Tuckahoe Point

 

 

 

We are up early for showers and breakfast and are out by 8:15. A beautiful warm sunny day to cross the Albermarle Sound, which can get rather rough with an east or west wind due to it being very shallow. The water was like glass, on the last couple miles down the Pasquotank river to the Bascule bridge in Elizabeth City. Then we head out across the Albermarle. 

 

 

Leaving Elizabeth City

Very calm morning

Dirigible Hanger

 

Finally some nice weather

After a long day we reach one of my favorite remote anchorages, no light pollution or cell service, Bear Point, but it is full of crab pots. We move on to another larger anchorage, Tuckahoe Point, just before the entrance to the 20 mile Alligator-Pungo canal. There are two other boats here. 

 

Alligator Swing Bridge

Tuckahoe Point in the middle of nowhere

 

Lambs Marina

We worked around the boat in the morning. In the afternoon Dominique and Pierre for “Shoreline Traveler” a Canadian Cabin Cruiser, a Bayliner comes to our boat to play cards with Linda. She teaches them two new card games we have recently learned.

Manana at Lambs

Our other Canadian friends Peter and Christine on “Manannan”, came in this morning. They had a leak in their refrigeration and I get out some epoxy putty that I have had buried in my repair box for Peter to use to patch the leak. They recently bought a Rainman portable watermaker that I have been considering and offered let me “barrow” it for a few minutes to see if it will fit in area I was considering to store it. It fit, but it is quite heavy. In the Bahamas I would keep it more accessible. Early Dinner on the Boat, Lambs restaurant is closed Sunday and Monday.

 

Lambs Marina

Up at 7:00. We did not plan to leave until 10:00 AM to catch the 11:00 South Mills Creek lock down on to the Pasquotank River to Elizabeth City. Talked with Christine and Peter and got a tour of their very packed boat. This is their home, they don’t plan on taking it back to Canada. The also have a large very old dog.

Two boats left ahead of us while we were talking with Peter and Christine. We caught up to them in time to catch the lock. There was a lot of duck weed and other debris in the lock. It was a very slow process to get the boats in the lock and then very slowly lower them. Since the other boats were early waiting for the bridge before the lock to open, they had tied up to the adjacent walls. They waved us through first. Since we were the first boat in the lock, we were where most of the debris had collected.

 

South Mill Lock

Once we were on the Pasquotank river I call Lambs Marina for a reservation. Normally we stay on the free dock in downtown Elizabeth City, but I heard the dock might be full because t heweather has not been good to cross the Albermarle Sound. Two of the other boats in the lock at staying at Lambs, also. Lambs has recently opened a new restaurant that people working at the Visitors Center said was pretty good.

As we neared the entrance to Lambs Marina the engine started to over heat. Since we were in a wide section of river with little current I turned of the engine and checked out the intake water filter. It was clogged with duck weed, pine needles and other stuff. I assumed I picked that up in the last lock. Normally we leave the engine running in a lock, but I should of shut it down in this debris laden lock. We have not had a problem clogging the filter on our last three trips through here.

I call old Elizabeth City friends, Tim & Karen Askew, who were fellow Catalina 36 owners. We got together for dinner on one of out past trips through. They are home and available to meet us for Happy hour on our boat and dinner at Lambs. Before dinner they came for Happy Hour on our boat. It turns out that they had just recently sold their boat because they were not able to find the time to use it enough. With the pandemic their business, motorcycles, jet skis, etc. was very busy and doing very well. So well, that someone made them an offer for the business they could not refuse. Now they have the time, but no boat. They are currently in the market for a Catalina 38 and would like to head to the Bahamas themselves.

We have a table of nine for dinner at Lambs with old and new boating friends.

Lambs Marina

Linda, Mary, Ted, Renee, Peierre, Dominque, Karen, Tim

Dismal Swamp Visitors Center

The morning pump out goes as planned. But first getting out of this small tightly packed Marina, is a little nerve racking. We then head down to Atlantic Yacht Basin for diesel. They open at 9:00 and we are tied up on their fuel dock at 8:45. We are on a tight schedule to make the 11:00AM Deep Creek Lock to the Dismal Swamp. Last time here their pump out did not work and apparently we did the right move at Waterside, since theirs is not working this time either. 

Just south of Atlantic Yacht Basin we get our first delay, a railroad bridge is down for a train to pass. There are 15 boats waiting for it to open. If we had rushed we would of wasted more time. For us the delay was not too long. The next bridge, the Glimerton Highway bridge is open on demand this time of day, unfortunately the adjacent railroad bridge is down for a passing train so even the power boats that can clear the Glimerton 35 foot closed height have to wait also. The delay waiting for the train is going to squeeze our timing to make the 11:00am Deep Creek lock lift. Fortunately all the boats but us take the Virginia cut south instead of the Dismal Swamp route.

Railroad Bridge going up

Passing the Glimerton Bridge

Nice way to park a "boat"

We are the last boat in the lock, but at least we did not spent much time waiting for the gates to close. The Lock operator is also the Deep Creek bridge operator a mile past the Lock. So once the boats are out of the lock we have to move slowly waiting for the operator to drive to the bridge. Then we have to group tightly together before he will open the bridge to get us through quickly. He keeps repeating this over the VHF radio and says not all the boats will get through if we don’t bunch up. Well, being the last boat its not what I want to hear. The third boat in line, a Nordic Tug, is drifting side ways and obviously has his radio off or is on the wrong channel and does not move. I am getting pissed and finally pass the large power boat immediately in front of us and then boat number three. He blasts his horn and starts yelling at us and I tell him turn on your radio dumb ass and listen to the bridge operator! The large boat that was in front of us passes him too. We all get through the bridge and the Nordic Tug takes up the rear.

Going up

 

Duck weed in the Dismal Swamp

The duck weed that everyone has been concerned about is a lot less than previous trips. Being another cool overcast day we have a rather dismal trip down the Dismal Swamp. Normally it is very pretty on a sunny Fall day. We get to the visitors center at 2:30. We tie up to “Manannan” our Canadian sister ship, a Catalina 36. We knew they were here and had texted them about how many boats were there. We ended up with 8 boats, two of them catamarans, rafted 3 deep.

 

Floating Swing Bridge

Raft up at Visitor Center

 

Cruiser get together

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got here early enough to take the floating swing bridge across the canal to the Dismal Swamp Museum and hiking trails. When we got back to the dock we had an impromptu gathering of all the sailors and swapped lots of good stories. We had a lot of fun. It started to rain around 6:00pm which broke up the party and we all retreated to our boats for dinner.

 

Waterside Marina

 

Early morning view across the way, General Dynamics Shipyard

After breakfast and showers, I try one more time to get a Verizon tech to fix our Hotspot problem. As he is trying various things, our phones and iPads loose their Verizon connection and go into SOS mode only. WTF ! I reboot all 4 devices and low and behold the Hotspot is working just fine on all 4 devices. I don’t know what the tech did, but he fixed our problem. Unfortunately, I don’t get to thank him, he never calls back. 

 

The Wisconsin

Doesn't look so big from this prospective

Free Mason Abby

 

For lunch we walk to the Free Mason Abby restaurant, recommend by Donna and Ken. It is sunny today but cool and breezy, but I am determined to wear shorts at least once in Virginia, before we leave the state. We have their famous She Crab Soup.

 

 

 

Boob on Boob

My Mermaid

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                           Walking back to the Marina we walk through a very large 3 story mall, which we could of spent all day at. Back at the Marina Linda talks with the dock master, James about where we could get a pumpout. They have one there but inside the marina the adjacent boats slips are full with other boats. He says in the morning we can leave the inside of the marina and tie up to the outside river side of the fixed pier and get pumped out before we head out. Tonight we have dinner on the boat, Spaghetti Squash and walk to the “Fudgery” for ice cream.

Waterside Marina

Had planned to leave early, but we wake up to fog. It lifts around 10 AM and we head out onto the York River to an overcast morning. By the time we get out on the Chesapeake an hour later we have sun for the rest of the day. 

 

 

As we start down the Elizabeth River passing the line up of aircraft carriers and other large naval ships a container ship starts to over take us. I move outside the green cans designating the east side of the shipping channel. We quickly get chased back into the channel by a Navy patrol boat for getting to close to the War Ships. We swing in behind the container ship and figure out where they will be docking. 

 

Container ship gaining on us

We arrive at the Marina at 4:00pm. A small marina which is tightly packed, with boats much larger than ours. Just a few cruising sailing around our size there. Dinner at the Waterside Taphouse was a rather disappointing “Shrimp & Grits”.

Where's Manana?

 

Click below for Trip to Norfolk

https://www.relive.cc/view/vPv4Aey52RO

 

Sarah’s Creek

We spend the morning working on the boat, getting it ready to leave tomorrow. We make a reservation at the Waterside Marina in Norfolk. We have never stayed in Norfolk and thought we would check it out. 

After lunch Linda takes her “foul weather pants” to Donna to shorten. That evening we take them to dinner at Coastal Bar & Grill, via car. I guess we like it, its the third time we have eaten there. 

Nile, Linda, Ken & Donna

 

Sarah’s Creek

This morning I change the raw water pump, that pumps sea water through the heat exchanger to cool the engine. The pump has been leaking more than I would like, so I replace it with a pump that I rebuilt back in Vermont. A leaky raw water pump on Lake Champlain is no big deal, it's just fresh water and it evaporates. On the other hand salt water dribbling down the front of the engine can make things rust fast and leave salt deposits. Linda called Hayes Dental this morning and gets an appointment for 2:30PM.

We meet for lunch with fellow Vermonters, Bob & Deb Gurwicz, “Infinity”. This is their second trip south on their boat and they are planning on their first trip to the Bahamas. They have been visiting relatives in Yorktown and have been anchored there. They have to come over to Sarah’s Creek, to the Marina, York River Yacht Haven, for fuel, water and a pump out. Once they finish they anchor and we dinghy over to meet them for lunch at Coastal Bar & Grill for lunch. After lunch I zip Linda back on the dinghy to drive to her appointment and go back to visit some more with Bob and Deb. 

 

Nile, Linda, Deb and Bob

 

Linda was having some pain and the dentist thought it might be the night guard she has been wearing. He recommends that she not use it for two weeks and see if the pain goes away.

Ken and Donna invites us over for dinner again. After dinner another boating neighbor couple stops by and we talk boats.

Sarah’s Creek

Another overcast and drizzly day.  Went to breakfast at “Eggheads” with Donna and Ken. Back at the boat I worked on a few things and Linda went to Donna’s for good WiFi to reconcile our credit cards. Ken & Donna invite us for dinner.

Sarah’s Creek

 

 

Morning in Sarah's Creek

New Windlass day. I take everything I can, apart, for removing the old windlass. Linda goes back to Donna’s too wash our jackets. After lunch Ken comes by to help me with removing the old windlass. Ken borrows a neighbors sawzall. I can lift the windlass up to cut it apart above the deck instead on making a mess below deck. Ken takes me to a local hardware store to buy some more metal cutting blades. The blades don’t last long. We head back out to Lowes to buy a diamond abrasive saw blade, which does the trick to decapitate the head of the windlass. Meanwhile Donna is shortening the sleeves on Linda’s sweat shirt and adding cute little thumb holes.

Out with the old

 

In with the new

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The hard work has been done on the windlass. The new one drops in place where the old one was mounted. The existing switches and wiring work with the new windlass motor. I just have to connect three cables. It only takes me about and hour to get the new windlass installed. This one is all stainless steel. The old one had lots of aluminum parts which were always a problem.

Ken and Donna had dinner guests (not us) for tonight so we drove over to the marina across the creek for dinner at York River Yacht Haven restaurant – York River Oyster Company.

 

 

Sarah’s Creek

After wiping off a lot of dew I start to slowly crank up the anchor and washing it down as I go. With Mill Creek so calm we can drift around for a while, while I slowly take care of the anchor. Hopefully the last time I have to do this. 

 

Mill Creek in the morning

Another cool day on the Chesapeake

Once back out on the Chesapeake we have a sunny warm day, even though we have to motor. We dock ourselves around 3:15. Ken and Donna are busy and we have been here before. Again I do battle with Verizon techs, with no success, A-holes. Linda takes laundry to Ken and Donna house while I work on stuff on the boat. Donna and Ken make us a wonderful dinner and we play cards until the laundry is finished. 

Interestingly, a couple days later I notice that we have a new photo of our boat on MarineTraffic.com.  Marine Traffic shows the position and daily track of boats with AIS. AIS broadcast boat position, speed and direction over VHF which other boats receive and display on their chart plotters. Land based VHF stations receive these signals and ships positions are available on the internet. Various people take photographs of passing boats with AIS and posted them under the boat name on Marine Traffic. You can post your own photos, which I have done previously.

Leaving Mill Creek

 

Mill Creek.

We leave by 7:45 and have fairly good sailing once we are out on the Chesapeake. We are close hauled, but later in the day the wind turns on our nose and we are motoring. We pound into waves for about 3 hours. Linda had to turn to her Ginger root to avoid sea sickness. We have stayed in this Mill Creek by Reedville before and it is always after some rough sailing or motoring.We arrive at 4pm. It is always so calm here. We enjoy a quiet evening and are in bed by 8:30. 

Navy target in the Chesapeake for aircraft

Another cool day behind the vinyl

I text Ken Nitchie, Ken and Donna are our next stop, to open up our windlass box from Defender. I fully expect it to be the wrong one or some other issue. It is the correct one.

 

 

 

Solomons

We decide to stay another day. Calvert Marina finds space for Blow Away Too. Alain and Diane had some packages sent to this marina. Linda and I go for a walk and check out this little restaurant, Hidden Harbor, on the water that we have missed before. They have a very interesting menu. We invite Alain and Diane to meet us for lunch there. They have a very good Roti Stew.

Solomons

We have breakfast and shower before we say good by to Bruce and Pam. We head to Harrington Harbor South about two miles away for a pump out and fuel. Left there around 11:00 AM. We got into Solomons around 3:45 and stayed at Calvert Marina, $40 a night and I don’t have to deal with the anchoring. 

Alain and Diane, “Blown Away Too” comes in shortly after us and has to anchor, no room at the Inn for them. We are sharing a T-Dock with a Catamaran that is practically tied up in the middle of the dock. Coming in late we are on our own to dock. With the wind it takes some effort to land on our remaining end of the dock. The do-fuss in the Catamaran does not even notice our arrival or just ignores us. Our dinghy is sticking a little out in the fairway.

Another cold night, we are happy to be plugged in for heat, with our reverse cycle heat pump.

 

 

 

Sunset over Solomons

 

Deale

 

Shipwright Marina in the morning

 

Our holding tank is near full, so we have been taking lots of walks to the restrooms. In the morning I work on the wiring for our new diesel heater. 

 

Don't close the lid,

After lunch I walk over to West Marine to buy a switch. Linda gets a ride to a local Supermarket with Bruce. After dinner Pam and Bruce stop by for Hot Chocolate and Amaretto, our favorite cold weather drink.

Deale

Up early for breakfast on the boat so we can catch the 8:30 Spa Creek Bridge opening. 

 

Morning on Spa Creek

Spa Creek Bridge closing behind us

We have a short day to Shipwright Marina at Deale where our friends Bruce & Pam are staying on their boat. We arrive at 12 noon.

 

Anchored Tankers waiting to go into Baltimore

Manana on dock at Shipwright Harbor Marina

After we have lunch, Bruce & Pam and Rich & Lynn and Bill & Chiuan, friends of Bruce and Pam who we have meet before and have their boats at the same marina, stop by. We plan to go out to dinner together later that evening after everyone comes over to our boat for Happy Hour.

We have a very nice dinner at a high end restaurant. We don’t get back to the boat until 10:45pm.

 

Bruce, Pam, Rich, Lynn, Chiuan, Bill & Linda