Lynne | 
12 21st, 2008| 
December 21 - 8:30AM we pulled anchor and got underway for our last 20 miles to Beaufort. This morning there couldn’t have been enough coffee in all of Costa Rica for me. We set off for Beaufort, and I placed a call to our contact there Don Thomas, a colleague from my dad’s company Moran Tugs. We’d had a few items shipped on to his address, as there were a few items from Defender that we needed that had been on backorder, so our plan was to stop in Beaufort and collect them, as well as to add a few provisions. We had a windy but fun trip down to Beaufort, including a two visits from our favorite animal companions, the dolphins! I keep forgetting to write about the fact that we’re seeing them, a lot! We actually saw a baby dolphin on this part of the trip, and Brian saw a dolphin jump clear out of the water! It’s pretty cool, because they swim alongside the boat, not quite close enough that you could touch them, but still really close, and they swim along with you for quite a while, it’s very neat. Our entry into Bueafort was kind of funny, since Brian was on the phone letting Chief know about our engagement and catching up, and all of a sudden, we were approaching a bridge… now have no fear, this bridge was a fixed bridge with ample clearance, with a RR bridge that remains open except for when in use. Of course, I’d missed that part in my brief review of Skipper Bob’s so I called down to Bri, who promptly hailed the next bridge on the list, the Beafort Bridge, which opens on the half hour. Patiently, the bridge operator explained to us that we were hailing the wrong bridge (whoops!) but that he’d gladly open for us when we came through on the other side of Radio Island. We cruised through the Hi-Rise bridge, and passed the Moran operations on our Starboard. Brian took the helm as we headed around Radio Island and we pulled up and waited for the Beaufort Bridge to open. We crossed through, and anchored in what we thought was the designated anchorage to be near the town docks. Hmmm…. after anchoring, and checking the internet, we discovered that we were on the wrong side of the bridge. Damn. I called Don back to tell him of our mistake, and that we would be coming BACK through the Beaufort Bridge at the 3:30 opening. At 3:15 Brian and I pulled up the anchor and began to make our way over to the bridge when suddenly… whoomph… we were aground in the mud. We tried backing up, we tried easing forward… we were thoroughly stuck, so we pulled out the Genny (thank goodness that there was some wind!) and we heeled the boat over to Starboard JUST enough to get ourselves unglued from the muddy bottom. Now mind you, all of this is in MORE than full view of the bridge operators tower… and from down below we heard the bridge operator hail us “Three Sheets, this is the Beaufort Bridge, will open when you get over here”. He was very nice about it, but I am sure we gave him a few good laughs in our efforts to get unstuck. We crossed back through the bridge, and found ourselves a nice anchorage in the mooring field outside of the Beaufort Docks - directly across from the Post Office. We loaded a few items into our trusty Portabote, including our garbage, and began our row into the beach. As we pulled up to the beach, we heard a hail “hey is that Lynne? Don!” and standing at the water’s edge was Don Thomas, along with his wife Terri and their puppy Tug. As we hit the beach, Don grabbed our bowline and gave us a tug up onto the sand, and we did our formal introductions. The Thomas’ couldn’t have been nicer or more welcoming. Not only had they brought us our packages that had been shipped to their home, but they also offered us use of one of their cars while we were in town, so that we could do any provisioning and run any errands that we might need to run! Not only that, they brought us a fun car to use!! Don’s Miata! We walked with them along the beautiful Main Street of Beaufort, and made the suggestion that we would like to take them to dinner for all of their kindness. We initially settled on a beer, and went to the Royal James, which is a great local place, and as we got to talking, we decided that we’d indeed grab a bite of food, since we were all having such a nice time. GREAT burgers there, and Yuengling on tap… couple that with great company, and you have the makings of a terrific evening! We said goodbye to Don and Terri at about 8, and collected our packages from the trunk of the car before rowing back to the boat. When we got back to the boat, I called my folks to tell them about how nice Don and Terri are, and to let them know that we were safely in Beaufort, then we settled in to watch a little “TV” on the computer before heading to bed. About 20 minutes into the show, I felt the boat swing around. We were butt to butt with the boat next to us in the mooring field (they were on a fixed mooring) with only about 12 feet separating us. I looked at Bri and said, I think we need to do something about this, and maybe take Don’s advice and snag a mooring for the night (there were several empty moorings in the mooring field) and the liklihood that a mooring’s owner was going to come back at 9:30 at night was slim. We fired up the engine, and hauled the anchor, and with me steering, we attempted to snag one of the moorings a little way down from where we’d been anchored… no luck. We turned around and, fighting the current, motored up to a mooring across from the Beaufort Docks, after a couple of passes (I am NOT yet good at driving to snag a mooring) Brian and I switched positions (and don’t worry Mom, I was wearing my lifejacket just in case) and Brian eased us up to the mooring allowing me to snag it on our first pass! (He’s definitely WAY better at mooring approaches than I am!!!) We secured the boat to the Darlin’ Arlin’s mooring - thank you to whomever owns that boat, and sorry that we snagged it on you but you weren’t here and we wanted to be safe for ourselves and everyone else in the mooring field! Good thing that we did, that night was a howler, with wind whistling through the shrouds, and the current fighting it. When we looked at the anchor alarm graph in the am, we’d swung in quite a few circles.
December 19 - In the AM, Mark pulled together the last of his stuff, and prepared to head home. We sat waiting up at the marina for his ride (who was 15 minutes late) and bid him farewell with many thanks for all of his help on this trip. It was really great to have Mark with us for the first part of it, I am sure we would not have made as much progress. For me the nicest thing of all though is that I feel like I got to know Mark a whole lot better than I did before, which was terrific. He also had a lot of great insight for us from his experiences living on the boat - which helped make the settling in process easier, since he’d figured out the right places to store stuff, and a few great tricks to make living aboard a little easier.
After we saw Mark off, we walked up to the shop to pick up the shaft nuts that Axson had ordered for us, and then headed in to town briefly to pick up a couple of additional items we needed at the hardware store. On our way back to the boat, Bri ducked into the marina’s showers to suit up in his wetsuit before hopping in the water to test out/install the new propeller. I sat up on the stern and Bri went into the water to take his first look at the prop, or lack thereof. Fortunately, the shaft was unbent (based on my turning it while Bri observed underwater) and the new prop was a great fit. Brian was able to install the new propeller, shaft nuts and cotter pin all in a matter of about 30 minutes, and after he’d taken a shower to clean up and warm up, we radioed up to the shop to let them know that we were going to take a little spin around the harbor to test out the new propeller. We cast off from the dock and headed out into the harbor, and to our great surprise and pleasure, not only did the new prop work well… but it actually gave us a dramatic increase in our speed - up from 4+kts to 6+kts at the same RPMs. We whizzed around the harbor for about 20 minutes or so, and headed back to the dock. Knowing that our next destination was Beaufort (approximately 60 SM away) and it was already 3PM by this point, we knew we wouldn’t be able to make enough headway before dark, so we opted to stay for the night and set out early in the AM. As we were making that decision, a 100′ power yacht “Making Memories” pulled up to the marina dock behind us. WOW huge boat! The folks aboard were delivering the boat from Newport, RI and had just gotten back underway after a month in Cape May dealing with a blown engine. We decided we’d stay in for the night and cook aboard, and they set off for dinner in town in the trusty little golf cart. Our plan was to get up early and get underway so that we could make the full run to Beaufort, and we figured that the folks on the big motor yacht firing up their engines at 5 would wake us up…
December 18 - We got up the next morning and after a quick breakfast, and a quick chat with Sandi, we said our goodbyes to Pat and John, who were going to continue along their southern route. After a nice morning greeting from the marina’s dog Maggie (a total sweetheart of a lab who was beyond smitten with Brian) Brian, Mark and I all piled into to the golf cart and headed over to the marine store that is part of the River Forest Marina to try our luck at finding a propeller that would fit our boat. Luckily for us, amongst the many propellers that Axson had on hand was one that was perfect for our boat, a 15″ x 16P RH 1″ shaft. A three-blade fixed, which isn’t exactly the fastest when you’re sailing, but the right propeller none the less. One way or another, Axson had to order us the right nuts to affix the propeller, so we knew we were there for another day. We took the propeller, and Mark let Axson know that he was planning to leave the next day with a flight around noon - as Axson had some contacts who would take Mark to the airport. We went back to the boat and logged on to see what we could do about getting Mark a flight home (with the thought that he’d be able to get home and surprise Adina in time for her Xmas party the next night. While we were sitting at the dock, the Song of the Mira, which had been anchored out in the harbor radioed in that they would like to come in and get a fill up on diesel and get some propane, and when Axson came down to the docks, he asked us if we could help them to tie up, and if we’d be willing to run them into town in the golf cart to get propane. Turns out that the Song of the Mira is being single handed down to the Caribbean by a nice Canadian named John, who I ran into town in the golf cart to get propane and to make a quick trip to the hardware store. When I got back to the boat, the guys had done some additional work on the bilge pump, and we made the decision to go out for pizza that evening along with a quick trip to the grocery store to get a few provisions. When all was said and done, we didn’t end up leaving until closer to 6, when it was getting dark, but I’d plugged in the golf cart in when I got back from my propane run, so we should have plenty of juice to make this longer run, right? We piled in, and I drove us the couple of miles through town and out to the second stoplight in town, where we pulled onto the “highway” to get to the Food Lion and the pizza joint. We poked along on the shoulder - finally making it to the plaza where the stores were. Seemed to us like the little golf cart that could was losing steam, but it got us there just fine. We opted instead to eat at the Chinese food place (bad choice on our parts) and after placing our order, we walked over to the food store to pick up our provisions, then went back and sat down to eat our dinner. All I’ll say is that the cafeteria version of Chinese food would have been better… suffice to say it wasn’t what we’d hoped for, especially on Mark’s last night with us. Now mind you, we’re in a golf cart, albiet with lights and all, but it’s still a golf cart… and as we were finishing our meal, in walked two State Highway Patrolmen. All I could think was, oh god, here goes my perfect driving record! We gathered up our groceries, and slipped out to the golf cart to head back to the marina. We pulled out onto the “highway” (for those of you familiar, think route 28 through Andover) and putted our way back, passing three police cruisers on the way, who didn’t even give us a second look. With much laughter, we cruised along in the little golf cart, whose lights were becoming dimmer by the second (we were running a flashlight as headlights by the time we came through downtown) we approached the marina and pulled it safely into the garage, where Brian plugged it in AND turned it on! We went back to the boat where we sat under the stars and shared a last couple of glasses of wine with Mark before turning in for the night.
7AM, ok, after some further exploration (we didn’t actually get FULLY in the water, but Brian climbed down the ladder and poked around with the boat hook) we were sure that we’d lost the prop. He could feel the screw threads on the shaft, prop was definitely gone :(. The boys resumed working on the outboard. False start after false start. The darned thing just wouldn’t start! I cooked up some breakfast for us, feeling really helpless. When it comes to this engine stuff, I know nothing, and by that I mean NOTHING. I know how to put fuel into an engine, I know to take it to get the oil changed when required. I know how to start an engine… but fixing an engine? I know NADA. Mark asked if we had a spare spark plug, and I had to ask him what it looks like. Bri teased me about being girly, but it was an honest question, I mean I know where most everything is on this boat, but I wouldn’t know a spark plug if it jumped up and bit me unless it was in a labeled package. I guess this is part of what comes from having the worlds best mechanics who have taken care of my car forever, ABJ Foreign Automotive in Somerville where Wendell, Claude and the guys always take care of any car needs I’ve had for the last 15+ years!! NO luck on the spark plug. We saw a large fishing boat heading our way and hailed them to see if they had starter fluid or dry gas, and they responded that yes they did but with their 8′ draft they couldn’t get to us, so Brian rowed out to them and gave them a few bucks in exchange for their can of starter fluid. Still no luck. I remembered then that we had email through SSB, so I fired up the Airmail program and reached out to my most trusty of resources!! Sandi!! I sent her an email (which turns out was a follow on email to the one Bri had sent her the night before) asking her to start the search for a new propeller for us. I sent her the specs, and recieved an email right back letting me know that she was on it and shortly started firing back emails with options that she’d found. whew!
10:45 AM - ah God bless!! we see coming around the bend a graceful tapered stayless mast. John and Pat!! I went up to the bow, and as they came into view we waved to them and I yelled out in my best trapeze instructor bellow that we were propellerless. They came up abreast of us, and asked if there was room to raft up. I was so relieved to see them that I actually teared up. I wasn’t scared, I mean at no point were we really in danger, but I felt so helpless, I know nothing about engines so I couldn’t help the guys, and I couldn’t even get online to try to research options - even thought I knew that Sandi was on it, I just felt so useless! Pat and John tied up alongsides and Pat gave me a huge hug which made me feel much better. After some discussion, we tied a bridle onto the front of our boat, and a 100′ line from John and Pat’s boat. They had a spare propeller on board, a 17″ x 15P 1″ shaft, which was close to what we needed - which they gave to us with the thought that it might work as is, or might be able to be fared down to the right size. I cannot even begin to say enough about how nice, kind and caring John and Pat are. We pulled our anchors (11AM) and John fired up the engines and pulled us out of our yucky anchorage and behind them into the canal.
Bless John and Pat for being so unbelievably kind. With 3 years of cruising under their belts, they have seen a lot happen, and they handle everything with a calm that I find so reassuring. They towed us for 20+ miles behind them all the way to River Forrest Marina in Belhaven, NC. They were so on top of things… crippled by our lack of access, both internet and cell, John and Pat had radioed ahead to the local marinas, and had called ahead to the one recommended - River Forrest Marina- to ensure that they were aware that we were coming in and coming in under tow. Also they had identified that this marina had a propeller shop, unlike Dowry Creek Marina (the first available stop) who had radioed back that they had no capability to aid us in our present predicament.
That said (and after passing the Phyllis Moran) we were towed and released safely to the pier at River Forrest, with John and Pat pulling in safely behind us at the pier. We offered (least we could do) to pay their dockage fees for the night, and we settled in dockside, with a free pump out and free water, to a night at the pier before we could do anything about the MIA propeller.
Axson, the owner of the marina, kindly offered us access to the facility’s street legal (can you believe it?!?) golf cart so that we could head downtown to get some dinner at the Fish Hook (for anyone following this blog who might stop anywhere we have recommended on this list, take our advice and order only one onion string appetizer if you are ordering apps, it’s beyond huge!). We’d all actually thought that we might make it a bit further, and go to the piZza place in town, but when we passed Fish Hook the cart seemed to slow of it’s own volition, so we pulled a u-ie and parked across the street and went in for dinner. We had a delicious dinner, accompanied by many laughs, and when we were done, we headed back to the River FOrest Marina. On our way back the energy of our trusty little cart seemed top flag and we were in fact passed by a jogger as we were turning off of Main Street. We made it back to the marina, and ss we pulled in, Axson pulled up along side us, and told us he’d been about to go out looking for us… with a giggle, we pulled into the parking space, and Axson pulled the cart into its garage spot and plugged it into its charger for the night. We all retired amongst many laughs and good night wishes.
We got up in the AM (5AM) and by 5:15 we were underway, off through the fog and on our way down the Alligator River, don’t know if it’s true, but we’ve decided that it’s the Alligator River because it kind of looks like an Alligator on the map… I think we don’t want to think about the prospect of there being alligators in here. We crossed uneventfully through the Alligator River bridge, and continued on. We finally had some favorable wind, so we were able to make up to 7 knots at some point with the Genny out and the engine running. We all took turns at the helm and made some great headway. When Mark came up to relieve Brian at the helm, Brian went down to take a quick nap, and I brewed up some more coffee given that it was still pretty chilly and damp even through most of the fog had burned off. At about 2:00 PM we entered into the Alligator/Pungo River canal, passing a 31′Beneteau “Song of the Mira” at anchor just outside of the mouth at a permanent anchor (as shown on the charts). We turned into the canal with our Genny still out, and continued on at a brisk 5 knots down into the canal. About an hour into the canal, the wind started to ease off, and I relieved Mark at the helm for a little bit, while he went below to check on the throttle which appeared to be slipping, as our speed was dropping substantially. Mark came back topsides, and decided to run a little test by shutting off the engine to see how much push we were getting from the engine vs. the Genny. I emerged out of the head, and Mark suggested that I wake Brian up right away… we were getting NO thrust from the engine… meaning that something was amiss with our propeller. I woke Brian up, and the guys began to run through a series of potential causes… a wrapped prop - even though we didn’t think that we’d hit a lobster/crab pot all the way through having fully lost the propeller. We had the wind at our back, and the canal channel is fairly wide, so we were still well and truly under sail and making about 4 knots, but with the wind directly at our stern the Genny couldn’t decide whether it liked to be on port or starboard, so I went up with the boat hook and used it as a whisker pole to hold the Genny to port. Meanwhile the guys assembled and launched the dinghy (Portabote) and Brian climbed down into the dinghy and attached the outboard. A few pulls later, and the outboard still didn’t want to start. GRRR. So the boys continued to work on it, trying and trying to get the engine to catch and start running. WHOOPS! we hit a stump! not too hard, but enough to shake us all up a bit. No success with the outboard engine, so we were under sail, and we decided that we should anchor off of the ICW at mile 113.9 at the Fairfield Bridge/Canal anchorage - right next to I-94. Brian climbed back onto the boat and we continued to sail along at a decent clip… we had about 4 more miles to go and it was starting to get dark - we needed to make it to this anchorage before dark, since we had little/no room for error with no working mechanical propulsion! With relief, we rounded the corner and the markers for the canal were in sight. We began to reel in the roller furler Genny, and Mark took the helm while I navigated below and Brian set up to drop anchor. Following the directions of trusty Skipper Bob’s Guide to Anchorages along the ICW, we turned hard to port into the canal, and just as Mark yelled drop anchor, whoomph, we slid aground! Quickly the guys let out the anchor rode of the primary anchor, and then they somehow took the secondary anchor and used it to spin us around in the canal (so that we were facing out towards the ICW) and set that anchor as well so that we were securely anchored in this narrow, and shallow canal. We had the highway right next to us, we could hear some kind of highschool (I assume) game and the cheering going on… but we had NO internet and NO cell phone reception at all. The guys tried for a little while longer to get the outboard started, I mean worst case scenario we could tow Three Sheets behind the dinghy if we didn’t have a propeller right? Worst worst case scenario, we knew that John and Pat were behind us, as they hadn’t passed us, and we were all on the same route… maybe they could call ahead for us, or even give us a tow to somewhere? The guys decided that with dark closing in, we’d wait until the AM to see what the official status of the propeller was, but based on the poking around they’d done with the boat hook along the prop shaft… it was seeming like we were going to be having to get a new prop…. and a tow of some sort. Of course, we weren’t signed up for Towboat US yet… hmmm. We tried to hail John and Pat on the VHF, no luck… well, we just hunkered down, ate some dinner and watched some Carl Sagan Cosmos on the computer then turned in for the night.
P.S. THIS part of the ICW would be way more aptly named Dismal rather than the Dismal Swamp!!
December 14 -Elizabeth City- the “Harbor of Hospitality” absolutely lives up to it’s name. We left Goat Island at about 7 and continued along, reaching Elizabeth City just a few minutes of 9. We hailed the bridge master to ask for an opening and received a warm welcome to the city from him. Elizabeth City was dubbed the “Harbor of Hospitality” after an impromptu wine and cheese party thrown by a couple of local businessmen back in the 1980’s, and since then has continued the tradition. They have a group called the “Rose Buddies” who continue this tradition by welcoming incoming boaters to the town docks - 14 free slips available for up to 48 hours, and provide information about where to find anything you might want, including directions to the $3 showers a couple of blocks up the street! Given that up until this point we’d been using our shower as a wet locker for all of our foul weather gear, a hot shower with a lot of water pressure sounded great! As we pulled up to the town docks, we saw that the boat we’d passed back at the first lock, another Hunter called “Knot for Shore” was also tied up. The couple aboard “Knot for Shore” John and Pat C. came over to join in the welcoming party. They’ve been living aboard their boat for the past three years, and have been cruising up and down the east coast.
With some information in hand from the locals and from John and Pat, we headed off in search of hot showers and perhaps a little bite to eat.
As always, when we returned to the boat, there were a handful of things we needed to tweak, and a few things that we needed to order (including a circlip for the winch on the port side of the mast - my fixing didn’t go so well as the circlip jumped overboard when I was trying to bend it back into its proper position) and some stuff we needed to have shipped from home, so we made a few phone calls and connected with Captain Don Thomas of Moran, who kindly gave us his address to have things shipped to in Beaufort. By the time all of this was said and done it was approaching 1:30, and as we were talking with John and Pat we learned that our nearest anchorage in this next bit of passage was about 60nm away, too far to make it before dark fell, and with the anchorage being a slightly challenging one, not one we thought it would be wise to attempt - so we made the decision to stay overnight in Elizabeth, and get up really early in the morning to make it to our anchorage. That said, we decided to take advantage of the nearby laundromat (which John and Pat had already scoped out) and they very kindly lent us their pull cart to tote our laundry. Bri and I set off to do laundry, and Mark set off to explore the area a bit (and to get some beers for the boat) with the plan being to meet back at the boat around 5:30, and to head over to the dinner and a movie theater that John and Pat had told us about a couple of blocks away.
We ended up getting back with all of our laundry at just a couple of minutes before 5:30, and I left the guys to sort it and went to stand in line for the tickets. Brian and Mark ran into John and Pat on their way over, so we decided impromptu to all eat together and watch the movie, rather than take two tables. We spent the hour before the movie swapping stories and having a great time, and we all laughed our way through Four Christmases (which I recommend for anyone looking for a good laugh). We all ambled back to the boats and Pat took me onboard their boat to see it. Beautiful. It has a very different, more open layout than our boat, with a spacious aft berth and a really open, beamy salon. As their boat is a Hunter Vision, it has a tremendous mast but no fixed rigging. As I said to Pat, it really feels like a home in their boat, it’s beautifully decorated and just feels really settled and comfortable - a state we haven’t yet really reached! We walked back over to our boat and I gave Pat the tour while the guys stood outside and talked. Pat was really encouraging and supportive, reassuring me that it takes a little while to get settled in and figure out where everything should go so that it works for you, and that it’s different for everyone, just to give it a little time and it would all settle in.
After hugs for the girls, and handshakes for the guys, we all turned in for the night with the plan of getting up early in the AM (5AM to be exact) to head out.
December 13 - We’ve made the turn at the Looney Tunes sign into the Dismal Swamp and are heading down a narrow channel passing along quietly through the trees flanking us on either side. We made the plan that we would make it as far as the first lock on the canal and anchor in the small area right before the lock itself for the night to wait for the first locking in the morning at 8:30. We made good progress down the canal, and got to our target location before dark. The only boat on this side of the lock, we set our anchor and settled in for a quiet evening. I still hadn’t regained my appetite, so we made a light meal and afterwards made it an early night. The guys were exhasted from their overnighter, and I was still a little off as well.
December 14, 8AM Overslept AGAIN! We scrambled out of bed, hailed the lockmaster, who tartly informed us that if we were hoping for the 8:30 locking he’d suggest that we get ourselves into the lock and set. We pulled anchor and motored over into the lock, tying up on the Starboard side. Within a few minutes, the lock gates closed, and we were raised up about 6 feet as the locks worked their magic. We emerged from the other side to where another boat was waiting (I think that the lock master had already RUN the locks once before he ran them for us (oops!) and we proceeded down the canal to the bridge, which is operated by the same lockmaster. We passed through, planning to stop at the dock immediately following the bridge, only to find another boat already moored there. Hmm, we thought, and continued on our way down the canal… We’d really wanted to stop at that dock as it provided walking access to a grocery, an auto parts store, and a hardware store, but we were uncertain of the etiquite about tying up in the very small space ahead of the other boat so we just putted along. Shortly thereafter though, we looked back to see that the other boat had cast off, and was now underway as well. A brief discussion and we made the decision to turn around and go back to the dock so that we could pick up the items we needed. As we passed the other boat, they hailed us teasingly about our heading the wrong way, and we waved and laughed and explained we were headed back for provisions.
While the guys stayed and worked on yet more repairs, I walked over to the grocery store and picked up a handful of items we needed, then went back out to the auto parts store to pick up a couple more alternator belts. We cast off and continued on down the ICW, hoping to make it to the second set of locks for the 2PM opening… no such luck, we were a little slower than we’d have liked and arrived at the locks along with a trawler, the Marisol, and had to sit and wait for the 4:30 locking. Thankfully, there were no boats coming through to the North, so they put us and Marisol through at 4 (the time for the Northbound locking) and we were on our way. With darkness closing in, we made our way down the channel, and made the decision to put in in the sheltered anchorage behind Goat Island (where we met up with Marisol again). We cooked up some delicious steaks, and tucked in for the night, making the first use of the many movies we had aboard before turning in for the night.
December 12, 4AM, and I am not feeling well at all :( We were planning to get up and head out this morning to make a run with the winds down to Virginia Beach… and we’re at anchor, and I am sick, not seasick sick, just your run of the mill food poisoning/24 hour bug kind of sick, but sick none the less. I tried to go back to sleep, and got up with the guys at 8AM to make ready and head out, only to realize that I was way to ill, and dizzy and feverish to be much use to anyone. After a brief conference with the guys, the decision was made that I was going to go back to bed, but the guys were going to make the run and get us underway.
I tucked myself into the Port berth and went back to sleep. Again I thank my Mom for the good genes that allow me to sleep through any kind of motion if I want or need to sleep! Brian came downstairs at about 11 to take a nap, and I roused myself and went topsides with Mark. We were quite a bit offshore, and it was howling windy and rough (8′ seas). Mark was stoically at the helm piloting us safely along our way. I sat (harnessed in) on topsides with Mark for about an hour and a half, at which point I was so dizzy and running hot and cold chills, that I had to go back below. I set up the Starboard berth lee sheet and lay back down. I was down for the count and out. Next thing I knew, I woke up and it was dark and about 9PM. The waves had subsided quite a bit, and Bri came and checked on me. I was only awake for a few moments before I was back into a feverish sleep. When I next awoke, it was light again, and almost 9AM (December 13). I pulled my achy self out of the berth and went topsides. I sat for a while topsides re-orienting myself to the living world before relieving Brian at the helm. Brian went below and brewed up some more coffee. The guys will have to fill in more on this post, because I lost pretty much a whole day and missed all of the excitement of the epic run!
Mark came back topsides and took the helm as we came through into Virginia Beach. Wow lots of HUGE military ships. Brian went to catch a few zzzzzs and Mark and I took turns manning the helm down the start of the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW). We came through the last bridge, and just as I was saying to Mark that I felt like there should be a sign like in Bugs Bunny with the crazy arrows pointing you this way and that, sure enough, rising up out of the water, was a sign post straight out of Looney Tunes directing us to the right for Dismal Swamp, or the left for the Virginia Cut… We’d already made the decision to go the Dismal Swamp route, having followed Skipper Bob’s advice and called ahead to the Dismal Swamp Visitor Center to make sure that there was enough depth to accomodate us and had found out that despite being a slightly slower route (because the max speed is 6kts) it is also substantially shorter! That, coupled with the fact that we can only do about 4.5 kts under power, and the additional appeal of no large boats on the route, made it an easy decision.
I returned back to the dock to find that the guys were fueled up and about to head over to our slip. I walked over to help them tie up, and we quickly off loaded a bunch of stuff into the car (including laundry) and did a bunch of organization and tidying up on the boat before we headed out to see Regina. Our drive, while long, was very mellow. Our only excitement being our first stop at Wawa’s! which included some exciting coffee options, and a stop at McD’s for the guys for some lunch. DC traffic being what it is, we got to Gina’s at about 6:30, in time to have a quick shower before we sat down to an amazing dinner with Gina, Preston and Ilene. Gina had cheese and crackers to start, followed by (at my request) turkey burgers and an amazing salmon dish with rice and salad for sides. I haven’t been that full of good food since Thanksgiving!! It was so good to get to see them, and despite our plans to depart early in the morning, Gina and I stayed up chatting until about 11, at which point we all decided we had to get some sleep!
6AM comes early and we’re up and getting ready to head off. Gina got up with us to see us off, and after a cup of coffee, and a slice of coffee cake, many hugs we were off, back to the Cape May and the boat. We made a couple of stops on the way to pick up some provisions and a handful of things we’d forgotten to bring. We got back to the boat around 11:30, and Brian and I headed out to return the rental car, leaving Mark at the boat to work on a couple of things that we’d picked parts up for. Enterprise rental car was great, brought us back to the boat, and we tried to wrap up a couple more items before heading out of Utsch’s Marina (great place to stay for anyone who’s reading this that might make a similar trip) and over to the same anchorage we’d spent our first night in Cape May at.
We sat out the bad winds and weather the next day (December 11)… doing an assortment of minor repairs and the like while we were at anchor, and made plans to set out the next morning with the turning weather and winds making a push to make it to Virginia Beach. We had dinner and tucked in for the night to see what the morning would bring.
December 6
7:24 AM - OOPS! overslept! But we hopped into action and threw on our gear, fired up the engine, and the kettle, pulled up anchor and headed off. We motored along, under the Throgs Neck and along the East River, waiting out a NOAA boat, a DEP boat and one other barge headed into the city. We motored along passing easily through Hell Gate and gliding down the East River alongside New York City. I called Liz when we got to the 50’s, even through I knew she was on the West Side and wouldn’t be able to see us, it was still nice to be in close proximity 
We passed along NY’s famous skyline - with me taking a picture for the Carat folks of the office from the river (to be posted later) and as we slipped along the passage to the Narrows, we had a beautiful view of the Statue of Liberty. We got passed by two SeaStreak ferries, the second time it was actually the Vineyard Express and we got a little wave from Pat at the helm (see below about our “buzz” from the Whaling City Express on our way out of New Bedford). We continued on through the Narrows, and out into the Atlantic, hugging the coast with me at the helm. Meanwhile, the guys were listening in on weather and wind reports to make a determination about our next port… should we put in at Sandy Hook or were we going to be able to make a run along the coast down to Atlantic City…
Brian came up to relieve me at the helm, and Mark Joined us so that we could discuss out next course. Based on the info that we had, the decision was that it would be best if we could make it to Atlantic City, sailing through the night, and to sit out the predicted gale that was headed our way in 24-36 hours in the shelter of the Farley State Marina. So on we went, passing Sandy Hook and sailing close hauled a couple of miles out down along the coast line. We were making pretty good speed all things considered, and knew that if we made this decision we had to commit to it, as there is no safe harbor to duck into between Sandy Hook and Atlantic City. As it grew dark, it also began to get quite a bit colder. I made up some light dinner for us, and when I went to retrieve Mark’s plate from him (as he was at the helm) I found him using it as a block to keep the SNOW off of him! Ugh, this is taking it to a new level! Sailing in snow! Fortunately the snow itself didn’t last too long. When Brian went up to relieve Mark, I tucked in for a nap, awakening at about 4 AM as we were getting closer to AC, and Mark went up to relieve Brian. More coffee… I think that our coffee consumption on this trip has been extraordinary - thank goodness that Mom and Dad and Liz solved that problem for us with a new french press (since our old one is completely MIA) because I don’t know what we’d do if we couldn’t have coffee both for the caffine and the warmth! With the lights of AC ahead of us, and a smooth approach into their safe breakwaters, we doused the sails, and I relieved Mark and piloted us in to the channel. We approached the State Marina, and hailed them on the VHF, with no response (it was 6 AM) we made the decision to put in at their docks in one of the many open slips, and to catch a few zzzz before going and checking in with the front desk. Mark brought us safely into a slip, we tied up, and tucked into bed for a few hours. At about 9:30, I heard Mark stirring in the main salon, so I got up and went outside with him to add a couple more lines and to make sure we were snugged down for the rising winds. Since I’d had more sleep than the guys the night before, I was tuly up, so I donned on a couple more layers (it was REALLY cold) and walked up to the front desk to see about getting ourselves checked in.
Check in achieved, I went and made use of the ample hot water at the facilities to take a really long really hot shower (in a shower built for people about 6″ shorter than I am) but it was still really nice and hot. After getting cleaned up and nearly falling on my butt trying to blow dry my hair - note to all, if your equilibrium has been adjusted to being on a boat, do yourself a favor and lean against a wall BEFORE you bend over to try to blow dry your hair - I went back down to the boat where both guys were soundly asleep. I decided that rather than sit in the boat in the cold, I’d walk up to the casino and do some people watching and get a cup of hot coffee while I walked around. Interesting people watching for sure! After thoroughly warming up, I went back down to the boat to wake the guys up, as it was about 3PM, and while we were planning to stay overnight, I figured we should make some use of the daylight hours if we were going to do any errands or anything of the kind. The decision was made to opt for showers and laundry, and then dinner at the Hooters in the casino where we could watch some football followed by a relatively early turn in so that we could make headway the next morning for Cape May.
We got up in the morning to a VERY cold and clear day… we had frost on the inside of the v-berth hatch!! and set about heading south to Cape May. Our trip to Cape May was a cold but uneventful trip, and we put into Cape May just before dark and as the wind was beginning to shift to the South, and dropped anchor in the recommended anchorage right beside the Coast Guard facility. We finally have the oven part of our stove working properly (yay Brian!) so we cooked up some nice steak tips under the broiler and had a good dinner before turning in for the night.
When we got up in the morning, the wind was still South, so we put in at the recommended marina Utsch’s, where we could get a rental car to run some errands and to make the drive to Rockville to see Regina! So far on our trip, of all the places we’ve anchored or put in, Utsch’s gets our top rating! 1) they are extremely nice 2) they are extremely helpful 3) not only are they reasonably priced, for dockage, supplies, gas etc… but they also gave us a welcome packet with info on the area, a bottle of wine, and some cookies!! And did I say this yet?? they couldn’t have been NICER!! While we had a little challenge getting into their harbor, once we got in there they helped us to tie up, and I went off with the nice people from Enterprise to get our rental car for the next 24 hours.
