Unplanned Stop in Atlantic City

Atlantic City's boardwalk on a cool, damp day.

Yesterday it was foggy at Cape May. We waited for the fog to clear and then at about 11:30, along with Plumpuppet, we went out of the inlet with the intention of possibly going all the way to Sandy Hook where we would anchor. (Sandy Hook is close to New York City.) That would have meant traveling through the night and reaching our destination early the next day. Once out on the water we were met with patchy fog - sometimes dense, sometimes clearing a little and then closing in again. We put on the radar and found the purple blob on the screen that was Plumpuppet ahead of us. The waves were probably about 4 or 5 feet - it's always hard to know exactly - they were long and rolling (not breaking) but they were coming at us either on the nose or on our forward quarter. Eventually, the light north wind shifted enough so that we could put out our head sail and pick up our speed to 6 kts plus. It was not a comfortable ride and was the kind of rock and roll that would eventually make me queasy - a long overnight ride in these conditions was not in the cards for me. We decided to call it a day at Atlantic City and Plumpuppet did the same.

Once we were in the harbour the fog lifted and we were very glad to see the markers leading into a snug little anchorage described in Skipper Bob's guide. Good old Skipper Bob - if you follow his instructions to the letter (he's pretty skimpy with instructions) and you cross your fingers while going carefully into narrow, shoaled entrances ("feeling your way in" as Skipper Bob says) - all will be well and you can drop the hook in some of the most surprising places. Here we are in sight of Harrods Casino in a well protected "pool" of water - no hint of wind or the rolling seas outside.

We woke this morning to dense fog. The forecast is the same as for yesterday - more uncomfortable seas so we've decided to stay put for another night. We'll drop the dinghies and go in to see what we can see.

Tomorrow we hope to leave very early. The wind and wave direction will be from the south and we can only hope that the cool air temperature coupled with the higher water temps won't create more mist!

Beach at Atlantic City: mid-afternoon and there's still fog covering the top of buildings

Light show in the mall at Caesar's Palace Casino

Back to Cape May

Sunday, May 24th: Chesapeake and Delaware Canal

Chesapeake City

Early Saturday morning we left Rock Hall with Plumpuppet and sailed north up the eastern Chesapeake shore. We said good-bye to Karen and Warren (Sandcastle) at St. Michaels. They were going to Annapolis and then on to Baltimore. At the top of the Bay, we went into the Elk River, then into Back Creek and finally, into the C and D Canal - the land cut joining Chesapeake Bay and the Delaware River. Once out of the Bay, we felt as though we were traveling in a wave pool. There is no speed limit along the waterway leading into the C and D, nor in the canal itself, and in this relatively narrow channel, fast boats, large and small, were traveling about as fast as they could go. Some slowed to avoid "waking" us but most did not. That this was Saturday, on Memorial Day weekend accounted for the number of boats: every Tom, Dick and Shirley was out whizzing along on this beautiful sunny day. We were having quite a rock and rolly time. The winds were light, so having given up on sailing, Bob was up on deck putting on the sail cover when a big, very fast boat breezed close by and sent us diving into a huge wake. After hugging the boom so as not to be pitched overboard, an exasperated Bob raised his arm and gave the one finger salute. The boat was just one of many that had passed in a similar way - but this time, Bob was really MAD. By early afternoon, we were glad to get out of the canal and into the calm of Chesapeake City boat basin where we would be anchoring for the night.

We had by passed Chesapeake City in the fall so we were eager to go ashore. I decided to time how fast we had become at this anchor and go to town routine. We arrived about 1:30 - the anchor was set at 1:45. By 1:55, we had the dinghy down, the motor off the rail and had lowered and attached it to the dinghy. We did boat tidy up (open hatches, turn off instruments and cover instrument panels, attach screen/curtain to companionway....), gathered what we needed to take (camera, phone ...) and we were on our way into town by 2:20. Not bad, eh? When you plan to move on the following morning and have only the remainder of the day to explore, you move fast. We've had many such days on this trip. I have to admit, though, that there are times when we get hung up on anchoring and it takes forever. Deciding on an appropriate spot and anchoring in it - the first time - can be a problem on Sea Change.

Chesapeake City: Looking toward the boat basin - that's Sea Change in the centre beside the tree.

Chesapeake City was fun to walk around. I took oodles of pictures of tiny historic homes, each with a plaque naming the house and date (most were mid 1800s) and fronted by cute decorated and furnished porches hugging the street. Sometimes the house only appeared to be small but stretched way back in a long narrow lot. This must be another of the areas where homes were at one time taxed according to width.


The town had a Memorial Day weekend festive air. The Chesapeake Inn and attached marina were hives of activity. As the afternoon wore on, more and more boats came into the boat basin - some to anchor - others to dock at the free dock along the wall or in the marina for an overnight stay. It was, as Barb described it, "party central". In the late afternoon, the muscle boats began to arrive - big cigarette and other long, sleek and brightly painted boats that couldn't seem to move without a great roar and thrum of engines. As they hovered in the little bay and then maneuvered into a place at the wall, their booming sounds reminded me of jungle animals roaring to assert dominance or as part of some mating ritual. With their noise and amazing hull graphics, these super boats drew crowds on the docks and at the waterfront.

It was a noisy and busy place on Saturday, but we enjoyed our time in Chesapeake City. On the other hand, a day's visit was quite enough.

Saturday, May 25th Noon - Traveling Down the Delaware

The chip for our GPS chart plotter includes tide and current information for each area. Along with Barb and Ken on Plumpuppet, we spent a fair amount of time trying to determine when we best might be able to catch a favourable current down the Delaware. In the fall we had traveled up the Bay with the current against us, the wind on our nose and waves at 2-3 feet - a slow going rough day that we didn't want to repeat. On the day we left Chesapeake City, we were able to ride the current until we turned toward the Cohansey River where we anchored for the night. Once settled, we repeated our tide and current searches. Current was something to consider as we moved further down the river and into Delaware Bay but we were especially concerned with tide in the Cape May Canal. There are 2 bridges near the end of the canal that have a 55 foot clearance at mean high tide. Our mast height including the Windex and VHF antenna at the top measures 53 feet above the water. Theoretically, we should be able to get under the bridges at high tide but that's not something we want to chance. There is usually a 6 foot variation in tides (7 right now due to the phase of the moon) so going through at or near low tide allows a comfortable margin of error. In the fall we went out from Cape May into the ocean and around and up into the Delaware rather than chance clearing the canal bridges near high tide. To catch a low tide we would have had to get up and transit the canal in the dark. This time, low tide will be in the afternoon. At this minute - as we move down the bay in calm seas - we have cut the engine back so as not to arrive at the bridges too early. Even so - I know from past experience that from our perspective looking up - it will appear that the top of the mast is going to hit for sure.

2:50 p.m. - Utsch's Marina, Cape May

We're snug in our spot at the marina in Cape May - not the one we stayed at in the fall but a more plebeian marina so a little cheaper and fortunately, also closer to old Cape May. That's some of the good news. It's also good news that the tide was definitely low enough for us to get under the bridges, no problem. It was so much easier to go the 3 miles up the canal than going out into the Atlantic, weaving our way along the "shortcut" through the shoals and then back in through the inlet to the Cape May harbour. Whew!

The bad news is that the low tide meant skinny water where we had to turn toward the marina. The marina lady had told us to turn to starboard and run parallel to and 20 to 30 feet from the marina bulkhead. Plumpuppet was ahead of us by almost an hour - they turned as advised - and got stuck. Eventually they were able to work themselves free and they hailed us to say: stay close into the bulk head - no more than10 feet from it. Along we came an hour later with the tide a smidgen lower and because there were boats crossing in front of our bow - Bob didn't make the turn as tightly as he should have. We grounded well before we reached the bulkhead. It's all mud though and Bob also was able to maneuver the boat free. Whew again!

We'll be here for at least 2 nights. We've missed today's good weather window. It would have been calm seas going up the New Jersey shore to New York City but the forecast for the next 2 to 3 days is mixed. After 16 days at anchor or on a mooring ball, I think we're ready for a marina stay. We'll do laundry (nice not to have to haul it in a dinghy). We'll have dinner at the Lobster House (famous in the area) - and we'll see.

Wrapping Up the Chesapeake

Barb at the wheel of Plumpuppet in an early morning mist

Historic boats at St. Michaels' Maritime museum

A quick post to wrap up this part of our trip:
We've been to Oxford (charming, small, very pretty, few stores) and St. Michaels (bigger, also pretty and charming, every kind of store). Spent an afternoon at St. Micheals' Maritime Museum learning about boats used by watermen in an earlier time - the beautiful skipjack - a shallow draft sailing boat designed for dredging oysters in the shallow waters of the Chesapeake, the long narrow "canoe" boats: work boats for shrimping and tonging for oysters - the "Buy Boat": a boat that went around to the oyster boats and off loaded their catch so the fishermen lost no time in dredging for osyters. In our Chesapeake travels, we've seen watermen everywhere so we're interested in their history. We've returned to Rock Hall for one last crab feast and we cracked, ripped and ate until we couldn't eat more. Tomorrow, up early again to sail to Chesapeake City and then weather permitting, we'll leave in the morning to catch the tide through the C and D canal, go part way down Delaware Bay and then anchor for the night before we continue the rest of the way. We're on our way to Cape May and we're getting closer to home.

Stuck in Beautiful Mill Creek

I've just added pictures to the previous post.

Saturday, May 16th: Mill Creek off of the Great Wicomico River, VA

We saw this Great Egret at Tangier Island. I've loved watching the egrets we've seen along the way.

On Friday afternoon, we enjoyed our visit to Tangier Island - one hour from Onancock by fast boat. A few hours were all we needed to walk the narrow streets of the town and read the signs along the way telling the history of each spot: home of early settlers, the first doctor, the general store that also sold coffins and whose owner was also the town undertaker, the first post office, why some homes have graves in the front yard. We visited the open building where crabs are sorted - those having shrugged off their shell being separated from the rest to be sold as soft shelled crab. There were a couple of shops selling T-shirts and such but for the most part, this is a busy community focused around their own business, golf carts scooting around, while people like us nose about and then eat a meal at one of the several restaurants. For dinner, most of us ordered soft-shell crab. We picked the crabs up and ate them with our fingers and they were tasty as only fresh seafood can be. At the end of our visit, we could hardly wait to get away - the no-see-ums that appeared in the evening as we waited for the ferry were in swarms and were ferocious!





That's a family grave in the front yard.

Blue crabs really are blue!

Today, there was a small craft wind warning and possible thunderstorms predicted for this afternoon. To avoid the bad stuff, we got up extra early and were on our way just after 6. For the first time in a while, we were powered under sail only for most of the morning. Early on, we had some winds gusting to 18+ so in view of the afternoon forecast and the dark skies looming ahead, Bob put a reef in the main sail and partially furled the jib - unnecessarily as it turned out. Since we were making good time we questioned whether we should skip the anchorage just off the Great Wicomico river and keep going to Solomons - our hoped for destination tomorrow - but we considered that the weather might very well get nasty later in the day and decided that playing it safe was best. Well before noon, we sailed into the mouth of Great Wicomico River and then turned into Mill Creek. What a beautiful spot - one of the nicest anchorages we've been in - State side, that is - and very protected too should those "possible thunderstorms" materialize. However: nothing materialized - the sun shone, the wind moved onshore trees around a bit but - really - that was it. We had been sailing in south winds - perfect for traveling north to Solomons - and guess what - the winds for the next three days will be against us as we travel north, the waves are predicted to be big, and tomorrow, there is a 90% chance of rain. We should have kept going we all said - while the going was good.

Anchored in Mill Creek

After getting settled, Bob and I put the dinghy in the water thinking that we might as well get out and around while the sun shone. We cruised up the "creek" - which looks more like a wide river or even a long narrow lake. It's a lovely place - apparently far from most towns and large centres so not built up. It has the feel of some cottage country piece of water in the hinterland where there's still lots of thickly wooded areas and only a few cottages built and occupied by the intrepid. The Waterways guidebook lists this area as swimming territory. There is enough fresh water here mixed in with the salt to discourage the jelly fish found elsewhere - so no worries there - and it certainly was hot enough to get wet. (In the Chesapeake, fresh water runs in from the rivers and mixes with salt water from the Atlantic.) Bob and I went back to the boat and put on our bathing suits. The surface water was warm - a little farther down - kind of cool - but it felt good and we paddled around for a while, then soaped ourselves up and rinsed off with the stern "shower" (a hose with spray nozzle that pulls out of a recess at the boat's stern). Rather than use the shower in our head, this would be our shower for the day. We'd had our first Chesapeake swim. What a treat.

In the days to come, the predicted potpourri of bad weather includes much cooler temps - but then who knows? Today's forecast was a bit of a bust!

Monday, May 18th: Mill Creek off of the Great Wicomico River, VA

We're still in Mill Creek and hoping to venture out into the Bay tomorrow. The winds are strong and against us again today and the waves too high for us to be plowing into them - so it's another day at anchor and poking around the boat.

Since we never got to a proper grocery store in Onancock, I wasn't able to buy any decent bread. I did get some wonderful produce at the hardware store (funny, eh?) and milk at the gas station convenience but the white mushy Wonder bread sold at the gas station is just too awful to waste money on - well actually - it's too awful to eat! - so I've used my time to make English muffins (part whole wheat) and a loaf of baking powder beer bread (more like a biscuit). Since we have another whole day at anchor before us, I might as well try the yeast bread recipe I was given back in the Exumas. It calls for part sea water (since it's a "sailors'" bread) - but I'll substitute fresh water and salt.

I've also been getting back to the pressure cooker. Having tried a few recipes from the accompanying cook book, I've settled on 3 favourites - pressure cooked whole chicken (for a 4 lb chicken - about 45 minutes using a very low flame for part of the time yields very moist meat), stew (very good and no browning required), and what I made last night, "Curry in a Hurry" (chicken breast cooked in coconut milk with curry paste I brought from home - hard to find in the grocery stores here). Tonight I'm thawing out some stewing meat and getting out the cooker again.

Bob is still finding jobs to do about the boat - more polishing and cleaning - and he has scraped away some of the caulking around the head floor and is going to replace it - it's been leaking a little and messing up the cherry wood on the main cabin side.

Both of us have been doing a lot of reading - right now we're both reading books I've picked up at book exchanges. Cruisers read a lot and tend to leave all their books at exchanges when they're finished with them. I was almost out of books until we found a book exchange in the bar at Onancock (a big one) and then Barb passed along a bag of books as well.

I'm enjoying another day "stuck" on the boat but I must say - being able to share someone's Internet signal certainly helps. But would we welcome another day here? - not likely!

From Anchorage to Chesapeake Anchorage

In response to Judie's comment where she asked how the beautiful Dismal Swamp got such a name - the word dismal means swamp - Here's a definition:
Dismal (noun): Southern U.S. a tract of swampy land, usually along the coast.

Monday, May 11th: Hampton River, VA (SW side of the Chesapeake)

After 2 days in the Dismal Swamp canal, and many more moving along the ICW in warm temps with the wind at our back, today we felt as though we were emerging from La-La Land into the big cold world. This morning in Deep Creek pond (where we had tied up at the wall), it was cloudy and the air was cool. By 9:00 we were through the Deep Creek lock and traveling up the Elizabeth River - past the mammoth naval ships, and through the harbour at Norfolk. When we moved into the open water of the Chesapeake, we were met with cold wind on our nose and big waves crashing against the bow. As Sea Change rode up waves and crashed down, Barb hailed us - did we want to continue fighting our way forward for another 1 1/2 hrs. to Salt Pond as planned or bail out somewhere? - but where? On the trip south, Bob and I had gone up the Hampton River for our visit with the Woolseys - Bob suggested that we could nip in there, escape the rough water and anchor for the night. For a while we continued bucking the waves but finally gave up and, early in the afternoon the three boats (Plumpuppet, Sandcastle and Sea Change) turned to port and headed up the river where we squeezed into a narrow anchorage along the channel surrounded by condos and marinas, and big shrimp boats.

Once anchored we did the breakfast and lunch dishes - washing up less often saves water - we think :) - I baked banana bread and Bob studied the engine manual. He suspects that the propeller is "cavitating" but jokes that he doesn't know what the word means. After dinner, we sat up top and had coffee and coconut cake (bought, not made), read our murder mysteries until it got cold and then retreated below so as to close up the boat and turn on the heater. Now, I'm writing my blog and Bob is listening to a Leonard Cohen CD and to all the words in all of the songs. Such are the pleasures of an evening at anchor.

And finally - It seems that we'd forgotten about the Chesapeake. Those big waves were a bit of a shock. NOW we remember!

Tuesday, May 12th: Heading to Onancock, VA (SE side of Chesapeake)










Yesterday we left Hampton and continued north (still on the east side) weaving our way through long lines of crab traps until we reached Mobjack Bay. From there, we moved up into the Severn, one of four rivers that feed into the bay, and anchored in a pretty and peaceful spot - well protected and surrounded by trees with a few homes nestled in among them. As soon as the anchor was set, we lowered our dinghy to do a little exploring. It was sunny and the weather had warmed a little - so we crept up a nearby creek to see the homes and woods (a golf course hidden behind) and then whizzed over the bay in a lovely fresh breeze. We stopped to watch an osprey sitting on her nest and chirping - yes - an Osprey's call is a "chirp" - a rather innocuous sound for a bird of prey. I'd been taking pictures of nests with Ospreys all day and when I zoomed in with my camera, I was also seeing a second Osprey head peeking just over the top of the nest. Was this a rather big baby?, I wondered, but Sue from Hydrotherapy has since told me that the second head more likely belonged to the other parent who sitting on the eggs - the female, I guess - do males ever sit on eggs?

Friday, May 15th: Ornancock (try to say that without tripping!), VA

On Wednesday, we up anchored at 6:30 a.m. and began the 50 nautical mile trip across the Bay to an anchorage up the Ornancock River and beside the town of Ornancock. Anchorages on the Chesapeake are often beautiful but, more often than not, you have to travel for miles up a river into a bay, to reach them. The same holds true for the many picturesque towns up and down the Bay. The air temperature was in the low to mid 70s, and the water, flat calm making for an uneventful 10 hour trip. Our chief entertainment, other than dodging crab traps, was watching the various small fishing boats with watermen (Chesapeake fishermen) pulling and emptying their traps or speeding along with traps piled high on the deck of their boats.

We wanted to take the ferry yesterday from Ornancock to Tangier Island where we there is a community of watermen and their families. The culture on the Island and the neighbouring Smith Island are said have changed less over time than similar communities on the mainland. We thought briefly of taking our boats into Tangier but the water there is shallow and we would have had to wait until high tide to get into and out of the harbour. Since the ferry hadn't started it's summer schedule and wasn't running until today, we have stayed the extra day and in the meantime, made the long long walk to the laundromat (good to have that done!), and also tried out a couple of the local pubs for drinks and dinner along with Sandcastle, Hydrothery (Bill and Sue) and Plumpuppet.

We're taking a ferry to Tangier at 2 this afternoon. We're told that we can buy soft shell crabs on the island for a good price. Those are the crabs that you fry whole: claws, shell and all and you eat them that way as well. I've had them, but although they are tasty enough, I still have to give myself a pep talk before I begin to chew.

There's a small craft wind warning for tomorrow so we'll have to decide whether to venture out onto the Bay or stay yet another day. We've picked out another spot to anchor further north but back on the east side near Reedville. It's only a 30 mile run and will break up the long voyage to our next logical stop at Solomons.

I don't seem to be able to upload pictures on this Internet signal I've picked up from the boat so will add a few pictures another time.

Elizabeth City and the Dismal Swamp

The Elizabeth City slips were filled by the time we arrived so we tied up on the wall. It was a nice wall so we remained there for the rest of our stay.

Rather than taking the quicker, faster moving Virginia Cut, we again decided to go along the Dismal Swamp canal. It's a route made slower by 2 bridges and 2 locks, but it's picturesque and worth the time. The Dismal Swamp experience begins or ends at Elizabeth City - depending on your direction. The town courts cruisers by supplying fourteen free spaces in slips and at an adjacent wall - and, if there are 5 or more boats, a wine and cheese welcome at 4:30 each afternoon. At the welcome, the major gives a talk describing places to go and sites to see: the dinner and a movie theatre, the free Albemarle Museum, the historic areas, a free shuttle to the Fresh Foods grocery store. Sam - one of the original Rose Buddies - the group of men that started the wine and cheese welcome tradition and gave roses to all the ladies - now sits in his truck most days waiting to drive cruisers wherever they need to go. We stayed for 3 nights and had a fine time. Along with the crews of 5 other boats, we went to Thumpers for dinner (Bob loved his $5 Thumper burger with fries) and the next day I joined the women for a fancy tea and sandwiches lunch. We walked through some of the historic areas taking pictures of homes, toured the museum and went to the dinner and a movie theatre with Barb and Ken - the X-Men movie was OK but quite violent and also somewhat incomprehensible - but ordering dinner from a phone before the movie was fun.

Saturday morning we left at 9 to make the 1:30 bridge and lock opening and then continued on to raft up with everyone at the Visitor Centre dock wall in the canal.



Boats ahead of us going into the first lock.








Crew from the 8 rafted boats gathered around a picnic table for drinks and shared hors d'oeuvres before dinner.

Boats rafted along the Visitor Centre wall.

Today, along with Sandcastle, Plumpuppet, Riff Raff (Jimmy and Linda's large motor vessel) and Daniswan (a small power boat single handed by Jim), we moved on a little way along the Swamp route to tie up at another free dock - some of us positioned just before the second bridge and some just beyond it. Tonight crew of the 5 boats will go to a Mexican restaurant close by - reputed to be "authentic". We didn't go through the second Swamp lock as a railway bridge up ahead is closed for repair and we won't be able to continue up the river until after 11 tomorrow morning. We might just as well stay and enjoy this beautiful place.

Throughout our cruise along the Dismal Swamp canal, I took picture after picture, trying to capture the beauty of the tall trees and thick greenery on each side of the channel. No picture seems to do it justice but I'll upload some here in the hopes that you'll be able to see in part what a lovely spot the (not so) Dismal Swamp is.

Dismal Swamp water is a definite brown.

A Canada Goose nesting among the lily pads.

Travels in North Carolina

It's really spring! - Duckings on a lawn in Belhaven

We've seen Osprey nests on top of navigation aids all along the ICW - and, other summers, on top of aids in the Thousand Islands - but now we are seeing the Ospreys: it's spring and they have eggs to keep warm.

Sunday and Monday, May 2nd and 3rd: Oriental, NC

Last Sunday we decided to skip our stay in Beaufort, NC and go straight to Oriental to meet with Plumpuppet and Sandcastle. We booked a spot in the Oriental Marina and by 2:00 pm, we were heading in. As Bob began to swing Sea Change out and around to get into the slip, the boat slowed and stopped. "I'm out of water," Bob yelled to the waiting dock master. "We're grounded," I yelled. The dock master looked confused - he was having trouble understanding that Sea Change was stuck. Barb, from Plumpuppet, had warned me that depths close in were unusually low. Persistent winds for the last several days were sucking water out of harbours and tributaries and into the Neuse River but the water had risen a little in the last while and Tom, the dock master, told me there would be no problem. Well, we had a problem. We were sitting parallel to, but several feet away from the free (and empty) town dock (note to self - consider in future why a free dock might be empty). Tom came out along the dock and asked us to throw him a line. More helpers and many watchers appeared. We became the entertainment of the moment. I threw 2 more lines and now lines from the stern, mid-ships, and bow cleats were pulled and maneuvered until Sea Change, engine in and out of reverse, wiggled to deeper water. (Incidentally, I am a disaster at baseball, but I throw a pretty good boat line.) Other than 2 slips where we went aground, the marina was full so Tom told us to tie up at the gas dock. Soon after, a trawler pulled in behind us. With bad weather getting worse, everyone was looking for a safe place to tie up and now both marinas in the harbour were full.

Since we were expecting to leave the following morning, I moved quickly to get a load of laundry in, walk across the street to check out the book exchange at The Bean coffee shop, and then to the Deli at the other marina to buy sliced meat and cheese. That night we all went to dinner at M and M - named for the candies. On the way "down", we had great "peel and eat 'em shrimp" at M and M but it's not shrimp season now, so we had other good (and reasonably priced) food.

The next morning at 6:30, we talked on the VHF with Plumpuppet and Sandcastle. The winds were still high and from their docks they could see rough water on the Neuse. We decided to stay and enjoy the day in Oriental. Bob took the opportunity to change the engine and transmission oil and then we walked the long walk to the grocery store.

John and Madeleine, the couple on Chanceux who we met in the Exumas, were back home in New Bern just north of Oriental. They also know Karen and Warren (Sandcastle) and Barb and Ken (Plumpuppet)- having met them on their way south - so I called John and Madeleine and invited them to join us for drinks and dinner. Along with people from boats near us, and Diane and Tony from Vertigo (staying at another marina and part of a group that came south from Port Stanley), we gathered at the outdoor bar at the marina. Cruisers - especially ICW cruisers - are very friendly so the group quickly set about introducing themselves and falling into conversation about their travels. Later 8 of us (Sea Change, Plumpuppet, Sand Castle and Chanceux) went for dinner at the marina's Toucan Cafe. It was a lot of fun to see John and Madeleine again and to talk with everyone about life after the Bahamas.

Bob, Barbara, Ken, Warren, Karen, John and Madeleine

Tuesday, May 5th: Belhaven, NC

The wind had dropped Monday night so we knew the water in the harbour would rise and waves on shallow  ICW rivers ahead would flatten out. In spite of possible thunderstorms predicted for every day in the coming week, we decided to leave on Tuesday morning. Now we were moving north on the wide rivers of North Carolina - along the Neuse into the Bay River, then through a cut into Goose Creek, then across the Pamlico River and up the Pongo. I counted 9 boats behind us and 3 up ahead - everyone is on their way home. All was well until the sky clouded over. Up ahead, Sea Smoke, the trawler that had shared our dock in Oriental, was caught in driving rain, lost his navigation equipment, and became disoriented. Over the VHF, other boats advised on the correct heading (direction) and Sea Smoke found her way out of dangerous water and back to the magenta line. A while later, it was our turn to pass through heavy rain. Briefly winds climbed to 30 knots but eventually settled down and we proceeded in now drizzling rain. Thank God for the enclosure. We feel much less miserable than others who have to suit up and stand under the sparse protection of their Bimini (canvas top). Along the Pongo, we left Sandcastle, Plumpuppet and other boats in the group to go into River Forest marina at Belhaven. We needed a pumpout and far away thunder was making us uncomfortable.




River Forest Manor in Belhaven






Wednesday, May 6th: All the Way to Elizabeth City, NC

We got up at 5:30 for an early start. When we hailed Plumpuppet, Barb said that Sirius Weather predicted high winds for the evening and into the next day. To avoid Thursday's possibly wind whipped waters on Albemarle Sound, they intended to keep going past the marina and anchorages at the mouth of the Alligator River where many boats would lay over, cross the Albemarle and go all the way to the free docks at Elizabeth City.






Trees along the canal joining the Alligator and Pongo Rivers in North Carolina



The Albemarle Sound can be nasty and wise cruisers approach it with caution. In spite of the fact that we were an hour behind Plumpuppet, we thought - if they can do it - then we can too - but we put off our final decision until we reached the sound and could better gage our speed and arrival time in Elizabeth City. We were slowed in the morning by an opposing current but later, both the current and south winds at 16 - 20 knots were pushing us along. With our head sail up, we were motor sailing at 6 - 7 knots. Since we expected similar speeds across the Albemarle, we continued across the sound making 7+ knots all the way to Elizabeth City and arriving at 6 pm. We had traveled 85 statute miles (almost 73 nautical miles) in 12 hours - a personal best for Sea Change.

You see all kinds of things along the ICW. As we were traveling up a canal near Camp Lejuene, about 12 of these amphibious vehicles scooted by. As they passed, a couple of the men in uniform did a little twirl in their turret and a soldier in every vehicle waved.

Cruising up the Maccamaw River

Friday, May 1: Wrightsville, North Carolina



Our anchorage Wednesday night was on the Maccamaw River in South Carolina. We had turned onto the river about an hour before we anchored next to Butler Island the night before. In the morning when we pulled anchor, we continued following the river north for several hours. For most of that time, we were traveling through a wooded area with trees rising out of the water, their roots exposed - perhaps because the tide was low but also, for some I think, because soil had been eroded away by the fast moving river. Since there was little wind, the river surface was smooth and reflected trees and bush along the banks. For the most part, except for the odd small open fish boat skipping by, we were alone. The current was against us making it a slow peaceful ride through a beautiful place.

We arrived at Myrtle Beach late in the afternoon and in the absence of suitable places to anchor, we went into the Myrtle Beach Yacht Club for the night. The wind has come up today, so, the day before, although we  had anchored where we could take the dinghy ashore to walk over to the Wrightsville Beach or up the street to a little grocery, it would have been difficult to get the dinghy down - not to mention the wet choppy ride we would have motoring to shore. The weekend promises more wind. It will be from the south and behind us but still - we may have to modify travel plans and reconsider where we'll stay at the end of our travel days but then that's what traveling in a boat is all about. I'm thinking that we just may be ready to live on land by the end of this trip!