Home to Dare Marina 3 May

    It was an uneventful passage from Great Bridge home to Chisman Creek and Dare Marina. We didnt even take any photos in the Great Bridge Lock this time. Getting too old hat.  We did stop and top off the diesel tank at Top Rack Marina in Great Bridge which has the best prices in the Norfolk area.  

   We motored up the Elizabeth river to Norfolk and then were able to motor sail up along the Naval Base. After passing through the Hampton Roads tunnel narrows we were able to actually sail with the motor off up the Bay but not quite on course for home. Eventually we had to start the motor and ultimately pull in the sails as we made the turn to the southwest and down the Poquoson River and into the wind. 

   We anchored in Chisman Creek for a couple hours waiting for some showers to clear and the wind to die down at sunset, the pulled back into our home slip. It was time for a well deserved brewski. 

   30 days after leaving Daytona Beach, we were back at home base. The boat had done fine with no problems enroute. But we do have a long list of normal maintenance items as it has been going on 3 years since we left the boatyard in summer 2018. Time for a good bottom cleaning and painting and more teak work.

Great Bridge 2 May

       Sunday, 2nd May was another sunny day with light southerly winds. We were a motor boat again with no places to sail up through the ICW and with 2 opening bridges to pass through. We arrived at Great Bridge early in the afternoon without any problems.  As we arrived at the Great Bridge bridge, a trawler pulled away from the free dock on the starboard side and we were able to pull right in 2nd in line astern of the large trawler you see ahead of us.  Later in the day, two boats pulled in behind us. 

   Another interesting story about people you meet on the water. At just about dusk, a sailboat came up looking for a place to stop for the night. He wanted to pull in behind us in the space you can see in the photo. There was clearly not enough room for him to easily fit. We recommended that he go through the bridge and tie up at the free bulkhead on that side.  Then Sue said we should go help him tie up since he was single handing, so off we went walking across the bridge and got him safely tied up. He was greatly appreciative since it is a challenge to safely tie up to that bulkhead without someone ashore to grab your lines and hold the boat in place as you get bow, stern and spring lines in place while the wind is blowing you aware from the shore.

    When he was safely secured, we realized that he was a sailor from Turkey that used to keep his boat at our Dare Marina. We went out to the local restaurant that evening and swapped stories about sailing and politics, and sailing single handed because his wife and adult son are not enamored with sailing like he is. It made me appreciate what a great First Mate and cruising partner I have. It was a fitting end to our 4 month cruise showing how small the world really is.

Hobuken to Abermarle 29 Apr - 1 May

    The next 3 days turned out to be "interesting" as we had to respond and adjust our plans to the weather and available anchorages with protection from the strong winds that just didnt seem to want to obey the forecasts.

   First, we had a great sail after leaving Hobuken and heading out into the Pimlico River. Basically for the first time since leaving Florida on the 8th, we had the sails out and were sailing with the motor turned off across the Pimlico and up the Pungo River. 

   Based on the wind forecasts it appeared that the best day to cross the Abermarle Sound would be on Sunday, May 2nd. That meant we had 3 days to travel 80 miles which would only take us 2 days, so we would need to sit for one day at anchor. We decided we would stop before the Alligator River canal on the 29th and transit the canal on either the 30th or 1st depending on the wind, which was forecasted to be strong from the Northwest on Saturday, then cross the Abermarle on Sunday.

   We anchored as planned before the canal on the 29th with some protection from the current southwest winds. The night was breezy but not bad.

   The next morning, the 30th, we awoke to brisk winds from the west that were creating whitecaps in the creek and giving us a good rocking. It was time to move, but where to go? The anchorage area closer to the canal had protection from the north but not the west so unless the wind shifted it wouldn't help. 

   We decided we might as well go through the canal now where there was good protection from west winds and we could anchor at the other end where there was protection from the NW. We assumed the wind would shift as forecasted.

   Now comes the exasperating experience that is all part of cruising and the problem with weather forecasts - they are only just that, a forecast.

 When we arrived at the other end of the canal, the wind had not shifted enough to the NW to provide protection at the anchorage there. So we made the decision to keep proceeding up the ICW where we could anchor up near the Alligator River Bridge, pulling over close to the western shore.

    All proceeded splendidly. We were able to sail up the Alligator River all afternoon with the engine off and by suppertime were anchored off the western shore. The wind died down to near calm by sunset and we enjoyed another beautiful sunset.  Depending on the weather we could cross the Abermarle either Sat or Sun. We went to bed sitting comfortably.  It was not to last....

   All was calm until about 2am in the morning when we were rudely awakened as the boat began rocking aggressively from a 20knot wind that had just sprung up from the NORTHEAST, a direction that had never been predicted in any weather forecast. We were completely exposed to the northeast with a 20 mile long fetch. The waves would be quickly building up to 3-4feet if the wind continued. We had to move.

   So, at 2am, we got the engine started and began pulling up the anchor. By now the 3ft waves were nearly coming over the bow of the boat as I worked to bring the chain in and hose off the mud with our anchor washdown pump. With our chart plotter I knew the path out of the anchorage and back down the ICW to the anchorage back at mile marker 100 about 3hrs back to the south where there was protection. But since we were off the ICW channel, there were multiple crab pots between us and the channel with their dangerous trap lines that can foul your prop. As soon as we had the anchor up and were on course, we shut down the engine so as not to ensnare any traplines and unfurled the headsails so we could proceed with sail power. Fortunately it was a downwind sail to the anchorage and we had plenty of wind.

   Three hours later, we were back to the mile 102 anchorage area and could pull over to the northern shore and anchor with protection. By now the wind had shifted back to the Northwest, but I don't think it had shifted enough to make our previous anchorage spot viable - besides, we could not have sat and pitched for 3 hours at that anchorage.  We secured all above decks and went back to bed as the sun began to rise.

   Sat morning the sun was out and the wind had diminished to 12-15kts so it was time to get underway again and retrace our path back up the Alligator River. The weather forecast had now changed to forecast diminishing winds all day long and so it appeared we could go ahead and cross the Abermarle Sound today and be able to sail across. Three hours later we were back up to where we had just been at 2am that morning. 

   It was a nice sail and we made it just over half way across the Abermarle before the wind finally died and we had to start the engine.

   We had been planning to proceed up the North River to the anchorage at Buck Island, a fairly tight anchorage area without much protection, but I watched the sailboat in front of us pull off into Broad Creek and noted there was an anchorage area there which had much better protection from the south winds that were now forecasted for the night. So we followed them and pulled up as close to shore as we could. We had a very pleasant night in this anchorage and the winds actually did what the forecast predicted this time.

Mayo Seafood 28 Apr

    Mayo Seafood is a commercial fishing facility in Hobuken, NC, that allows cruisers to tie up to the docks on a space available basis for a very small fee. They have electric power which is great for us if we need heat or A/C. There is no water and no bathrooms, but we have those on the boat.  We decided we would stop here on the way home and buy some fresh seafood.

   While I was paying the mooring fee, Sue went to check out the fresh seafood. Special of the day were shrimp for $5.75 per pound. Since we had just paid $23 a pound for steamed shrimp in Georgia, that seemed a great deal.

   However, for $5.75, you get to prepare, clean and steam the shrimp yourself. So I got to pull off the heads and pull out the intestines and Sue did the steaming. They were great.  

   Next time we will make sure we slice the shells before steaming them. That made it much easier to get the shell off when it was time to eat them.

Looking good.

Yes, they definitely are good. Steamed shrimp and beer - hard to beat.

Masonboro Inlet to Ceder Creek 25-27 Apr

 

   Traveling the ICW from the Cape Fear, NC, area to Norfolk is old hat to us now. We have made the trip 12 times (each way) on our boat and several more times on delivery trips.  We know most all the good anchorages and marinas to stop at as required.

   The timing was not right to go into Carolina State Park so we decided to continue on up to the anchorage at Masonboro Inlet, in the Wrightsville Beach area. This is a very well protected and large area where several boats are always anchored. It is always a busy area on the weekend but all the recreation boats go home by sunset.  It was a full moon that was well up at dusk.

     Next anchorage along the way home is Hammock Bay but first we needed to stop for gas at New River. The problem is there is only room for 2 boats at the fuel dock and this trawler did not pull far enough forward for us to pull up behind him, so we had to wait out in the channel.

  Meanwhile, the 3 Navy patrol boats came motoring up. They proceeded to pull in up in front of the trawler since they have a shallower draft. They also fueled up from different pumps than we use and they were finished fueling before the trawler, so when he finally left we were able to pull in. 

   Another quiet and pretty night at Hammock Bay. One interesting story - we watched a large power boat attempt to anchor about 10 times trying multiple areas around the anchorage. His problem was that he never put out enough anchor rode to allow the anchor line to settle into a horizon pull aspect. Because his bow was so high (at least 8 ft) and he didnt let out enough line, every time he backed up on the anchor he just pulled it right out of the ground. Holding is actually good in Hammock Bay, perhaps a little soft, but not a problem if you put out enough anchor rode.

Next anchorage was Ceder Creek off of Adam's Creek. We had read this was an excellent anchorage but the two times before when we tried to enter it got very shallow and we chickened out. But the ICW boaters say it is over 6ft so we decided to trust them as we needed a protected place to anchor from the wind. The wind was strong from the south so we had to get deep into the anchorage to get protection from the point of land you can see under the moon.  

It turned out there was a boat in front of us also heading in to anchor so we just followed him in. It was very shallow, between 5.5-6ft for a good part of the way in, then got deeper as described to about 7 ft.  We were able to just get in far enough for some protection. Later in the day another Island Packet also came in and anchored beside us. 

Holden Beach 23 Apr

        Our transit from Calabash to Holden Beach was uneventful as the Shallotte Inlet section was dredged over the winter since our passage southbound in Jan. On the way south we saw less than 6ft of water (our draft is 5ft), but now it was all over 12ft deep. The weather continued to be great for our arrival at the beach. But a storm was forecasted for the evening. 

There were lots of shells to pick through as we walked a couple miles up the beach to the Lockwoods Folly inlet, another shallow spot on the ICW, but also dredged while we were in Florida. 

 There were lots of smells for Rivah to check out along the high tide line. While it was sunny with blue skies, the northwest wind was quite cool.

   By the end of the day, Sue had another large collection of shells to transport back to Yorktown. 

   That night a storm blew through with heavy surf crashing on the beach. Before departing the next morning we walked over to the beach to check what had washed up over the night, but the tide was still so high that there was little to see but sand and foam.

   It was time to get underway soon as we needed to get through the next shallow water spot, Snow's Cut, before low tide. That area has still not been dredged. We got there a couple hours before low tide and passed through with no problem although we did see about 6 ft right at the entrance to the cut by Carolina Beach. 

Charleston - Holden Beach Through Waccamaw River 19-22 Apr

   After Charleston, our next planned stop was at Holden Beach, NC, where Sue loves to walk the beach and pickup sea shells. We confirmed again on this long trip to Florida that Holden Beach is one of the best shelling beachs on the East Coast, probably because the beach runs on an East-West axis rather than North-South as most beaches do on the East Coast. 

   It is possible to run offshore from Charleston up to North Carolina with several places to pull back into the ICW there, however, the weather continued to not cooperate presenting us with north winds. At least the skies were sunny though. 

   The advantage of the ICW through this area is that it is one of the prettiest sections of the ICW, winding up through the Waccamaw River.

   The first leg of the 3 day trip passes through a canal section from Charleston to the Waccamaw River up near Georgetown. There is a great anchorage area halfway up the canal on Awendaw Creek heading out to the ocean. We have anchored here many times and enjoyed some ideal conditions again on this trip.

   A new issue that we encountered anchoring in Georgia and South Carolina, I expect associated with the timing of our transit, was that every morning I would have to clean the "bugs" out of our speedometer unit. These bugs are not as big as they look in the photo, there would be 20-30 of them packed into the speedometer housing with its paddlewheel that sticks out the hull into the passing water. This space is less than a half inch wide and one inch deep. Every night for about a week, they would be packed in there, I suppose for safety from other predators. Some of them were baby shrimps and others were these guys.

North of Georgetown you enter the scenic section of the Waccamaw winding its way up towards Myrtle Beach. It is a beautiful river bordered by cypress and pine trees with scattered sweetgums.

   In the Waccamaw we normally anchor in Cowhouse Creek off of Wacca Wache, just south of Myrtle Beach. 

   This time of year there were noisy airboat tours and lots of recreation boats cutting through the Creek, but all that traffic stops at sunset. 

An airboat tour coming through. We could hear these guys winding their way through the small creeks, behing the trees, surrounding us.

   The third night before arriving at Holden beach, we stop at our frequent anchorage at Calabash Creek along the SC/NC border at Calabash. The creek is actually much narrower than it looks in this photo. There is just a little bit of room between the shore and the channel where lots of fishing boats pass transiting between the ocean inlet and marinas up the creek. 

Our great weather continued to hold, although the cold north winds also continued.

Charleston 17-18 Apr

    From Port Royal, just up from Hilton Head, its two days by boat to Charleston through the SC grasslands and shallow waters, but this trip we were traveling during mid to high tides. We anchored up in Oyster House Creek on the 17th. Initially, it was quite windy and a bit rough as there is little protection from the wind and waves in the grasslands, but the wind settled down some during the night. The next morning we were off to Charleston and made good time arriving off the peninsula with the historic waterfront homes just after noon.

   We had hoped to stay at the Charleston Maritime Center marina but found out that most all the Charleston marinas were fully booked. We found a spot up the Cooper River at the Cooper River city marina. While it is in a fairly industrial area between two merchant ship unloading facilities, the marina folks and services were excellent. Since we were leaving early the next morning they let us tie up on the end of the T-head rather than in a narrow slip. Given the tidal currents in this marina, that was just great.

   While in Charleston we were able to meet with our good friends, Paulette and Tim. Paulette was our best friend from high school days and Sue's maid of honor at our wedding. We had a great visit and wonderful dinner at a waterside restaurant. I scoped out the anchoring spots much closer to the restaurant, as they told us it was one of their favorites. Next trip we will know where to go and anchor nearby. 

Next morning it was time to push off and continue the journey northward. Charleston is just as busy a harbor as Savannah and we had to race this guy to see who would get through the bridge first. We made it through with plenty of time to move over a bit to the right and give him space to pass. 

Kilkenny to Port Royal - 16 Apr

       One unique feature of the Kilenny marina is that it is the location where all the local egrets come to roost at night. By sunset there were at least 50 white egrets sitting in the trees along the river bank. After a bit of prehistoric squawking they all settled down for the night.

   With 8ft tides it is quite difficult and expensive to build a safe boat launch ramp so, the locals have come up with an alternative launching method. With 2 straps, it is a quick process to lift a boat off the trailer and into the creek.  

A new 65ft bridge is under construction at Causton Bluff, GA, and can't come soon enough. The existing bascule bridge only opens on one side these days. One of the tightest fits along the journey.

   The last time we came through this section of the ICW was in 2006 at dead low tide and we got stuck in the mud in mid-channel trying to get up to the bridge. We had to tell the bridge tender it might be 30-60mins before we could get to the bridge waiting for a couple inches of tide to come in.   This trip we went through at near high tide and had an extra 8ft of water depth.

   With our new chart plotter and AIS transponder it significantly increases safety helping keep everyone aware of traffic conditions. Here we are approaching and crossing the Savannah River, which is a busy merchant shipping lane. Sure enough, there was a container ship coming down the river on a collision course with our crossing. Not only can I see on my plotter where our intersection is going to be on present course and speed, the merchant ship has the same picture showing my position and course/speed which is broadcasted by my AIS device.  I only had to slow down and pass behind him, which he could monitor on his plotter. 

What you cant see on this photo is that there is a dredge and two tugs working on the other side of the river, right along the ICW route to the north. Again, the plotter shows the exact position of all the vessels and the safe route around them through deep water.

   And here comes the container ship, emerging from behind the trees. Unlike our 2006 trip through here without a chart plotter, this time I knew he was coming and that I should slow down and safely pass behind him and not try to race him across. Interestingly, he never called me on the radio to check my intentions (or tell me to hold position) as they often do in the Chesapeake. I expect that was because he could see from my AIS what my plans were.

   The weather was good and we were making good time so we decided to press on until sunset and made it to Port Royal, anchoring just off the Marines Base at Paris Island. We got to listen to the Marines morning PT sessions starting at 0500 am.

Georgia - South Carolina grasslands - 14-15 Apr

    Normally, we try to avoid transiting the ICW through Georgia and South Carolina south of Charleston because of several factors: it is miles and miles of meandering and winding rivers and canals through completely flat grasslands and marshes, there are 6-8 foot tides which result in very shallow sections at low tides which are basically unpassable and challenging to anchor at night, and basically, it takes 3 days to get from Brunswick to Charleston via the ICW which can be done in under 24hrs transiting offshore. However, to make the offshore 24hr passage, one needs the right wind and sea conditions and Mother Nature was just not cooperating with us. Add to the uncooperative weather forecasts, our experience throughout this journey south and back was that the weather was never exactly as predicted so we were not keen to head out into questionable conditions. Besides, we are retired and not on any schedule, so why not take the slow but safe and picturesque route through the grasslands.

     This is the view basically for 3 days between Brunswick and Charleston. One interesting result is that when you see approaching boats that are also winding their ways among the grasslands, they appear to be sailing across the grasslands as all you see are the approaching masts and superstructures out in the marshes until they finally make it to just in front or behind you.  

   We were a little surprised to see a large cruise boat come past us in the Georgia ICW given the many very shallow spots. But it turns out that American Cruise Lines runs weekly cruises between Charleston and Jacksonville through the ICW, apparently paying close attention to the 8ft tides and picking their transit times appropriately.    We got this picture while we were at anchor up one of the creeks feeding into the ICW. The wind was brisk but there was enough protection to not cause too much rocking and rolling.

   As sunset arrived, the wind normally dies down some and we were able to enjoy a comfortable cocktail hour.

   The next day it is more of the grasslands. But the one advantage of the ICW is there are always more sights to see than 24hrs of open ocean waves. We motored past a pair of bald eagles sitting on a convenient navigation marker.

  Tonight we decided to pull into Kilkenny marina, which has the lowest price for diesel fuel south of North Carolina, about $1 a gallon lower than most other marinas in the area. Of course, the low fuel price is the main incentive to get you to stop here, there is not much else going on in Kilkenny. We went for a nice several mile hike outside the marina and noted one or two passing cars during the hour long walk. There is an upscale seafood restaurant next door to the marina but without outside seating so we passed during these COVID times.

Capsized MV Golden Ray

    Just north of Jekyl Island in the St Simons Inlet separating Jekyl from St Simons Island is the site of the capsized car carrier MV Golden Ray. The ship capsized back in October 2019 and removal efforts are still underway with a little over half of the ship removed. The two large yellow circular structures are the mechanisms that hold the "chain-saws" that are used to cut the hull into sections that can be removed onto barges and taken away.    

    As a certified US Coast Guard Master and experienced sailor, I wondered how a ship under the guidance of a qualified port captain could run aground and capsize in the wide and well marked channel. I read the accident report and learned the sequence of bad luck that resulted in the disaster. Turns out the ship had a fire onboard which caused it to lose propulsion. The onboard harbor pilot decided that the best course of action was to ground the ship outside the channel so that the busy channel would not be blocked. Unfortunately, the ship went aground onto a very steep edge of the channel and in so doing it heeled excessively to port - the onboard load of cars shifted to the low side causing a further heel to port and the ship ultimately capsized onto its port side, fortunately, out of the main channel, which was the Pilot's objective.  Salvage operations continue 18 months later.

 

Jekyl Island, GA 12-14 Apr

    Our next stop was an anchorage just off the ICW along Jekyl Island. While there are only a very few private residences on Cumberland Island, Jekyl has a fairly large permanent residents plus winter snowbirds and tourists.  The weather was fine so we decided to spend a couple days touring around. The first day we landed at a public boat launch and spent the day walking along the trails and into town for a cool drink. The second day we landed at the main island marina and paid the nominal landing fee which provided us access to their laundry room, showers, and rental bicycles. 

   We spent most of the day riding around just about the whole island. The most spectacular area was the "driftwood beach" section where rising sea levels have drowned a great number of Live Oak trees leaving picturesque skeletons behind. For some reason these dead, bleached and scraggly tree remains are a very powerful emotional site. For those who don't believe in climate change and rising sea levels, you need to get out of your comfortable denial chair and see what is happening in the real world.

   From the beach we rode back down to "town" which basically consists of two blocks of cafe's and tourist shops alongside a center grassy mall. We had a Starbucks iced coffee and relaxed in the comfortable chairs and great weather.

   That evening was a "deja vu" of our visit to Jekyl Island in 2005 on our first trip down the ICW, when we sat on the deck of the Jekyl Island marina restaurant and ate steamed shrimp as we watched the sunset. 

   This visit it was long after sunset when we were finally seated at the restaurant (because of COVID they are understaffed and only seating half their tables), but the seafood was still excellent and, except for the no-seeums, the evening was grand.

  After a couple enjoyable days, it was time to move on north once again.