SV Orion - Annapolis, MD
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October 25-31 - Mile Zero

10/31/2006

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Picture
Mile Zero is located at this buoy in the Elizabeth River
Going to Carolina . . .

As we left Solomons 2 weeks ago, we hoped to be able to make enough progress along the Intra-coastal Waterway(ICW) to be in NC by October’s end. Well, we managed to make it over 100 miles south of the VA-NC border to a spot near the small coastal town of Belhaven in the Pungo River, where we sit on Halloween night. After staying put for so long in Solomons, we are adjusting to the different rhythm of moving frequently and going to places we have never visited before (or, at least, never by sea). 

Picture
The cruise ship American Spirit passes.
Cruising

We quickly discovered that we are not the only ones traveling the ICW. It is an amazing flood of people on boats heading south – sailboats, trawlers, single-handers, couples, professional “delivery” captains. There are even cruise ships, and, of course, working boats: tugs with barges, ferries, fishermen.

Picture
Sunset at Pungo Ferry
The ICW is a combination of natural waterways: rivers, sounds, bays, etc. and manmade canals or “land cuts” that can be narrow channels of shallow water that all of these boats must share. With the volume of boat traffic, there is a little tension between the faster power boats and the more plodding sailboats (who must spend most of the trip under power, rather than sail). The faster boats generate huge wakes, which sends the overtaken boat rocking violently when passed. However, many long timer cruisers are very polite to each other, following a protocol for passing that makes it a little easier. The overtaking vessel usually hails the slower boat on the radio, declares his intention to pass to port or starboard, and offers to “go slow” for the pass. Those who don’t offer this courtesy or at least don’t slow down and rock the waterway with their wakes are roundly criticized on the VHF radio chatter. Those sailboats that don’t want to deal with the tight quarters and the long hours of motoring can choose to “go outside”, i.e., take the ocean route south, which is something we are seriously considering for a portion of the trip.

As first-time cruisers, our trip involves a lot of research and trip planning, almost every day. We study the charts, the guides, the weather and weave together a trip plan that David then turns into a route to load into the chart plotter. On some sections of the ICW, there are very few places to stay, which increases the competition for space in these few places. We encountered this problem on our first day out, when our planned stopover in Great Bridge, VA was full. As we studied the guides, we realized that we had only 1 or 2 options with enough depth for our boat. We had to travel until late in the day to reach them, with no assurance of there being any space for us. The anchorages listed all seemed to be too shallow to accommodate us. There were only 2 marinas on the route, the first didn’t appear to have the depth for us. The 2nd was not staffed regularly, and could not be raised by phone. We called all day, and never connected to the dockmaster. Cathy finally tried a round-about way of getting information. She contacted another restaurant in the same chain in Hampton that had, until last year, operated the restaurant next to the Pungo Ferry marina. The person at the Hampton restaurant actually knew about the marina, and told us that we could stay there, even if the manager didn’t appear, and that it had the depth we would need.   This confirmation came just as the marina came into view. We docked in an 18 knot wind, but we managed to tie up for the night. Of course, the manager had arrived by now, so he was available to collect the slip fees. (Funny, how that works, isn’t it?) We swore we wouldn’t be caught again if we could help it and plan our routes much more carefully, making reservations at a marina before we leave for the day, if that is our destination.

Picture
The first bridge opens on the Elizabeth River
Another thing we had to learn quickly was the process for passing through various styles of opening bridges and even a canal lock. 

Each bridge has its own procedures for opening and the bridge tenders are managing the demands of the boat traffic vs. the car or rail traffic in determining when to open. On the first day, in the Norfolk, VA area, we had to go through 6 opening bridges, which had the effect of clustering the boats that go through on an opening. Since we also had winds over 15 knots for most of the day, we had to carefully manage to stay close to the bridges (or lock) without running aground or into another vessel while waiting for a scheduled opening. At the Great Bridge lock, the opening for our southbound trip was delayed due to some tug boats carrying half a mile of dredge pipe headed northbound.   This meant that we had even more time jockeying in the narrow space before the canal, and then we had to squeeze to the side to let the large load through as it left the canal. The actual “locking through” on the canal was done easily, thanks to skilled lock tenders assisting the boats.

Picture
Entrance to the Moving Wall exhibit in Coinjock
What to see?
So, the trip is not all about the work. 

There is much beauty in the marshes, woodlands, and waterways that we are passing as we travel the ICW. We’ve also enjoyed our ability to explore the area along the way. 

Our longest stay so far was at the little town of Coinjock, NC, which appears to be the town that the ICW built. It sits on a land cut between the Currituck and Albemarle sounds and its primary businesses are 2 marinas – one on each side of the waterway. To our surprise, when we pulled into the marina, we were told that there was a big event in town through Sunday. The Vietnam Veterans memorial “Moving Wall” was at the nearby Veterans park, only a half mile from the marina. With bad weather headed our way – high winds for several day – we decided to stay for a few days, allowing us to see the Moving Wall, try some fresh NC shrimp and crab cakes, take a few bike rides with our neighbors on the dock and even enjoy the hot tub in the chilly fall air. 

Picture
Alligator River Anchorage - Oct. 30
Since then we have spent a couple of nights in anchorages – one on the Alligator River and one on the Pungo River (not to be confused with Pungo Ferry 100 miles north) – which have allowed us to enjoy some beautiful sunsets and sunrises. 

Picture
Slade Creek Anchorage - Oct. 31
Hello again

Another aspect of cruising is the familiar faces (and their boats) that you start to see again and again as you travel. We enjoyed some fellowship with a couple from Webster, NY (near Rochester), who were traveling on a “trawlercat” a multi-hulled trawler. They graciously shared their insights into traveling the ICW, having been doing it for 10 years. We initially met them in Hampton, and struck up a friendship over our several days in Coinjock. We hope to see them more as we leapfrog our way down the waterway. (Trawlers move much faster than sailboats.)
Picture
Baby, it’s cold outside

The week started out cold and very windy. We left Hampton in 30 knot winds which generated huge waves crossing Hampton Roads and, with the low temperatures, generated an amazing wind chill. Luckily the waves and winds reduced as we entered the Elizabeth River, although (as mentioned above) they still were higher than we would have liked for the tight quarters of bridge openings. However, we kept our many layers on while underway to stay warm. Cathy was motivated to do a lot of baking to take the chill off the cabin in the evening, and hot oatmeal replaced cold cereal for breakfast. Since last Tuesday, the temperatures have steadily climbed to the low 70’s, which makes for much more comfortable cruising. As temperatures inevitably decline again, we will want to make more progress south in search of warmer weather.

So, we’re waiting for our first Trick or Treater on board Orion, but we’ve been disappointed so far. We have our candy ready, just in case . . .

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October 16-24 - Southern Migration

10/15/2006

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Picture
Orion sits at the Hampton Public Pier
Another year older
Cathy’s birthday was supposed to be the day we were to start our trip down the bay to the Intra-Coastal Waterway (ICW), but the weather didn’t cooperate. It was a rainy, cold day, so we instead celebrated by installing her birthday gift from David – a new JVC radio/CD unit to replace our existing one. (The unit being replaced kept refusing to play any of Cathy’s CD’s, spitting them out as soon as they were inserted. It was hard not to take this personally as criticism of her taste in music.   A calmer assessment revealed that the problem was more likely moisture in the circuitry, which could be resolved by simply using the unit for a period of time. This meant that we had to listen to the radio. With Solomons’ poor radio reception, that meant listening to WKIK Country, not the first choice of music options for either of us. We listened so long that Cathy was learning the words to the songs, but still the CD’s were being unceremoniously rejected. So the new player was a welcome gift and the old was gleefully tossed.) We finished the evening with a nice dinner at a nearby seafood restaurant, and then said goodbye to Chris and Margaret one more time, whom we hoped to see again soon after they started their trip down the ICW in a couple of weeks.

Into the Fog
We had a long trip ahead on our first day, since the nearest harbor south of Solomons was over 50 nautical miles away – a long trip at 6 knots. And we didn’t want to be arriving at or near dark. With the shorter fall days, this meant we had to leave before sunrise.  We pulled out of Solomons in a foggy darkness (could this be a metaphor?) as we headed south on the first day of our southern migration. Relying heavily on our chartplotter’s many tracks in and out of Solomons and the Patuxent River, we crept out of our slip at Hospitality Harbor. Visibility was limited to half a mile by the fog, even after sunrise, which made for an eerie departure as we closely watched our track and squinted into the distance to ensure we could see any vessels (or other objects) ahead of us. Just after we rounded Drum Point into the bay, the fog lifted and we could see to the horizon.   Whew!

With little wind, there would be no sailing today. However, it turned out to be a great opportunity to try out our new autopilot on the long, straight run. David started by choosing a bearing and set the autopilot to follow it. It worked like a charm. Then, he tried having it follow a route to a waypoint, which also worked great. (Except, of course for the time that Cathy turned off the instruments accidentally, just as we approached a waypoint. Ooops. Sorry about that.) 

As the trip progressed, we were averaging better than 6 knots, almost 6.5, so we decided to push further south to Fishing Bay on the Piankatank River near Deltaville. We made this easily by 4:30 and set our anchor again for the first time in 2 months with little trouble. The number of boats anchored around us gave us our first indication of the herd we would be following south. 

We planned to head on to Hampton the next day, weather-permitting. The next morning had predictions of fog again, but it was supposed to lift by 8 or 9am. We decided to get up, check the visibility and decide when to leave. At 7am, you couldn’t see the nearest boats at anchor. By 8am, it had lifted enough that we could see farther boats and just to shore. We decided to once again head out following our track, assuming the fog would lift before we cleared the Piankatank. 

Wrong.

The fog was so dense we couldn’t see the navigation marks only 1/10th of a mile away. We started sounding our horn to ensure other boats could hear us. Of course, who else was crazy enough to be out in this soup? Luckily, we encountered no one else. Nine o’clock came and went. Then ten o’clock. It was still dense fog. By 10:30, it finally lifted. We swore we would never do that again unless we installed radar first.

We motored much of the day, and then motor sailed a bit late morning. Our course kept heading straight into the wind, making true sailing impossible. By early afternoon, as we approached the mouth of the York River, the winds picked up and the angle was such that we could rely solely on sail power, reaching well over 6 knots. The winds kept rising along with the waves as we approached Hampton. The heeling from the winds and the waves caused a lot of motion down below, sending many items flying that normally stayed put while underway.

Picture
Towels flying at 15degrees of heel
As we closed in on Hampton Roads, we started to pass more commercial and Navy traffic, even a submarine. For Cathy, this was starting to look familiar, since she had visited her great aunt and uncle in Hampton several times as a child. We passed Fort Monroe, the Chamberlain hotel, crossed the Hampton Roads tunnel and turned into the channel for the Hampton River. 

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