Friday, June 29, 2912

    For the last few days I have been anchored, and relaxing on the Lafayette River in Norfolk, Va..  I have also been doing errands, like laundry, groceries, filling water tanks, etc. I have also been watching the weather, and feel that tomorrow will be a good day to head up to Ocean City, MD.  This is a long sail, and will take about 24 hours. The weather says to expect SW winds most of the way, so this should be a nice ride. Also Slack tide on the Chesapeake is around 9 AM so, since it will take about 7 hours to get down and across the Chesapeake, at least the beginning of the trip ( the first hour or two) should be without much chop.
  Once I get to Ocean City I plan again to anchor behind Assateague Island, and since I am not in that much of a hurry to get home I plan on going over and visiting the inhabitants of that  island ie; 'The Wild Ponies of Assateague'.

   After that the next stop will probably be Lewes, DE, or Cape May, and then after that Atlantic City. Picture of Sunset on the Lafayette River.

Tuesday, June 26. 2012

    After yesterday excitement I keep turning over in my head: what did I do right, what did I do wrong, or how did I get myself into that predictment. When I am in my boat, moving it along, I always listen to channel 16, or maybe because I was going through a lot of bridges, and a lock, channel 13. but after the bridges I turn back to 16. I heard the Coast Guard continuely asking boaters near the Chesepeake Bay Bridge Tunnel to keep a look out for a person in the water. but never heard anything about an approaching storm till after it was over. In the marina I wondered if the guy knew about the storm. So the following day I decided to give him a call. I described myself to him and he remembered me. I asked him if he knew that the storm was comimg. He said that he had heard about it in the morning, didn't say how, but said that he was keeping an eye on the doppler images on his smart phone all day. I didn't ask him why he did not mention it to me, but I did tell him about the experience that I had with it. Maybe after the call he asked himself why he didn't say anything to me.
    So I remember that there is this thing called weather alert. I was not sure if my radio had it. In fact I felt  that if it had it that it would of been working. Last night I decided to look into the operators manual and yes my radio has it. To me it seems a little clumsy the way it is set up. There are 10 Wx weather channels. The weather for your area is on one of them. So in order to get a weather alert for your area you have to be on the correct channel. On my radio I have this feature which is called duo-watch or tri-watch. What this does is let the radio scan each of two or three channels, and if a message is coming in on any one of them you will hear it. So you must include the correct Wx channel in the scan. I somehow  remember seeing an FRS- 2 way radio that had this weather alert feature. I know that when I get home that I will be purchasing one.
     When I saw the storm coming I was already about a mile from where I raised my anchor. I would not of made it back to there to set my anchor again. And if I tried I might of got myself into even more trouble. There was no place to run to over there.

Monday, June 25, 2012

   I get up to a beautiful day. the sky is clear. It will be a nice day to go through the canals ahead of me. BTW, the first thing that I do every morning is to listen to the weather. I don't like any surprises, and it looked like it was going to be a really nice day, weather wise. So I take off up the river, and eventually into the Virginia Cut of the Chesepeake and  Albemarle Canal. Going through this canal made me appreciate the Great Dismal Swamp Canal even more. This place was not very pleasant looking, and even though it was much wider, you had to be even more careful. I saw tree trunks (dead heads) out as much as 1/3 of the way out into the canal. There are two swing bridges in the canal, and a lock at the end. The lock only lowers you about a foot. After the lock there were two or three more bridges that had to be opened. All of these bridges had opening times, and if you missed one, you may have to wait an hour till the next opening, without a place to tie up to.
    So I get past the canal and all the bridges and go into the Elizabeth River. If you remember I was on this river at the beginning of the trip. This is where all the Norfolk Navel Yard Air Craft Carriers and War Ships are docked. Anyway I move up this river to the Tide Water Marina. I had no intention to pull into here, but seeing other sailboats anchored outside of the marina, I decide to do the same. They sold fuel, so I decided to go in for my diesel and some water, and also, if possible to get rid of some of my garbage. So I dinghy in, fill up my diesel gerry cans, and ask the attendent if there were any restaurants around. There were, but they were not to open till later this evening. So I chat with the manager, buy some beer ( the first for this triip), and some chips, and go on my way. My intention is to head for the Lafayette River where I know there to be a nice, little known, quite ancorage.
    Before I go on with this story I have to pose this queston. Suppose you are a Gas Station Attendent, say out west. And an 'Out of Towner ' pulls into your station and request gas. BTW you being the  Attendent, and pretty sharp, are pretty much up on matters in the area, and also happens to know that the road that   the 'Out of Towner' is about to drive down, also happens to have a tornado coming up the other way. Do you mention this to the customer or do you think that it is not that important, and why bother.
    Well I dinghy back to my boat, load the fuel and water onto it, and decide to fill the water tanks up now so I don't have to bother with it later. It is still a beautiful day as I raise my anchor and head for the Lafayette River. I am on my way for about 10 minutes and I notice the sky very black ahead of me in the diatance. It looked like a big storm coming my way. I decide to give the boat more power and try to beat it to the river. Well I don't. All of a sudden I get hit with these 50 mile an hour winds, soon followed by rain. The rain felt like someone was shooting me in the face with a BB gun, it really stung. I still try to work my way up to my river. In a short time the wind, being more powerful then my engine, had me on my side. I must of been heeling at 40 or more degrees. At this time I was in about 40 feet of water.  My starboard toe rail was submerged. I could not see a thing around me. I was blind with only my chart plotter to tell me where I was. I was now heading for shipping docks. that was not good. At this point I was wondering if any water was getting below. I look down, all OK, and close the companionway. I decide that I have to change course so I turn down river. Now I am on a run. That was not good either, because soon I will be near other docks. So I decide to steer the boat across the channel slowly, and stay clear of the shore line. I am freezing, and sheevering. I put the boat in autopilot and go down for some foul weather gear. I at least get my jacket on, even if it is over my wet shirt. The worst of this storm lasted for about 20 minutes. As I am going across this channel I am concerned about being run down by a tug pushing a barge, or by a  freighter. With these winds I did not have that much control. I could not see and could only  with the help of my GPS chartplotter, keep it in a general direction. In time the winds subsided, I could start to see beyond my boat. The first thing that I see is a tug pushing a barge down the river. It passed in front of me as I was heading across the channel. I wonder if he had seen me. I look the other way and a smile comes to my face. I see another sailboat rocking back and forth. He had a big wave for me, and I for him, as we passed each other.
     The winds dropped down to about 20 knts and I continued to my anchorage. Once anchoraged I opened a bottle of beer and started to count my blessings.

     I will have more to say about this tomorrow. Video of VHF radio broadcast, after the storm, attached.

Sunday, June 24, 2012

   My alarm clock, Sam, wakes me up at 5:30 AM for his breakfast. I go back to sleep for a little while longer. I do not have a very big day planned. Since the trip from here to Norfork is about 55 miles, which would be a long day. I figure why not do 25 miles today to the next anchorage and do the rest of the trip tomorrow. So I get up slowly. It is a beautiful day.  I have my breakfast. Turn on my navigation laptop, and my electronics, and start to pull in some of my anchor rode. If possible, if the wind is quite, I pull in most of my anchor rode except for the last 15 or 20 feet, whatever is necessary to keep me fixed for a short time, till I leave. I go to start my engine and it won't start. Great. I try a few more times. I switch to the other battery, then to both. No difference. At this point I use this trick that I have learned along the way. You can not hand crank my engine, because of the way it was designed. So what I do is I release the compressioin on all the cyclinders and then push the starter. Being that the starter is turning the engine against no resistance it can turn it pretty quickly, even when the battery voltage is low. Actually ,this is a lot easier then hand cranking. Now, as the engine is spinning you switch on the compression. I tried this twice and the engine started.
     I start off toward my next destination. Now, I hate to admit this, but while I am going along following the navigaton markers, I sometimes day dream. My imaginaton wonders. Well, I am going past this dock along the North River and I see a sign which says Captain George's Seafood Restaurant. It is a nice dock, but the restaurant seems to be out of business. I wonder if I could of tied up to it during the night. Maybe the next time through. I notice that the place has fuel pumps that seem to be in good condition. Then I look along the side and behind the restaurant and notice more dockage, with a power boat tied up. So I come out of my day dreaming and continue on my way. I see this square navigation marker and start to let it pass along my port side. In the very last second I realize that that is the wrong side, and I quickly turn the boat to go around it the correct way. Well there just happened to be an Osprey nesting on this marker. The Osprey swearing that I was going to run into the pole grabs it's little chick and takes off vertically about 10 to 15 feet in the air. A few moments later it returns the baby to the nest and, it seemed, begin to kiss it. Isn't nature wonderful.
    So I continue on my way, and eventually enter Black Water Creek. I go in around a bend and then anchor. In this way I will get protection on all sides from the wind. I am the only one anchored here. There are a lot of Jet Skies going into and out of this creek. I don't think that there is much to see futher in, and they only come here so that they can go fast around the bends. I also feel that they enjoy seeing my mast swing side to side as they go past my boat..
    At this time it is 7:30 PM and I have not seen, or heard, a jet ski since about 6 PM. I am sitting in my cockpit enjoying the breeze. The wet lands are a little different from what I see up north. They are a lot more lush and green. You can almost cut this stuff for hay and bale it.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

    I wake up early, have a good breakfast, and think about the long day ahead. I raise my anchor at 7:30 AM and head for the bridge. BTW the depth of the water where I am anchored again corresponds to the chart depth. I get up to the bridge and notice that the depth of the water there is 20 feet. The chart says 15 feet. So I figure high tide? It turns out that right now it is low tide. So maybe all the SW winds have raised the water level in this area? . But why not where I was anchored? I don't know. Maybe they dredged under the bridge? I don't know. So anyway I am just about to go under it and I get the feeling that the mast won't clear. I turn off. There is no yard stick on the side of the bridge indicating clearance in feet. So I decide to use a trick that I had used a long time ago in the past. I raise my main sail. Pull in in tight, and again head for the bridge. The wind was not blowing too strong, but still it might help to heel me over a little. So as I get up to the bridge I slow the boat down to a crawl. Reason, if I hit, I may just get hung up as oppose to breaking my mast. I put the boat in auto pilot, so that I can stay out of harms way, in case the mast comes down. As I get under the bridge I look up and see my VHF antenna, which is not very long, bending on the bridge.Now I duck. a few moments later I look up again,  I am clear. Great,  I am on my way again.
    The rest of the day goes pretty good. I cross the Albemarle Sound and go into the North River. I go about 10 miles up the North River and anchor behind Buck Island. This is a quiet little ancorage with protecton on all sides from the wind. The only thing to upset the water here, are the tugs pushing barges. BTW, these are big barges. The barges are very wide and long. To tell you the truth I don't know how they do it.

Friday, June 22, 2012

   I left Ocracoke around 7 AM, hoping to get a good start in my effort to push North. Wind predications were 10 - 15 knts SW, increasing to 15 - 20 knts SW later this afternoon, another reason that I wanted to get going earlier. The only way I would go against the wind on the Palmico Sound, and also the Albemarle Sound is if the wind is predicted to be 10 knts or less. So SW winds are good for me today. The ride was pretty descent until the winds started to pick up, then it got a little bumpy. Remember this is a shallow sound, as a result the waves are close and sharp. You have to be careful of the weather on this leg because if things get nasty there are no places to pull into. I knew that when I took off this morninng that to anchor I would have to get close to the west shore. In this way I would at least be able to decrease the fetch of the waterway. It would still be bumpy, but that would be the best that I could do.
     On the West side of Roanoke Island there are two bridges. the first is a 65 foot bridge. The second is the 45 foot fixed bridge, that I had mentioned yesterday. So I go under the tall bridge and head toward the West shore. The depths here all correspond to the chart, ie: when I was pulling into a darker blue area on my chart which indicated 6 feet depth that is exactly what my depth guage said. I mention this because it will have some importance tomorrow when I take off.
    So I arrive about 5:30 PM, and anchor. I am exausted. Still concerned about that 45 foot bridge I decide to go on the internet to see if I could look up the specs for the mast height  above water for my boat. The spec says that it is 40 feet. I am relieved. I did measure it corectly. I have the normal dinner. Then, being very tired,  I go off to sleep.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

    Orental is a nice harbor. Restaurants, fuel, and dinghy dock all close by. Anyway time to leave. I am on my way to Ocracoke Island on the Outer Banks. The trip takes about 8 hours. I leave at about 8:30 AM. I am lucky, the Neuse river is very calm today. Winds were 10 to  15 knots most of the way. It isn't till the afternoon whan I am approaching the head buoy for Ocracoke that the winds start to kick up. Anyway I pull into Ocracoke. Pulling in you see the Ferry Boats. I'm not sure of where they come from, but they are continuelly on the move. This is a pretty nice harbor. Not too big, and not too small. . The harbor is surrounded by restaurants, ice cream stands, and gift shops. Of all the places that I have visited this is the nicest one.  They rent out Golf Carts by the hour, half day, full day, and week. I always brag about Block Island and how great it is. This place though seemed nicer. Not as crowded, and maybe more colorful.
     I was told by a friend of mine that bad weather is coming, so my feelings are that this place is a little exposed, so therefore tomorrow I will leave.
   I have to tell this story. While at anchor I see a boat that was also anchored near me in Oriental. I say hello, and the guy invites me on board and serves me a beer. We chat. At one point he tells me that the mast on his boat is 43 feet tall, but he has no trouble getting under the Oriental 45 foot fixed bridge. I look up at his mast, then I look over to mine. I tell him that I just measured mine the other day by running a string up it, and that mine is 40 feet, and for some reason, mine looks taller then his. He agrees with me. So with that i say that maybe I measured it incorrectly, and that tomorrow I will measure it again. This was important because on my trip north I plan to go under a 45 foot fixed bridge.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

  I wake up about 5:30  this morning to my cat crying that he wants eat. I feed him and then go back to sleep. Now in my boat in order to have air circulation  I open the front hatch, and then leave the back campanion way hatch open about 4 inches, so the cat can't get outside at night. I don't like him outside unless I am there. So anyway I am trying to sleep and I hear the cat lunge up to the small opening of the hatch. He grabs onto the opening, pulls himself up while pushing open the hatch. On hearing this I wake and go over to the companionway to see where he went. Well I slide open the companionway hatch, and the cat falls like a sack of potatoes onto the floor. He must of been sitting on top of the hatch. He does not get hurt, but he fell a little more then 6 feet.
   Other then that, I pick up some fuel, some water, and then go over to a cafe to enter my blogs.
   BTW, Since I have not put my boat into a single marina since I have been on this trip, I feel that I deserve to treat myself to some good eating while on shore. I am off to a restaurant right now.
   Tomorrow I plan to sail to Ocracoke on the Outer Banks.

 Today is Tuesday, June 19.
    I leave Belhaven around 7 AM.  I go down the Pungo River into the Palmico River. I cross the Palmico into Goose Creek. Goose Creek is another canal which eventually goes into the Neuse River. I travel west on the Neuse River into Oriental, NC. Cute little harbor. I anchor behind a stone break water, a dinghy dock about 300 feet away. Restaurants right at the dock. Time for a little rest.
   When I leave here I will start to head North. along the Outer Banks eventually to Norfork.

Monday, June 18, 2012

   I'm up at 5:30. The winds are very calm. Good time to straighten out my sta_sail. I raise it spool it in and all goes smoothly. I eat breakfast and go over my charts. I am feeling better now, as opposed to the way I felt last night. I am about to go into the Alligator / Pongo River Canal. The Canal is about 20 miles long. I figure about 4 hours to get past that. After that I will head for Belhaven, NC.
   So I travel through the canal. Sceanery is OK. The trip is bascially uneventful until I am passing the 125 mile marker. There are markers along the ICW every 5  miles. The GPS's and Charts also have these marks on them. Anyway I am passing this marker and decide that I want to take a picture of it. Since I am using my Iphone, and it does not have a telephoto lens, I decide to get a little closer to it. Now it stands about 30 feet off the bank and I am about 15 feet off the sign. I do not feel anything out of the ordinary about what I am doing. So I ride by it, snap my picture, and at that point my autopilot decides it is going to head for the shore. Seeing  this I jump over to the wheel, disengage the  autopilot, and turn the wheel. At the point the bow lurches up, the mast swings to starboard, and the boat slides off to port. I think that the engine does not sound right so I lower the throttle, check the speed, then increase the throttle, the speed increases. All OK. I must of hit a tree stump in the canal, and went up on it, and then slid off.
    I continue on to Belhaven and anchor about a quarter of a mile behind a long breakwater. I decide to get some fuel and water if available. So I motor over to a marina, about a half mile, and inquire about diesel fuel. they tell me that they don't carry  fuel at this marina, but there is another marina about another half mile away which carrys fuel, but may be out. So I motor over with my dinghy, and luckally they have some. So now I decide that I want to boast up my cat food supplies, just in case I get marroned somewhere I am covered. So I motor into the town dinghy dock and inquire as to how far the Food Lyon  super market is. I am told only about 1/4 mile. So I start walking along their main street and stop in a sandwich shop and inquire again.  they tell me that you just go down to the red stop light, make a right, and then it is only a quarter mile down the road. So I start walking. The red light winds up to be about a mile down the road. After the turn, the supermarket is about a half mile down on the right. Long walk. Anyway I am in the pet food aisle, and as I am picking out my cans of cat food a man comes driving up the aisle in one of those handicap electric carts. He tries to grap a box of kitty liter, which weighed about 25 pounds and couldn't lift it. I seeing this , I grab the box and put in his cart. He thanks me and continues on. I completely forget about that until a few aisles over I run into to him again. I ask him "Did you drive here?" He answers "Yes". Great, I tell him that I had just sailed into the Harbor, and that I found it a long walk from there to here. then I asked him if he could give me a ride to the city docks when he finished. He said yes. Great. It pays to be assertive. Back at the boat I had dinner, and then to sleep.

Sunday, June 14, 2012

    I'm up at 6 AM, make my coffee and meet Chuck on the dock. I was feeling, slightly,  the effects of the wine dinner the night before. Anyway, Chuck who has made the part of the trip that I was about to go on, many times, was giving me last minute instructions and strategy for my trip down the Pasquatank River, then across the Albemarle Sound, and then down the Alligator river. Then Dale comes over, asks if she can say a last good by to Sam. After that we say good bye at the dock and we get each get on our way. We just happened to leave the slips at the same time and in passing we wave. You meet a lot of people while cruising, but it is not often that you meet someone that you really click with.
    So I start on down the river. The winds were still around 15 kts from the NE. After a while I decide to put up the mainsail. So I make my way to the mast and free the halyard so I can raise it. As I do that and then step down to the deck, for an instant I lose my balance. I grab on to the lifelines and the hand rail. I make my way back to the cockpit. Sit down, and start talking to my self that I almost did it, ie: fall overboard. I was very scared. I was wearing my PFD, but I was not connected to the boat. The river at this point was probably 4 miles wide, no chance of swimming to the other side if I went over. It also had a pretty good chop on it. I always had the attitude that I wear my PFD on inland waters, and my harness while on the ocean. Figuring on the ocean no need for a life preserver because no one is going to see you anyway. Also I realize that the wine last night did not help my situation, my legs, I guess, were not that strong. Any way I come to the agreement with myself that I will also wear the harness while on the inside for now on.

    A little later I go to raise the mainsail. It gets jammed halfway between the boom and the spreaders. I could not pull it up or down. So I sit back and think about how this is going to affect my anchoring  later on. I figure that there is not that much sail up out, and that it will only act as a riding sail while at anchor. No big deal. Actually the main halyard got jammed at the connection of the lazy jacks on the mast. This never happened before. I decide that maybe if I loosen the lazy jacks that maybe I can wiggle them and this will free the halyard. I try it and after a while the halyard frees. At this point I decide that I do not want to fool around with the main anymore. I'm a little disgusted so I lower it and tie it up. A little later I let out the sta-sail and let that pull me down the river. As I said the river had some chop on it, and this along with hundreds of crab pots, was making the trip miserable, but onward I must go.
   Eventually I run into the Albermarle Sound. This is a pretty big water way, almost like the Long Island Sound. Only one difference though. The Albemarle sound is only 18 feet deep. It turns out that when a good wind blows along something this long and shallow, it creates, not large, but sharp and close waves. For two and a half hours I felt that I was in a washing machine. For you other boaters out there it is like when you enter an inlet, going slow, and you start to get hit with waves in the inlet and the reflections of waves coming off the sea wall. If you had that experience then you can appreciate what I was feeling.
  After the Albemarle I turn into the Alligator River. The entrance to this is a little tricky, and add to this some unmarked shoals. By the way just before approaching this river I go to spool in my stasail and it gets jammed. Well I have to watch my navigation so I just ignore it for now.  I get into the river, and head down to the Alligator River swing bridge. Actually this river is about six miles wide, so the bridge has very long approaches. I was the only boat heading south. Ten boats were coming from the other side going north.
The river, it seemed, went on forever. It was very dismal. Not one thing on this river warmed my heart. Along the way I was able to lower the stasail, and tie it up to my life lines, I figure at anchor when the wind stopped that I would straighten it out. Eventually the river narrows, and at the bottom it turns into a nice little anchorage. I have not had too much to eat all day, my breakfast after I got moving and some snacks along the way, ie: trail raisins and nuts. After I anchored, I started for the first time to feel down about the trip. I was wondering if maybe I should turn around here and just head home. I had dinner. My favorite: rice and beans, and went to sleep.    

Thursday thru Saturday,  June 14,15,16, 2012

   For the next few days the winds were blowing from the NE with fury. No one was able to pull into the docks. Although some tried. Actually the best plan for these boats would be to go up river to Goat Island and anchor till things calmed down.
   So for the next few days I hang out with Dale and Chuck. We did some shopping together, had breakfast lunch, and dinner together, and took walks around the town. In the evening we watched some of their favorite movies. Almost all survival movies, 'Into the Wild', 'Blast from The Past',and a fantastic mountain climbing survival movie, 'Touching the Void'.  All great and one's which I have not seen before. On the last night I got them to download one of my favorites 'True Romance'. Anyway we watched the movies while enjoying a bottle of red wine.
   The following morning we all agreed that we were going to continue with each of our trips. So this was an early night to sleep, 11:30 PM.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

I woke up ate my breakfast, and then proceeded to get my docking lines ready for my planned stop at the Elizabeth City free docks. The dock was about five miles down river so I figure about an hour to get down there. Now last night when that storm came in the wind swung about 180 degrees to the NE. The guide books tell you that if there is any easterly component to the wind that you do not want to use these docks. Any way I make my way down the river and arrive at the dock. The reason that they tell you that Easterly winds and this dock are  not compatible is that the wind, which was now blowing pretty strong, will be coming on your beam. I pick out the slip that I plan to pull into. Then I aim for the slip just up wind of it. You  have to pull in with some speed or else you will lose steerage. So you aim for the slip just up wind and you give the boat some throttle, At the last second you turn into your slip, and as soon as the bow gets past the first pair of pilings you throw the boat into reverse and give it full  throttle. This stops you. You don't want to hit the dock. At the dock there were other sailors  waiting to catch your lines. Actually they were really doing  their own thing there but when they see you pulling in they drop what they are doing and run over to help you in. This is a courtesy that other boaters show to each other, because they know from their own experience what you are going through.
 At the dock there is a welcoming committee the leader of which is named Gus. Now Gus is a country guy who, while sitting in his yellow pick up truck, loves to tell you stories,and jokes, and also fill you in on what you need to know in order to be comfortable here. Now they have this  tradition  that if at least 5 boats pull in, they will serve them  a wine and cheese party. Unfortunelly only three boats showed up. so no party.
    Except for this 20 foot sailboat, that I saw up on the canal, all the boats that I run up against are larger then mine. Of the other two sailboats that pulled in, one was a 41 foot Morgan Out Island, and the other is a 47 foot Vagabond. I find that a lot of these boats have some pretty interesting people on them. For Example the Morgan had this couple, now retired, who were teachers in Florida, and lived on the boat for 31 years. They raised their children on the boat. The 47 foot Vagabond  is crewed by this young couple that had just returned from the Bahamas. The guy, Chuck, very quiet and easy going, does boat deliveries for a living.
     For example:  A person buys a boat from someone in Puerto Rico. The new owner does not want to sail the boat home, either no time or no experience. So he hires a boat delivery guy to make the move. This all sounds like a really nice job for the guy doing the delivery, but what happens more then not is that along the way the boat starts to show problems. Now the boat delivery guy is not intimately familiar with this boat, and could have a lot of difficulty fixing it. A lot of boats are not up to par with their maintenance, and also work done on the boat could be very shoddy.
    So anyway Chuck only has to work when he has to, and usually so he can finance his next trip to the Bahamas. The girl, Dale, is this petite, very attractive, over the road tractor trailer driver, she owns her own rig, and drives all over the country.  She has been doing this since she was 22 years old. They both live in a log cabin that they built, which hangs over a bluff in the Maryland woods. I also use to live in a cabin, in the eighties, up near Bear Mountain. So needless to say, we both have a lot in common.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

I left the Great Dismal Swamp Visitors Center at 9AM. One hour later I was at the second lock. This one lowers you down 10 feet. I exit the lock and proceed down the canal. As I continue down the canal I think about what a misnomer this place got 'The Dismal Canal'.To me this place, as I had said before, is absolutely beautiful. It is like drifting down a river in the  Amazon Jungle. As you are going through it you hear the sound of the birds, you see lots of turtles sunning on logs, a snake swimming across the canal and also since the water is so calm, you see the reflection of all the foliage, with its myriad of colors, in the water.
        Eventually the canal leads into the Pasquatank River. Now this river starts out narrow and deep, then becomes wide and shallow, and leads you into Elizabeth City, NC. Now I want to go off on a tangent for a few lines to explain a problem that I had. When I go down the inter_coastal waterway in New Jersey the red triangles are on the right, and the green squares are on the left. Even when you pass an inlet the boats coming through the inlet have to immediately adapt, especially if they are headed north, to the flow of the signs. So now I am going down the Pasquatank River and if their were no navigation signs there I automatically know that the deeper water is on the outside of a bend. The water runs faster on this side, and so no sediment settles. Whereas on the inside of the bend the speed of the water slows and sediment settles, making it shallow. So now I am traveling  on the ICW and  I know how the signs should appear on it. So now I am proceeding down the the river and approaching a bend to my right. I see this green square navigation sign close to the right bank. About a 100 feet off. All of a sudden a war started going off in my head. One side of it was saying you should be off to port where the water should be deeper. the other side of my brain was saying that this is the ICW and green squares should be passed on my port side. I also contemplate that maybe they made a mistake in the placement of the sign, but this assumption I quickly cast off. So I came to the conclusion that for some reason this particular bend on the river broke all the rules, and I ought to follow the sign. So I passed the sign on my port and quickly came to a stop. Damn, I'm grounded. Now this particular grounding really bother me. for one I was still in the jungle. Also I had no idea when anyone else would come by to give me a hand. Now my draft is 4 feet, and I was in 3 foot of water. Fortunately as I was heading down stream the wind was blowing pretty strong on my bow. So I put together a plan to get out of here.What I did was to raise my sta-sail, that is the smaller inner jib. The idea was to use that with the wind coming into my bow to turn the boat around. There were small waves on the river. Within not too long of a time the  boat, with the wind pushing, and the waves bouncing it, began to turn. Then when turned, I let out a little more jib, and the boat slowly bounced me back to where I came from, before I got grounded.

       Now, again, I was on my way. It was starting to get late, and looking at the sky you could see that a storm was coming in. So as I come around another bend I see two sailboats anchored behind a little island, Goat Island. So I decide to do the same. I anchor, run down to feed  Sam, and before I could get back up on deck again, an intense rain came down, It rained on and off for a few hours. What a lucky decision that was to anchor at that time. Some times I make good decisions.

Monday, June 11, 2012

I was awake pretty early 5AM. Out in the country, no TV, not very much in the way of light, you go to sleep early, wake early. I arrive at the lock at 7:30 AM. There was not the typical dock with cleats that you could tie up to. Instead there were these bundles of pilings, they call them Dolphins, all strapped together. Anyway I motor up to the Dolphin very slowly and grab on with my hands and then slip a line from my mast around one of the pilings in the bundle. There was space between the pilings, and there was no way that you were going to get a line all the way around this thing. Now I relax and have my breakfast, and wait for the Lock Master to arrive.
    At about 8:30 AM the Lock Master arrives, His name is Robert, He gave me very precise instructions as to every move that I was to make in his lock. The Instructions were very good. Anyway he raises the boat up the 10 feet needed. Now he goes into this talking mode, and begins to tell me the history about the Great Dismal swamp, the Canal, the Lock, and George Washington, who he said was responsible for its existence, the Lock, and Canal that is. I later found that he also works as a tour guide, and he loves to talk. BTW at this time I am also a captured audience. He must of talked at the dock for about 10 minutes or so, and then invites me inside for a cup of coffee. Inside he went on for maybe another 30 or 40 minutes. he explained to me why the color of the water is what it is, ie: amber. He says that because of the surrounding vegetation, the water has a lot of tanic acid in it. This he says makes it impervious to bacteria. He went on to say that ships, of Washington's time, would carry this water with them as they crossed the oceans because it would not spoil. He told me that you could bottle this water for seven years, open it, and it would still be good. He even went on to say that if they did not invent Reverse Osmosis that the astronauts would of used it for their trip to the moon. After that he talked a lot about the swamp. I will talk more about that tomorrow.Then he proceeded to talk about the Norfolk Naval Base. I had told him that I had counted almost 11 aircraft carriers on my passing through there. He goes on to tell me that I did not count any aircraft carriers. I gave him a double look at this point. He goes on to say that they were helicopter carriers and that the US, the only country in the world to have aircraft carriers, has eleven of them. Britain has VTOL carriers. China is just now coming out with some. Then he goes on to tell me where each one was deployed. Then he goes on to explain how the aircraft carriers are all part of battle groups, and what the battle group consisted of, and how they all protected the carrier. While he was talking I tried not to interrupt much at all. He was so interesting that I did not want to miss a word.
   So now time is ticking on and we head back to the boat. On the way back to the boat he goes on to explain to me why he has all these Conch shells around. He tells me that he is the best Conch Horn blower in the world. I say "in the world". He goes "yep in the world". So he goes on to play this song called 'Bubbles'. To tell you the truth, he did a pretty good job of it. I think that of he was on 'America's has Talent' that he just might continue onto the next level.
     After leaving the lock I proceed down the  canal for about 4 hours. The canal is 150 feet wide and 8 foot deep, and runs for about 40 miles or so. As you proceed through it you feel that you are traveling through a jungle.It is very scenic and beautiful. At the 28 mile marker there is a Visitors Center. I had planned on passing it up, but when I got there I saw two other sail boats, and so decided to stop. I met the other sailors, traded stories, travel tips, and some sailboat technology. The place was very pleasant. It had , for me, a free dock with water. An information desk, a refreshment stand, toilets, and a nature center. In the Nature Center you can see what roams the swamp. Unfortunately I missed the time schedule for the nature center. From other people that I had talked to about this place, they informed me they have alligators, bears, panthers, poisonous snakes, eagles and more.

Sunday, June 10, 2012

I finally leave my comfortable anchorage on the Lafayette River. I sailed down to Hospital Point, the formal beginning of the ICW, to pick up 5 gallons of diesel. Since I will be motoring for the next 50 or so miles, I figure why not fill all my tanks up at this time while the opportunity presents itself., you never know, for some reason, when the next fuel stop will be unavailable (maybe out of order). From Hospital Point I motor down the Elizabeth River, which is still congested due to the Op-Sail celebration, actually they have their own version of  our 'South Street Seaport', police and coast guard boats everywhere controlling the boat traffic. No Wakes. Eventually I get to the entrance of the Great Dismal Swamp Canal (GDSC). I motor in about a mile or so and pull into a little indentation on the right and drop the hook. I got here pretty early in the afternoon so there was time to organize the boat, again, and just relax. When ever I do some cooking, and have to clean up the dishes and pots, I use river,or bay water. So I dip my bucket into the canal and come up with this amber colored water. Not sure what this water was all about so I at least scrubbed the worst of the leftovers off with it. Tomorrow I will know the story about the water. Tomorrow the first lock opening is at 8:30 AM. So I figure if leave here by 7:00, then I will be fine. I am at present about five miles from it, and I usually motor at 5 knots.
   It is starting to get hot and humid and I feel, unfortunately, that this will only increase as I push South. My cat who usually sleeps most of the day anyway, now is starting to show a complete reluctance in doing anything except sleeping.
   Yesterday, after I left the library where I was posting to my blog, I get back to my boat and decide to play around with my wireless antenna to see if I could make it work. Well in an hour or so of fooling around with it, it starts to work. I say to myself, isn't that the way it goes, when I needed it this morning it wouldn't work. Anyway I play around with it just to see who's wireless I can piggyback on. Well there were lots of choices. Maybe 15 unlocked possibilities. Now I am at the entrance of this canal and I figure that I will do a little blogging. So I look to see where I can piggyback. Well there was only one wireless signal available, and that was locked. I guess that I am in the boonies now.