July 16, 2006

We departed our anchorage at Cape May, NJ, at 0635 this morning in light fog. Encountered 1/4 mile (perhaps less) visibility as we transited the inlet, then into relatively clear skies once we got outside into the ocean. Now we’re about 20 miles north in bright sunlight and 1 foot swells.

Caroline and Charlie remember this as a rough place; couldn’t be nicer, today!

We anticipate getting as far as Manasquan Inlet, perhaps to Sandy Hook, by the end of the day. If we make Manasquan tonight, we’ll go into New York harbor tomorrow and anchor just south of the statue of liberty, then run up the East River with the tidal current on Tuesday morning and into Long Island Sound. If we get as far as Sandy Hook tonight, we’ll try to make it through the East River on Monday.

July 18, 2006

We departed our anchorage in Manhasset Bay this morning about 0730, and
by noon had decided that we’d try for Montauk on the east end of Long
Island. Despite six hours of adverse current, which changed to favorable
about the time we entered the Race at the eastern end of LI Sound, we
made it through the breakwater at 2010 and anchored at 2030. We did
boost the engine RPMs to 1800 to get an extra knot of speed out of
Sanderling, but even with that we were moving at a mere 5.3 knots at times!

Anyway, after a slightly more than 100 statute mile day and 13 hours
underway, we had soup for dinner. We just finished taking down part of
the bimini and securing a few things on deck in anticipation of a severe
rain/wind storm heading this way. We could use the rain to give
Sanderling a good washing; we’d just as soon not have the predicted
40-60 mph wind!

Tomorrow we’re going to find an anchorage on Buzzard’s Bay, then on
Thursday proceed to the Osterville/Hyannis MA area. Talked with Frank
Thatcher today, and he’s checking with some friends for dock space and
someone to get our little Honda outboard working!

The VHF radio is full of calls from boats in distress tonight! Haven’t
heard that until now on our trip. Must be due to the storms on LI Sound.
The Coast Guard has also been broadcasting special marine warnings re
the storms – something we don’t normally hear in Florida from the Coast
Guard.

We’ll be safe here in this “lake” at Montauk. We really backed down on
the anchor tonight in anticipation of the storm, so we’ll hold well.
Even if we drag anchor, we have nothing but eight feet of water all
around us! The closest anchored boat is about a mile away.

July 20, 2006

We departed Cuttyhunk (I’ve been convinced that that is the correct spelling now) in a 10 MPH wind from the NE this morning about 0730, heading for New Bedford (home of the famous Whaling Museum). Buzzards Bay was relatively calm, with waves no more than one foot.

Are now tied stern to in a very small, out-of-the-way (cheap) marina where we’ll stay for the next couple of days while we travel by car to Cape Cod (and coincidently, wait out the tropical storm).

When we get underway again we’ll get to the south side of Cape Cod and Martha’s Vinyard, then proceed into Cape Cod Bay for exploring the area between Cape Cod and Cape Anne.

As luck would have it, the marina has a mechanic who is going to work on our outboard while we’re here.

After 15 days of cruising every day, we anchored Friday night at the north end of Delaware Bay. Now we’re fog-bound on Saturday morning, hoping the fog will lift by 1000 so we can get underway.

Great trip so far. We should be able to make Cape Cod on the 20th of July without any problem (unless we encounter more fog).

We stayed Thursday night at Chesapeake Beach, Maryland, a short distance
south of Annapolis on the western shore. Got an early start, and made it
as far as the northern end of Delaware Bay last night after being slowed
substantially (2 knots) by a westward tidal current through the
Chesapeake and Delaware Canal.

We’re anchored behind an island (Reedy Island if you have a chart) out
of the way of the passing ship traffic and protected from the wind and
some of the current. We were up at 0530 for a 0600 underway time, but
the fog is keeping us in our anchorage. Although we have radar, we’re
not willing to use it when the visibility is less than 1/4 mile and we
have plenty of time to get where we’re going!

We had hoped to get to Atlantic City tonight, but now may only make it
as far as Cape May (about 50 miles down Delaware Bay from our location).

Watched TV for an hour last night (first time on the trip) and tried to
get some national news at 0600 this morning, to no avail. We don’t have
much of an idea of what is going on with the new “war” in the middle east!

Took advantage of our delay and the cooler engine room (93 degrees) this
morning to do a little maintenance on the stuffing boxes. Also worked on
our anchor light which seems to come on for awhile and then turn off.

We realized two days ago that we didn’t have charts or a Waterway Guide
for north of Cape May. I brought the wrong chart book by mistake. We
called a bunch of marinas along our path yesterday, and none of them had
the charts we needed. So as we pass through Cape May today we’ll stop
and take a taxi to West Marine to get what we need to continue!

Cats are enjoying a respite from the engine noise!

We departed our small anchorage near ICW mile 30 (north end of Currituck Sound, VA) Wednesday morning about 0615. Made all the low bridges with restricted openings in good time, and by 1130 we had crossed mile 0 off Hospital Point in Norfolk. Pulled into the Rappahannock River Yacht Club (friend arranged a slip for us) at nearly 2000 last night – really tired and ready for a shower and dinner. No “pizza” listed with the information operator so couldn’t order out! Had a quick meal of hot dogs and beans aboard, after visiting with our friends for a short while.

Departed this morning about 0730, later than we had hoped due to some concern about the condition of the Chesapeake with winds from the west at 15. However, not a problem, and although we had some bumpy seas between the Rappahannock River and the north shore of the Potomac, the waves were no more than two feet (nothing to write home about on the Chesapeake).

Now we’re back in calmer waters, making about 7.2 KNOTS. Not sure where we’ll end up tonight as I haven’t projected that yet. We had hoped for Annapolis, but the long run from the Yacht Club to the Chesapeake and the late start cost us over 2.5 hours, so we may be stopping short (of Annapolis).

We’re switching everything from statute miles to nautical miles for the rest of the trip north. Only the ICW uses statute miles and miles per hour; everything in the Chesapeake and north is nautical miles and knots. To refresh your recollection, a nautical mile is 2,000 yards – longer than a mile. Seven nautical miles equals eight statute miles; seven knots equals eight miles an hour!

Forecast for the next 3-4 days looks good, so we’re still hoping to make Cape Cod by the 21st at the latest!

We tied up to the $10.00 dock at the Sanitary Fish Market and Restaurant
in Morehead City (near Beaufort), NC, on Sunday night, then departed
about 0700 Monday morning. Made it past Bellhaven, NC, to the east end
of the Pungo River last night (Monday night) and anchored in a very
remote and quiet anchorage for the night. Three sailboats and another
trawler joined us for the evening.

Up early and departed at 0600 this morning. Hope to get north of
Coinjock, NC, by tonight (almost 100 miles from last night). If we can
do that, we’ll make it through Norfolk on Wednesday and into the
Chesapeake! Yeah!!

Don’t remember if I mentioned that we no longer have an oil leak – the
mechanic in Georgetown, SC, fixed it! What a relief not to have to mop
up a thin film of oil from the engine room deck every morning (I check
the engine oil level when the engine room is cooler before starting out
for the day).

We still have a shot at making the Cape on time!

We left Wrightsville Beach anchorage this morning at 0635, and tied to the dock at the Sanitary Fish Market and Restaurant in Moorehead City, NC, (right next to Beaufort, NC) this afternoon at 1730. Even though we were only on the water for about 11 hours today, we covered over 80 miles! Not bad.

Came through an area where there were several low bridges which only open on a fixed schedule, so we had to wait up to 20 minutes for them. Also several areas with severe shoaling, so we slowed down quite a bit and felt our way along. As luck would have it, we had mixed tidal current, so at times we were moving along at 9 MPH, and at others 6.2 MPH – mostly above our speed in still water of 7.2 MPH.

We took showers aboard after we arrived (we are anchored right next to the restaurant where diners can watch our every move, so thought better of showering on the aft deck), and will soon go to the restaurant for dinner. The dock is only $10.00 per night, as long as we eat dinner.

Shortly after we tied up a Herreschoff 50 built in 1904 pulled in behind us. What a beauty! The owner has had her for 35 years, and just last week Halsey Herreschoff (grandson of the builder) was aboard to sail with them. I sailed once with Halsey when he brought a boat his grandfather built from the Chesapeake to the museum in Bristol, RI.

The cats prefer to anchor out, since we have to keep screens on the doors and them inside when we’re on a dock, otherwise they might jump ship!

Tomorrw we’ll leave early and hope to make it north of Bellhaven, NC, and the Pungo River.

We stopped yesterday afternoon in Georgetown, SC, before noon, in order to have a mechanic check out the engine that was leaking oil, and so that Charlie could get a rental car and start home this morning.

The night before (Wednesday night) we anchored in a little tidal stream about four hours north of Charleston. It had been a hot day, and we were planning on taking showers on the aft deck. Charlie decided it would be a good idea to take a quick dip in the stream before showering, so he jumped in off the swim platform and got wet. After we showered, and were cooking dinner (pork tenderloin and salad) a couple of young boys came by in a boat, having been fishing. I asked them if there were alligators in the area, and they said “Oh, yes, sir!” with some emphasis on the “yes.” The next morning before getting to Georgetown, we spotted five or six good sized gators in the ICW!

Everything was a success. As far as I can tell tonight, the leak was stopped. It was being caused by a small fitting that got bent when the port engine was removed or replaced, allowing a small amount of oil to escape. The mechanic spotted it right away, and was able to remove it and straighten out the base, then replace it with a slather of silicon added for good luck!

The three of us ate out for the first time in a week, last night, in Georgetown, had an ice cream cone, then returned to the boat to read and talk. Charlie couldn’t get his rental car until 0800 this morning, and then took me shopping to restock a few items. Judy stayed aboard to rearrange the v-berth into the cats’ room, get ice, and fill the water tanks. By the time Charlie and I returned about 0915 everything was ready to go. Charlie departed as soon as we unloaded the groceries – we’re going to miss him – he was a big help. We got underway about 0935.

We seemed to hit the tidal current at the wrong time throughout the day, and for eight of our nine hours underway had a current running against us. As a consequence, we didn’t make very good time – only 55 miles in nine hours (exactly).

We’re tied to a dock in North Myrtle Beach at Dock Holidays Marina. We were in a stretch of the ICW where there isn’t an anchorage for over 40 miles, and between our late start and the setting current, we couldn’t make it through that area today.

We’ll make the Chesapeake in another 4-5 days. I was thinking about running the length of the Chesapeake without stopping, but I heard from a friend that the Chesapeake (and presumably the Delaware Bay) is full of debris from the heavy rains of the past couple of weeks, so running at night may not be practical. We’ll have to make that decision later.

We passed through Beaufort, SC, yesterday afternoon and considered stopping to enjoy the fireworks planned later in the day, but in view of the hundreds of small boats already anchored out in the ;prime spots, we kept on going and anchored up the Bull River. Had hot dogs and chili to celebrate while watching the Capitol Fourth on TV (a bit of a let down).

Charlie needs to depart on Friday morning, so we’re going to pass through Charleston SC in a few hours and anchor out tonight, then go into a marina at Georgetown SC tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon. I’m going to arrange for a mechanic to come aboard and check out the oil leak after we arrive. We’ll have real showers in a marina and eat dinner in a restaurant that night, Charlie will depart by rental car the next morning, and if need be, we’ll stay another day or two to get the oil leak fixed.

Weather has been a little hot, although there are showers forecast for this afternoon along with a cold front, so we might get some lower temps. Nothing as hot as last year, however.

If we don’t have to delay more than a day or two to get the oil issue fixed, we’ll still make the Cape by the 20th by boat!

Khepera has been venturing out from under the covers on the bed while the engines are running, and now lies on the floor on the starboard side of the bed – it’s much cooler there and not over the engine room. Julie stays there, also, during most of the day. He still doesn’t come out to eat during the day, but waits until the engines stop at the end of the day’s run!

Hope everyone had a nice Fourth of July!

We’re anchored about 15 miles north of Kings Bay, Georgia, just before St. Andrews Sound. We met up with Charlie yesterday afternoon in St. Augustine, and departed there this morning at 0635.

Refrigerator is working fine. Only problem is an oil leak that is spraying a little bit of oil out of the forward part of the port engine onto the deck plate between the two engines. I haven’t been able to isolate it yet, but have put up a “curtain” of oil absorbent material to  try to determine exactly where it is located. When the engine room is cooler tomorrow morning, I’ll check it out and clean up today’s mess.

We’ve decided that with all the work remaining to do today, we’ll leave bright and early tomorrow (Friday) morning. We moved quite a few things onboard early this morning, and have done our running around town to arrange for the pool maintenance while we’re gone, picked up dry cleaning, etc.  Still have to go shopping for food, and prepare the house.

We’ll still be in St. Augustine in plenty of time to meet Charlie on Saturday. Charlie, we’ll give you a call on your cell when we’re getting into the area, and then we can arrange a time to meet at the dock. Depending on other things, we might come into the Municipal Marina for the night, then we could eat dinner in a great Cuban restaurant right across the street from the marina, get fuel, water, shower, etc.