Where’d the time go? When you’re cruising, it’s early to bed and early to rise; certainly not something we’re used to “back home.” The days drift away in the wake of the boat, and suddenly you’ve moved another 600 miles and the blog is a week and a half out of date.
Rather than giving you a day-by-day accounting of our time underway, I’ll just summarize the highlights to get you caught up with our current position.
May 14, 2011 Tuckahoe Point Anchorage on the north end of the Pungo River-Alligator River Canal
We departed the anchorage with hazy and smokey conditions caused by fires to the east of us along the Albermarle Sound; there was enough smoke that it was difficult to see the eastern shore before us about eight miles away. This continued throughout the day, even as we were crossing Albermarle Sound and up the Pasquotank River. Past Elizabeth City where the river narrows we left the smokey air behind and enjoyed the pristine and unpopulated river as it meanders from area around the South Mills Lock of the Dismal Swamp Canal. We tied up between two dolphins just outside the lock for the night, and were out in the river waiting for the lock to open the next morning at 0830.
One other boat joined us in the lock and through the canal – a trawler that had overtaken us going up the Pasquotank before Elizabeth City. There was a family aboard cruising the Great Loop and home schooling their two children. We had talked at various times about the area and about our respective cruising plans. They anchored for the night about 10 miles before South Lock so their kids could enjoy tubing and kayaking on the river in the afternoon.
We locked into South Lock together and into the canal on the North Carolina end, then crossed into Virginia about midway through the canal. We stopped about a mile before the north end at Deep Creek and had about an hour to do some grocery shopping in the small village before the lock opened at 1330 to lock us back down into the Elizabeth River not too far from Norfolk.
We continued on through the many bridges around Norfolk, and were only delayed once for a railway bridge that was down to permit train traffic to cross. We then continued past the Navy base with its many ships and across Hampton Roads to an anchorage at Phoebus Channel near Old Point Comfort.
Stats up to this point: 1010.2SM – 152H25M we change over to nautical miles at this point until we enter the Hudson River and the New York State Canal system.
May 16, 2011 Phoebus Channel Anchorage
Now we’re in familiar territory on Chesapeake Bay. The weather was good this morning so we headed north with the tide mostly against us for the 75 mile (nautical) run to the northern side of the lower Potomac River where we anchored in Smith Creek’s offshoot, Jutland Creek. The weather forecast for the 17th was for unfavorable (higher than comfortable) wind on the Bay, so we stayed in our nice secluded spot for the next day. That morning I was able to fix the non-working bow thruster (a loose connection in the electrical line). It was the evening of the 17th when we tried to start the generator to replenish the batteries that we learned that the generator wasn’t drawing water from the river to cool the engine; we’d have to get that fixed if we anticipated anchoring for more than a day anywhere on the trip!
By Wednesday the 18th the wind on the Bay had died down and we were on our way again. We decided to get to the South River (just south of Annapolis) where we could meet Jennifer and Chris for dinner if we stayed in a marina near the highway; we also arranged for the marina’s mechanic to check out the generator problem the following morning, and when the problem was resolved, to get underway to continue up the Bay.
We did have dinner with Jennifer and Chris at a very good Vietnamese restaurant, the mechanic arrived the next morning and worked through the problem with the pump until we both thought he had it fixed. I was able to start and stop the generator three or four times before we finally departed the marina. In the meantime, Judy was able to do a load of laundry with our onboard washer/dryer!
When we anchored that night at Still Pond on the eastern shore, I thought it would be a good idea to start the generator to ensure that it was still working. It didn’t! Since then, I’ve been dealing with the problem myself and the advice and help of many internet acquaintances. Through the northern reaches of Chesapeake Bay, the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, anchoring for the night at Reedy Island in the northern Delaware Bay, and down the Delaware to Cape May. Advice and response, advice and response! We got fuel at Cape May then anchored for the night. I again took unfastened various hoses trying to find a problem area, all to no avail. We departed Cape May at 0600 on May 22nd heading for Atlantic City. Forecast was for winds 10-15 out of the NE – not the best direction for a trip up the coast of New Jersy, but the forecast speed made it seem OK for travel, particularly in the morning when winds are generally lighter. Well, about half an hour out we knew we were in for a ride! The wind was about 45 degrees off the starboard bow and the waves were running 3-4 feet. We moved below to the inside steering station where the motion of the boat crashing through the waves wouldn’t be so pronounced and that reduced the wind noise which made it appear not to be so strong. The tide was against us, so between the wind and the tide pushing us back, we only progressed at about 6.5 knots with the engine running at 1900 RPM, faster than our normal cruising speed. One boat that left the Cape May anchorage at the same time we did and passed us about 45 minutes out, eventually turned around and ran two hours back to Cape May. Another boat had returned earlier. However, we figured it wasn’t going to get any worse, so we along with two sail boats continued on to Atlantic City arriving about six and a half hours after we departed. It was a tiring trip and we were rolling to port at about 30 degrees then returning to starboard, but not dangerous.
May 23, 2011 Atlantic City
We’ll be here for a few days due to unfavorable wind conditions on the ocean. The forecast indicates winds from the north, east and south, with only one day (Wednesday) with wind from the NW which would normally be good, but the seas build up and it takes a day or two to subside, so the wind has to back off for at least a day after higher winds produce unfavorable sea conditions. That’s the bad news.
The good news, in a way, is that since we’re stuck here at a marina with a non-working generator, we’ve decided to bite the bullet and have a local mechanic install a new water pump on the generator. Hopefully that is the source of the problem we’re experiencing, and once it’s fixed we won’t be bound to spend time in marinas when we have to delay cruising for any reason. I’ve talked with a distributor in Cocoa, Florida, where I get parts for the generator and he has suggested various techniques to determine the source of the problem, and I’ve followed his suggestions to no avail.
I talked with a representative of a company recommended by the dockmaster here today, and they have ordered the necessary parts and will get the new pump installed before Friday. Yes! If the weather does not improve, we’ll then take the New Jersey Intercoastal Waterway north as far as Manasquan and wait for a good weather window to go outside (no choice through this stretch of the coast) to Great Kills on Staten Island.
The other good news for our cruising plan is that the Erie Canal has not yet opened due to high water caused by recent rains (and there is no forecast as to when the Erie Canal will open to traffic), so we’re not loosing any travel days that would affect our overall plan. Once we get on the Hudson River it will take us about three days to get to the Erie Canal.
So we’ll get the generator working before Friday and then depart on Friday or sooner. Hate spending all this time in a marina in an area where we really didn’t plan on staying, but as long as we do we’ll get the work done, then leave.
From our marina (Gardner’s Basin) we look across the small river at three gawdy casinos. On the other (land) side of Sanderling is the Atlantic City Aquarium – a great place to visit. There is a small community of homes, condos and town homes in the area, with a few small restaurants, but no major food market. Judy is working on her legal consulting business every day, and I’m trouble-shooting generator problems (up until now).
More to follow.