor of Southport, so we rode the flood tide up the Cape Fear River and got a slip at the Carolina Beach State Park Marina where we spent a very quiet and restful night. After our 34 hour crossing we were both ready for it.

Sunset at Carolina Beach Marina

Thursday-Friday May 19-20: Snaking Through North Georgia

      We left Brunswick Landing Marina close to noon, after spending time in the laundry room, buying some fresh meat at the local grocery, and paying a little visit to Art and Pam on Tinacious.  It was squally with thunderstorms.  It’s warm and a little rain wouldn’t bother us, but the giant green biting flies were more than we could handle.  We closed up the hatches and spent the day in the pilot house.  Those flies had descended on us as soon as we crossed from Florida into Georgia, and they are some obnoxious.  It was a losing battle with the flyswatter on the way to Brunswick Landing, and we didn’t even attempt a mass murder when we departed.  We sat in the pilot house and watched the flies buzz all around the windshield.  I know flies have a purpose on this Earth - especially in a swampy area filled with birds and fish who will prey on them - but a few hundred less of them would be alright with me.  

     We ended up spending two days in the pilot house, winding our way through the swamps of coastal Georgia.  The air was muggy and still with occasional lightning, thunder, and rain: a front was taking its time moving through.  Dan kept watch over the auto pilot, I ducked outside for the occasional picture.  

Spanish moss hanging over Ft. Fredericka's Oglethorpe Barracks.  (Revolutionary War Historic Site.)

     I also decided to try out my stove top oven - basically a bundt pan with a lid that sits in its own stover burner ring - that we’ve carried all this time but have never used.  I made brownies.  They turned out great, especially if you like a lot of brownie edges.  

Brownies from my stove top oven.

     Wednesday we anchored at Mile 653 in the South River, where there was just enough sun during an evening shower for a rainbow.  Thursday night we anchored near Mile 599 in the Odingsell River, just behind Wassaw Island, near the Ossabaw Sound.  Dan had talked me into making another overnight passage tomorrow.  I confess it didn’t take much talking.  I was ready to do anything to get away from those flies.

Muted rainbow over the Georgia marsh.

Monday-Wednesday May 16-18: Florida to Georgia 

     We have made good time traveling so far this week!
     Monday we paused for a few hours at the free dock in New Smyrna Beach, FL.  Dan changed the fuel filters while I walked uptown through the historic district looking for wifi.  I found it at a cute little coffee & ice cream shop - Donna's Canal Creamery.  Here I could update the blog and take care of other business.  Dan joined me for a bowl of ice cream when he was done.  We got back on the waterway around noon and eventually dropped the hook in a small creek our anchorage guide book calls "cement plant creek."  We had stayed there on the way down last December, and remembered it as a narrow, fairly quiet place.  It once was home to a cement plant, and some of the old buildings are still there, but now that property belongs to SeaRay manufacturer, and the docks are filled with large motor yachts waiting to be sea-tested and finished.  Last time we were here we saw evidence of building and planning.  This time a new, very large home with a dock sits where there was once mostly mangroves, and the planned marina next door to it is further along in development.  Next year this creek will probably not be usable as an anchorage.
     We had met Randy from the trawler Slack Tide at Great Sale Cay - they were one of the vessels Dan talked to who planned a slightly different crossing than us.  We had been leap-frogging with them since Fort Pierce.  On Tuesday as they came astern to pass us by, Dan asked them to take our picture, as we had the drifter up.  They were happy to do so, promptly emailing them to us.

Motor-sailing up the ICW.

     We put in a long day on Tuesday, cruising past familiar sights.  Neither of us felt like stopping anywhere, so we just kept up a steady pace.  Dark clouds were rolling in and the air was humid and oppressive; we wanted to get as far as we could before the thunderstorms began.

St.Augustine's famous cross.  

A bald eagle sits on a sand bar.

   We made it through the Jacksonville area, where the currents always seem to be against you no matter which way you go, and continued on to a small anchorage in a small creek.  Lightning and thunder were rumbling ominously to the West of us, and just as we dropped anchor, it started to pour.  Rain was pelting us from all sides and continued well into the night.  We had to close all the portholes, which made it rather steamy inside.  Neither of us slept very well.  

    The North wind on Wednesday morning was most welcome.  The air was cooler, a bit dryer, and though the sun rarely made an appearance all day, things dried out by mid-morning.  We had a very pleasant trek up through the rest of Florida.  We began playing leap frog with another trawler -Tinacious - with whom Dan struck up a radio friendship.  We wondered about the name.  Was the wife's name Tina?  Were they retired from tin sales?  Was it a misspelling of tenacious?

     St. Mary's River is the border between Florida and Georgia.  We spotted a couple of sail boats milling about.  In the inlet itself was a tug boat escorting... Dan took out the binoculars... a submarine.  We recalled there was a submarine base just up river in Georgia, and that traffic would be halted when one was moving.  Dan hailed one of the sailboats whom we remembered seeing in George Town.  We wanted to exit the ICW and travel up the Georgia coast from the Atlantic.  Was there a security call we had missed?  The vessel - Good Morning Vietnam (Robin Williams fan?) - let us know that the sub was leaving the area and as long as we stayed at least 500 yards away we would be fine.  We don't know why he and the other sailboats continued to mill around, but we followed in the sub's wake out to sea.

     The ICW in Georgia is very winding.  Tides and currents switch back and forth depending on which bend you are in, and the bottom is shifting and often very shallow.  We enjoyed the straight run outside in the ocean.  There was a light breeze and a small swell; we put up the mainsail and had a great motor-sail.  We thought about continuing all the way to Beaufort, South Carolina, but Dan was worried about fuel.  The last time we'd filled our tanks was in Spanish Wells, at least two weeks ago, and we had covered a lot of ground since then.  So we turned back inland at St. Andrew's Sound, bound for Brunswick Landing Marina in Brunswick, GA.  We had been there during Thanksgiving weekend.  It's a reasonably priced marina that offers a lot of free amenities and cheap fuel.  Many cruisers spend weeks or months there, and some leave their boats there during hurricane season.  It has a large live-aboard community and the atmosphere is very similar to that in George Town, Bahamas.  There are potlucks and parties, activities like yoga and karaoke, and there will be a large cookout on Memorial Day.   The clubhouse offers free beer every night, and wine is free on Wednesdays.  We fueled up, tied up, and made straight for the happy hour.

     Here we met up with Naimh (whom I spelled as Nieve in a previous blog - it's pronounced 'Neeve') from Freed Spirit, and we met the folks from Tinacious who had arrived minutes before us in this marina.  Tinacious, it turns out, is named for the boat and their determination to get her built.  She is made of aluminum.  Freed Spirit is here for a couple of months, Tinacious for a couple of days.  We will probably leave in the morning.  

Brunswick Landing Marina, dock # 1 (of 15).

     

   

Sunday May 15:  Mosquito Lagoon

     We took Willie in to the yacht club first thing to take on water.  After being in the Bahamas and understanding that most water there is rain gathered in cisterns and reverse-osmosis created, it’s quite a thrill to remember that here in the US it’s free and available almost everywhere.  

    We headed back into the ICW North.  It’s the weekend and the air and water temperature are in the eighties.  The waterway is busy with small motor boats of all kinds - jet skis, fishing boats, pontoon boats, weekend party-boats, even sleek, noisy cigarette boats.  They zoom all around, bouncing along at a bone-jarring speed for the occupants who wave at us cheerfully.  We can only imagine what this area is like in the heat of the summer.  We kept up our steady 5.6 knots, reminiscing about the last time we came through, and watching for wildlife.

Ospreys are nesting on almost every day marker.

     Today we saw turtles, dolphins, manatees, and several different birds.  Two new-to-us birds were the white-face glossy ibis (which isn’t white-faced yet, and has a very dark body) and the roseate spoonbill.  There were also white ibises (ibisi ?), royal terns, great blue herons, white egrets, osprey, and lots of pelicans.  After the scarcity of birds in the Bahamas, seeing the large avian community here is very nice.  

Two manatee cavorting in the canal between Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River.

Roseate spoonbill - see the dot of pink in the center of the photo?

Lots of fishermen out.  We don't know what they were catching, but they were catching something.

     We dropped the hook just North of Cape Canaveral, in Mosquito Lagoon.  Fortunately a Northerly breeze is keeping any mosquitoes at bay.  We enjoyed a virtually bug-less fall and winter; I am hoping the trip North in spring time will be ok.  Some people are very attractive to biting/stinging insects.  I am one of them.  If there are ten mosquitoes and a hundred people, I will end up with at least five bites.  We have screens, but it can get a bit stuffy below decks with the hatches and door closed.  But the good news is that the black flies should be gone by the time we get back to Maine!

     

Saturday May 14:  to Melbourne, FL

     Today Dan and I hashed out all our options for getting home to Maine.  We have been tossing around a lot of ideas - leaving Willie in a boat yard somewhere, trucking Willie home, cruising Willie back.  There were many pros and cons for all the possibilities:  leaving Willie behind meant we’d probably be home by the end of the month.  But it also meant traveling back to an out of state boatyard to do the work that needed doing, such as scraping and painting.  Trucking Willie would be expensive and it would be a hassle to secure everything for transport, but again, we’d get home sooner, and the boat would be in our barn for Dan to work on.  We’d been leaning toward this idea.  Both those options would also mean buying a car, which we’ll have to do anyway since we currently don’t own one, but this would not be simple to do so far from home.  The third option - cruising home - would take the longest, but was probably the least expensive.  And, we realized, it would be easiest on Tommie.  So we are cruising Willie home to Maine.  Dan can work on the boat in our barn, we’ll buy a car when we get there, and Tommie can go right from the boat to house with minimal stress on her.

    As we got underway from Fort Pierce, Dan got in touch with our friends from Palm Bay to let them know we were back in the US and would be in their area today.  Dave and Dianne were in their summer home in Indiana, but copied Ed and Joyce on his reply and they immediately invited us to their home for dinner and hot showers.  As emails sped back and forth, their hospitality extended to offering us a ride to get groceries or do other errands as well as finding us a place to anchor and a safe place to land and leave our dinghy.

     This area, with its proximity to Cape Canaveral and things aeronautical and space related, is home to satellite engineering plants and think tanks.  I think we mentioned a Thursday night get-together of great minds at local bar Rooneys, which we have been privileged to be part of on occasion, including last December when we passed through this area on our way down the coast.  Ed and Joyce are part of that crowd, as are Jack and Jackie, who are the caretakers for a local yacht club where we were welcomed to land our dinghy and make use of their facilities.  All four of them were there to greet us as we came ashore with our various bags and jugs, as was Jackson, Jack & Jackie’s little Jack Russell terrier.  They all have been keeping up to date on our adventures; Ed fills them in on our blog updates when they meet for their weekly Thursday night at Rooney’s.  We almost felt like celebrities.

     Joyce and I grocery-shopped and went back to her place while Ed and Dan ran around town for propane and other necessities.  She effortlessly prepared a fantastic roast beef and Yorkshire pudding dinner for us while Dan and I had the luxury of a real shower and did a load of laundry.  (I’ve been hand-washing most of our things, but those king-sized sheets in the v-berth are too big to hand-wash and hand-wring, and we can’t really hang them on the lifeline to dry.)

     Ed and Joyce had been to the Bahamas in the early years of their marriage, and have many years of cruising under their belts.  They offered us a lot of tips and advice as we prepared for our trip and we were all eager to swap stories.  We had a wonderful evening with them.  

no photos today, sorry

Thursday-Friday May 12-13: May  Great Sale to Ft Pierce

     We made preparations for our overnite crossing most of the day. We set up ditch bags, things we would need if the unthinkable were to happen out in the straits during the night. We had one bag with first-aid kit, distress flag, signal mirror, flare gun, flashlites, another with our computers, double wrapped in waterproof bags, another with water and GORP, We also had at the ready in the cockpit, our survival-immersion suits, a five gallon jug of water, and our life vests, with waterproof lights attached.

     Our plan was to take it easy during the day, do all the prep work, go for another swim, then set off at 1800 for the 160 mile trip, that would bring us to Ft Pierce just after noontime Friday, to enter the FT Pierce cut on the incoming tide.

     We had a nice swim in the early afternoon, 30 laps total around the boat, 25 without flippers, 5 with. It was a little choppy and I for one drank more salt water in that one swim than I had had all winter. Not used to swimming without a snorkle!

     At 1700 we were ready, so we headed out an hour early. The plan for crossing the Gulf Stream is no light matter. Several factors have to be right or it is a No-Go situation. We had been watching the weather forecast for the last 10 days or so with this crossing in mind. There can be no North wind in the picture, as a North wind against the North Bound Gulf Stream spells tall, close-spaced waves. Ugly.

     We were hoping for light South East winds. At least 2 days worth and had been watching that closely. I mean, why not make the crossing as easy as it can possibly be?

     Another thing key to the plan is your destination, and when you need to arrive. Since all the destinations in Florida involve a  cut or Inlet there are certain times when you may or may not want to transit them. For example, I did not want to arrive at Ft. Pierce inlet with an outgoing current and an incoming wind, again, steep, close-set waves. So our arrival window on Friday was between noon and 6 PM.  We did the math and that gave us the departure time.

     So this means that you need to be at the proper place at the proper time to be ready to take advantage of the good weather window of opportunity.

     The other part of the plan is either having a buddy boat, or at least knowing who was going to be out there at the same time as us. We had made tentative plans for buddy boats, but they had fallen apart, so at the Great Sale anchorage I dinghied around and made radio calls and found out what the other boats plans were. None of them matched ours exactly, three boats were going to Ft Pierce, but none were going all night. Two were going to West End on Thursday, then departing there at Zero dark thirty for Ft. Pierce, the other was going as far as Mangrove Cay Thursday afternoon, then start very early Friday for FT P.. All three boats made speed better than ours, so we would all be arriving close to the same time.

     We were out of things to do at 1700, so we decided to get a 1 hour head start on our plan. Worst case was that we would get there too early and have to slow dawn.

     The wind was light and right behind us all of the fifty miles to Memory Rock. I had the first watch until 2000 (8 PM), when Kathy took over til midnite. Just before sunset we got our last look at the Bahama bottom thru the clear waters of the sandy Bahama Bank. Then early in her watch she saw the anchor lights of one of our friends from Great Sale, the Slack Tide anchored at Mangrove Cay. They would be catching up with us later.

Our last Bahamian sunset, somewhere between Great Sale Cay and Mangrove Cay.

     I got a couple hours of shut-eye and relieved her at midnite. We were just shy of Memory Rock, which is almost at the end of the Little Bahama Bank.

     The plan for the next leg was to keep a Westerly heading for about 25 miles until our course hit the Northbound Gulf Stream, where we would turn and take advantage of the 3 knot current for the next 7 or eight hours.

     About an hour and a half into my watch I spotted the lights of a ship on our port quarter. I flipped on our radar and eventually picked him up at 8 miles. I watched him go from 8 miles distance to 6 miles, to 4 miles, all on the same relative bearing. Well this situation is called “constant bearing, decreasing range” and you guessed it, if no one does anything the two vessels are going to collide. So I tried calling on the radio, over and over, no response. Finally after 2 minor course changes it still looked to me like it was going to be too close for comfort, and you never know if anyone is even looking out the ships windows, I made a major course change that headed us off their stern.

     In the end, we were never within a mile of each other, but it sure felt good to finally see hs stern lights.

     Kathy was up at 0400 to relieve me and she kept our Westerly course another hour or so and then turned to run NNE with the Gulf Stream. It was a calm night, 5 knots of wind or so, maybe a one foot sea, and we were motoring under full sail. The The quarter moon had set at 0200 and the stars were bright and distinct. The whole of the night we could see the glow of the city lights on the coast of Florida (from 56 miles away!).  And we were making 8 knots, 2 ½ knots better than our average 5.5.

     I got up at 0800 and made us a breakfast of corned beef hash and eggs, and after breakfast Kathy hit the bunk, she deserved a good sleep, if even for just a few hours. She did a great job on her watches, never having a ship issue and taking full advantage of the Gulf Stream.

     We rode the Gulf Stream until we were almost as far North as Ft. Pierce as it comes within 10 or 12 miles of shore at that point. About 12 miles out we sheared off to the West and headed for the inlet, it was about 1200.

     We lowered our Bahamas courtesy flag, raised our Quarantine flag and ran the inlet, the current with us, calm as could be, up between the rock jetties, lined with fishermen. We anchored just to the South of the North bridge.

Ft. Pierce Inlet.

Q flag raised.

     Kathy had all our papers laid out for me so, as “Captain”, I could call customs and check in. We have a myriad of documents, ships document, passports, Nexus/Global Entry cards and numbers, the 2016 customs sticker for the boat and our BR numbers that we had obtained when we came into Maine from Canada in late August. Not to mention the fingerprints and iris scans, no joke!

     The whole idea is that we are considered "Trusted Travellers" so we should be able to check into the country with just a phone call. How slick is that?

     Well, the first several calls we could not get thru, then we found out that Kathy's phone wasn't working, later we found out that her speaker had gone bad.  People can hear you when you call them, but you can't hear them.

     So we went to my phone, which seldom works, what do I expect for $11 per month? And it worked fine.  But we got disconnected twice after we had gone thru all these confusing menus, where we fell into no clear category and didn't know which number to press.

     Finally I got thru to a guy, and he immediately put me on hold for about ten minutes. When he came back on the line he insisted that I “sounded a long way away" and that we couldn't possibly be anchored where I said we were.

     I finally convinced him we really were there, then proceeded to start giving him all the info that he asked for. After quite a lengthy discussion, where we seemed to be going nowhere, I volunteered that we each had these “BR” numbers, and he said, why didn't you say so. I said, you didn't ask.

     So I gave him my BR number and he said, that's an old number, how long ago did you get that? I said end of August 2015. He said can't be, that system has been out of date for years, are you sure? I said, yeah, we got those numbers from Customs in Eastport Maine in August. (Maybe the mail hasn't been getting thru to Eastport for a couple years.)

     So in the end, he gave us new “BR” numbers over the phone and authorized our entry. What a relief, as we were very close to having had to taxi to the Ft. Pierce airport to fulfill all the requirements.

     Doesn't all this make you feel secure and safe?

     So all was well that ended well, we had a near perfect crossing, all went as planned, our friends entered shortly after us, and we all got checked in. And in spite of the loud whir of tires on the nearby North Bridge, and the hourly freight trains blaring their horns, we slept very well that night.

Back in the USA.

Wednesday May 11: Great Sale Cay

     Wednesday morning we headed over to Great Sale Cay.   This is a small, uninhabited island whose main claim to fame is that it’s a stopover for cruisers coming and going to the Bahamas.   We planned to use this place as our jumping off spot to cross to the US tomorrow evening.  It’s a little over 23 nautical miles from Foxtown, about 45 nautical miles from West End, a popular check-in destination on Grand Bahama Island.  We arrived mid-afternoon to a large, wide harbor with one other boat anchored.  We chose a spot on the other side of the harbor.  Dan had spotted something ashore he wanted to check out.  He donned his skin diving gear and set off, and I opted for a half-hour’s worth of laps around the boat.  The water was murky here - the guide book calls it “fish mud”.  This is bonefish territory.  Bonefish like to burrow, and they tend to stir up the bottom.  After all these weeks of very clear water, it was odd to not be able to see the anchor chain, let alone the bottom.   Dan found a nice piece of driftwood, and we both had a good swim.  In the meantime, four more vessels pulled into Great Sale and anchored near the other boat.

Great Sale Cay

     After quick showers from the sun-shower bags, we weighed anchor and motored across to join the fleet.  Dan jumped into the dinghy and went from boat to boat to do a little meet ’n’ greet and see what other people’s plans were.  Three of them were also crossing to the US, and though one of them was also going to Fort Pierce, none of us were planning the same route, nor were any of us leaving on the same day.  The other two vessels had just arrived and were heading further East in the morning to begin their Bahamas adventure.  Lucky them!

     It’s hard to believe this leg of our cruising year is almost over.  We have enjoyed the Bahamas so much!  We shared a small bottle of champagne as we watched the sun go down.  

Sunset, Great Sale Cay

May 10 Tuesday: to Foxtown

      We set out after breakfast from Angelfish Point for Foxtown, where we knew there was a cell antenna, and we needed to get current on the blog for our faithful (and sometimes demanding) readers. Besides, we wanted to do the run to Great Sale Cay in two legs.

      We made the 11 mile run under power as the wind was only 5 knots from the East. When we arrived at Foxtown it was clear that the cell tower was transmitting unclearly, so we ventured ashore in hopes of finding a hotspot. We tied up at a pier where they were unloading conch meat by the bushel-bagful. They were fine with us leaving our dinghy while we walked “town”.

Foxtown. 

     We checked out 2 of the 'Grocery Stores' and pretty much found mostly freezer-burned meat. After finding the Post Office and mailing a letter, we walked back to a little bar/grill where Kathy had found WIFI when we walked by before. We went in and had to skirt around the pool table in the entrance with a couple guys playing. We grabbed stools at the bar either side of an older gentleman, ordered drinks and Kathy pulled out her laptop. She got the password from the barmaid and went to work. Problem was she was on the corner of the bar, two young natives were horsing around, showing off, and she had to keep ducking the butt end of the cue stick, as well as work the internet and balance her drink.

     I finally figured out that my end seat up against the wall would be much better for her, so we switched seats.

Da Valley Bar & Restaurant.

     We struck up a conversation with the older gent, his name was John Russell. Actually he thought I had been in there before, I swear I hadn't, but he didn't care, he was full of talk. He ordered a diet Pepsi, I think just to be sociable, and proceeded to hold court. His people were the first to settle at Foxtown, he had sailed with his Daddy on a sloopboat, fishing off the Abacos. The sloop was a wet-well smack about 35 feet. They would go out for as long as it took to fill the hold, then sail to market. John had also sailed as cook and deckhand on tugs, towing and also ship docking at the supertanker harbor on Grand Bahama Island. As a matter of fact he had just come back on the ferry from Grand Bahama that morning after visiting his son and daughter, both of whom live there with their families. He also told us about his battle with prostate cancer, in which he has been clear for the last year. He is 78 years old.

Dan with John Russell.

     So we got to compare stories about sailing, tugs, where we had been in the islands, our health, our families, and then when his Pepsi was gone, he ambled out the door.

     In the meantime, we had ordered another beer and wine, and a burger with fries, and while we were finishing that, John left, then the barmaid came in after a break and sat down beside me at the bar with her burger. (she may have owned the joint, not sure) She was a good size woman, and also full of talk. We also talked about island life, families and the trials of getting older. A little girl came in during our chat and told the lady she had gotten all her spelling words right that day, very cute. Turned out we had a lot in common.

This guy was trying to sell Dan some conch, to buy cigarette money.

     All the time, guys, mostly young to middle age guys were coming in and out, buying a bottle of this or that, and cigarettes 4 at a time. We never saw how much that cost them, but it was a pretty brisk market. I guess it must have been about quitting time.

     When we got back to the dinghy, there were a couple kids at the pier, seven or eight years old maybe, and the little girl told us straight away that she had been playing in our boat. Everything was in order, so we thanked her for telling us, and headed off for Willie, the only boat anchored off the town.