When last we left you we were waiting for the shuttle launch in Titusville. Well they scrubbed the launch 3 days in a row and finally scrubbed it until early January. Boy did we have ring side seats. We were about 5 miles from the launch pad which we could clearly see because there was nothing between us and the pad except for water and some low scrub. I expect that we would have been able to feel the heat from the engines. But alas it did not happen. We are now located in the marina where we will store the boat for the Christmas holidays, coming back in early January to resume our trek south to the Keys. I am NOT looking forward to leaving this T-shirt weather for the cold of Maryland, I may have to break my goal to stay in shorts for a whole year. So far I have managed to keep this goal, but………

So long for now, see you back in January.

Well we’ve left St Marys and went only about 3 miles to Cumberland Island National Park on, well of course, Cumberland Island. It was formerly the playground of one of the lesser Carnagies, Andrew I believe. At present the island is largely deeded to the feds as a national seashore and a refuge for wild horses. It is quite beautiful and full of wildlife, turkeys, armadillos and other birds of various types. There are camping site that you can use that a close to the beaches. The beaches are pristine and isolated.
We left there and finally got into Florida, Fernandina Beach (N30 41.1839 W081 27.6649) to be exact, where we picked up a mooring. On the trip in from the mooring the outboard quit just as we were about to get to the dinghy dock and refused to start. The symptoms suggested a clogged main jet, because it would run at an idle, but not when to put it under load. I got a tow back to the mothership and field stripped the carb to find what looked like pepper in the bowel and a completely clogged main jet (being a motorcycle mechanic for several years was certainly an asset). We must have picked up some bad gas somewhere. I added an inline filter to be sure that the problem did not re-occur. This killed most of our day there so we stayed another. On the second night we were assaulted by our mooring ball at about 2 in the morning. The wind was against the tide so we rode up on the ball, which kept banging on the hull until the tide changed. Tidal currents are a very common occurance on the ICW, especially in Georgia and northern Florida. You learn to live with them. Needless to say we got and early start the next morning and traveled all the way to St. Augustine, Fla (N29 53.7750 W081 18.5800).
St. Augustine was a great city to visit, both beautiful and historic. Touted as the oldest city in the nation, first settled by the Spanish to guard their ships that were robbing the new world of its riches, it has a great deal of charm. The old buildings are well preserved and of a style us northeasterners are not accustom to. The local college, Flagler College, is housed in part in an old hotel that you gotta see. It was originally built by Henry Flagler the chap that built the railroad from north to south Florida, including the keys. It was an elegant hotel for the rich and famous. While we were there we visited the old fort that was put there by the Spanish. They were daily firing a cannon out over the harbor where we were anchored, a bit unnerving but they said they leave out the projectiles. December 1 was what they call the Illumination, which dates back to the British rule of St Aug. All these re-enactors, dressed in clothes of the era, parade through town while a pipes and drum corps plays the black watch and other classic pipe tunes. It was impressive. They finally ended up in the at the old governor’s mansion to sing Christmas carols.
We left St Aug after about three days to head for Titusville to watch the launch of the space shuttle on Dec 6th. We had and intermediate stopover in Daytona (N29 13.7669 W081 01.2410 ), just to anchor for the night then proceeded on to Titusville (N28 37.6640 W080 48.4970), where we await the launch. WE have ringside seats (on the boat). There is nothing between us and the launch pad but water and scrub, it should be spectacular and we can’t wait. After the shuttle launch we will head down to Melborne to store the boat for a couple of weeks while we head back to Takoma Park, then Long Beach Ca for the holidays. We will get back to the boat after New Years, then it’s the Keys or Bust. While the weather is quite balmy here (T-shirt weather) it still gets brisk in the evenings.
The aerial shot is of St Marys Harbor during the thanksgiving feast.

We're back

Well we’ve not posted anything on the blog in a while because we had computer problems. We think a cheap-ass 12 volt power supply converted fried the computer battery charger, which resulted in us both not being able to charge the computer battery and not being able to run on 120 volts. Thus, when the battery ran out we had no more computer. so we had to buy a new computer on which I am typing now. So let me start where I left off and catch you up.
We left Charleston, SC headed for Beaufort, SC. On the way we encountered I single hander we had met early on in the trip and hung around with in Charleston. He was hard aground against a shoal held by the outgoing tide. The tidal flows in this neck of the woods is wicked. The tides them selves are 6 to 8 feet and the flows can be up to 2 kts. Any way he was a goner until the tide turned. We anchored in the deep water and gave him a hand along with a dose of moral support. He had called TowBoatsUS but got a call back from them that they would be about 3 hours since they themselves had run aground (yes it happens to the best of us). Meanwhile the tide had turned and we were able to kedge him off just about sundown. Kedging is merely setting an anchor out in the deep water and using it to drag yourself to it and hopefully off the shoal. We then all three boats, the two that stopped and the aground boat, anchored down stream a bit (south Edisto River N32 34.5320 W080 23.1820) and Terri made the group a pot of pasta and we had a merry party to celebrate our success. It’s the cruising life where strangers help strangers and are immediately friends. The next morning we finished our trip to Beaufort (N32 25.7979 W080 40.4480), where Terri fell in love with the town. Some beautiful old southern architecture and history. The house where they filmed the generational movie “the big chill” is in Beaufort. We hung around for a bit and celebrated some more with the aground crew. We also met up again with some people we met in New Bern at the Southbound Cruisers Rendevous. It is amazing that you may be traveling alone down the ICW but you run into the same people again and friends are made easily (more about this later).
Our next stop was the Cooper River, which is a beautiful isolated creek in the marshes. Let me digress a bit and tell you about the marshes. Going through what is called the low country in South Carolina and Georgia you are meandering through creeks that cut through the marshes. These marshes are comprised of salt resistant grasses that go on for miles, sometimes to the horizon. Dotted in these marshes are the occasional “island” of higher ground where the trees take over. We hove tried to take pictures of this, but they do not do justice to the beauty of these marshes.
Our next stop was an even more beautiful creek in the marshes called Cattle pen Creek (N31 38.8310 W081 10.8279 ), which we shared with 6 other cruisers, but still when the sun when down it was like we were the only people there.
From here it was on to Fort Frederica (N31 13.1499 W081 23.7039 ), a pre-Revolutionary fort designed to stave off the Spanish, who laid claim to this part of the Americas at the time. We spent the night and were going to visit the fort in the morning, but the dinghy dock could not be approached for 2 hours around low tide. Somebody was not thinking!! Had they extended the dock some 30 feet there would be no problem. Well we didn’t get to see Ft Frederica, so we were off to Brunswick Ga since we are in desperate need of a laundry and REAL showers (for me somewhere where I can actually scrub all over without bonking my elbows). We also needed to buy a new computer, which is vital to our communications, bill paying and money management. Buying a new computer is the easy part, setting it up, getting connectivity, recovering email addresses…..the list goes on. We are slowly getting back to where we were pre computer disaster.
From Brunswick we did a short hop to Jekyl Island (N31 02.3299 W081 25.5009) then on to St Marys Georgia (N30 43.0550 W081 32.8719) where we intended on having Thanksgiving dinner with other southbound cruisers. As it turned out there were over 100 boats and about 250 people in attendance. The local town (st Marys) provides the turkeys and ham and the cruisers each bring a pot luck dish. There was stuffing, cranberry sauce, potatoes of all stripes, pies etc. It was a great experience, because each night there was a happy hour with people breaking out the musical instruments and singing along. We met some wonderful people all of whom were trying to convince Terri to make the jump to the Bahamas.
Well enough for now, got to get moving once again. Tune in again.

We are finally out of Wrightsville Beach. The wind has abated and now blowing 10-15 from behind us giving the boat a little push with the jib up. Our next stop is the Shallotte River (N33 54.9540 W078 22.2309) where we have a quiet night at anchor. We are off in the morning for Barefoot landing, a mall complex adjacent to the waterway, Terri insists. We have more dirty clothes than clean and are in need of a “real” shower where Neal can turn around without barking his shin on the mast so we take a slip in the marina there (N33 48.1080 W078 44.7720). This is very fortunate because we have the second affair of the head. Terri has been commenting all day that she smells sewerage, but I keep poo-pooing her overly sensitive nose. As it turns out she is correct, because we see a stream of sewerage from our holding tank (that’s where we pump out loo in between having it pumped out) streaming through the main cabin. It turns out that we have overfilled the tank and have blown the cover off along with about a cup of raw sewerage. YUKE Well it’s roll up your sleeves and muck it out. Plenty of bleach, water and soap along with one roll of paper towels does the trick along with 2 hours of hard work. This takes us into the night and we are both so exhausted that I eat a peanut butter sandwich for dinner and for Terri nothing. Note to self, buy a gauge to tell when the holding tank is full. Barefoot landing will go down in the annals as a crappy part of the trip. It is said that cruising is where you fix your boat in exotic places.
We were rewarded by a stay the next night in the beginnings of the Waccama River (N33 40.3410 W079 03.8319), which starts in a cypress swamp. The water is deep up to the banks and you can anchor in very narrow side channels (see picture). It was truly enchanting in there, dark as a coal pit and very still. You almost felt that the creature from the black lagoon would soon rise from the depths. Spooky but enchanting. Our journey the next day continued to Georgetown SC (N33 40.3410 W079 03.8319), which is nothing like Georgetown, DC. An old southern city with rich history and a beautiful downtown if you can ignore the stench from the nearby paper mill and the airborne crap from the steel mill. Needless to say we did not stay for very long, but got on the “road” to Charleston with an overnight stop in Whiteside Creek (N32 52.3090 W079 42.8569).
It was a short trip the next day to Charleston, SC (N32 46.8190 W079 57.5400), an outstandingly beautiful old southern city. Much of the architecture is still pre-civil war. Apparently Charleston was never razed by that union general with the unmentionable name so the buildings survived. Post war (the Yankee aggression one) saw the fortunes of Charleston plummet because of the collapse of the plantation economy (no slaves to run them). As a result they fixed up the old housing stock rather than tear it down and rebuild, which is generally how we work as a nation. Thus some pretty amazing houses now restored to their former glory are to be seen all over the lower historic part of the city.
While here we also took the obligatory trip out to the starting point of the war of Yankee aggression, Fort Sumter. Note to southerners: you fired the first shots. We heard some interesting tidbits, including that the fort was built on a foundation of Yankee granite from Vermont and New Hampshire, the Abner Doubleday of baseball fame was stationed there and for all the shooting no one was killed.

Some photos

It’s been a long time since we last added stuff to the Log, but WiFi has been scarce as has been time. We are very busy running the boat and have had little time to set pen to paper or rather fingers to keys. Let me tell you of a typical day. The day starts out pre-dawn when the urge to stay in bed is outweighed by the urge to visit the loo, so Neal gets up satisfies the latter and starts coffee water. With coffee in hand I begin to prepare the boat for departure and watch to sun rise, while Terri, thoroughly awake from my banging around rolls out of bed. Up comes the anchor and off we go. Terri, after enjoying her tea starts breakfast, very health full stuff like yogurt with granola and fruit, which we eat in the cockpit as we wander down the ICW taking in the sights (eagles, porposes, pelicans, kingfishers etc) it never gets boring because there is something new around each bend.

Around 11:00 AM we have second breakfast of a piece of fruit and by 1:00PM lunch is served (Terri again). We continue on at this pace until about 4:00 PM and we set down the anchor for the night. It’s now time for a sundowner as we watch to sun set. Terri, and sometimes Neal, start dinner (called supper down in this neck of the woods) and we have a grand feast. Terri has become the master of the two burner alcohol stove, sans oven and has put together some fantastic feeds. We clean up and try to read for a while but by 9:00 PM we are ready for bed mainly because we cannot keep our eyes open to read. There are minor rhythms to this daily routine, start a little later-stop a little earlier. Breaks in this routine occur when we hit a town, then it is chore time and explore time. Sound Boring?? Let me tell you it is not at all.

Now let me tell you where we’ve been. When LAST we left you we were in Spooners Creek. From there we went to Sloop Point (N34 24.4509 W077 35.7259) a site recommended by the Guru of the ICW, Skipper Bob. We joined a fellow cruiser there whom we had met in New Bern and they invited us over for dinner on their 32 Catamaran. They were on their way to the Bahamas for the fourth or fifth (?) time. The first third or fourth time they did it in a 26 foot Macgregor, a boat with no standing head room, even for a vertically challenged person. Moreover it is an extremely light weight boat so it rides rough. It would be comparable to riding Cross County on a moped. These people are tough as well as being delightful.

Next morning we were off, well maybe not that rapidly. It seems we crossed over a narrow sandbar coming into this7-8 foot deep hole. This was at high tide, so the next morning when we tried to get out there was the bar hiding under 3 feet of water (we draw 4). There was no apparent hole through which we could wiggly out so we pressed the keel against the bar and waited for the tide to lift us over. High tide was around noon. We got some friendly advice from passing fisherman who state the obvious “you can’t go in there it’s too shallow” We know we’re aground, say we. “You’ll have to wait for high tide” We know, say we. After being there for about three hours a towBoatUS returning from another job sees us and since he saw us on the way out in the same place realizes that we must be stuck, so over he comes. Need a tow? Sure we say since we bought the unlimited towing insurance from BoatUS. Sign on the dotted line says he. While we are doing the paperwork he asks if we came in here on Skipper Bobs recommendation, yes we add, he-I sure get a bit of business from this recommendation. We learn a lesson, Skipper Bob is NOT infallible. One yank and we are off, had we waited another 15-30 minute we probably would have gotten off by ourselves. On we got to Wrightsville Beach, about 3 hours away.

Wrightsville beach (N34 12.4470 W077 47.8949) is a very crowded harbor and we are expecting a cold front with winds 20-25 kts, but we manage to find a little space for us. We are right behind another T34 called “Ginny Song” but they appear not to be onboard (no dinghy apparent). On the way in we pass Dreamer a Catalina 34 from New York single handed by Lenny who we met back in Elizabeth City. He invites us over for bean and Cheese Burritos, so we have a second party in as many days. During the night the wind picks up and by daylight is is howling down the anchorage, blowing as predicted and then some. We register some 33 kts gusts on the windspeed, so we sit out most of the day onboard reading until late in the afternoon when cabin fever strike and it seems that the winds have settled a bit and Terri needs to shop for some dinner. In the dinghy and off to shore. The wind gods do not approve of this and the wind picks up, crashing into the wave Terri gets a face full of salt water as does her phone. Terri survives but the jury is still out on her phone. We wait another night at Wrightsville for the winds to moderate, which NOAA promises will happen.

Only on incident transpires in this crowded anchorage when a French Canadian 50 foot steel motor sailor drags anchor downwind from us. They work for 3 hours trying to reset and finally give up and head for a marina.

Well where were we. Last we wrote we were in Oriental (N35 01.3729 W076 41.8809) and after a trip to New Bern we are back in Oriental, but I’m getting ahead of my self. While we were in Elizabeth City we heard about the Southbound Cruisers Rendezvous that was to be held in New Bern, so we decided to go. Turns out there were somewhere in the vicinity of 90 boats and more people coming by car. It was a great networking opportunity with seminars on various cruising topics. We ended up spending 3 nights there (N35 06.0289 W077 02.6629). Found a wonderful old time hardware store that had about anything you wanted of a hardware store nature. We also ate one night at the local Episcopal Church’s chili supper and went to a coffeehouse right out of the 60s, where we were treated to a concert by Steve Gillette and Cindy Mangsen, folkies right out of the sixties.

The trip to New Bern was a great sail for the Tartan cuzz she loves a beam reach (wind coming perpendicular to the side of the boat for you non-sailors) and we flew, 7+ knts, for most of the trip up the Neuse River.

We are now back in Oriental to pick up a package, got here Saturday and did our first marina stop. We’re in the marina to affect repairs on the stinking head (toilet to you non-boaters). The idea is to get it so that it doesn’t leak, rebuilt the workings and reposition it so that a 6’1” person (me) can, if you’ll pardon the expression, sit and contemplate. Well those of you who work on old houses and old boats probably know the term “mushroom factor.” This is where you decide just before a dinner party to change a bulb and the project mushrooms into rewiring the whole house. Well we didn’t have to re-plumb the whole boat, but damn near. First to new pump mechanism did not fit the old base so I needed a new base, lucky for me there was a great marine chandlery. Of course there were the frozen nuts to deal with (hacksaw) and the stripped heads of course, but the

head got re-assembled. Now it was time to put it back in place. Now some of you probably do not know how big the head is on Aeolus, but try to imagine installing a toilet in a phone booth, while you’re standing in said phone booth. Can you picture it? You have to get real intimate with the old crapper. When I got it in place I came to the realization that in order to install it in the location that was most comfortable, see above, I needed to relocate the 1.5 inch hose, which entailed drilling a 2 inch hole in the side of the sink cabinet. Hmmmm all my tools are back in Takoma Park. Well, it’s George to the rescue.

Who’s George? Well I’ll have to digress for a moment. While I was sitting in the cockpit at the dock up to my elbows in head parts, cursing and fuming, I hear this soft southern drawl saying he should have recognized our Tartan. It was George Duffie of Oriental, a fellow Tartan 34 owner. We chatted for a while I cleaned up my language vis-a-vis the head. The next morning George came by and invited us to brunch with he and his wife Mary at a delightful little country café followed by a car tour of Oriental, a very lovely town I might add. We could see why lots of people are settling there, especially boaters because the sailing is great and the town very boater friendly.

Back to the hole saw. I realized from talking to George that he was very handy with his hands and would likely have the appropriate tools, so I gave him a call and sure enough he came by with a hole saw and a drill powerful enough, so it took me about 10 seconds to drill the hole. Well now the head was all installed and working properly, except there was a minor leak in the Y valve, yuck the contents of the loo leaking. Thanks to the power of chemistry (epoxy) we made a temporary fix to hold until a replacement part connects with us.

So after 3 days in Oriental we are off again southbound. Spent the night in Spooner’s Creek (N34 43.7830 W076 48.4269), just south of Moorehead City, NC. Here, I got the fright of my life. You see the entrance to Spooners is a narrow (30 feet wide at the most) with a current flowing across it. So when I turned in I slowed down and asked Terri to read off the depth. She started with 5.5, 5, 4.5, 4, 3.5, down and down. Now the Tartan only draws 4 feet, so I’m beginning to panic. I am watching the markers and realizing that I cannot turn a 34 foot boat around in 30 feet of channel so I’m rehearsing what I’m going to say to the towBoatUS guy when Terri announces sorry I was reading the knot meter (speedometer for you non-sailors). Needless to say I needed a beer when I got into the anchorage, incident free. Spooner’s Creek is a small gunk hole with very expensive houses cheek by jowl along the banks, but an accommodating dinghy dock at the head of the creek. It was shore leave for the crew. Terri hit a Wal-Mart to add more “stuff” to the boat such as a 12 volt vacuum, Neal for a WiFi antenna to increase our range. All in all this has been a wonderful trip.

My Turn

My turn . . .

We got started on October 11^th, sort of. Neal was so excited to get going that – and so not wanting to start out on a Friday (some sailing superstition about voyages never beginning on a Friday) – separately we both came up with the idea to just get going whatever. So I went shopping and he took the boat to our friends’ dock on the Magothy, which meant we were officially underway, for a whopping two hours, but we were underway.

I finished yet one more trip to Bed, Bath & Beyond (if you don’t own stock in that company you really missed a nice dividend this month), did the fresh grocery supply run, and headed back to Takoma to meet up with our friends, George and Ellen, who kindly agreed to bring me back to the boat and then both cars back home. By the time we finally got back to the boat (a Corridor Fine Wine stop being absolutely necessary), unloaded the supplies, and headed out to dinner, the only place left open was a friendly Friendly’s. Whatever . . . we ate, saw G & E off, and fell into the bunk in an exhausted stupor.

Early Friday morning we took off on a cold, wild ride down to the Solomons. I’m sure Neal wrote of the wind and how fast we went down the Bay. I was – when able to actually stay awake – focused on the amazing quality of the water. If you’ve spent much time on the Bay in the summer, you know how green the water is: deep, dark green. But in the crisp fall morning on the run down I was dazzled by the multitude of colors – blues, greens, turquoise – so captivating.

About staying awake, one of the first signs of mal-de-mer is sleepiness and boy was I sleepy all day, just kept nodding off when not fascinated by the water. The ride was much like a rollercoaster, and I was not yet in tune to my inner ear as much as I would have liked. Didn’t get sick, but didn’t feel top notch most of the day. Fortunately, that has all passed.

Back to the water: it kept changing all day and by the time we were pulling into the Solomons late in the day, with the sun low in the sky, it was looking like liquid mica – fool’s gold. We saw an eagle lazily looking for dinner and many, many snow geese. We also saw one of the Navy’s weird looking take off like a helicopter, fly like a regular plane planes, which they call an Osprey. Why, oh why, would they name something as ugly and ungainly looking as that plane after such a beautiful and graceful creature? It should be called the cormorant, a bird with no flight grace whatsoever, but fun to watch dive (a grouping of which is called a gulp*).

Day two was much like the first, sleepingly dazzled by the water and the birds, the wonderful birds, especially the squadrons of pelicans (squadron, perhaps because of the tight formations in which they fly), which, as Neal already said, are not, according to the Audubon Society, supposed to habitat that far north. Now, they are funny looking, but so elegant in flight and hunt! Sailing into the morning sun on the water was like sailing into an incredibly large chrysanthemum fireworks explosion – so bright and with trailing streams of light coming towards us on the waves. I am really getting sappy here but, boy was it beautiful.

We spent two nights in quiet anchorages and arrived on the fourth day at Hampton, VA. Passing through Norfolk we saw lots more pelicans and lots of Navy ships – kinda cool in a old war movie kind of way. Best part of the stay - $1.00 showers. Yes, we can shower in hot water on the boat, but it uses a lot of our little water stores and is best saved for emergencies whenever a land shower is just not available. Like today.

In Hampton, we took it into our heads to hike to a West Marine. It was a long, long hike. I’m sure Neal already wrote about that. I was in serious BB&B withdrawal but with not a store in sight, had to salve my need with a Chez Target. I’m telling you, you should own stock – I have a serious addiction!

We stayed two nights in Hampton (yea! Extra shower) and then headed out for the Dismal Swamp. On the way down, I called into a SAG Council meeting that I’m sure folks were wondering what in the world was going on as we surfed over wake after wake from VLB (very large boats) passing us by. It was very much like being on yet another rollercoaster at some points and, as I was up on the bow of the ship to be as far from the engine as possible so I might actually be able to hear the conference call, the occasional “wheeeeeee” that punctuated the conversation must have sounded just a little strange.

I’ve not read what Neal’s written so if this is repetitious, I apologize. I’m not sure what I was expecting but boy was it cool. Narrow, and fortunately not very buggy, except for the Visitors Center on the VA/NC border where we spent a night and are still fighting the little, tiny bugs that invaded the boat along with something else that really liked Terri meat. Everyone is safe when I’m there for bug food.

Again about the water. The water in most of NC is this dark, dark brown color – it looks the way an Americano at Starbucks looks – slightly watered down espresso. Can you tell I’m easily impressed by new things? Did Neal already mention that the water is colored that way by the tannin from the Cypress trees? Allegedly, the water won’t harm you as evil bacteria can’t live in it, but I wouldn’t want to swim in it or drink it. Beautiful, nonetheless.

Of course, now I’m losing track of time, I don’t remember when or where I found a Curves and got in a workout and I don’t remember how long it took us to get to Elizabeth City and I don’t remember most of the time what day of the week it is anymore. Sigh, my problems are so great :-).

Our time in Elizabeth City was fun and marked by a wonderful homecoming parade for the local university, Elizabeth City State University. The school is an HBC and the marching band was just superb, as were the many high school bands and other marching groups in the line. I mean they really take their homecoming seriously. There were floats for, I think, all of the educational departments with, seemingly, all of the faculty riding on them. It is so wonderful to be a part of such a proud moment in this little town.

We met some new friends and learned of a gathering of southbound cruisers would meet in New Bern, NC. Stopping first in Bellhaven and then in Oriental, we are now hanging out in New Bern with a great bunch of people, sitting in on seminars, and getting a lot of new information about our future destinations. What a bunch of really neat little towns, anyone of which would make a lovely retirement settlement – that being what they mostly are anyway.

In the harbor, a covert of coots is milling about.

Downside, it’s been more than a day or so since my last shower, we’re at anchor and low on water, and though we planned to leave today to go back to Oriental to pick up a package, it’s pouring down rain and we are stuck here till, probably Sunday. Oh, well. Neal is gallantly humping the 5 gallon water container to and from the dock to the boat so I can have a shower today. He’s so good to me.

*Grouping names of birds taken from Names for groups of animals@Everything2.com

Saturday, 20 October

We pulled up stakes and left Hampton behind on Tuesday and motored past the naval might of this nation, at least that part which was in port at the time. Norfolk is loaded with the US navy. We cut a corner to get to a marina for fuel, got a little close to one of uncle sams boats and out came a couple of sailors in an inflatable to let us know that we were NOT to get any closer. ARMED TO THE TEETH I AM SURE THEY WERE. One false move and I’m sure they would have blown us out of the water. We got to the lock at the beginning of the Dismal swamp canal to late to be locked through so we anchored in front of it to wait for the morning lock through and by nightfall there were about eight boats waiting with us (N36 44.8670 W076 20.2819). When the morning lock through came we had 14 boats in all being raised about 10 feet to the level of the canal. The canal it self is beautiful. About 40-50 feet wide and about 8-9 feet deep, it runs pretty straight for about 25 miles.

An interesting historical fact relates to the slave labor digging the canal as I mentioned before. During the digging the slaves learned the Dismal Swamp like the back of their hands and later this knowledge was put to use as a stop on the underground railway for run away slaves. Talk about your unintended consequences.

We stayed overnight in the canal, docked at the visitors center (N36 29.9640 W076 21.1510) then took off in the AM to catch the 9:00 am lock out and move on to Elizabeth City, NC. We locked out with only one other boat, but sat in the lock for at least 30 minute all the time with the engine running. The lockmaster was a displaced Chicagoan and very talkative. Along with us in the lock, beside the boat was a carpet of duck weed a sort of miniature lily pad plant about the size of a typed o. Well the cooling water intake sucked tons of duckweed up and just as we left the lock the flow of engine cooling water stopped. We stopped the engine and drifted while I cleaned out the raw water filter, which was stuffed with a baseball size glob of duckweed. We later learned in Elizabeth City that many boats had a similar problem with more dire consequences, burned out exhaust systems, burned out pump impellors etc. We were lucky.

On the Elizabeth City (N36 17.9999 W076 13.0469). When we got there we learned of the passing of an icon, a man called Fred Fearing. You see about 25 years ago he and a pal were coming out of church one Sunday and saw all the southbound cruising boat docked at the city docks so he and his buddy decide to greet all the ladies aboard with a rose. They repeated this every day during the southbound cruising season and soon added a reception of wine and cheese. So he has been doing this for the last 25 years until now. We stayed in EC for two days doing “chores, VIZ. groceries, laundry etc, then headed out across Albemarle Sound for the Alligator river, some 50 miles away. Well let me tell you that this is probably one of the most isolated places on the east coast (N35 40.5809 W076 04.3709). Nothing but bears, wolves and a few anchored out cruisers. The cell phones showed NO bars, nada, none. No shore lights, no loom of “city lights”, it is DARK, but it is beautiful. The sunset was spectacular as you should see if I figure out how to add pictures to this log.

On the AM it was on to the lovely, but dead town of Belhaven (N35 31.8770 W076 37.3). Lots of vacant storefronts, but many beautiful houses. There is a new condominium going up on the waterfront units selling for 200 thou, with a dock included.

24 October 2007

We are in Oriental NC after a hard slog to windward against a 20 knt wind. Go here wet and tired.

On our way

The odyssey has begun. We threw off the dock lines late on Thursday Oct 11 and headed out on the trip south. Well we only got as far as the Magothy River some 5 miles from the dock, but jeez it was a start. We set off in earnest the next day and headed for the Patuxant River and the Solomons some 35 miles south. What a ride it was with a small craft advisory out and winds at our back at a steady 18-20 knots and gusting to over 30 kts we have a classic Nantucket Sleigh ride although I think the origins of the term refers to being pulled behind a harpooned whale in a small dory. “Hal” the autopilot could not handle the yawing so the captain had to man the helm the whole trip, who says we will be replaced by machines. After we got into the Solomons the wind settle down and we had a wonderful night’s sleep, early to bed at 9:30 and cool enough to bundle up in the blankets. To track our stops I will put in the GPS coordinates for each stop over in parentheses so that the ambitious and curious among you can plot them in Google earth. First stop ( N38 20.2379 W076 27.6159).

We were up at 7:00 AM and out on the water by 8:00 AM heading for Reedville. All the wind we had yesterday has now dissipated and we are under diesel power.

Well the best laid plans…. We never made Reedville but ran out of time and stopped at a little creek call Dymer Creek (N37 40.2279 W076 20.1910). Searching around for a place to set the hook we motored pass a fellow traveler between him and the shore (about sixty feet off his beam) and promptly ran aground, probably this will not be the last time. We were going slowly so it was an easy off. Dymer has some very big houses on shore undoubtedly a lot on money here. Tomorrow on to Norfolk.

Well we didn’t make Norfolk. Hey this is a vacation trip not a forced march. We’re in a small creek off the Poquoson River (N37 11.0759 W076 25.3449). I’m sitting here typing this log listening to the Bob Dylan Hour on Sirius Radio, Terri is whipping up a gourmet meal and lowing about the beautiful sunset she sees out the hatch. Life is good.

We‘ve been seeing some interesting some interesting sights along the way for the last few days. The marines were practicing takeoffs and landings with their Osprey plane that converts from a fixed wing to a helicopter. According to the news they are to be deployed in Iraq. Coming into the Solomons we saw another kind of bird, a soaring eagle searching for dinner. And Pelicans, dozens of Pelicans catching chow by plunging into the drink. According to Terri’s bird book their range only extends to North Carolina…..Global Warming???

Well we got in to Hampton Va (N37 01.4200 W076 20.4429) after an early start from the Poquoson. We will have a lay day here to provision and do laundry and a REAL shower. Nice town, free WiFi in the harbor. On Wednesday we start the actual ICW, the generally accepted start is in Norfolk. It is from here that all the mileage to Key West is calculated. After passing through Norfolk, we will turn down the Dismal Swamp Canal, which I am told was conceptualized by our first President.

A little history about the ICW. In the early 1800s, the government leased land to private businesses to cut canals between various bays, rivers and sounds to create an inshore waterway to move goods. Of course these businesses were allowed to charge a toll for this service. Another note, these canals were dug mostly with slave labor. Well needless to say the business model was not sound and they lost money and the canals languished until the Thirties when we were beginning to worry about the German subs offshore. Congress took back the leases from the original canal diggers and turned the system over to the army corps of engineers, who to this day maintain the canal system, when ever Congress gives them the money. So you see even back then the government was keen on outsourcing.

getting ready to go

There is a song originally written by Cat Stevens and more recently performed by Rod steward and Cheryl Crow called the “The First Cut Is the Deepest.” If I have permission I will paraphrase the song with the line “The First Step Is the biggest.” Terri and I have taken the first step, throwing off the shackles of work, but before we step on board and throw off the lines we need to get ready for life on board. So our second step is to ready the boat for the trip.

There are a number of things that need doing to make life a little easier on 34 feet of boat, especially when it will be our home for nearly nine months. The list includes boosting the insulation of the ice locker so that we won’t need to lug ice as frequently. Next, and probably highest on Terri’s list is to equip Aeolus with hot running water and a shower in the head (nautical for bathroom). She maintains she is too old to stand semi naked on deck under a solar shower washing up as we have done in the past. So hot running water it is my love. For me, a foredeck sea water washdown pump to clean up the anchor chain, anchor and foredeck each time we bring up the hook. A messy job that is tolerable without one, for periodic weekend trips, but for day to day cruising a must (for me at least). Other projects will have to wait ….

Our date to throw off the dock lines is some time after the first weekend in October. We will wait for a favorable weather window (winds with no southerly component) for the race down the Chesapeake to get to the generally accepted start of the ICW, Norfolk. Until then it’s work on little things and stack the boat.