December 19 - 26 “PALM BEACHED”

Susan, Heidi & Barb on SWAN, Christmas Eve

Dec. 19 Before we left Vero Beach we used the laundry at the marina, walked to the shops to do last-minute Christmas shopping, talked to the cruisers who were hanging around. It’s a fine place, and hard to leave as they offer all the amenities along with the affordable mooring system. They raft boats on the moorings and you definitely meet more people that way, side-by-side, tied together with bow lines and stern lines. Our mooring neighbors had two cats!

Our weather for the first three days of this period has been wonderful. We enjoyed two nights on anchor, and days of traveling the now-straight ICW. We have seen a few manatees, several new (to us) bird species, a sea-turtle, and the human waterskier (along with jet skis and MANY fishing boats on the Sunday before Christmas in mid-coast Florida).

Dec. 22 The weather, which rules our lives, is promising to go very windy and that means we need to hunker down and make sure we are in a secure place. But first, we had a visitor today and for the second time in the last 5 days someone asked “Is Heidi there?”. Today was Barry Perkins from Mattapoisett; his brother was in my high school class and he is friends with other high school classmates so he and his wife Susan knew we were cruising behind them. (The first visitor was the owner of one of the Tayana 37s we saw in Vero Beach Marina and I had been emailing him for a couple of weeks but had never met him.) But back to the weather……we anchored in the north end of Lake Worth in North Palm Beach on Dec 21. Seems protected but after 24 hours our anchor dragged and we had to try several times to get it to set properly, a little more to the west of where we had been. Then to make doubly sure, we added another anchor off our bow and off to an angle to the first one. The wind kept up until the day after Christmas, so we spent 6 days in the area. For Christmas Eve we were in a marina there, and had a great boat party with Barry, Susan, Rich and Barb.

On Friday we got back to traveling the ICW south, and ended up in Delray Beach for the night. As far as our future plans go, we have put our trip to the Bahamas on hold, at least for a week or two. We can leave from further south in Florida and we can check out Fort Lauderdale and Biscayne Bay.

We got to talk with our children, Tammy, Justin and Pete--the only one who is AT home--on Christmas, and our parents (and some other family and friends). It wasn’t as good as a Christmas at home, but we knew we would miss some holidays by taking this trip. Hopefully the accumulated travel and adventures will make up for some of the things we miss by being away.

December 11 - 18 WARM!!!

We're in the Barge Canal at a marina, near Cape Canaveral; Riko came to see our boat and is our "care package" angel.



Dec.11 There were tornado warnings and a squall came through the St.Augustine anchorage in the morning, but the afternoon was nicer so we went ashore and checked out the city. We visited the San Sebastian Winery and took their tour. There is also a college here, Flaggler College, right in downtown and near the harbor, and it’s buildings are beautiful, and big, some from early in The 1900’s and some new, all in Spanish-style architecture. When we got back to our boat it had moved, and was tied to another boat! There are always surprises on this trip! Someone in the anchorage noticed that our boat was dragging it’s anchor and got aboard and stabilized the situation by tying us up to another boat (unoccupied). Those people (from Lubec, Maine) are heroes.

The extra low tides due to the full moon kept us from leaving the next day for about an hour (we were stuck in shallow water) but we did get out and traveled in warmer weather (60 degrees) to the Matanzas River. There is another National Park Service site here, a 1700s Spanish fort, and it is the site of a slaughter of French settlers (in a battle with Spaniards). The weather is gradually warming up and the next day we got to New Smyrna Beach where they have 2 free city docks. Almost adjacent to the docks is the main street and we happened on the monthly antique car event, where they close off the main street for about 6 blocks and line up the cars and trucks (about 200 of them). There was live music at one end and a disc jockey at the other playing old songs. If we planned it we would never make it but these things pop up and we are enjoying being randomly in the right place at the right time.

Dec.14 Now it is getting REALLY WARM and we are also going straighter than earlier on the ICW so we can make the miles fly by. Today we went through the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, near the Kennedy NASA base, and it is a beautiful section of the waterway. There are supposed to be more bird species here than anywhere else in the southeast, and there are 1000 species of plants. We can see the mangroves along the edge of the narrow Haulover Canal. If the water was warmer there would be manatees here. The end of the day found us at the Titusville Marina, with one last adventure, when the shift lever for the boat got stuck in reverse as we left the pumpout dock to head for our slip. Ken quickly killed the engine and we got tied back to the dock and spent an hour fixing the problem -- Ken’s mechanic skills again come in handy!

We planned to get to Cape Canaveral the next day, where my brother Jim and his wife, Riko, live. Things went almost according to plans until we found out that the Crista McCauliffe Bridge that connects the Indian River (where we are) to the Banana River (where they are) is closed everyday from 3-6pm. We forgot to read the fine print. Jim and Riko were still able to pick us up and take us to dinner so all was not lost. This was a fine day and ended with a feast at a Japanese restaurant. The next morning Riko drove back to the marina we were at (near the bridge) and brought us a “care package” of 2 baskets of food and a newspaper.



Dec.16 We are really enjoying the Florida weather now. Starting today for the next few days the temperatures are in the 70s and the wind is light and there are few clouds. We are seeing more boats and cruisers now. We even saw a Duxbury boat this day, one Ken recognized as the owner of the boatyard we have kept RISING TIDE in the past few years. We hailed the captain on the radio and surprised him by announcing who we were. One more night of anchoring and 2 nights on a mooring in Vero Beach complete this chapter and we are loving the weather conditions and the chance to reconnect with cruisers again, some that we have known from earlier in our trip (good to see you, Addison and Pat!) and some new people, including two Tayana 37s (like ours) in Vero Beach.

December 2 - 10 Georgia and Northern Florida Provide the Best Wildlife So Far

Southern Shade, Beaufort SC

Palms at National Park Service site, Ft.George River, Florida (our boat in distance)

Dec.2
Beaufort, SC is a great town. We had a late morning wine-tasting, bought some wines, then had lunch at a river-side restaurant. Ken got an appointment with a chiropractor for later in the afternoon and I walked all through the streets, from one water-view to another, since Beaufort is a peninsula. There are also some great book stores here.

Our next stop was Hilton Head which is familiar to us. Amazing how much fun it is to know where you are going and what is coming around the next bend! We also got parts and charts sent to us in Hilton Head from a marine store back in New England. Hilton Head also has great bike trails and I got in two long rides there. After one night in a marina in Hilton Head we next anchored in Bull Creek, the first of four nights in remote creeks in Georgia. The wildlife in Georgia has been great. One night we watched an otter swim across the creek we were anchored in, and that same night I followed the creek in the dinghy and watched a raccoon walking along the edge of the creek. We have seen bald eagles on two occasions and several times have watched fishermen in small boats with either hand nets for shrimp or fishing lines for local fish. The dolphins continue to pop up several times a day and sometimes follow our boat, just a few feet away.

Dec. 8
After this stretch of the ICW (about 100 miles) in the “wilderness” we reached the Sea Islands -- St.Simons, Jekkyl, Cumberland -- and decided to sail outside for a day. Let’s just say it wasn’t my favorite day. We went out to the Atlantic at the South end of St. Simons and had sunny skies, wind (but directly behind us) and big swells. We saw one other boat, in the distance, and no wildlife at all. But we got through it and entered St.Mary’s Sound at Fernandina Beach, Florida, at about 4 pm. We loved the town of Fernandina Beach, a large town with many restaurants, and also many good quality shops and stops. Maybe it helped that the weather turned warm and balmy at this point (although the forecast is for another cold front to come through later this week). In Florida we continued to enjoy different and frequent wildlife. We have seen two flocks of white pelicans, which I understand are only winter visitors to Florida (summering in Canada and California). There are underwater creatures -- krill -- nibbling on our hull in this section of the Waterway, and the noise they make is fairly loud! It sounds like a moderate rain falling on the boat, except it is coming from under the boat. Luckily we were warned about this phenomenon by one of the guide books or we would have been very confused by the sound.

This morning we were in another quiet anchorage off the ICW, Fort George River, and happily the only unusual feature there was a dock with a National Park Service sign on it. I explored ashore while Ken checked the oil and worked his magic to keep our engine running well. The NPS site is the Kingsley Plantation, part of a bigger site that marks the earlier inhabitants, American Indians, Spanish, French, and English settlers. I read that the area also flew the Mexican flag at one point, and the flag of the Republic of Georgia and the Republic of Florida.

Today’s travels brought us to St. Augustine, just as the sun was setting. We are at an anchorage near the Spanish fort Castello de San Marcos, which was built from 1672 - 1756. We’re looking forward to seeing the city closer up tomorrow.

From the beginning of our trip in Cohasset to St. Augustine we have traveled about 1,375 miles.

We have been seeing fewer and fewer cruisers in this section of our trip. How are we handling the isolation from other human beings and from the technology/civilization that we are used to?

Ken: “We’re almost out of beer!” “I’m going to try calling GUST O’ WIND on the VHF one more time.”
Heidi: “I’m all set since I got to see a Park Service site that turned up randomly.” “We need to get to somewhere where we can send mail/buy Christmas gifts/send another blog episode”

Canadian Friends from the Waterway with Ken

November 27 to December 2
Thankful, but no Turkey this year!
Nov. 27
We realized when we looked at the charts that we weren’t having turkey today. There’s nowhere to stop except McClellanville, where we are now (we tried motoring into the harbor there but it was low tide and we almost hit bottom) and we don’t have an oven (we do, but have never used it, due to some problems with the controls). So we headed off along the canals/rivers of South Carolina, another cold and sunny day. We are still seeing dolphins every once and a while. We anchored at the end of the day in another marshy creek, Whiteside Cr. Two boats we are familiar with were behind us and also anchored there. We all got together for drinks. One couple is from England and one from Canada.
We ARE thankful for the opportunity to take the time to see the East Coast in this way, up-close-and-personal, and to meet such interesting new people. We are fortunate to have the time to do this. Some days it seems like a Disney ride, and a free one at that! (This does not count the cold, windy, rainy days…….)The following day proved to be much warmer -- yay! No long johns today! -- and we are quite close to Charleston. We end up finishing the ICW north of Charleston Harbor with a parade of boats going through a swing bridge that opens when you request it. In the parade was a sailboat being towed and the 3 boats from Whiteside Cr. and a power boat. We anchored near the City Marina (they call it the Megadock, and it is big). We used their dinghy dock and went ashore to explore. Rain was expected, but mostly held off. The side streets leading up to the downtown were peaceful and pretty and then we hit the main shopping streets in the city and they were packed. We had forgotten that it was the “big Christmas shopping day”. Ken ended the afternoon straining his back on the return trip to our boat in the dinghy.
Our first aid kit contained some good pain killers and Ken was feeling better in the morning. We wanted to stay longer in Charleston but the weather was threatening to be windy again, from a difficult direction for anchoring in that harbor, so we left fairly early in the day for the ICW again. We still had warm temperatures but it was cloudy, and rain plus the high winds were expected. Our stop that night was at Bohicket Village Marina, a side trip off the ICW, down the North Edisto River, almost to the inlet to the Atlantic. This was a resort and marina, with several restaurants, a gift shop, etc. We treated ourselves to a great dinner ashore and then did 3 loads of laundry!
Nov. 30
An Island Packet 44 was towed in to the marina the day before we arrived and the single-handed sailor aboard is a woman. We talked with her and Ken looked at her engine, since she wasn’t going to be able to get a mechanic until tomorrow at the earliest. We’re not sure any of the suggestions he made were of any help but chances are good we’ll see her again further down the “road”. The weather was bad this day, windy and rainy. There was a break and I got to bike the short distance to a newly-built “village shopping area” and pick up some groceries. We left the dock in mid-afternoon and made a short windy trip to Steamboat Creek, also off the North Edisto River. There are plantations and ruins of plantations in this area. They grew rice and cotton in their heyday.
We finished our first full month on the boat this week and now have started December, back to cold clear weather. The ICW has a lot of “cuts” in this area (short connections between rivers) and we also crossed a very large body of water, St.Helena Sound. We got almost to Beaufort, SC, but the swing bridge in the river there only opens twice a day. The anchorage just before the bridge, on Factory Creek, proved to be a quiet, safe anchorage. We put out 2 anchors, one extra one from the stern, and this was such a stable arrangement that we remained there for 2 nights. We were able to motor to Beaufort in our dinghy. There we said goodby to people on two boats who were sailing out of the ICW that day, taking the more direct ocean route to Florida. [We can connect with people we have met on other boats by talking with them on the VHF marine radio. If they are within range--20miles--we can contact them and we can also listen-in if they are talking with bridge tenders or additional boats to make plans. That’s how we found out that the two boats we were familiar with were planning an overnight ocean sail.]

November 20 - 26 RUNNING AGROUND AND OTHER NEWBIE EXPLOITS

Even though we have been sailing for 30+ years in several different sailboats, we are still learning what it takes to travel through the Intracoastal Waterway! We are definitely newbies when it comes to prioritizing what is needed each day and finding our way through the maze of inlets and waterway and river navigation symbols, and keeping track of the weather, the tides and the currents. If we sleep in a half hour more than we should, we have missed a crucial timing that could keep us from catching the current for the day or could cause us to leave on an ebbing (lowering) tide rather than a flooding tide. If we concentrate on the weather but miss the “cruisers net” bulletin on the internet that highlights the trouble spots for the area, we could be finding the shoals rather than missing them…….
Nov.20 We are inside the North Carolina barrier beaches (Hatteras, etc.) on the inland waterway canals,. Along the canals are large homes and docks; there is some interesting wildlife, birds, etc. Local small fishing/shellfishing boats have towers in the bow where the captain sits up high enough to see what is in the water ahead of him; he also has the engine controls up there with him. Bridges are keeping us on our toes; most need to open for us and some open only on the hour; some on the half hour and hour. There really is no time to just goof off! We ended this day at Wrightsville Beach, in a large anchorage just behind the beach. The beach could be Duxbury Beach, with an access bridge going out to it from the mainland, except it is covered with hotels, condos, single family homes, surf shops, etc. The beach is beautiful, but the extent of building on it is astounding. We spent two days here because it is a good anchorage and it is still cold and windy. The night of the 21st Wilmington NC (next to Wrightsville Beach) set a record for the low temperature for that day --something in the low 20s.
Nov. 22 We are headed for Cape Fear today, and it is still cold but clear. We bumped bottom on the way out of the channel from Wrightsville Beach. Otherwise had a good trip to Southport, NC where we got a free slip in the”old harbor” and enjoyed walking around the area and also getting out the folding bike to use to go a little further. We also treated ourselves to lunch and dinner out.

The next day was also cold and sunny (long johns again!). We left the slip at 8 am and by 10:30 we were in Lockwoods Folly, an inlet from the Atlantic which has shoaled and we had hit the shoal. It took until just after noon to get off. Several boats passed and looked at us with pity! One bright spot was the beach at this location. I rowed to the beach while we were stuck and found a mailbox and bench at the end of the beach -- not what I was expecting -- and it had notebooks and pens so you could leave your thoughts.
By the end of the day we were in South Carolina after 314 miles in North Carolina. We anchored in the
Calabash River, just off the ICW.
Nov. 24
When we got up -- at about 8 am -- the other half-dozen boats that had also been anchored there were already gone. We left at about 8:30 am and promptly went aground. (The other boats probably had a better
handle on the currents and tides than we had.) We seemed to be pretty well stuck and after about 10 minutes, a local shrimp boat heading home up the Calabash stopped and asked if we’d like him to try and free us. It worked, after some concentrated tugging on his part, and we found we were off the shoal and wouldn’t have to wait for the afternoon tide or for a tow boat to arrive and try to get us off. What nice people there are in the Carolinas!
After traveling through some more canals in the Myrtle Beach area we anchored in the Waccamaw River, behind a small island, along with 2 other boats. We were invited to come to one of the boats for drinks when we were settled. We met some new friends, Scott and Kitty on TAMURE from Connecticut and Lynn and Stu from Australia on ONDA. Nothing like an isolated anchorage and other cruisers to meet and talk with about our adventures. There was so much excited conversation that we had to (at someone’s suggestion) raise our hand to talk to keep the noise level down!
The next morning was mild and only partly cloudy; the temperatures were in the 50s by mid morning. We left the anchorage early and traveled more of the Wacamaw River, through fresh water with water hyacynthes floating everywhere. We planned to stop at Georgetown SC because we had heard so much about it as a great small city on the ICW. For a break, we rented a slip there and walked through some of the city, enjoying the novelty of being within striking distance of coffee shops, bookstores, banks, etc.
Georgetown is a working town with a big scrap-metal plant right at the end of Front Street (the main street) and paper mills are smelled and seen in the distance. But it does seem to deserve the reputation of having great supplies for cruisers and is an interesting town to tour and enjoy the 1700s and 1800s homes.
Before we left the next day we bought some fresh shrimp and some crab cakes at a market and continued down the ICW, without any goundings (!!!), to an anchorage near McLellanville, SC. This is an area with huge vistas of sea grass and lighthouses. There is only one other boat anchored anywhere near us and one shrimp boat returning home at sunset. This was another cold, sunny day. One highlight was a couple of dolphin sightings, once while they were mostly underwater, pushing up big waves of water (while they chased fish?) and then while another group swam near the boat and when one jumped out of the water in a clean breach.

The Dismal Swamp Canal and further reaches of the Intracoastal Waterway

The Dismal Swamp Canal and further reaches of the Intracoastal Waterway; we have pictures but will add them in the next installment. Soon, I hope!!


November 10
We got up early and took a walk before the lock that takes you into the Canal was operating. We ended up talking to the lock operator, Bob, and he was helpful with tips and information about what was coming up on the Canal. He also has a conch shell collection at his office and we found out later, as we entered the lock with 3 other boats, and Bob helped adjust our lines to the sides of the lock, that he would play a conch (like a horn) while the lock emptied. Since I had asked about the shells, I got a quick lesson in blowing one and added to the noise.
Later that day after a slow trip down the Canal we passed the North Carolina state line and were invited to a free night at the NC Welcome Center docks on the Canal. The next day we continued to the end of the 16 mile canal. The whole way we have had some late foliage colors and not too many other boats, and it’s very peaceful. We now have some new friends that we met at the Welcome Center, several from Canada, and some from Virginia and Maryland. There is also a couple on a boat from Germany that decided not to leave with us and they will ride the bike trails in the area (they have two full-size bikes on their boat; we have one folding bike we are carrying). Fourteen miles of river after the canal brought us to Elizabeth City, NC and another free dock for the night.
Several cruisers talking in a group, including Ken, were greeted after docking by a friendly gentleman who mentioned some of the highlights in town. As he left he introduced himself as the Mayor of Elizabeth City. We took his recommendation and attended the evening movie a few blocks away. The movie theater also had dinners before the show and the line was fairly long waiting to get in. The tables for the restaurant were in the back half of the theater, which had been reconfigured into three levels for about 12 tables on each level. Each table had a phone and orders were called in to the kitchen, then delivered by wait staff. The movie was “Secret Life of Bees“ and we enjoyed it.


November 12
Our next day we sailed by a large Coast Guard Air Training base. This day they were launching a blimp and “sailing” it around the point of land that the base is on. Later in the day as we entered the Alligator River we hit bottom (mud or sand) as we tried to avoid another boat that seemed to be stuck on the bottom. The first boat eventually got off and sailed on but we were really stuck. In the end we had to call a tow boat (we were warned about the frequent danger of grounding out and had bought insurance coverage for towing) and we were towed into deeper water. A nearby marina had reasonable rates, so to calm down after this experience we stopped there for the night, and added another night when the weather got rainy and windy the next day.
The boats that arrived at the marina the second day of our stay told wild tales of the wind on the bay that day. We had dinner at the small restaurant at the fuel dock at the marina as did 3 of the crews of these new boats. We met people from Padanarum,MA, Camden, ME, and Jemez Pueblo, NM (which is about 50 miles from where Tammy lives).


November 14
We needed to leave, even though it was foggy. That day we traveled 12 miles of foggy canals and rivers, including passing through a bridge that opened for us, until it cleared up. After another canal that was fairly easy to travel on, although it did start raining, we again met up with fog. We needed to get to a good anchorage so proceeded carefully into the harbor at Belhaven, NC. Our chart plotter that we use to navigate is extremely helpful and especially in fog or new areas it is proving to be invaluable. Belhaven is another location where we spent two days due to weather, also due to high winds. Oh, yeah, they did have tornado warnings in this area our first morning and then they were extended to the rest of the day (tragically we heard that 2 people died in the next county).
The weather was warm for our stay, in the 70s during the days, but the forecast was for a cold front approaching.


November 16
Wanting to cover some ground this day we left at 8 am and sailed on the Pamlico River, Pamlico Sound, more of the protected waterway, and then the Neuse River. The Neuse was good for us and we motor-sailed with just our jib at over 7 knots, enough to adjust our arrival to Oriental, NC, a few miles after Broad Creek where we had expected to anchor. We anchored just off of the Oriental Marina and the shrimp boat docks. Several boats we were familiar with were at the marina, so we joined them (GUST O’WIND from Canada and NECESSITY whose owner is from New Mexico) for dinner that night at the marina restaurant. It’s fun to compare notes with other cruisers and to find out where they’ve come from and where they’re headed.
The next day we walked to the post office where we picked up mail that our son Pete forwarded for us. We also stopped in a marine consignment shop (used guide books, boat parts, etc.) and a coffee shop back at the marina area.
Before we left we figured out that we have been 800 miles so far, from Cohasset, MA, and about 175 of those miles, so far, have been in North Carolina. Then we set sail and headed for our next destination, which turned out to be Beaufort, NC. We anchored off of Town Marina with several other boats. Artic cold is predicted and it was a cold night.


November 18
We stayed in our heated cabin longer than usual this morning, taking time to start this blog and send it out, along with other chores. The day promised to be cold and windy and it was. We only went about 8 miles and found a small creek entering the channel --Spooners Creek -- which had space to anchor and also was within walking distance from a large mall. We encountered one other boat anchored in the creek, Eric from Rhode Island (originally from Georgia), a young man who is sailing a 29’ boat alone down to Savannah and maybe to Fort Lauderdale. He was happy for company and we talked engines, families, trip experiences, etc. for a while in the afternoon and again in the early evening. It snowed today, fine blowing snow, for about 15 minutes. The next day we made up for the short miles of Tuesday by going through to New River Marina in Snead’s Ferry, NC. Every day is an adventure and today there were announcements of Navy ships, including an aircraft carrier and helicopters, off the coast that were conducting exercises, and we traveled through Camp Lejeune, a Marine base, where we watched several boats of trainees practicing their small boat handling including pulling up to the river banks and rooster-tail turns. We saw really good wildlife in this area as well, probably because there are no houses or other development here.
We were the only sailboat at the marina; there were showers here (the water was hot but not the room) and we fueled up and got water for our tanks. There is also a fairly well stocked marine store there. If you are curious about how we keep clean, we have a shower on our boat and the water is heated by our engine when it is running. We do our laundry ashore when we can find laundromats.

The first weeks of our trip! I'll get caught up with my next post...

It’s the second week of November 2008 now, but to catch you up on how we got to this point here’s our recap:
Ken, brother Pete, and Pete’s friend Dave sailed from Cohasset to Block Island on October 8-10 stopping in Plymouth and Pocasset. Ken picked a good crew--two merchant marine engineers. In Block Island they were met by Heidi on Friday night and the next day Pete and Dave took the ferry back and Ken and Heidi continued across to Atlantic City, an overnight-plus sail that was relatively easy because of the warm weather and almost full moon. We had the company of several small birds that landed on our boat in the crossing and also two large woodpeckers (!!), one that flew right into our cabin and one that circled the boat.
From Atlantic City and a good night’s sleep at anchor in a creek in the marshes there we sailed to Cape May NJ and anther overnight. The following day we sailed up the Delaware River against the current, still with warm weather, to anchor behind the small island (Reedy Is.) just before the entrance to the C&D Canal.
We entered the C&D Canal -- in Delaware -- and it takes you to Maryland by mid-day. We stopped in Chesapeake City and had our first taste of the camaraderie of cruisers. We tied to a dock there and met a young couple from Canada who are planning to sail to New Zealand and a retired couple from upstate New York, headed to Stuart, Florida. We shared exploits and got some assistance with charts and the wifi network at the dock and “bonded”.
After two more days and stops in the Sassafras River in the upper Chesapeake Bay and Lake Ogleton outside of Annapolis we settled in Weems Creek just north of Spa Creek where the city of Annapolis is. The Bay is full of migrating birds and we got a sense of this in the Sassafras with the loud noise of flocks of geese.
Ken stayed with the boat for another week completing projects, until October 27th then flew home; Heidi traveled back by bus on October 19 to work for two more weeks. Ken was able to move the boat to a Navy mooring for the time between 10/17 and 11/2.
November 2
We’re back in Annapolis in Weems Creek. Pete helped us get here and will drive our truck back. To celebrate we all went to get steamed shrimp at a places called Heroes near here and we watched the Patriots game. The next day we are getting settled with all our gear. Pete stayed overnight on the boat and bought us a couple of bottles of wine for the trip before he left. We bought some new charts today and a guidebook to the Bahamas. BU had given me a gift certificate that we used toward these items.
Wed we left the Creek in drizzly weather and sailed across Chesapeake Bay to Little Choptank River to anchor for the night. It’s chilly so we have the cabin heater going for the evening before we go to bed. Today was Voting Day; we already voted with absentee ballots last month.
November 5
This morning we got the news that Obama had won. This is great and sets the tone for the rest of the day! It’s one of the days when we can sail without also using the engine to get us going at a decent speed. So with a double reef in the main and no other sails up we crossed the Bay again (it’s narrow here) in a very fast time and anchored in the Back River of Solomon’s Is. We saw many pelicans today, big birds compared to the other sea birds we see, and always fishing, flying low to the water or diving from about 30 ft. to scoop up fishin their big bill-pouch. Never knew that pelicans came to Maryland. The next day remained extremely windy so we decided to check out the museum in Solomon’s, called Calvert Marine Museum. It’s a well-run one, with many interesting exhibits. They also have a lighthouse on stilts that was moved there and is authentic to about 50 years ago. They take you on a guided tour of it. On Friday we left early with several other boats and found the weather better, calm wind and warming temperatures. That night we anchored in Antipoison Bay (John Smith was suppose to have received an antidote for a stingray bite from the Indians during a visit here). In south Chesapeake Bay. We sat out in the cockpit that night and watched the sun set. Pretty little spot.
On Saturday is was raining again; we headed out and the conditions turned nasty, wind right at us and waves making the trip uncomfortable. We didn’t go as far as we had planned, and took a chance on heading in to a narrow opening to a harbor half way to Norfolk, our ultimate destination. We had to thread our way in and then it opened up a bit and turned out to be a great place to anchor. Since it was early we dinghied to shore to a marina down further in the harbor (Horn Harbor) and walked around a bit. We found a couple loading their boat for a trip similar to ours, but they plan to be gone “a few years”! They nicely took off some time and volunteered to drive us to a pizza place they knew nearby and we also had drinks with them in their borrowed house next to the marina. The jeep ride to Matthews, VA was fun and the pizza was good and there was live folk music there to entertain us.
Sunday we left early from Horn Harbor and got to Norfolk, VA around mid-day. Inside Norfolk is where the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) starts, and it will be our “highway” to Florida for many weeks to come. Norfolt was strangely quiet, maybe because of being Sunday. We stopped at the city docks of Portsouth, across the river from Norfolk and then left to go under 3 bridges (only one had to be opened for us) and to the entrance to the Dismal Swamp Canal. Right before the first locks on the canal we tied to two posts and enjoyed the peaceful setting -- close river banks on either side, herons fishing nearby, and no other boats in sight. Today was one of the sunny days, which have been few and far between, but our foul-weather gear is keeping us fairly dry and warm.