Washington to Beaufort, NC

Passed this rig in the Pamlico River leaving Washington, NC.  After the Pamlico, we turned south into Goose Creek that led us into a canal that passed under the Hobucken Bridge - can't make these names up.  This dropped us into the Neuse River for a short distance until we turned into Broad Creek to spend the night on anchor.

Broad Creek

35 05.295N 076 36.736W

What Broad Creek lacked in amenities, i.e., cell phone coverage, it made up for in quiet beautiful surroundings.  The shore line was mostly tall pines with a few houses sprinkled in.  

In the morning we took a beating heading into a strong south wind on the Neuse River until we got to Adams Creek and the canal that led us to Beaufort.  Meeting this guy in the canal was a little intimidating.

Beaufort is pronounced Bo-fort.  If you pronounce it Bew-fort like the town in South Carolina, the locals say, "You ain't from around here, is ya'all?"   

Catching Up

Morning at Catfish Point

35 46.004N/076 03.817W

After leaving the Alligator River and traversing the Alligator River/Pungo River Canal, we pulled into Belhaven, NC, regrouped from the electrical spike, and dodged some rainy weather.  Belhaven, while a nice little town with some potential, will probably stay just that, a little town with potential.

Next we turned up the Pamilco River and visited my nephew and his wife (Mark and Shelley) in Washington, NC, a.k.a., "Little Washington."  Great little town with a very friendly, and cheap town dock.  The railroad crossing and swing bridge almost form a breakwater for the docks and anchorage.

 We had dinner with Mark and Shelley every evening, did some boat work, and bicycled around town, including a stop a Backwater Jacks:

Our Circus Bikes

Technology Implosion

At about Mile Marker 100 on the ICW, turning into the Alligator River/Pungo River Canal, Serenity suffered a voltage spike on the house side of the 12 volt system.  The engine kept running fine, however all of our navigation gear started cycling on and off.  As Pollie said, it was very Twilight Zone.  We shut down everything and reverted to paper charts and a hand held VHF radio, until I got the problem resolved.  Really not sure what happened, but I think the battery isolation relay that allows us to charge both battery banks while keeping them isolated from each other hung up.  I have not been able to recreate the problem.  Other than replacing a few fuses and having to reset everything, it appears the only thing we lost was our WiFi enhancer:

We had this unit mounted on a spreader, then connected to a router (see: http://www.keenansystems.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=2&products_id=315). We loved it.  We never had to rely on the cell card that is like a dial up connection.  So, we have a replacement unit ordered and the old one sent in for warranty that we will keep as a backup.

The next casualty was my old Dell laptop.  It went DOA in Washington, NC, so we visited the local Office Depot.  Because it was not plugged in, I do not think it had any nexus with the electrical spike, just managed to find the end of its life cycle.

Elizabeth City and Beyond

We left Elizabeth City early in the morning in the company of some of the boats we accompanied us through the last part of the Dismal Swamp Canal. The other boats had a long trip ahead of them through the Albemarle Sound then the Alligator River before finding a suitable anchorage. Because of Serenity's short draft, we were able to pull into a small creek off of Catfish Point in the Alligator River (35 46.004N/076 03.817W). This is the second time we have been in there, and both times it as a white knuckle ride across a 6' bar. And, both times we tried to venture further back where the charts show 17' of water and grounded our 4.2' keel.




Guests, more later...

Dismal Swamp Canal

Serenity had another great cruise down the Dismal Swamp Canal.  We left Hampton, VA, got stopped at a bridge for a train, and missed the 11:30 AM opening of the Deep Creek Lock.  So, we tied off on a dolphin and had a nice lunch.  I even got a short nap in before the 1:30 opening.  We were the only boat in the lock, so we got personal service.  The cruise down the canal all by ourselves to the 28 mile marker and the North Carolina Welcome Station was uneventful and very pretty with a hint of the fall colors emerging.  At the Welcome Station we were greeted by cruisers we had met in Hampton and ended up rafting up to another boat as all of the room at the dock was taken.  The next morning, 6 sailboats, 5 mono hulls and 1 catamaran, lined up like ducks and cruised to the South Mills Lock.

Then it was a short trip to Elizabeth City and the FREE Mariner's Wharf.  After finding a replacement tire tube for Pollie's bicycle (blowout in Hampton) we rode around and looked at all of the grand old houses.  We also bought some vegetables at their farmers market, and had dinner at a nearby restaurant.

Although we could stay another night for free, we are going to press on and cross the  Albemarle Sound.  All of the guidebooks warn against crossing with winds more than 15 knots.  Tomorrows forecast is for 5 to 10 knots, while Monday and Tuesday is calling for 15 to 20 knots. Not sure where we will end up tomorrow night, but we may anchor at Catfish Point.  A 6 foot bar at the entrance discourages most other sailboats.

Boaters' Social

Kate and Pollie

Kate Lawrence, the Dockmaster at the Hampton Public Piers is great!  She is very energetic and makes all of the cruisers feel welcome.  On Wednesday evening she hosted a very well attended Boaters' Social at La Bodega Hampton appropriately on Wine Street.  Boat cards were exchanged and everyone had a great time.

After the social we joined Chuck and Diane on Nifty Nickers (they had a rental car) for diner at Lynnhaven Fish House.  Chuck introduced us to She Crab Chowder.  You add a touch of sherry to sweeten the dish and thin the stock.  Extremely good, Pollie was disappointed that we only got a cup not a bowl.

We enjoyed Hampton so much, we stayed for our free day.  I also had some work to catch up on for my part time job.

Tomorrow the Dismal Swamp Canal.

Hampton, VA

We spent last night anchored in Mill Creek (37 47.503N/076 19.461 W), very nice. The guide book said that we would probably be the only boat anchored with the tree line shore dotted with houses - wrong.  We arrived with another boat following to find several other boats had beaten us, then several more joined the party.  No problem though, as there was plenty of room in the idyllic anchorage.

No excuse for not keeping the blog updated as we have managed to find WiFi everywhere we have been so far.  Beginning to wonder if I need the cell card.  Although, it was kind of nice getting away from the connected world for a change.  Yesterday we did see two interesting things on the Bay.  The first was Geronimo a 66 foot Trumpy yacht doing 20 knots southbound.  The second was possibly a hover craft with no markings and information masked on AIS doing 32 knots northbound. Very Darth Vader looking craft.

Speaking of AIS, several people have noted that we got to the mouth of the Potomac and dropped off of the map.  Did some research and found that http://www.marinetraffic.com/ is dependent on volunteer ground stations with AIS receivers streaming on the Internet.  We will probably pop back up when we transit Norfolk.  I am looking into becoming a floating ground station, i.e., every time I access the Internet I will stream my AIS information and everyone within VHF range.

Spending tonight and probably tomorrow at the Hampton Public Pier.  Nice, friendly facility and priced reasonably ($1.25 per foot per night - stay two and the third is free).  Pollie is not ready for another nasty day and tomorrow is supposed to be rainy.  Today we started out with wind from the north and current running north.  Needless to say it "lumped up a bit."  We had waves in the 4 to 6 feet range for the first 4 hours then it smoothed out and finally no wind. 

Departure

John Harris did a great job capturing our departure.  Thanks John!  See: http://secure.smilebox.com/ecom/openTheBox?sendevent=4d546b324d546b774e5468384e4449354f4463794d546b3d0d0a&sb=1

We sailed south and anchored in the Solomons.  I checked the log book and found that we have anchored in about the same spot 8 times over the years.  This makes sense because the Solomons are the first and last spot to stop when heading south or returning from the southern Bay to Herrington Harbour. It is always better to be the view than have the view, but the view from the anchorage isn't bad.

Departing on Sunday, Oct. 17, 2010

We have a few more move-in/odd jobs, and the weather looks more favorable on Sunday:

ANZ532-162000-


CHESAPEAKE BAY FROM SANDY POINT TO NORTH BEACH-

601 AM EDT SAT OCT 16 2010



SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH THIS EVENING






TODAY

NW WINDS 20 KT WITH GUSTS TO 30 KT. WAVES 3 FT.



TONIGHT

W WINDS 10 TO 15 KT. GUSTS UP TO 25 KT. WAVES 1 TO 2 FT.



SUN

W WINDS 5 TO 10 KT. WAVES 1 FT.



SUN NIGHT

NW WINDS 5 TO 10 KT. WAVES 1 FT

Damn The Torqeedos Full Speed Ahead

Our new Torqeedo outboard moves you right along and is very responsive.  Docking will require a little practice so as to look smooth.  Don't think you would want to run at full throttle as we were if you want to conserve the battery.

Pollie was never a fan of the gasoline outboard, but seems to be enjoying the Torqeedo.

John, thank you for the pictures and title.

Moving Day

All of our household goods are going into long term storage.  And, hopefully this will be the last time I have to mow a lawn.

Annapolis Sailboat Show

Attended the Annapolis Sailboat Show (http://www.usboat.com/us-sailboat-show/home), and looked at the newest offering from the world's manufactures of boats, boating gear, and stuff you will never need.  One vendor, Torqeedo from Germany http://www.torqeedo.com/us/hn/products/travel-503-1003.html, was displaying their line of electric outboard motors.  We have been discussing going electric to replace/augment our noisy, messy, gas powered 1998 Mercury 3.3 outboard.  My concern was the wiring requirements to charge the battery between usage.  The system is well thought out, and all of my concerns were alleviated.  We will soon have an electric outboard on our EBay dinghy.

By-the-way, the young lady was selling a gizmo to keep your beer can from sliding off surfaces.  I did my part to support the economy.  

HDTV

One cannot expect civilized people to forsake too many of the comforts of the landlubber life.  Therefore, we have installed a 32" LED HDTV and a PS3 to provide some entertainment.

Mostly, we like to watch movies from Pollie's extensive collection.  I also like to catch the news sometimes, so we installed an YouTube bow tie over the air antenna behind one of the seats.  Out here in the "boonies," I only receive 3 channels, but in more metropolitan areas I will receive more.

Not pretty, but it works.

 

Haul Out & Power Wash

Because we have been sitting while getting ready for our cruise, we decided have Serenity pulled out of the water and power washed to remove any slime and barnacles.  Waste of money, the new bottom paint was doing its job.

But, while she was out of the water strainers were installed to keep the jelly fish out of the air conditioning. They are the white spots on the black bottom.

Wind Generator

Serenity now has her wind generator, the D400 from Eclectic Energy.  So far it has been quietly spinning away.  I haven't pulled down the batteries to find out how much it can produce, but it seems to be doing quite nicely.

The stainless steel mount and install was done by Phipps Boat Works (http://www.herringtonharbour.com/workreq/form/pbw.htm).  Great job, thanks Shaun!