Southport to Chesapeake City, VA. Adventure or Ordeal? April 15 to 25, 2018

Our time is Southport was enjoyable as it is a cute town with restaurants, shopping and great walking. Here are a couple random photos.  Really cute cottage.

And I even spent a little time with some duct tape.  No repair should be attempted without it!

Hopefully the screen stays on the laptop base a while longer...and nice toenails Julie!
"The difference between an adventure and an ordeal is attitude".  Someone said that on a recent AGLCA posting and we think this sums up our experiences.  Another said the"Loop teaches us resiliency and to make the most out of wherever you are.  It's all stuff...it can be fixed". 
Not all Loopers have the extent of mechanical challenges that we have (but some have had far worse too) but we have "kept the shiny side up" and no one has been injured.  So going with the flow and learning patience (well at least trying to learn) is why God gave us these challenges during our adventure.  And we wouldn't trade our lifestyle for any other at this point in our lives.  We are having a blast!
So our experience in Southport was just another adventure segment, not an ordeal.  Waiting for word on the extent of repairs is always the worst part.  Would the props be repairable?  So contingency plans were laid during this time.  We worked on sourcing new props...ouch, I hope that isn't the case.  If it is we will be WELL above our insurance deductible so I summarized the situation and sent off an email to our agent to "stand by".  But finally on Tuesday afternoon we learned the props had in fact been repaired with good results.  Hooray!
Newly balanced and refurbished props.

Installing the boat fenders for "floats" to reinstall the props.

Zimmerman Marine was great to work with.  We came in at 7 AM on a Friday, tied up to the marina fuel dock and waited until they opened at 8.  By 9 we had a diver from J&J Services (also great to work with) scheduled to inspect the props and the rest of the running gear on Friday afternoon.  Divers came back on Saturday to pull them so we could "get in line" at the prop shop.  Prop shop completed work on Tuesday late afternoon and divers were back on Wed morning to re-install the wheels. They also provided the boat slip and use of a courtesy car for our stay.  And they slipped our dinghy into the schedule for some maintenance as well...oil and lower unit lube changes, fuel filters, new battery for dinghy and a general look over. We were underway before noon on Wednesday.  Thanks so much Steve Wallace and team at Zimmerman!
We spent time with too many Loopers to name!  We are now in the thick of the migration toward Norfolk for the AGLCA Spring Rendezvous.  We will not be attending due to commitments this summer in Canada and Michigan that we have which means we need to keep moving.  We hope to be in Killarney Ontario for the Great Lakes Grand Banks Association rendezvous in mid July and then leisurely enjoy the Georgian Bay and North Channel for a few weeks.  Yes, mid July is a long way away but we travel at about 9-10MPH and average a little less than that due to bridges, locks, no wake areas, etc. After the Rendezvous we will cruise to Michigan for our 40th anniversary celebration with our children at a lake cottage in Mid Michigan and Mom's 95th birthday celebration later in the month. So we will be taking the Erie/Oswego route, then the Trent Severn on our trip north.  When we hopefully turn South in the Summer/Fall of 2019 (yes over a year from now) we will plan to take the Rideau and visit Ottawa and then the St Lawrence to Montreal, then the Champlain route down to NYC and back to Florida and the Bahamas for the winter.
We spent some time with Ken and Karen (Island Girl) who were having Zimmerman replace cutlass bearings in their boat.  They were pulled to the hard on the Friday we arrived and were on their way on Wednesday morning. Karen showed me how to enable the sonar charts on my Navionics android app. We bought the app so that we would have a "chartplotter" in the dinghy, but this will be helpful in some of the trouble spots in the ICW too.  Thanks Karen!  Here they are leaving on Wednesday morning, repairs completed.

Other Loopers we talked with were Linda and Eddy (Spiritus), Mary and Tim (Nellie May) and many others at dock tales and the weather/navigation briefing.  By the way, this event is at 6 PM each evening during "migration season".  It is geared toward travelling North in the spring and South in the Fall.  Carolina Yacht Services, Zimmerman and the Southport Marina all donate personnel, facilities and supplies to do this.  It is a wonderful service and all who stay here should attend this very informative session. And the Harbor Hosts, or should I say the goodwill ambassadors for Southport, Robert and Kay Creech, are fantastic.  "The car is parked in the car port just waiting for someone to drive it" was his mantra on the docks each night. They also present an overview of the Loop at AGLCA functions and are just great assets to the organization.
So after we got going around noon Wednesday we needed to test the props and boat performance.  All is good.

A low tide beach island along the way.  I like the flag and the palm tree.

We caught up to Ken and Karen at Harbour Village Marina near Hampstead NC on Wednesday afternoon. 

And a nice touch in the neighborhood...I resisted the temptation.

It was the ice cream truck in case you did not zoom in....
We stayed for two nights as  strong winds are forecasted for Thursday.  We arranged to rent a car on Thursday and drive to New Bern to see Linda and Ralph (Mazel Tug).
Ken and Karen (Island Girl) rode along with us to New Bern and we dropped them off to explore while we picked up Carey and Nancy (Tug Lee Loo) to go to visit Linda and Ralph.  Pat (Dream Catcher) also joined us on the visit. And it was good to hear that Dick was on the golf course given his severe auto accident last year. We had a great visit with Linda and Ralph reminiscing and just visiting.  It was so great to see everyone again!
We had a late lunch at Morgan's with Carey, Nancy, Pat, Ken and Karen and showed Ken and Karen around New Bern a bit along with Carey and Nancy. It was a great day.
Friday we headed out for Morehead City Yacht Basin. Julie said Google traffic should have said "moderate traffic on the ICW" today.

It was a great travel day and we arrived early enough to snag the courtesy car and get some groceries and errands run.  A quick wash off of the salt, a great dinner aboard and early to bed for an early departure on Saturday. DeVere and Carole, is this your fishing boat in Morehead City?

We got started early Saturday and within a few miles had our first of three tows to overtake in Adams Creek and beyond.

Then we saw this on the AIS.  Lots of tows today!  And look at the highlighted one...the famous Island Girl that we tried to pass and wrecked our prop!  Not again....

Look ahead, two tows rounding this corner.

After our experience in South Carolina in narrow channels we were very careful to communicate and ask questions with tow captains.  The first was easy.  As we came upon the second one he was about to pass another slower tow.  And that tow was none other than Island Girl, the tow that we passed in SC and had the prop damage! But there was plenty of channel here and we followed the tow and passed Island Girl uneventfully.  Throttling up...

And moving past.

Then we were ready to overtake the faster tow and he responded go ahead but I am going to push it up. If you can do it, bring it on was his response.  Many tow captains see our boat and think it is just a slow trawler.  So I asked him if my wake would be an issue if I powered up (some tows will ask you to mind your wake) and he responded bring it on.  So we went around him at 23MPH!!  Here we go!

This one was coming at us and asked us to reduce our wake.  Hmm, it looks pretty large and stable to me!

Glad to be done with tow passing for the day we settled in to a nice cruise to our anchorage in the Pungo River. It was a nice spot off the ICW just before we would enter the Pungo/ Alligator River Canal on Sunday morning.
It was another peaceful evening with no traffic and very calm conditions.  We got on the water early and entered the canal to some fog and very pretty conditions. Leaving early.

A few miles later I see the AIS target listing showing Gimme Time II closing in from our rear at about 25 MPH.  And yes, it was AJ and Amy aboard their new 52 Sea Ray Sedan Bridge.  What a beautiful vessel.  A great slow pass and the Gold Looper flag proudly flown..

We met AJ and Amy on our first night on the Loop in South Haven MI back in August 2015 when they were aboard Gimme Time.  We ran into them off and on that year all the way to Marathon.  We had a nice chat on the radio and bid them farewell.  They were headed out for a 180+ mile day all the way to Deltaville VA, their home port after having spent the winter in Key West. Small world.
Moving along on the Alligator River. A calm morning to cruise.

The Alligator River Bridge was undergoing construction so we caught up to three boats who had passed us earlier.  We saw the other boats waiting at the bridge and due to the limited openings we called the tender for instructions.  he said bring it on and I'll get you through with this group.  So we powered up for 10 minutes to get there quickly. Then of course another boat called and the same thing, so that fuel burn was a waste.  Oh well, the diesels got exercised again per CAT mechanic instructions.

And they were not holding it open for long as the next boat called to say they would arrive in 5 minutes and the tender said sorry, its closing..  But they were doing their best to please the boaters and the construction crews, a tough job for the bridge tender who by the way was very pleasant.
We got across the Albermarle Sound

with Captain Julie at the helm for part

and then anchored in the North River near Buck Island just off the ICW.  There was a bit of wind and some fetch so not a real smooth anchorage but great holding and a good spot to get an early start from on Monday.
Monday morning we got another early start and hit the water at first light, 6:08 AM.

Our destination was the Great Bridge free dock to wait one day to move over to Atlantic Yacht Basin for a minor repair.  We for the third day travelled with a large Hatteras (Safe Havens) from NY just by chance, no plans to do so.  We took turns the last couple days leading the way, although we always stayed a few miles apart in the evenings.  But it is always nice to travel with someone and compare navigation notes etc. We could be seeing them off and on as their home port is in Alexandria, New York.

And yes, that was another tow we needed to pass.  A short video of passing the tow...bring it on!

An osprey on its nest along the way.

We arrived around noon at Great Bridge and there was space available on the free dock.  And who was just in front of us but Sherry and Randy (Priorities) whom we last saw in Ortega Landing Marina in Jacksonville in November.  Well, technically we also saw them, at least the boat, as they went past Southport as we were awaiting prop repairs a few days ago.

We were invited for a beverage at 5PM by Ron and Sue (Panacea) who were down the dock a bit. They have been living aboard for 23 years since their retirement and have been married 52 years.  Wow. Sometimes things just happen....
On our walk along the canal...we think he is harmless!

The bridge and memorial of the Battle of Great Bridge in 1775.

The free dock is right next to a Great Bridge park and they are constructing a new visitor center on the grounds.

As we were eating lunch I lost a crown...well not lost but it was crunchy!  So we found a local dentist that could work us in to examine and replace it.  It is not a permanent fix due to some decay under the crown, but it is back on at least temporarily. We'll have to see what our regular dentist suggests as we sent him the x-rays seeking his opinion. Fast forward, dentist says let's replace the crown this summer along with your cleaning appointment already made.  Nice use of technology.  Hope it lasts till then!
Barges come close to the free dock!

On Tuesday morning we moved across the canal to Atlantic Yacht Basin for some exhaust system repairs.  We were pleasantly surprised on the repair cost.  Just some grinding, fiberglass mat, resin and some gel coat and we are good to go.  Less than $100.  I cannot remember any marine repair less than this in the last 2-12 years!  Thanks AYB for prompt, efficient and cost effective service!
Plans from here are to spend one more night on the free dock and then go to Cape Charles for the Blessing of the Fleet celebration on Friday evening as the town celebrates the local watermen and bids them a safe season.  Live band, crab pot tossing competition, etc.  Should be fun.
Randy and Sherry (Priorities) across the way at the free dock as we are at AYB for repairs. They will travel to  Cape Charles with us.

You can see the construction of the visitor center in the left side of the photo above.
We are going to hit some different ports than our last exploration of the Chesapeake in 2016 but will move rather quickly through the Bay.   More soon....thanks for following our blog.

Beaufort to Southport. April 2-14, 2018

So we left Beaufort at slack tide on Monday as planned after a quick walk to BiLo for some last provisions.  As noted earlier, we did not need to be in Charleston until Thursday so we planned three short travel days with nice anchorages each night as the weather was cooperating.  We have finally caught that elusive 70-75 degrees!
The first night we stayed at the Bass Creek anchorage after a 16 mile day.  A real nice spot with lots of wildlife and a remote setting in the salt marsh.  Our one day of barefoot weather in quite a while.

Did have some aircraft noise as a nearby naval station had quite a bit of flight training activity. But we do thank our military for the freedom we enjoy!

As we were eating dinner the generator quit.  Code 36, "engine shut down not initiated by computer" and a list of issues to check.  So we finished dinner and Tom went down to the hot engine room to try to get it running.  Michigan plays for the men's basketball championship and inverter batteries were a bit low so the generator would be good to have.  Of course air and fuel are first on the list so I inspect air intake, OK.  Look at primary Racor... clean and pink, just as it should be but I change it anyway.  Remove spin on secondary fuel filter on engine noting only 100 hours on it but change it too.  Rest of list is mostly technician stuff above my pay grade.  So we hoped the filters would do it. After a quick prime of the engine and couple cranks success!  We're not sure why, but this fuel filter fix seems to work but something is not exactly right because the CATs run off the same fuel with no issues with filters.  Perhaps the fuel pump is getting weak is my guess.  If problem persists we will get that tested.
We rose lazily knowing we had another short travel day ahead.  Tom called a local CAT technician in Charleston to have the starboard alternator tested when we arrive as the last few days we noted that the house battery bank was charging very slowly when underway, a change from previous experience.  We also need the port side pre heater element looked at as it was inoperable.  So that is scheduled for Friday.  It was chilly in the morning and the generator for running reverse cycle heat was welcomed.

In the morning, Julie's Google feed reported "light traffic in your area" so we were not too worried about traffic on the ICW!!!  It is really quite relaxing cruising the ICW right now.  I think we are ahead of most migrating snow bird cruisers. But we ran the generator for heat while travelling today as it was 42 degrees when we left!

As we travel along the ICW we are starting to notice the change in landscape.  Not too many palms and more deciduous trees leafing out.  Lots of spring flowers.  We are chasing Spring north, hunting for that ideal 75 degree weather.  Beautiful travel at 9 knots. After another whopping 20 mile day we arrived at West of Watts anchorage, a large relatively open  anchorage we shared with one other boat.
It is just around the corner from our location on this GPS image. Room for lots of boats!

We both relaxed and read books, a first for quite a while.  Julie then grilled some salmon for yet another great dinner and we enjoyed the sunset.

We waited for a little tide in the morning for our next 18 mile day to Church Creek.  We again shared the anchorage with one other boat and had a brief shower late in the afternoon.  We again had a strong reversing tidal current but the 80' of scope seems to work out well (8' of water at low tide) and the currents are strong enough to mostly overwhelm the winds and keep us parallel to shore.  Another grill day (a great steak) and a sunset.  What a nice couple days moseying along the ICW....

Thursday we headed on out for Charleston.  Along the way these guys were showing us the way there!

https://youtu.be/n-1tFIZyw8k

We timed our departure from the anchorage to hit near slack tide in both Elliott Cut and at the City Marina as both spots are known for very swift tidal currents (up to 6 knots in Elliott's Cut). 

And another high traffic day on the ICW...not!  Julie stepped out of the photo while AP (auto pilot) took the helm.

And the plan worked out, minimal current in both places.  After signing in we started to walk downtown and Tom's phone rang.  The CAT technician was at the boat so we turned around to let him onboard to investigate things.  Yes, we need a new alternator (It was only putting our 2 amp at 1500 RPMs) and the engine pre heater will have to be tested on Friday when engine is cold.  Fast forward to Friday.  New alternator now putting our 23 amps at 1500 RPM and engine preheater was a tripped circuit breaker.  This likely means the element is going bad but due to its location and the fact it is not a critical item (it just helps minimize smoke during engine warm up) and it can only be replaced after pulling the after cooler, we will put it on the list for the next 1000 hour service 600 hours from now.  We stayed on the mega dock at the city marina.

Friday we just "managed" the technicians and the boat washing person (still resting that elbow so when I can find a reasonable boat washing service we sign up) and took a walk to the Harris Teeter for groceries.  Such beautiful architecture.  The cold winter here was touch on the landscaping.

And when we returned another Looper couple we know had arrived.  Ken and Karen (Island Girl) from Sarasota were knocking on the boat.  We met them in Hope Town Abacos, Bahamas in March 2017 and then again saw them in April in West End the day before we crossed back to the US last year.  Small world!  They have now started on the Loop and are travelling north too so we should run into them off an on until we reach Michigan in August. 
The cruise ship continues to follow us!  Here it is docking in calm waters.

And leaving in some wind.

The view down the mega dock we were on.  If you come here, ask for an inside slip!  It was rough with the fetch and ICW wakes on the outside.

But I'd rather be here than having to dinghy out to my boat in the rain! Note the waterfall coming off the fly bridge roof.

Then, it was the awaited "bucket list" Jimmy Buffett concert.  And it was very good.  We enjoyed it very much.  The "Parrot Heads" people watching was great, Jimmy exhibits a lot of energy and truly enjoys performing, and all the music is of course very familiar.  We are really glad we found this concert and  arranged our travels to coincide.  It was a real good time.

We especially like this background to his concert as we have spent many weeks at Hope Town Bahamas.  "One Particular Harbor" was a great song for the backdrop!

 Here is the official tour name...clever.

And this background is a good advertisement for Jimmy's current Broadway show!  What a marketing genius this guy is!

And at one point in the show Jimmy made reference to all the "parakeets" in the audience.  It was a surprise to us how many youngsters were in attendance.  So when he sang the famous "Let's Get Drunk and Screw" song, he suggested that the words were really "Let's Get Lunch at School".  I think most folks sang the original lyrics....

Saturday we set out for the farmer's market but when we arrived it was "race central" for the big Cooper River bridge run, one of the most popular 10Ks in the US.  It is billed as the third largest 10K in the country. We negotiated blocks and blocks long lines of people waiting for school bus transportation back to the parking spots, etc. across the bridge. So we found our way through the maze of closed streets and made our way to Harris Teeter.  It is fun to walk the neighborhoods here as the architecture is so old and interesting.

Our walk on Sunday took us around Colonial Lake, a small tidal lake in a nice neighborhood.

Had a big rainstorm with a few thunder claps and lightning in the afternoon so it was catch up on blog day....

Sunday we attended a AGLCA cocktail hour put on by a local Charleston broker at their dock right next to the City marina where we were.  Many Loopers current, past and wanna be were in attendance.  We met one gentleman, Robert and his wife Linda (Linda Ann).  Robert will be departing on the Loop solo from Myrtle Beach early May.  We shared a few thoughts and ideas with him and as we passed through Myrtle Beach on Wednesday, look what we saw!

Hopefully we will see him along the way in Canada or the Great Lakes this summer.
Monday morning we left around 9:30 destined for Georgetown.  It was a cloudy drizzly day but a good one for travels.

See what we mean when we say shallow.  Note the angle of the sailboat at the dock...hard aground.

We departed later to again wait for some tide to fill the shallows in McCellanville  area.  The plan again worked with about mid tide and a couple extra feet of water.  Never bumped but saw only 4.5 feet in a couple area even with the tidal help.
Don't get confused with the motor vehicle clearance posting!  We wouldn't clear that!!

We arrived in Georgetown and Mary and Tim (Nellie May) were at the fuel dock.  Here they are docked behind us.

So we had dinner with them and Herb (Phantom) who was at the next marina.  Herb is the harbor host for Tarpon Springs and is doing his second Loop right now.  We also saw Ken and Karen (Island Girl) here.  They are following us!!

We were able to get haircuts, etc here on Tuesday which was another cold rainy day.
Tuesday night our friends Vicki and Tom (Grand Baron) visited us via their land yacht. 

It was great to catch up with you Vicki and Tom, thanks so much for going out of your way to come to visit us.  We hope that our paths cross again on the water this summer!

Wednesday we set off for a 90 mile day at first light.  Nice travel day.  Spring is springing!

We wanted to get to St James Marina near Southport to see our friends Jim and Kathy (JimKat).  It was an exciting day of bridges, shoaled inlets, the famous rock pile area (you don't want to get out of the channel here!)

and one barge to pass that took two tries to get done!  Inlets and rock pile were uneventful...just follow the markers. Oh, and weave your way through the dredges.

But the tow?...Ok, here's the story.  "Island Girl, Island Girl this is Sum Escape requesting passing instructions".  "Take me on the two whistle, you will have room" says the tow.  So we nose out around the stern of the tow and it doesn't look like a lot of room but here we go.  So I speed up to 10 mph or so and the prop wash and the fact the tow was starting to move to starboard created not enough room and bam, we were aground.  Pulled back throttles and shifters. Restarted starboard engine. Hmm, what next?  Well the prop wash from the tow should create a good wake so if it does we will use it to back off the mud/sand.  Well, here comes the wake and yes, it is enough to float us and we power off the shallows.  OK, now do we have plugged seas strainers, prop or rudder damage etc?  We pull out behind the tow and limp along for a bit to get out of his prop wash.  Steer from stop to stop...smooth and OK.  Throttle up each engine independently to 1700 RPM or so, no vibration.  Julie takes the helm and I check sea strainers, OK.  Look at rudder shafts, etc, all OK.  Hopefully we are good to go.  So now what?  Moving at 4.2 MPH behind the tow will not get us to our destination before they close. So I call back the tow and ask for his thoughts again.  He apologized and said he thought there was plenty of water where he previously instructed us.  He said he would move over a bit and to take him on the one whistle this time. We safely got around him this time.  These photos don't do the situation justice but it was a tight maneuver.  We don't need any more of those situations!

We arrived at St James Plantation Marina at 4:30, just before their 5 PM closing. 

So it was a 90 mile day in 10 hours of travel and we thank God for the safe passage.  A quick spray off of salt, a quick shower and dinner and we were ready for Jim and Kathy to join us aboard for some conversation and catching up. We had a nice walk around the grounds Thursday morning.  Here we are arriving at the alligator observation board walk....no gators today, too cold!  But we saw robins, heard many cardinals and had a wonderful Spring day walk.

They also picked us up for lunch on Thursday.  We went to Oliver's in Southport and it was very good!  Oh, and the bourbon bread pudding was equal to or better than the same thing in Georgetown at the River Bend restaurant on Monday.  This one included vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce!  Please take note of this Herb and Tim!!  Kathy and Jim also took us to do a little provisioning and we went for a great bicycle ride around their neighborhood.  St James Plantation is a spectacular place and we really appreciate all the hospitality Kathy and Jim!

Friday at first light, we depart for Morehead City, hopefully on the outside so that we can get there in one day versus two.  We want to be able to get a rental car on Saturday prior to their noon closing time and right now the outside looks good for the 109 mile trip. (about 80 outside in the Atlantic). We will travel to New Bern by car on Sunday to visit Linda and Ralph (Mazel Tug) who we travelled with in 2015 and 2016 on earlier portions of the Loop.  It will be great to see them again!

Well, it's a boat.  As we were leaving the slip at St James Julie says "what is that thumping noise?".  So she pilots and I investigate.  Loud "Whump, thump, whump, thump" on starboard side under the lazarette so it is prop related. Sounds fine in engine room.  We are guessing the noise was there on Wednesday too but when we came in no one was on the stern while we were in forward gear to hear it.  And when testing in the ICW more than idle speed throttle was used so engine noise perhaps drowned out the noise. Given we were only a few miles from Zimmerman Marine in Southport we pulled over there to wait for them to open at 8 AM to see if they could help us. Nice morning on the ICW though...

They suggested a diver as a first step.  Diver came around 1:30 and found a large chunk out of one of the blades on starboard side.  Did not find any other strut, cutlass bearing, rudder or other damage. So they will pull the wheels Saturday (one always tunes both props on a twin installation).  Then out to a prop shop (hopefully the chipped blade can be repaired...these are 31" 5 blade props) so they will be "in line" for repair on Monday.  Looking for the right tool to remove the line cutters on the shafts before removing the props.  Sometimes the boat owner even has the right tool!

Off to the shop they go...

There are lots of Loopers here in Southport so we will have company while we await repairs. And we will stop to see Linda and Ralph as we come through at a later date than originally planned. That's a promise Linda and Ralph!