December 12th to Dec 22 nd
We stayed in Portsmouth Dec 12th and 13th. The weather was cloudy, cold and rainy. NE 15 to 20 kts!
We spent our time re-organizing cupboards, (they had gotten pretty rattle on our last leg of the Chesapeake!) packaging engine parts that Guy had sold on Ebay and taking a walk to the grocery store, post office and back to the "Historic" part of the downtown. We enjoyed a lunch at Cantina 616, a fun Mexican restaurant on High st.
On Friday Dec 14th, we set off later than we should have. At 0900 hrs, we entered the Intercoastal waterway , passing through a lock, the Norfolk railroad lift bridge, (above) and a swing bridge that only opened on the half hour.
This freighter was being pushed and pulled and nudged around corners of a narrow stretch of intercoastal by 3 Moran tugs! This part of the intercoastal is narrow and we could not pass....So we motored along behind them for a least an hour going no more that 3 kts! Their propwash was so strong that it would push Miss Ellie as if caught in a whirlpool.
So I took pictures along the way! This is a docked freighter. The men are attempting to lower a ladder for some reason....
A random kid adjusting his fishing rod!
Finally passed the freighter and tugs, we continue on our way hoping to make it to Coinjock NC before 1630 hrs.
We are going through the Virginia Cut. (The Dismal Swamp is closed till tomorrow for maintenance).
A couple of "love bird" Bald Eagles
We are motoring at 6.5 SOG (speed over ground) still pushing to get as far as we can since our delay this morning.
We did not make it to our destination. We only did 28.5 NM. There are a few anchorages marked on the map for this area (Pungo Ferry) so we try them! Yikes....we ran aground in both of the charted anchorages. Luckily it is only in sand or mud so with the engine in reverse, we could get back to deeper water in this very narrow stretch of the Virginia cut. It's 1600 hrs and no where else to go before dark. So we circle a few areas just at the edge of the channel where there is 8 to 9 feet of water.
We drop the anchor off the bow and even in super calm water, our stern, ends up in the middle of the channel. Guy decides he will drop the dinghy in the water and row over to this abandoned dock to tie the stern off to it! That was alot of hard rowing ....our boat is pretty heavy! It kept us out of the way of any traffic coming along the Intercoastal canal.
The sunset was very pretty!
So was the view from our cockpit!
On Saturday, Dec 15th, we set off early in some light fog in 35 degree F. Wind is North at 3 Kts. Our destination is Alligator River Marina , 53 NM away.
This motor yacht is sitting at the bottom of the shallow Alligator River. Looks like it had sunk recently. We heard someone reporting it over the VHF radio shortly after we passed it! We arrived just before dark and tied to the wall at the marina, had dinner and to bed early. Looking for propane to fill our one empty tank. The gas station at the marina had a tank exchange bin. All of the tanks were empty so we are still on the hunt.
Sunday Dec . 16th, we set off for Belhaven on the north shore of Pungo River.
We enter into the 21.3 mile land cut : Alligator River-Pungo river canal. It has many submerged stumps, debris and bank erosion! After 3.5 hours, we are out of this canal and continue on our way. We arrive at River Forest Manor Marina after 51.7 NM. at about 1600 hrs. The Marina had free golf carts that we could use to run errands. We thought it would be fun to go get some groceries. We asked the marina guy directions. He said go to the 2nd stop light. turn right go up to the Hardees and Food Lion is right there. He didn't say it was about 4 miles away!!! It was getting dark and we were a top- speed( about 15 MPH) cruising along the highway with all the cars going around us. We laughed and laughed and couldn't believe we were doing this. Luckily the cart had lights! We hurried and set off back to the boat but by now it was dark! Oh boy it was a bit nerve racking! Back at the boat we have dinner on board and plan our next day's route. We could pick up lots of beer and wine and heavy stuff because it was one time we didn't have to carry it back to the Marina.
On Monday, Dec.17th, we motored 40 NM through the North River and the shallow Neuce River in very calm foggy and cloudy weather arriving in Oriental NC. at 1600 hrs. where we stayed for 2 days. Here Guy is taking advantage of a sunny day to scrub the deck. I gave the inside a thorough cleaning as well. Guy had not had a chance to clean the decks since mid November when the water at our dock in Annapolis had been turned off for the winter. This is the good opportunity to hook up our hose on a dock to fill up our water tanks as well!
The night before we left Oriental, a representative of Beta Marine (where we purchased our engine) came by our boat to deliver some fuel filters and impellers that Guy had ordered through the local marine store. He also was interested in the installation and took pictures. It gave us confidence as he said all looked great! The employee lived in Oriental and so was just stopping off on his way home.
(Beta Marine head office is about a 10 minute drive from the marina we were staying at.)
This creek reminded us of Mill creek in the North Channel. Very pretty!
As the winds pick up shortly after we arrive, we hear a loud whistling noise that we know will drive us nuts if we don't fix it before the big winds arrive.
I winch Guy up the mast...he checks the wind meter thinking that that is the problem! Nope not that!
I get him down, we adjust the topping lift and tada!...that's it! Must have been a certain length and tightness that set up some sort of harmonic vibration. Whatever it was, it's gone now.
Happy with that, we don't hesitate to walk around and settle in for lunch at the Rudy Duck....There we had fish taco's that are now our # 1's . They beat out the one's we craved at McGarvey's in Annapolis! Sorry McGarvey's.
Having hot chocolate, cinnamon rolls and coconut chocolate squares in 30 kt winds down below in our heated cabin on Friday afternoon.
These pics are taken "after the storm" to show how we were tied up! Nobody here but us late runners. Note the lines across to the far side of the next well. 2 stern lines , 2 breast spring lines, 2 bow lines and still we rocked like crazy in wind gusts up to 40 knots and sustained at 30 knots around 3 in the morning and most of the next day!
This is the damage caused by a fender rope hanging on to the stanchion. It got caught between the dock and the boat and rubbed up against the toe rail during the high winds in the middle of the night...gouging it! Something else to add to Guy's "TO DO" fix it list!
It's Saturday Dec 22nd and we will be leaving tomorrow morning to make our way to Wrightsville beach (2 day run) for Christmas.
Merry Christmas! Enjoy! xoxoxox
