Port: Belhaven (35.56N 76.63W)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!!
Our Weather
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Day 14: November 29, 2008
Port: Belhaven (35.56N 76.63W)
Weather: Rain! Winds N-NE 5-10, with overcast skies, turning to rain this afternoon. Seas were 1-2 feet. Temperatures reached 51 degrees F here today with a low tonight of 48. We are getting warmer!
Today started with a little craziness! This morning, instead of waking up to the alarm, we woke to a halyard clanking. Now halyards clank sometimes, but not ours. We have been very careful not to let them bang around, partially because it will drive other people crazy, but also because it drives us completely crazy. Turns out, upon quick inspection, we were stern to the wind at anchor. For those who don’t know… that’s not good. We are supposed to swing so that the bow is always into the wind. Everyone else was bow to the wind. We weren’t moving. We guess we were caught on a stump, because once we let a little more anchor chain out, we moved forward and swung around properly. Whew! At least that wasn’t something too bad. We motored 33 statue miles to MM 135 and have docked in a small marina. The rain started coming down just before we came in and is supposed to continue through Monday. We plan to hunker down for a day or two here, not only because of rain, but also because the winds are supposed to reach 25.
GWHS!
Weather: Rain! Winds N-NE 5-10, with overcast skies, turning to rain this afternoon. Seas were 1-2 feet. Temperatures reached 51 degrees F here today with a low tonight of 48. We are getting warmer!
Today started with a little craziness! This morning, instead of waking up to the alarm, we woke to a halyard clanking. Now halyards clank sometimes, but not ours. We have been very careful not to let them bang around, partially because it will drive other people crazy, but also because it drives us completely crazy. Turns out, upon quick inspection, we were stern to the wind at anchor. For those who don’t know… that’s not good. We are supposed to swing so that the bow is always into the wind. Everyone else was bow to the wind. We weren’t moving. We guess we were caught on a stump, because once we let a little more anchor chain out, we moved forward and swung around properly. Whew! At least that wasn’t something too bad. We motored 33 statue miles to MM 135 and have docked in a small marina. The rain started coming down just before we came in and is supposed to continue through Monday. We plan to hunker down for a day or two here, not only because of rain, but also because the winds are supposed to reach 25.
GWHS!
Day 13: November 28, 2008
Port: Alligator River (35.68N 76.05W)
Weather: Winds were SW-W 5-10 with overcast skies. Seas were 1-2 feet decreasing to less than 1 foot by the afternoon. The temperature was 60 degrees F, dropping to the 30’s in the evening. We had some sunshine late afternoon that was pleasant.
Up early, we headed down the ICW from MM 50 to MM 102. A long day, we traveled about 52 statue miles. Nothing very exciting happened today. We took turns steering through the channel, the landscape an endless mass of dead trees mixed with some shrubbery and an occasional live tree. We believe the land is all marsh. There were hardly any houses at all. We had to hail one bridge opening at the Alligator River Bridge (MM 85), but other than that… it was a chug chug chug kind of day. We anchored at Deep Point in the Alligator River, along with 3 other boats headed south.
GWHS!
Weather: Winds were SW-W 5-10 with overcast skies. Seas were 1-2 feet decreasing to less than 1 foot by the afternoon. The temperature was 60 degrees F, dropping to the 30’s in the evening. We had some sunshine late afternoon that was pleasant.
Up early, we headed down the ICW from MM 50 to MM 102. A long day, we traveled about 52 statue miles. Nothing very exciting happened today. We took turns steering through the channel, the landscape an endless mass of dead trees mixed with some shrubbery and an occasional live tree. We believe the land is all marsh. There were hardly any houses at all. We had to hail one bridge opening at the Alligator River Bridge (MM 85), but other than that… it was a chug chug chug kind of day. We anchored at Deep Point in the Alligator River, along with 3 other boats headed south.
GWHS!
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Day 12: November 27, 2008 (Leaving our home, Good Old VA)
Port: Coinjock, North Carolina (36.34N 75.93W)
Weather: Today was clear skies, calm wind coming out of the W at about 5-10 mph. The high for today was 58 degrees F!!!! YAY! And the low so far has been 41, but was much colder this morning. We actually felt warm! The humidity averaged 62%. Tonight, the weather is supposed to pick up with winds coming from the South at 6-8 mph and predicting the temperatures at 60 tomorrow!! Wish us that kind of luck! :)
HAPPY THANKSGIVING! We miss not being able to share the holiday with our friends and family, but wish everyone a wonderful day! We are so thankful for all the wonderful friends and family we have and for all the help they have given to us this past year and a half. We love you all so much!
Also today, we are so thankful that we were able to have Emily in our lives for as long as we did and miss her so much! We know that she is with us today, and everyday, helping us to sail this boat south and get through each and every day. We love you Boo and miss you so very much!
Today, we left dock a little later than normal, around 740, with frost lining the paint on our boat and the planks on the dock. It was so cold; we could see our breath in the cabin of the boat. We had to be very careful not to slip. We were very happy to see that no one had bothered us, since the marina was abandoned and had posted “No Trespassing” signs. We felt that we could wiggle out of trouble if the need came. I mean, they did still have a sign posted (bigger, I might add too) that said “Transients Welcome.” I’d say that one took precedent in this matter. I would hope the law would too. :) As we were untying, Bedouin, a smaller sloop, also from Herrington, passed us. We haven’t actually met the owners of Bedouin, but we have seen the boat several times. It appears we will be hopping down the ICW together, which is pretty neat. Maybe we will be able to meet them at some point.
I made us some breakfast on the go this morning while Mom drove us down the narrow channel in North Landing River. North Landing River is a very wide body of water, but only has about 6 feet of water, getting less as near the edges. In the narrow channel, which is very well marked, you have about 10 feet, but know it quickly when you stray outside. Along the way we crossed the line from VA to NC!!! That makes 3 states we have sailed through! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!! While Mom was driving, we both perceived this marker to be a red triangle, meaning we needed to keep it to our right (starboard) side. It was covered with Cormorants, a small bird that actually swims like a fish. There were so many it had distorted the shape of the marker. Mom and I had the boat way outside the channel, needless to say. We fixed it without a problem and kind of laughed when we realized the mistake we had made. From then on, we used binoculars to confirm the shape of the markers and direction we were supposed to go.
The cormorants are a strange bird. They can swim like a fish, look a little a duck. They can actually dive and stay underwater for an extraordinary amount of time. Migratory birds, we have seen them in the spring and again this winter, but they headed north for the summer. Today, they stood on every marker watching us as we went by.
During our trip today, we officially switched over from using nautical miles and knots to miles and miles per hour. We will now, until we are out of the ICW being using miles and mph to record our distance and speed.
It is amazing the change of landscapes that we have seen in the past two days. We went from open bay to the city landscape of downtown Norfolk to the outback wilderness of the ICW and now back again into more populous places. We had grassy, marshy meadows, turning to sandy knolls with some low shrubbery. The beach is just East of us, though we cannot see it. I do not believe that we will get to at all, but just knowing it is that close gives us a smile! To aid in the landscape, there were several several sunken boats of various kinds. There was one with the curtains still in the windows. We were talking and could not believe that whoever went to all the trouble of marking the ship wrecks and posting warning markers about them, but not clean any of them up. We determined the owner of the boat wanted the insurance money, and the EPA hadn’t caught on yet. It was daunting to see so many scattered along the edges though… made us want to really stay in the channel.
We stopped in Coinjock at the Coinjock Marina, a nice stop and go kind of place. We were only going to stay for ice and a potty break then head onto Broad Creek for the night, but decided to just stay here for today. It was a really short day today. We only traveled 22 statue miles and ended by 1140 this morning. We wanted to have access to the internet, power, showers, a little general store (with amazing homemade hot dilly beans and relish), and have the time to enjoy an afternoon of relaxation. Tomorrow will be a long day as a result but we decided it was worth. Hey, it’s a holiday!
Instead of turkey, we will be having jumbalaya (no seafood, didn’t think it would make it). The weather was so nice this afternoon, we kicked open all the doors and allowed the fresh air to flow through, something we hadn’t thought about or wanted to do until now. Mom even took a seat in a small Adirondack on the dock and took a nice nap in the sun. Dad and I repaired the speaker wires and I cleaned the inside of the boat. You would not believe how dirty. EW!
Well, we are wishing you all a very warm, nice Thanksgiving! It’s up early tomorrow and off to the next stopping point.
GWHS!
Weather: Today was clear skies, calm wind coming out of the W at about 5-10 mph. The high for today was 58 degrees F!!!! YAY! And the low so far has been 41, but was much colder this morning. We actually felt warm! The humidity averaged 62%. Tonight, the weather is supposed to pick up with winds coming from the South at 6-8 mph and predicting the temperatures at 60 tomorrow!! Wish us that kind of luck! :)
HAPPY THANKSGIVING! We miss not being able to share the holiday with our friends and family, but wish everyone a wonderful day! We are so thankful for all the wonderful friends and family we have and for all the help they have given to us this past year and a half. We love you all so much!
Also today, we are so thankful that we were able to have Emily in our lives for as long as we did and miss her so much! We know that she is with us today, and everyday, helping us to sail this boat south and get through each and every day. We love you Boo and miss you so very much!
Today, we left dock a little later than normal, around 740, with frost lining the paint on our boat and the planks on the dock. It was so cold; we could see our breath in the cabin of the boat. We had to be very careful not to slip. We were very happy to see that no one had bothered us, since the marina was abandoned and had posted “No Trespassing” signs. We felt that we could wiggle out of trouble if the need came. I mean, they did still have a sign posted (bigger, I might add too) that said “Transients Welcome.” I’d say that one took precedent in this matter. I would hope the law would too. :) As we were untying, Bedouin, a smaller sloop, also from Herrington, passed us. We haven’t actually met the owners of Bedouin, but we have seen the boat several times. It appears we will be hopping down the ICW together, which is pretty neat. Maybe we will be able to meet them at some point.
I made us some breakfast on the go this morning while Mom drove us down the narrow channel in North Landing River. North Landing River is a very wide body of water, but only has about 6 feet of water, getting less as near the edges. In the narrow channel, which is very well marked, you have about 10 feet, but know it quickly when you stray outside. Along the way we crossed the line from VA to NC!!! That makes 3 states we have sailed through! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!! While Mom was driving, we both perceived this marker to be a red triangle, meaning we needed to keep it to our right (starboard) side. It was covered with Cormorants, a small bird that actually swims like a fish. There were so many it had distorted the shape of the marker. Mom and I had the boat way outside the channel, needless to say. We fixed it without a problem and kind of laughed when we realized the mistake we had made. From then on, we used binoculars to confirm the shape of the markers and direction we were supposed to go.
The cormorants are a strange bird. They can swim like a fish, look a little a duck. They can actually dive and stay underwater for an extraordinary amount of time. Migratory birds, we have seen them in the spring and again this winter, but they headed north for the summer. Today, they stood on every marker watching us as we went by.
During our trip today, we officially switched over from using nautical miles and knots to miles and miles per hour. We will now, until we are out of the ICW being using miles and mph to record our distance and speed.
It is amazing the change of landscapes that we have seen in the past two days. We went from open bay to the city landscape of downtown Norfolk to the outback wilderness of the ICW and now back again into more populous places. We had grassy, marshy meadows, turning to sandy knolls with some low shrubbery. The beach is just East of us, though we cannot see it. I do not believe that we will get to at all, but just knowing it is that close gives us a smile! To aid in the landscape, there were several several sunken boats of various kinds. There was one with the curtains still in the windows. We were talking and could not believe that whoever went to all the trouble of marking the ship wrecks and posting warning markers about them, but not clean any of them up. We determined the owner of the boat wanted the insurance money, and the EPA hadn’t caught on yet. It was daunting to see so many scattered along the edges though… made us want to really stay in the channel.
We stopped in Coinjock at the Coinjock Marina, a nice stop and go kind of place. We were only going to stay for ice and a potty break then head onto Broad Creek for the night, but decided to just stay here for today. It was a really short day today. We only traveled 22 statue miles and ended by 1140 this morning. We wanted to have access to the internet, power, showers, a little general store (with amazing homemade hot dilly beans and relish), and have the time to enjoy an afternoon of relaxation. Tomorrow will be a long day as a result but we decided it was worth. Hey, it’s a holiday!
Instead of turkey, we will be having jumbalaya (no seafood, didn’t think it would make it). The weather was so nice this afternoon, we kicked open all the doors and allowed the fresh air to flow through, something we hadn’t thought about or wanted to do until now. Mom even took a seat in a small Adirondack on the dock and took a nice nap in the sun. Dad and I repaired the speaker wires and I cleaned the inside of the boat. You would not believe how dirty. EW!
Well, we are wishing you all a very warm, nice Thanksgiving! It’s up early tomorrow and off to the next stopping point.
GWHS!
Day 11: November 26, 2008
Port: Pungo Ferry, the VA Pungo (36.63N 76.05W)
Weather: Today’s weather was clear skies, calm wind, and temperatures of 50 degrees, dropping to 27 degrees F during the evening/night. The humidity averaged 57%.
What a day! We made it through so many cool things today. It will take an hour to write this blog.
Today we left Little Creek and had to cross the Chesapeake Bay to the Elizabeth River. The cross over was very windy and cold, probably some of the coldest (other than the trip to Deltaville) we’ve been. We crossed over the Hampton Roads Tunnel which was a little strange, having drive through the tunnel. We passed Fort Wool, which after researching we found was built in 1826. Robert E Lee himself was one of the engineers of the Fort. It took a long time to build, but was never finished according to original plan. They put an experimental, supposed awesome gun at the Fort, which fired at the Confederates during the Civil War, but did no damage to them. All in all, it’s a pretty neat looking fort on a man-made island of rocks. After that we came to the Elizabeth River, which is covered on both sides with Navy and other government property. We started with all the large ships, coming to the sub pen, and wound down to more tankers and supply boats. It was so neat to see them all. I probably took 400 pictures today and they are all of Navy gray. Passing downtown Norfolk, we saw the Nauticus museum with the USS Wisconsin, which Scott and I toured on last year. We also passed a beautiful 3-masted schooner sitting at dock. To make this a little shorter, we came to the red buoy 36, which marks Mile Post 0 of the ICW. We officially started the ICW at Hospital Point in Norfolk. Shortly after that, we hailed our first bridge opening by VHF. It was very neat to see (there is a video). We hailed several more bridges today and completed a lock (Great Bridge). There are pictures for all the bridges and some video. My favorite is Great Bridge, which is the green one. Dad and I made a bet on the swing bridges as to which way they would swing. He won on the first bridge, I did on the second. We like it when we both win.
Now for the story behind the Naval powerboat with the guy who yelled at us. It was more a warning… that we were too close. Haha… we couldn’t help it. We wanted to see more, so we drifted, I guess, too close to some invisible boundary that marks the ICW from the Navy. He came zooming out and told us to back away and stay further out. The soldier riding with him glared at us for some reason. I didn’t think we were doing anything wrong. I was taking pictures of everything, so maybe he didn’t like that.
Also, another special treat… we saw the USS Simon Lake. For those who do not know, the USS Simon Lake is a submarine tender on which my grandfather, Gil, was an XO. The USS Simon Lake was decommissioned in 1999 and has been sitting here in Norfolk. It was so exciting to see the ship that Gramps had worked on. For my mom, it brought back many memories, especially a relevant one about a Thanksgiving dinner on board. Pictures are posted. For those wondering what the E means, it’s on a caption of the one picture.
Tonight, we managed to get to MM 28.5 and docked at an abandoned marina in Pungo Ferry, VA. There is a Pungo Creek and Pungo River in North Carolina, so it gets confusing. The marina was apparently the first marina established in the state of VA, but had since closed down. It was a little spooky. There was nothing around it, but trees and bare land. We couldn’t even see any town nearby. We docked at the still very stable dock for tonight. All in all we traveled 41.3 miles, a long day, and had a blast seeing everything.
GWHS!
Weather: Today’s weather was clear skies, calm wind, and temperatures of 50 degrees, dropping to 27 degrees F during the evening/night. The humidity averaged 57%.
What a day! We made it through so many cool things today. It will take an hour to write this blog.
Today we left Little Creek and had to cross the Chesapeake Bay to the Elizabeth River. The cross over was very windy and cold, probably some of the coldest (other than the trip to Deltaville) we’ve been. We crossed over the Hampton Roads Tunnel which was a little strange, having drive through the tunnel. We passed Fort Wool, which after researching we found was built in 1826. Robert E Lee himself was one of the engineers of the Fort. It took a long time to build, but was never finished according to original plan. They put an experimental, supposed awesome gun at the Fort, which fired at the Confederates during the Civil War, but did no damage to them. All in all, it’s a pretty neat looking fort on a man-made island of rocks. After that we came to the Elizabeth River, which is covered on both sides with Navy and other government property. We started with all the large ships, coming to the sub pen, and wound down to more tankers and supply boats. It was so neat to see them all. I probably took 400 pictures today and they are all of Navy gray. Passing downtown Norfolk, we saw the Nauticus museum with the USS Wisconsin, which Scott and I toured on last year. We also passed a beautiful 3-masted schooner sitting at dock. To make this a little shorter, we came to the red buoy 36, which marks Mile Post 0 of the ICW. We officially started the ICW at Hospital Point in Norfolk. Shortly after that, we hailed our first bridge opening by VHF. It was very neat to see (there is a video). We hailed several more bridges today and completed a lock (Great Bridge). There are pictures for all the bridges and some video. My favorite is Great Bridge, which is the green one. Dad and I made a bet on the swing bridges as to which way they would swing. He won on the first bridge, I did on the second. We like it when we both win.
Now for the story behind the Naval powerboat with the guy who yelled at us. It was more a warning… that we were too close. Haha… we couldn’t help it. We wanted to see more, so we drifted, I guess, too close to some invisible boundary that marks the ICW from the Navy. He came zooming out and told us to back away and stay further out. The soldier riding with him glared at us for some reason. I didn’t think we were doing anything wrong. I was taking pictures of everything, so maybe he didn’t like that.
Also, another special treat… we saw the USS Simon Lake. For those who do not know, the USS Simon Lake is a submarine tender on which my grandfather, Gil, was an XO. The USS Simon Lake was decommissioned in 1999 and has been sitting here in Norfolk. It was so exciting to see the ship that Gramps had worked on. For my mom, it brought back many memories, especially a relevant one about a Thanksgiving dinner on board. Pictures are posted. For those wondering what the E means, it’s on a caption of the one picture.
Tonight, we managed to get to MM 28.5 and docked at an abandoned marina in Pungo Ferry, VA. There is a Pungo Creek and Pungo River in North Carolina, so it gets confusing. The marina was apparently the first marina established in the state of VA, but had since closed down. It was a little spooky. There was nothing around it, but trees and bare land. We couldn’t even see any town nearby. We docked at the still very stable dock for tonight. All in all we traveled 41.3 miles, a long day, and had a blast seeing everything.
GWHS!
Days 9 – 10: November 24-25, 2008
Port: Norfolk (36.83N 76.3W)
For the next 2 days, we stayed in Norfolk to visit with John and Betsy Morris and Scott. It was a very nice visit and enabled us to get some things fixed around the boat, such as our kerosene heater. The heater had died in the craziness of the weather, we believe because the kerosene was dirty and when shaken up, clogged it. We were able to do laundry, thank you all for that, and get some warm showers!! We were also able to grocery shop and resupply on some necessities and pump out (a nasty little job of emptying the boat of *ahem* waste). I, hahahaha, got to miss this task. Luckily, there was a Carib dealer at the marina, so we were able to replace the lost oar. We looked for it on our way to Norfolk, expecting it was still floating around. Wouldn't that have been neat to actuall find it! We enjoyed the break greatly and are ready to get back on the water to head further south.
GWHS!
For the next 2 days, we stayed in Norfolk to visit with John and Betsy Morris and Scott. It was a very nice visit and enabled us to get some things fixed around the boat, such as our kerosene heater. The heater had died in the craziness of the weather, we believe because the kerosene was dirty and when shaken up, clogged it. We were able to do laundry, thank you all for that, and get some warm showers!! We were also able to grocery shop and resupply on some necessities and pump out (a nasty little job of emptying the boat of *ahem* waste). I, hahahaha, got to miss this task. Luckily, there was a Carib dealer at the marina, so we were able to replace the lost oar. We looked for it on our way to Norfolk, expecting it was still floating around. Wouldn't that have been neat to actuall find it! We enjoyed the break greatly and are ready to get back on the water to head further south.
GWHS!
Day 8: November 23, 2008
Port: Norfolk (36.83N 76.3W)
Weather: The weather today, while better than before, had winds of 9-13 mph from the East. It was sunny, clear skies, and therefore a lot warmer. The temperatures were a high of 43 with a low of 23 during the night. The humidity averaged 69%.
Today was fairly uneventful motoring, comparatively. We left Deltaville this morning around 700 for Norfolk, Va. Having had an exciting last day out, we decided to keep this day pretty cool, ie. not do anything crazy. The weather was a complete opposite of what we had coming into Deltaville, so we plunked down the bay for 43.5 nautical miles. There were light winds, small waves, and the sun was shining brightly. We just motored, keeping it simple. With the slight wind and currents pushing us along, we actually got to Norfolk a lot quicker than predicted. We worked our way to Little Creek in Norfolk and arrived at 1402 in the afternoon. We decided to stay at Cobb’s Marina, which is where John and Betsy Morris have their boat. They, thank you both so much, set it up for us to come in to the marina’s only T-dock for a few days. We hailed John on the VHF to let him know we were coming in. They would meet us at the dock to help tie us.
Right on Little Creek is the Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base. We got to watch 3 hovercrafts fly by us on the water and keep going right up the sandy beach and into the yard. It was so amazing to see them completely turn from water vessel to land vehicle. We saw so many naval vessels coming into the channel. I could have stared all day long. I love looking at all the ships and boats they have.
John and Betsy met us at the dock, we tied up, and relaxed for a bit. Mom and Dad went on with John and Betsy for dinner, showers, and laundry, while Scott came to pick me up. We will be staying here for a little bit.
GWHS!
Weather: The weather today, while better than before, had winds of 9-13 mph from the East. It was sunny, clear skies, and therefore a lot warmer. The temperatures were a high of 43 with a low of 23 during the night. The humidity averaged 69%.
Today was fairly uneventful motoring, comparatively. We left Deltaville this morning around 700 for Norfolk, Va. Having had an exciting last day out, we decided to keep this day pretty cool, ie. not do anything crazy. The weather was a complete opposite of what we had coming into Deltaville, so we plunked down the bay for 43.5 nautical miles. There were light winds, small waves, and the sun was shining brightly. We just motored, keeping it simple. With the slight wind and currents pushing us along, we actually got to Norfolk a lot quicker than predicted. We worked our way to Little Creek in Norfolk and arrived at 1402 in the afternoon. We decided to stay at Cobb’s Marina, which is where John and Betsy Morris have their boat. They, thank you both so much, set it up for us to come in to the marina’s only T-dock for a few days. We hailed John on the VHF to let him know we were coming in. They would meet us at the dock to help tie us.
Right on Little Creek is the Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base. We got to watch 3 hovercrafts fly by us on the water and keep going right up the sandy beach and into the yard. It was so amazing to see them completely turn from water vessel to land vehicle. We saw so many naval vessels coming into the channel. I could have stared all day long. I love looking at all the ships and boats they have.
John and Betsy met us at the dock, we tied up, and relaxed for a bit. Mom and Dad went on with John and Betsy for dinner, showers, and laundry, while Scott came to pick me up. We will be staying here for a little bit.
GWHS!
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Day 7: November 22, 2008
Port: Deltaville (37.56N/76.34W)
Weather: Its really sunny outside today which is a bonus. As for the rest of the weather, I am not even going to worry about reporting it. We hear its nasty out there and are happy to be tucked in here. :)
Today is relax, recoup, recover day! We are holing up in Deltaville for an extra night due to the forecasted weather of continued gale warnings. We do not wish to repeat yesterday. The pads of my fingers still hurt from being so cold. We slept in, had a wonderful egg and bacon breakfast, and are drying out our clothes from yesterday. Mom and I are so excited about the heat in the bathrooms, that we make excuses to have to go and sit in there. It's amazing the luxuries we take for granted, such as heated bathrooms. :)
Of course I say this all in jest, because I really do love roughing it and the cold isn't thaaaaaat bad. It's just a little hysterical to us.
We plan tomorrow to head out for Norfolk, as the weather is supposed to turn.
Good weather and happy sailing!
Weather: Its really sunny outside today which is a bonus. As for the rest of the weather, I am not even going to worry about reporting it. We hear its nasty out there and are happy to be tucked in here. :)
Today is relax, recoup, recover day! We are holing up in Deltaville for an extra night due to the forecasted weather of continued gale warnings. We do not wish to repeat yesterday. The pads of my fingers still hurt from being so cold. We slept in, had a wonderful egg and bacon breakfast, and are drying out our clothes from yesterday. Mom and I are so excited about the heat in the bathrooms, that we make excuses to have to go and sit in there. It's amazing the luxuries we take for granted, such as heated bathrooms. :)
Of course I say this all in jest, because I really do love roughing it and the cold isn't thaaaaaat bad. It's just a little hysterical to us.
We plan tomorrow to head out for Norfolk, as the weather is supposed to turn.
Good weather and happy sailing!
Day 6: November 21, 2008
Port: Deltaville (37.56N/76.34W)
Weather: Today’s weather predicted another small craft advisory. It was forecasted 15-20 with gusts up to 25 mph toward the afternoon. The winds were more like 20-30 mph coming out of the north with gusts upwards of 38 mph. The humidity was 51% again today. Scattered clouds with occasional sunshine. The high temperature for today was 45 degree F with a low of 31 degrees F. Not sure what the wind chill was, but I can tell you it was colder than 45 today.
Haha, I just got to laugh as I sit down and write about this leg of the journey. Of course, I can laugh now as I sit down below, tied to dock, warm clothes, and a hot cup of coffee.
Knowing the weather wasn’t going to be great, we decided we needed to get out earlier than we had the day before. Up at 600 and out by 700, we were motoring away from the beautiful Solomon’s Island. We had a longer distance to go today from Solomon’s to Deltaville, a 52.79 nautical mile trip.
The Patuxent River was quiet this morning, leaving Mom wondering if anyone worked on Fridays around here. There were no barges and no zoomies flying about for most of the morning. It was cold! We were bundled in thermal underwear and foulies on top. We raised some sail and headed down the bay. We passed the length of the Patuxent River Naval Air Base and some of their targets stationed out in the water. A pretty straight shot south, we moved along at an average of 7 knots, hitting 8 knots when the gusts blew. Unlike yesterday, we took turns sitting below to get warm every so often.
Mostly today was a mix of emotions. One minute I was so cold and stiff, the next elated with joy at being on the water, then back to miserably cold. The winds increased to the point where it was impossible to keep the sails up. Ditching the sails was a slightly exciting experience, holding on for dear life, while trying to lower the flapping sails, with spray flying over the sides of the boat, drenching you in cold water. Once the sails were down, we moved a lot smoother through the water, but still crashed bow down and up like we were a fast paced rocking chair. It was so cool! And a little intense! We found Deltaville and were trying to quickly get in before the gusts completely wore us down. By now, all I wanted to do was sit, which was no longer an option since we were bucking around so much you couldn’t be still.
I hesitate to write this… but our dingy setup, which had broken before and was repaired, broke again. We had it secured with other lines though, so she wasn’t completely lost. We did however lose an oar and almost completely lost the dingy trying to further secure it. We then had the engine “overheat” which wasn’t really true since the temperature wasn’t too hot, it was just steaming. Water got into the engine room from all the splashing and we believe it just caused a little unhappiness on the part of the engine. We got into Deltaville and grabbed a T-dock at the Deltaville Yachting Center. It is tucked back enough that the heavy winds were much calmer. We had the most horrible docking but we are going to pretend it went really well. :)
Listening to the weather later, we discovered that we had been sailing in gale force winds and had gusts up to 38 mph. No wonder!!!
We skipped dinner tonight and are going straight to bed, planning to bunk down here tomorrow as the winds will still be insane out there.
Good weather and happy sailing!
Weather: Today’s weather predicted another small craft advisory. It was forecasted 15-20 with gusts up to 25 mph toward the afternoon. The winds were more like 20-30 mph coming out of the north with gusts upwards of 38 mph. The humidity was 51% again today. Scattered clouds with occasional sunshine. The high temperature for today was 45 degree F with a low of 31 degrees F. Not sure what the wind chill was, but I can tell you it was colder than 45 today.
Haha, I just got to laugh as I sit down and write about this leg of the journey. Of course, I can laugh now as I sit down below, tied to dock, warm clothes, and a hot cup of coffee.
Knowing the weather wasn’t going to be great, we decided we needed to get out earlier than we had the day before. Up at 600 and out by 700, we were motoring away from the beautiful Solomon’s Island. We had a longer distance to go today from Solomon’s to Deltaville, a 52.79 nautical mile trip.
The Patuxent River was quiet this morning, leaving Mom wondering if anyone worked on Fridays around here. There were no barges and no zoomies flying about for most of the morning. It was cold! We were bundled in thermal underwear and foulies on top. We raised some sail and headed down the bay. We passed the length of the Patuxent River Naval Air Base and some of their targets stationed out in the water. A pretty straight shot south, we moved along at an average of 7 knots, hitting 8 knots when the gusts blew. Unlike yesterday, we took turns sitting below to get warm every so often.
Mostly today was a mix of emotions. One minute I was so cold and stiff, the next elated with joy at being on the water, then back to miserably cold. The winds increased to the point where it was impossible to keep the sails up. Ditching the sails was a slightly exciting experience, holding on for dear life, while trying to lower the flapping sails, with spray flying over the sides of the boat, drenching you in cold water. Once the sails were down, we moved a lot smoother through the water, but still crashed bow down and up like we were a fast paced rocking chair. It was so cool! And a little intense! We found Deltaville and were trying to quickly get in before the gusts completely wore us down. By now, all I wanted to do was sit, which was no longer an option since we were bucking around so much you couldn’t be still.
I hesitate to write this… but our dingy setup, which had broken before and was repaired, broke again. We had it secured with other lines though, so she wasn’t completely lost. We did however lose an oar and almost completely lost the dingy trying to further secure it. We then had the engine “overheat” which wasn’t really true since the temperature wasn’t too hot, it was just steaming. Water got into the engine room from all the splashing and we believe it just caused a little unhappiness on the part of the engine. We got into Deltaville and grabbed a T-dock at the Deltaville Yachting Center. It is tucked back enough that the heavy winds were much calmer. We had the most horrible docking but we are going to pretend it went really well. :)
Listening to the weather later, we discovered that we had been sailing in gale force winds and had gusts up to 38 mph. No wonder!!!
We skipped dinner tonight and are going straight to bed, planning to bunk down here tomorrow as the winds will still be insane out there.
Good weather and happy sailing!
Day 5: November 20, 2008
Port: Solomon’s Island (38.33N/76.43W)
Weather: Today’s weather predicted a small craft advisory. Winds were up to 23 mph with gusts of 30 mph coming out of the west. The humidity was 51%. The high for today was 54 degrees F with a low of 33 degrees F. There were scattered clouds with some sun occasionally peaking through.
Today was the day! We had checked the weather while doing laundry and found that the weather was supposed to be great for today! As you can see above, the weather wasn’t quite what they had told us it would be yesterday. We were expecting sunny skies and light winds. We left dock at about 845, a little later than planned, but quietly motored out. We had thought of maybe honking the horn and flying full colors, but decided to head out quietly, waving to the dock hands as we passed. The air was chilly and a small breeze was picking up. The excitement was almost more than, at least I, could contain. We were finally leaving! We started out motoring, adding a couple of sails later for balance and a boost in speed. Taking turns at the helm, we cruised down the bay towards Solomon’s, running alongside a barge and tug for quite some time. We passed Right Nut and Foolish Pleasure, fishing boats based out of HHN, as they rocked in the increasing swells. Midday, the wind had picked up to the mid 20’s and the white caps increased in size. It started to get a little more exciting onboard. We got her up to 8.07 knots (my record) and then to 8.16 knots (Dad creamed my record)! Coming around Drum Point and into the Patuxent River, we took down our sails. With 30 mph gusts, it was extremely difficult to take down the foresail, which has no boom to rest the sail on and therefore free hangs and blows. As if that weren’t difficult already, we also had to keep the sail from blowing onto the heater exhaust pipe. We motored the rest of the way in towards Solomon’s. We rounded the small island and were able to grab a T-dock at Solomon’s Yachting Center, thankful to be done for the day. We docked around 1415 this afternoon. The trip was about 33 nautical miles and about 6 hours 15 minutes long. That weather was not what we had expected or what had been predicted, but overall we did very well! Thaleia is so sturdy and makes for a nice ride even in high winds.
For those who have not been, Solomon’s is a beautiful place. The homes that line the river are astounding and the Naval Base provides some exciting sights, as jets and helicopters zoom around. Immediately after docking, we jumped off the boat and started walking around the small town. It was just beautiful. We discovered that it is an old, historic oyster town. The JC Lore and Sons Oyster House sits on their main street, having shipped oysters, crab, and fish from as early as 1888. Eventually, we found a small dive and slipped in for a beer and some wonderful crab dip.
Overall, today was exciting and monumental! We high-fived at our accomplishment! We’ve done it. We’re going south!!!
Good weather and happy sailing!
Weather: Today’s weather predicted a small craft advisory. Winds were up to 23 mph with gusts of 30 mph coming out of the west. The humidity was 51%. The high for today was 54 degrees F with a low of 33 degrees F. There were scattered clouds with some sun occasionally peaking through.
Today was the day! We had checked the weather while doing laundry and found that the weather was supposed to be great for today! As you can see above, the weather wasn’t quite what they had told us it would be yesterday. We were expecting sunny skies and light winds. We left dock at about 845, a little later than planned, but quietly motored out. We had thought of maybe honking the horn and flying full colors, but decided to head out quietly, waving to the dock hands as we passed. The air was chilly and a small breeze was picking up. The excitement was almost more than, at least I, could contain. We were finally leaving! We started out motoring, adding a couple of sails later for balance and a boost in speed. Taking turns at the helm, we cruised down the bay towards Solomon’s, running alongside a barge and tug for quite some time. We passed Right Nut and Foolish Pleasure, fishing boats based out of HHN, as they rocked in the increasing swells. Midday, the wind had picked up to the mid 20’s and the white caps increased in size. It started to get a little more exciting onboard. We got her up to 8.07 knots (my record) and then to 8.16 knots (Dad creamed my record)! Coming around Drum Point and into the Patuxent River, we took down our sails. With 30 mph gusts, it was extremely difficult to take down the foresail, which has no boom to rest the sail on and therefore free hangs and blows. As if that weren’t difficult already, we also had to keep the sail from blowing onto the heater exhaust pipe. We motored the rest of the way in towards Solomon’s. We rounded the small island and were able to grab a T-dock at Solomon’s Yachting Center, thankful to be done for the day. We docked around 1415 this afternoon. The trip was about 33 nautical miles and about 6 hours 15 minutes long. That weather was not what we had expected or what had been predicted, but overall we did very well! Thaleia is so sturdy and makes for a nice ride even in high winds.
For those who have not been, Solomon’s is a beautiful place. The homes that line the river are astounding and the Naval Base provides some exciting sights, as jets and helicopters zoom around. Immediately after docking, we jumped off the boat and started walking around the small town. It was just beautiful. We discovered that it is an old, historic oyster town. The JC Lore and Sons Oyster House sits on their main street, having shipped oysters, crab, and fish from as early as 1888. Eventually, we found a small dive and slipped in for a beer and some wonderful crab dip.
Overall, today was exciting and monumental! We high-fived at our accomplishment! We’ve done it. We’re going south!!!
Good weather and happy sailing!
Day 4: November 19, 2008
Port: HHN in Deale, Maryland (38.79N / 76.53W)
Weather: Today’s weather was much the same. The high for today was 55 degrees F with a low of 34 degrees F. The wind was roaring at an average of 21 mph with gusts up to 25 mph. We were very glad that we were not out in this weather. The wind is just a little too strong for our liking. It was partly cloudy, warming up when the sun was able to peak through. The humidity hovered around 53%.
Today we spent another day hanging around HHN. We took this opportunity to do laundry, raid the free book exchange shelves for some good quick beach reads, and relax. In fact, I was able to read one entire book today. It was a trash novel, but it was fun. Not much to tell about today, since it was just hanging around. We are definitely ready to go and are preparing our course for tomorrow. We will head down to Solomon’s Island for the first of 3 hops to Norfolk.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Day 3: November 18, 2008
Port: HHN in Deale, Maryland (38.79N / 76.53W)
Weather: The forecast for today was for winds up to 20-25 knots with gales of 30 knots. We had a maximum temperature of 40 degrees F and a minimum of 31 degrees F. NOAA reports that our highest wind speed was 28 with a 38 knot gust coming out of the NW. We had slight snow fall and a humidity averaging 61%. In layman's terms, it was windy and cold!!
Due to what we thought the weather was going to be, we did not leave HHN today. We believed that the wind was going to be too strong. We did travel over to HHS (the other Herrington Harbour) to fuel up. The wind was brisk and freezing cold! But we made it back to dock within 2 hours. We have since then hid ourselves below, eating lunch, and getting warm. I've already finished one book. By the way The Secret Life of Bees, AMAZING!! I would recommend it to anyone as a quick, fun, and heartwarming story. It's also a new movie!
As always, something exciting has to happen... Our setup for our dingy broke today on the way to HHS. We didn't completely lose our dingy but suddenly it was held on with only 2 lines. Upon returning to HHN, we called Frankie (the designer/builder of the contraption) back at the boat, where he picked it up to reweld some parts and rework some design so this doesn't happen again. For some reason, when starting the motor we had also lost our tachometer and voltmeter. We continued to HHS, but again, upon return, we had Larry, our mechanic, was also down fixing that. Turns out it was really simple and easy to fix, as the alternator was accidentally turned off while working on some other part of the engine.
We were able to have some nice warm showers this evening, and hid in the heated lounge until our hair was somewhat dry. We spent the evening with some good friends of ours here at the marina, Danny and Sharon. We sipped on some wonderful Bermudian rum and shared some good laughs, despite being cold.
Mentally, we all are ready to go. It's frustrating to not be able to leave yet. We believe that Thursday will be our day.
Good weather and happy sailing!
Weather: The forecast for today was for winds up to 20-25 knots with gales of 30 knots. We had a maximum temperature of 40 degrees F and a minimum of 31 degrees F. NOAA reports that our highest wind speed was 28 with a 38 knot gust coming out of the NW. We had slight snow fall and a humidity averaging 61%. In layman's terms, it was windy and cold!!
Due to what we thought the weather was going to be, we did not leave HHN today. We believed that the wind was going to be too strong. We did travel over to HHS (the other Herrington Harbour) to fuel up. The wind was brisk and freezing cold! But we made it back to dock within 2 hours. We have since then hid ourselves below, eating lunch, and getting warm. I've already finished one book. By the way The Secret Life of Bees, AMAZING!! I would recommend it to anyone as a quick, fun, and heartwarming story. It's also a new movie!
As always, something exciting has to happen... Our setup for our dingy broke today on the way to HHS. We didn't completely lose our dingy but suddenly it was held on with only 2 lines. Upon returning to HHN, we called Frankie (the designer/builder of the contraption) back at the boat, where he picked it up to reweld some parts and rework some design so this doesn't happen again. For some reason, when starting the motor we had also lost our tachometer and voltmeter. We continued to HHS, but again, upon return, we had Larry, our mechanic, was also down fixing that. Turns out it was really simple and easy to fix, as the alternator was accidentally turned off while working on some other part of the engine.
We were able to have some nice warm showers this evening, and hid in the heated lounge until our hair was somewhat dry. We spent the evening with some good friends of ours here at the marina, Danny and Sharon. We sipped on some wonderful Bermudian rum and shared some good laughs, despite being cold.
Mentally, we all are ready to go. It's frustrating to not be able to leave yet. We believe that Thursday will be our day.
Good weather and happy sailing!
Day 2: November 17, 2008
Port: HHN in Deale, Maryland (38.79N / 76.53W)
Weather: Don’t have the full forecast from the day, but let me tell you…. It was COLD! It started out sunny this morning and slightly breezy. The sun was warm when the wind slowed. As the day progressed, the sky became cloudy and the wind picked up, turning colder. In the evening, it became crisp and cold, with no breeze, but a slight drizzle. The predictions are that we could get some snow!
Hello Everyone!!!! It is day 2 of officially living on the boat. A few days ago, in the pouring rain, we officially moved out of our house, into the truck, and made it to the boat. Slowly, and between down pours, we managed to get our things to the boat and start moving in. The trip has officially begun! Plus, we can’t go back now because Pat’s already moved in! Ha Ha.
We spent much of yesterday with family, saying goodbyes and eating some wonderful food. Thank you all! We planned on today being the day to wrap up the last minute details that we hadn’t gotten to as of yet, so this morning, it was coffee and straight to work. Mom and I worked on putting up the picture frames of Emily, Patty (our dear friend we lost back in August of last year), and the poem “The Ship” (a beautiful poem about a ship leaving the horizon and out of sight, but never really gone). Dad worked on shelving for their cabinets, and we worked on storing the last of our things. Dad went up the mast today and installed a new steaming light, the last of the necessary items before we could leave. Our man-overboard system is almost completely installed, left to finish later because of the cold temperatures and lack of motivation to stand up there freezing. We said goodbye to some good friends of ours from the marina, Danny and Sharon, today as well. We will dearly miss everyone we are leaving behind, but do know… we will return… someday. J
The plan was to leave out early tomorrow morning, but after hearing about the weather for tomorrow, I think we will have a day of rest and relaxation, something we have lacked recently.
Good weather and happy sailing!
Weather: Don’t have the full forecast from the day, but let me tell you…. It was COLD! It started out sunny this morning and slightly breezy. The sun was warm when the wind slowed. As the day progressed, the sky became cloudy and the wind picked up, turning colder. In the evening, it became crisp and cold, with no breeze, but a slight drizzle. The predictions are that we could get some snow!
Hello Everyone!!!! It is day 2 of officially living on the boat. A few days ago, in the pouring rain, we officially moved out of our house, into the truck, and made it to the boat. Slowly, and between down pours, we managed to get our things to the boat and start moving in. The trip has officially begun! Plus, we can’t go back now because Pat’s already moved in! Ha Ha.
We spent much of yesterday with family, saying goodbyes and eating some wonderful food. Thank you all! We planned on today being the day to wrap up the last minute details that we hadn’t gotten to as of yet, so this morning, it was coffee and straight to work. Mom and I worked on putting up the picture frames of Emily, Patty (our dear friend we lost back in August of last year), and the poem “The Ship” (a beautiful poem about a ship leaving the horizon and out of sight, but never really gone). Dad worked on shelving for their cabinets, and we worked on storing the last of our things. Dad went up the mast today and installed a new steaming light, the last of the necessary items before we could leave. Our man-overboard system is almost completely installed, left to finish later because of the cold temperatures and lack of motivation to stand up there freezing. We said goodbye to some good friends of ours from the marina, Danny and Sharon, today as well. We will dearly miss everyone we are leaving behind, but do know… we will return… someday. J
The plan was to leave out early tomorrow morning, but after hearing about the weather for tomorrow, I think we will have a day of rest and relaxation, something we have lacked recently.
Good weather and happy sailing!
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