On to New Bern NC October 15-20

Once back on board, we had some nice sunsets at AYB as the weather cleared after Matthew.  Our view from the wall at Atlantic Yacht Basin.

We also did some maintenance while we were awaiting all the yard work on the boat to be finished. 
Varnishing is so much fun!  And Julie oiled the teak chairs too!

Water is still high.  Tug LeeLoo is on the right at the free dock across the canal from AYB.  We had a nice dinner with Nancy and Carey on Thursday night as they were pushing on Friday morning...

But the traffic is starting to migrate south now that the bridge is back open.  Big boats coming through.

 



So, the repairs were finally finished and we were on our way on Saturday the 15th. A little fog at first light.

 



The reports for the ICW were all OK for the areas we need to traverse to get to New Bern.  Carey and Nancy aboard Tug Lee Loo left on Friday and we hoped to catch up with them again.  We left at first light in order to make the 8:30 opening at the North Landing Bridge and travelled slowly with one other sailboat to make the bridge at the planned opening....this is when the ETA function on the chart plotter is really nice.  It was a long day, 92 miles, (remember we travel at 9-10 MPH) to our anchorage at the end of the Alligator River near the canal portion of the ICW heading toward Oriental.  It was a wonderful remote anchorage and a full moon to boot!  A little grilling at sunset.

 

 The full moon rising....one other boat 300 yards away....

We got underway before 8 AM on Sunday to travel to Broad Creek near River Dunes Marina where
we stayed on our way north.

 

It was almost dead calm, a really nice day for travelling. 



Given a one night stay, we anchored out near the entrance channel to the marina and Carey and Nancy had already anchored nearby.  We launched the dinghy, picked them up and toured the area and the marina.  We visited with Parker and Martha aboard Otter, Al and Jane aboard Inspeyered 2 while touring the marina.  They were all in River Dunes Marina for the hurricane.  They lost power there for a couple days but all weathered the storm fine.

 

The marina entrance is just to the right in this photo.

 

 Another nice sunset.

 And a full moon rising.

Monday was another beautiful day of travel.  We arrived at New Bern Grand Marina (after waiting for the drawbridge to be repaired so it could open!!) and got settled in, washed the boat, etc. 

That evening Dick and Pat aboard Dream Catcher gave us a ride over to Ralph and Linda's (Mazel Tug) home for a bit of a reunion.  Chris from Davali and Nancey and Carey from Tug LeeLo were also there. We met Mazel Tug, Davali and Dream Catcher on the free wall in Joliet IL aver 13 months ago only a couple days into our Loop.  Another small world story...
Thanks so much Ralph and Linda (especially Linda who is recovering from very recent hip surgery) for a wonderful evening!  It was so nice reminiscing with everyone!
A little history on the Union occupation of New Bern during the Civil War.  Lots of history here.

Tuesday my brother Larry and sister in law Eileen and her twin sister Darlene stopped by for the day. They were visiting Darlene in NC and took a little road trip to visit us....thanks for driving over! We had a great time at lunch at Morgan's Tavern, taking a trolley tour of the city and then dinner at MJ's Raw Bar.  It was so great to see everyone.  It is always so nice to have visitors from "home" especially family!  With one of the local bears....

Wednesday we helped Carey and Nancy get their boat over to a local boatyard for some maintenance while they are away visiting family.  We'll miss travelling with you Nancy and Carey!
Thursday was a bit of a work day.  Did some waxing, spot touch up varnishing, cleaned the grimy grill, we each got haircuts and I took apart the air intake hose on the genset so I can get a new one (it has deteriorated from age and is falling apart).  I am hoping this is why it decides to stall occasionally...We'll try it a few days as we travel to see.
The weather has been in the mid to high 80's since we have been here...nice Fall weather!
The bridge at the Socastee River south of Myrtle Beach is still closed as of this writing but we are hoping it opens for our travels next week.

Thanks for following our blog.

Flooding in Chesapeake/ Great Bridge, VA. Our Second Flood Evacuation in 3 Years! Oct 8-10

We do remember our evacuation from the 100 year flood in Grand Rapids!  So....
Our sanitation hose technicians were aboard working on Saturday and Julie mentioned 8-12" of rain.  They said if that happens these docks will be underwater and it will be a couple days.  They left us their tall rubber boots, but asked us to drop them off with the dock master should we decide to leave the boat.
So after we decided to leave the boat, this is what we saw almost immediately on the TV upon checking in to our hotel room.

Those technicians had called it correctly and we are glad we left the boat.  Here is a view of the marina on a normal day from their website.  We are on the wall of the canal near the upper right of this photo, just before the entrance to the basin and covered slips on the basin on the lower part of the photo.

Here is what it looks like today.  This morning when I came here to check on the boat the cars at the right of the photos were about half underwater.  I could not take the same route to the marina we had used yesterday as some roads were underwater.  There were also a number of traffic lights out on the way. This is the marina parking lot on the right and our boat is near the far end of the face dock.  At least we can see she is still floating! 

This shot is from across the river.  The water is already starting to recede some from what I saw this morning, but the trail is still flooded.  We could not get close enough to get a shot of our boat on the far end of the marina.

When we woke up this morning we found a posting on the Marine Trawler Owners Association (MTOA) site from another member who was on board at the marina so we immediately knew the marina docks were underwater.  I was also able to contact a Trawler Forum member I met earlier in the week who was still aboard.  A couple good examples of modern technology as both individuals were able to give us information throughout the day.  They were giving us information from "inside" and we were able to update them from our view from the "outside".  Late in the day it was reported the docks were now above water and walkable but here is the road to the marina.  The docks may be dry but a good 4WD would be needed to get in and out...not our rental car.  Note the stalled car being passed by the 4WD.  We didn't want to be another stalled car so we turned around.

And yet another online resource, the Salty Southeast Cruisers Net, reports Notices to Mariners.  Here is one that reports the lock just north of us and the bridge just south of us are closed.   Sort of trapped huh?

 







And a special thanks to Howard on M/V Magic from Trawler Forum for the late afternoon pictures showing Sum Escape all well.  Thanks for riding out the storm on the dock and giving the play by play Howard!
Currently the flood warning expires at 8:15 AM and the gale warning is until 10:00 AM.  We are thankful that our evacuation was only two nights, not three weeks like it was in 2013!
On Monday morning we were able to get back to the marina by the regular route instead of the "high road" we had to take the last two days.  We saw 8 cars still abandoned near flooded areas. Once we arrived, we saw one flooded out car being towed from the marina and there are others awaiting a tow.  The only damage we could find to our boat was a broken in half fender board.  I guess the 2x4's I used should have been 2x6!! And someone had reset our fenders to protect the side of the boat after the fender board broke.  So the marina did have personnel monitoring things....thank you Atlantic Yacht Basin.  We are so glad we left for the hotel on Saturday.
So now we will monitor all available sources to assess just when we will leave.  Of course this is after we will get the repairs finished.  We will review reports and not leave until we get some confidence in transiting the ICW after all the storm damage, figure out which marinas and anchorages are still viable, and then after the bridge opens, resume our migration south. We hope to spend a little time in New Bern, NC, cruise the St John and be in the Jacksonville area by the weekend before Thanksgiving so we can fly to Michigan to spend some time with family for Thanksgiving.
This is of course a "rigid plan subject to infinite revision"...we will go with the flow and work things out as we go.   Thanks for following our blog.

Dealing with Hurricane Matthew... Oct 6-8

We are so thankful that the storm turned away from the mainland and spared our area of the worst of the storm.  But our thoughts and prayers are with all those impacted in the Bahamas, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.  We can hardly imagine the hardships being undertaken by millions.  Unbelievable.
Wednesday we "toured" the area shopping and some of the residential areas on a long walk.  The Walgreen's and Farm Fresh grocery stores are within a half mile.  The Farm Fresh is a very nice store with a great selection of fresh wholesome foods.  It is right up there with the Harris Teeter stores we have shopped.  There are a number of stores and restaurants within walking distance here. Here is a view from across the canal of Sum Escape and her neighbors...we are near the left side of the picture.

Some photos of our walk around the Great Bridge Parks commemorating the big battle here.

 

Plans existed in 1775 for the Abermarle and Chesapeake Canal!

Atlantic Yacht Basin is making good progress with our list of repairs and maintenance.  Thursday we had a technician from CAT adjust the throttle sensor, another tech get the genset running, parts ordered for the windlass (new clutch plate will be installed on Monday) and adjust the PSS dripless shaft seals to stop a small spray of water (tightened tension on bellows). 

Friday new sanitation hose and duckbill valves in the vacuflush systems installation began.  This should forever solve any odor issues we have been fighting for a while now.  A diver cleaned and inspected things below the water line.  He was 68 years of, ex Navy diver and dove with a helmet type mask that had a microphone.  so he gave a "play by play" as he inspected and cleaned.  Interesting.  All is well.

An air conditioning tech is scheduled Monday to acid flush the system to clean out barnacles, etc from the salt water environment.  So we should be on our way by the middle of next week. 
A few words on sanitation hose installation.  If you are not interested in gory repair details, skip this paragraph.  Wow, what a job. 

The old hoses had hardened with age and the manufacturing process of the boat apparently had all these lines installed prior to putting the deck structure on the boat.  A number of the hoses were severely crushed where they went through structural walls and such.  In short, hoses were cut and removed in pieces with the aid of heat guns, soapy lubricant, lots of grunting and elbow grease.  Also had old lines that were not used and capped off (presumably when the vessel was readied for Great Lakes compliance of the overboard discharge system) removed.  Yes they still had fluid and material in them...probably the main source of odor we were having from lying there and permeating the hoses. 
We picked up a car on Friday as the weekend is forecasted for nothing but rain and lots of wind.  So hopefully we can at least do some laundry, go to a movie, do some shopping, etc.
We have made reservations in New Bern, NC for a slip starting 10-15 or so. After that things will get a little more up in the air.  We don't know the damage to the waterways and facilities south of there and only the running of time will start to clear this up. The ICW has never fully recovered from Sandy and we can envision a very similar situation with shoaling, debris destroyed marinas, anchorages no longer useable, etc.  So we will take our time and sort things out.
So after we wrote this, we find that the North Landing draw bridge will be closed to ICW traffic from Tuesday through Friday this week for previously scheduled repairs.  So this means with boat repairs not completed, we will be here a few more days here.  So New Bern will have to wait. a few days it appears.
Just hunkering down with double lines, fender boards deployed and everything tied down or stowed below.  Here we are watching the large ferry type boat in front of us get some extra lines on this morning.

Forecasts have us seeing 40 mph winds and gusts to 55 mph.  Rain forecast is any where from 8"to 12".  But we float and the pilings are pretty high here so we think this is a good spot for the boat.  But after we talked to the technicians about the flood warning they said the docks would be underwater.  So we bailed and got a hotel room 8 or so miles away. 

The water was already up about two feet from this morning so we think we made the right decision.  Bouncing around in the wind and then being confined to the boat with underwater docks was not too appealing.  We'll call the dock master in the morning after it stops raining and see what the status is before we return.

That's all for now....thanks for following our blog and all the concern we received via text and email.

The Adventure Continues!! Now hiding in Chesapeake , VA. Solomons, East River, Hampton and AYB October 1-5

First a quick update given hurricane Matthew.  Safely tied up at a marina known as a hurricane safety hole watching the weather forecasts.
Tied at the wall with a nice sunset.

OK, rewind a few days.  So we finally got the Yamaha outboard running on Friday the 29th after five days....and in the end it ended up getting three new carburetors.  I researched the internet and found many complaints about the old carbs and how even after rebuilding (yes we already did that in 2014) they fail again due to the very small passages that get fouled by our government's wonderful ethanol gas.  We always try to buy non ethanol but many of the states we have visited only sell ethanol enhanced (or really degraded) fuel.  It does run great now so hopefully the improved carbs last.  But it is always something...we took it out for a rainy test drive and on the second acceleration test we spun the prop hub!  Fortunately we carry a spare prop so we are good to good now....just need to order a new spare.  Maybe it was all that new found power...
We knew it was time to leave when we saw this sign on our way to the Giant Supermarket.

So we left Annapolis on Saturday morning in a pretty good wind and wave situation (small craft advisories) and got a bit "beamy" at times.  So we cranked up the speed for a bit and.....beep, beep, beep...."throttle sensor calibration code" and the RPMs drop back to 1200 or so on the stb side.  Same throttle sensor that was replaced in Beaufort NC so hopefully a warranty claim.  Engine runs fine up to our normal cruising speeds so we pressed on. Cold and rainy so used lower helm.  I like it!

Arrived at Solomons and anchored right in the harbor by the Tiki Bar and around the corner from Tug LeeLoo.  It rained a bit but it was a nice anchorage.  Launched the dinghy to get fuel and to be able to pick up Carey and Nancy from their marina to go to the Tiki Bar.  As Julie was finishing her shower the generator sputtered and quit.  It is always something living on a boat.  Read code on control panel..."code 36, see authorized technician"  and a list of things to do way past my pay grade.  It did include instructions to change fuel filter, prime engine and restart.  But nothing, just cranks over.  So one more item to fix on the list and a little more difficulty with anchoring out.  But our inverter actually will recharge from running the engine  alternator as we travel so as long as we do that each day its not too bad.  All but air conditioning and hot water are fine without the generator and given it is cool, cool shower is the only hardship.  But another repair on the list....
Note the docks barely out of the water due to all the rain and wind driven tide.

 Note the wet beach area after five days of rain.

Shot of us anchored in front of Tiki Bar taken from the dinghy ride after dropping Nancy and Carey off at their boat.

Had a good time travelling with Carey and Nancy the next couple days.  As we left Solomons on Sunday morning our AIS showed a boat named Davali.  And it said "sailing" and the dimensions of the vessel broadcast matched those of Chris and Gwen from Milwaukee who we met at Joliet on the rivers a year ago.  I was looking through the binoculars and we were hailed on the VHF....Chris had seen us on AIS too.  Another small world experience.  It is just amazing how one runs across other cruisers with such regularity.
On Sunday we travelled to Mobjack Bay, specifically the East River and found a wonderful little anchorage for the evening.  Here we are passing the Point No Point lighthouse.  Yes that is really the name of the light!  And note the outhouse that just hangs off the edge of the lighthouse...no need to empty or move the house!

Monday morning we were getting a little more concerned about the path of Hurricane Matthew. 

We had arranged some repairs to be done the week of Oct 3 at Atlantic Yacht Basin on the Abermarle and Chesapeake canal which is a known hurricane hole marina.  So I called them to say we would arrive on Wed and the dock master said sorry, we are full up for our paying hurricane slip customers. So I called the service manager and he said I'll get you in if you arrive on Tuesday....so that became the plan.  We also reserved a car for Friday through Wednesday just in case we need to leave the boat due to the storm.
We travelled to Hampton City Piers on Monday after the above arrangements were done.  On the way we encountered naval vessels enroute. Boy they move pretty quickly!  We had to crank it up a bit to cross the channel in front of them.  And many boats were reminded of the restricted areas as they were doing exercises on the bay.



 

Pelican sighting!  And we had dolphins at the bow a little further toward Norfolk too.

 



 On the way....thanks for the picture Nancy!

Hampton has nice docks and location with lots of little restaurants, a Walgreens and a Food Lion within walking distance.  And with the Boat US discount they offered some of the most reasonable prices we paid while on the Chesapeake.  We may stop here again in the Spring on our way north to be able to see the old historic sites we did not have time to see. 

Great pizza at the Venture Kitchen and Bar with Nancy and Carey. It's getting cooler....even needed a light jacket!

Tuesday morning we left for the 27 mile trip to Atlantic Yacht Basin which was looking like a godsend (which it was given the repair we had scheduled really got us in).  A big naval area.  There were armed launches with machine guns manned and later we heard a call that a war ship was leaving so we assume they were headed to escort them. No pictures as they were at the guns...we only waved and thanked them for their service.

Saw some of our friends on their boats in Norfolk (Corkscrew and Act III).  Here are Jeff and Susan waving as we passed them at Top Rack Marina. 

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We pray that the slips all of our friends have for the storm are good ones for each of them.

Had to wait for a slow moving train going over one bridge and a back up at the Gilmerton Bridge with barges and a large pleasure craft awaiting an opening.  We could have cleared the closed bridge but the channel was effectively blocked with traffic....first traffic jam encountered in a long time!

 

A short video clip.

https://youtu.be/x9A-wAHQt8o

But we followed a beautiful 62' Nordhavn (or Norhavn like) vessel named Sea Bird from Vero Beach and entered the Great Bridge lock right behind them.  Turns out they were headed to Atlantic Yacht Basin as well and they were escorted into a covered slip...obviously a paying customer as we were assigned the wall, which is fine by us, we are glad to be here. The wall is full here so we are thankful to be here.

So on Wednesday the hurricane track appears to be better for us here in Virginia but not for Florida and South Carolina.  We got all signed up with repairs which will start early Thursday.  We will still pick up our rental car and explore the area as repairs are finished up.

September statistics:
Miles travelled:  Month: 292 / Trip to Date: 5112
Travel days:   8 / 108
Engine hours: 34 / 588
Locks:   0/37
Bridges opened:   3 /29
Days on hook or free wall:   5 /40
Gallons of diesel:  230  / 3892