Norfolk Virginia to Morehead City NC

        
                 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!

This little town is really quaint. Great little shops, and a great marine store that has almost anything you need. These two old wooden fishing boats were our view from the cockpit.  We tied to a dock at Oriental Harbor Marina. They have a restaurant on site called The Toucan Grill. The first night , we went for happy hour.....we met many locals and got "really happy" so we ended up having dinner there and then back to our boat, later than we had thought!
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.)

On Thursday Dec 20th, we made our way through Adams Creek passing some great east coast homes. 
This creek reminded us of Mill creek in the North Channel.  Very pretty!

            Still in Adams creek..yikes! Maybe the keel fell off? Only way he got there was in a storm but this boat was well high and dry and in the grass!

After 23 Nm, on Thursday Dec 20th,we arrive in Morehead NC. (across from Beaufort). We plan on staying here tied to the City Docks to let a cold front/high wind weather forecast pass us by.
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.

   

A great sunset at the dock hours before the gale force winds     begin!

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!

                             A pelican visitor on our dock!

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

Solomon Island MD to Norfolk/Portsmouth VA

                                                   December 7th -11th
                   Click on "Location" at the bottom of the post to see where we are!
                                                   

Leaving our 10 ft deep, mud holding anchorage in "Back Creek" (Solomon Bay) after a calm but rainy night, we inched our way out of the cut back into the Chesapeake in heavy fog at 0900 hrs. Our wind so far has been light and SE. We had to keep a sharp eye out for crab pots as there are so many to dodge! We sailed by Smith Point lighthouse (above) just past the Maryland/Virginia border later on in the day on our way to Reedville, Virginia, 42 NM away.

Arriving in Reedville, Virginia at 1530, we passed by this fleet of fishing boats. Of course to accompany these ships is the local fish processing plant. Luckily the wind was blowing the right way because the smell never bothered us. We had been told it would be a strong smell but not this evening.

Just around the corner from this, we docked in front of a restaurant called 'Crazy Crab'. We had one of the best dinners of crab cakes for Guy and fish and chips for Louise! Even though we are vegetarians there are times when you just shouldn't pass up on fresh seafood. This was FRESH! The restaurant was not much but the fresh seafood was outstanding!!! Absolutely the best all lump meat crab cakes for the whole trip.

Before our dinner, we took a walk through the small heritage filled town. This picture was taken at sunset. Amazing collection of authentic old wooden boats built right there. Notice the Skipjack with a pusher in davits. If needed the boat drops this pusher which is basically the engine for the boat. It is used only on emergencies to push the Skipjack during dragging of the oyster beds.

The town is filled with all sorts of boats...fishing, pleasure,  some new and some very old.

This one was part of the Reedville Maritime Museum

Being a heritage town, this house was one of the most spectacular

Some of the front entrance's of these homes had great xmas decorations

Captain Guy smiles as we leave the dock in Reedville on our way to Deltaville Va.  Sunday Dec 9th at 0700 hrs in a light fog,  50 degrees, SE winds 5-6 kts

I snapped these pics on our way back out the cut to the Chesepeake Bay at 0730 hrs.

After 27.5 NM in a light SE wind, we arrived in Deltaville and docked at the city dock for free at 1135 hrs. 

Just after we docked we helped a local fisherman tie up to the town dock. At this time of year there was just he and us on the whole dock. He worked alone with a very old beat up wooden fishing boat that was missing boards and leaked constantly and rust running down all sides. Took great faith to just leave the dock in it , let alone work the nets day after day in it. It is a hard life to be a fisherman. 

 It was cloudy and 60 F. We walked a long way to the grocery store, West Marine and had a so so lunch at a local restaurant. The house above, is in Jackson Creek's South arm (same place as the town dock) . It is owned by the Dozier's. They are the one's that put out the Marine chart books as well as publish Skipper Bob's many books.

On Monday, Dec 10th, we left at 0700 in light fog again and snaked our way out of the tricky channel . Once in the Chesapeake Bay the fog kept thickening. Our visibility was only a football field in length for most of the day. We had purchased and installed a VHF with AIS ( Automated Identification System) at the Annapolis boat show. This type of technology eased our fears of coming in contact with one of the many large freighters going either north or south down the bay. (We can see purple triangluar ships on our chartplotter indicating their position, their size, whether they are under sail or engine power, and their speed and heading.

Helps figure out if you are on a collision course!  

Luckily for us the fog  cleared just as we made our hour long entrance  to Poquoson River and into the Chisman Creek.  The temperature was 70 degrees at 1530 hrs when we arrived. We lowered the anchor in 9ft of water, made ourselves a deserving "bloody mary" after a nerve wracking 40.2 NM  day on the bay. 

 At first, we thought of staying put for a day as we had traveled everyday since leaving Annapolis. As we checked the weather, and realized that our warm and fair SW winds were to change to a Nor'Easter the next morning and continue blowing in that direction for 3 or more days. NOAA weather was talking about 4 to 6 ft rollers on the bay. With this wind direction, the temperature drops dramatically especially in December.

Our thought was to leave in the morning before the seas at the south end of the Chesapeake got too bad.

We left at 0800, calm and still in the 60's. It took a good hour for us to get around a spit of land called the Poquoson flats and back into the Chesapeake. 

Once in the middle of the Chesapeake, we felt as if someone had turned on the washing machine and we were in it ! ! !

NOAA had forecasted 15-25 kts NE . The wind speed did not bother us as much as the steep and close ranged 4 to 6 waves in the 30 ft areas we needed to be in to reach the channel into Norfolk. 

It was a few white knuckling hours for sure in 48 degrees of cold, wet weather! To put it mildly, I have had better days!

We made it safely into Norfolk and once we were out of the Chesapeake and into the Elizabeth River all was much better!

   

The end of our Chesapeake adventure

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The beginning of our ICW Adventure

Norfolk VA to Miami Florida

As we motored along the Elizabeth river on Tuesday Dec 11th, towards our destination, we were amazed at the amount of Battleships, Destroyers, Cruisers, Warships,  and Aircraft Carriers to our port side. Even though it was a cold, drizzly miserable day, I was happy to have been able to get some good pics to show you. This area was probably 5 to 7 miles long. There is high security in this area. We had heard a warning on our marine radio to all vessels in the area  to stay 500 yds away from the Warship that was leaving out the channel headed for the Atlantic we watched it go out into the Atlantic.  

 The warning said "We will not hesitate to use deadly force"   

There was a helicopter flying above the River all day monitoring any ships traveling in it. 

This salt water tug and a few more identical to this, passed us on our starboard side as we made our way to the 'Tidewater Yacht Marina' for the night! It is across from Norfolk on the Elizabeth River in a very historic olde towne waterfront area of Portsmouth, Virginia.

Very nice Marina with diesel right on the docks and the water is still on at the docks down here. Hurray!!! we can fill our water tanks. The water has been off for over 3 weeks now in Annapolis and Jerry canning the water to fill the tanks is a real PAIN! Makes me consider a watermaker??

 

These cranes are so huge

These ones are used to unload containers from the container ships. We are unsure of any schedules, but we were amazed that there were no container ships being loaded or unloaded. A poor economy maybe?

This is the first "anchored" sailboat we have seen since we left Annapolis. Looks like he is a cruiser headed south. The dockmaster told us that he had dragged and had not paid attention to the tides. Once the tide rose again later in the evening, "seatow" a well know marine towing company towed him to deeper waters.

We arrived at Tidewater Yacht Marina in Portsmouth Va at 1500 hrs.  The wind was whistling and the temperature had dropped. We went to the shower facilities to warm up in a hot shower.....later, we took a 1/4 mile walk into town.....

On the internet, Guy had seen this theater. Called the Commodore, a luxurious restored 1945 art deco style motion picture theater that shows first run movies with a fine dining restaurant within the theater.  We sat at the table at the fore front of this pic.

This is the decor on one of the sides of the theater.

We watched " Lincoln"  Great movie.....lots of these events happened here in Virginia in 1865!

This pic was taken in some warmer weather in North Carolina in November while visiting my family (by car) for Thanksgiving.  The B-r-r-r-r on the snowman's red sign seems more appropriate now! plus it puts us in the holiday spirit!