Travelling the ICW

We left Morehead City a few days ago and decided to follow the ICW to Cape Fear.  We are currently anchored in Wrightsville, NC and tomorrow we will stop in Southport.  That puts us south of Cape Fear with a chance to head out to open ocean bound for Savannah, Georgia.  After two days on the ICW, I am ready for some open ocean.

Many of you already have some experience with the "ditch", so this post will not shock or dismay you, but read on if you care to read about a typical experience on this well-used and historic waterway.

Picture this: about 30 boats of various shapes and sizes setting in a 1.5 knot current towards a lift bridge that won't open for about 20 minutes.  The fleet stretches back over a mile from the bridge.  Off to river left, a sailboat is aground with 3 feet of hull showing and being held from falling over by a tow boat until the tide rises.  All the boats still afloat are each facing a different direction and either moving upstream or downstream going either forward or backward.  The channel is only about 200 feet across, probably less.  Spacing between boats is down to feet, and every head on every helmsperson is swiveling like a spastic barn owl.

By some divine intervention, with no loss of life, limb or gelcoat,  the bridge opens and a less-than-orderly procession of boats passes under the bridge.  Downstream, on the other side of the bridge there are a few boats waiting in the river to go upstream.  They are clearly unaware that it is November and the world has tilted to pour boats southward.  To make matters worse, the channel on the other side of the bridge is even narrower because there are marina docks on either side, so now you have boats crossing from one side of the channel to get to the other side.  Let me summarize - 30 boats pouring through a narrow lift bridge, running a dock gauntlet through hovering boats waiting to go upstream.

But it gets worse.  It is approaching low tide, which is why the current is running strong.  Just beyond the marina on port side, about a 100 yards from the bridge is Motts Channel which under normal circumstances takes you to a bay in front of Wrightsville where there is an anchorage.  Under THESE circumstances, however, the water is too shallow so the first sailboat that turns in runs aground and twists across the mouth of the channel.  It was a Catalina 36 from Montreal; he held up his hands at shoulder level and shrugged helplessly as REBOOT and us passed astern with inches to spare.  I had just given a two-whistle blast of my air horn (put one on your boat if you don't have one yet) to indicate to a large power boat that I was going to cut across him and that there was little he or I could do about it.

I was feeling pretty good about dodging the power boat and the shipwreck.  But the good times passed pretty quickly because I was following REBOOT too closely and he abruptly ran out of deep water and did a bat turn about one boat length past the shipwreck - we were sitting in that one boat length.  Again, another miracle occurred because neither of us collided with a) each other b) other boats transiting up and down the channel and c) the ship wreck.  We completed the 180 and followed HOBO II who wisely didn't follow us into hell and continued down the ICW.  As it turned out, about a half mile down, there was another channel that lead to the same anchorage. We took it and here we sit.

Earlier that day, we did see something pretty cool: a kite festival in Wrightsville.  Here is a picture taken from the ICW.

Flying whales and other surreal sea creatures

Branko

A Year Ago Today

I woke up this morning and asked Maggie what we were doing exactly one year ago.  We were not sure, but we figured that we were probably getting ready to or already covering the boat with shrink-wrap plastic.  We had not had any snow by that point, so it was a matter of getting ready for the big chill.  We were probably trying to get the Webasto furnace working, so that we could heat the boat and have hot water for washing the dishes.  That was a big job, and I thought I would never get it working.

One year later,  the furnace has worked without a hitch (I shouldn't have said that because I just jinxed myself), and there is no winter in sight.  In fact, I am sitting in a rocking chair at the nearby marina, having an ice cold beer that cost me $1.61, and wondering whether or not I am going to get a sunburn if I don't move into the shade.  I decided to take a chance on the sunburn as a tribute all our friends in the frigid north ... and I will have another beer.

The last couple of weeks have been a pleasant change in routine for us.  After racing south from Nova Scotia, we have moved far less and spent more time in one spot relaxing and doing some small maintenance jobs on the boat.  That will change shortly once we meet up with our boat buddies tomorrow.  Then we will continue to work our way south to the Keys, but at a leisurely pace.

Well, I did not have much to say because nothing much has happened, but November 1st seemed like an auspicious date to report.  So, I will leave you with this thought:  no matter what is going on where you are, the sun is shining - somewhere.

Branko

I'm Back.

It has been awhile since I've had the time to write, duh who am I kidding,  it's fairly hard when you have paws.   Now, I am sure you have all noticed that immediately after my  last blog my name and a blurb magically appeared - ah the power of the  pen!

First mate - serious look

We've been doing alot of sailing and making good time down the east coast.  We left Brooklyn in Nova Scotia (a lovely little town with huge walnut trees, well kept homes and big snowball bushes that have a pinkish tone; wonderfully, kind and generous people live there too) on a two day trip to Provincetown,  which turned  out to be to Yarmouth due to weather conditions.   Once leaving Brooklyn the seas were confused but comfortable,  the  evening was beautiful with a full moon and clear visibility.   We went up on deck in the early morning and found dolphins playing in our bow waves - that was special.  A little too big for me,  but generally I don't eat fish, so they were safe.

Leaving New Bedford

Yarmouth to Cape Cod was a two day and night run, that unfortunately made Maggie ill,  so she needed the seasick meds and all was fine again - fairly lumpy seas,  and generally we spent whatever time lying around, as walking or standing was a little difficult.  I enjoyed myself because now M and B were up during the night - how wonderful for me as that is my most active 10 minutes of my 24 hour day.  I learned to hop about along the dash and the pilot house stairs and assisted on the nav table by plunking myself down, so that whoever was on watch could not see the chart plotter (breathe here) and in turn must pat and pay attention to me - smart eh?

All in all a good experience because we ended up sailing  in more than our fair share of lumpy seas mainly at night.   I became a great first mate,  if I do say so myself,  and I do.  The sailing is fine with me as we are usually on a broad reach (Branko is lovely that way and tries to get the winds just right.) The thing I am not so fond of is the engine,  it takes me a little time to get used to it each time it goes on - otherwise all is well.

Reboot

We sailed down to Groton, and had semi-views of the U.S. nuclear subs - that was because they are housed in the seaway, but  behind large floating barges.   We were close enough to the U.S. base to hear maneuvers,  at first I was a little frightened with the  loudspeakers going off saying "CODE YELLOW, CODE YELLOW"  and then a volley of machine gun fire following,  but hey you get used to it.   The U.S only own nuclear subs and the cost to refill them is such that once used up,  it is more cost effective to build another sub instead.

Lounging on deck

Back to me.  I enjoy a nice romp off the boat when we are docked,  of course I am not supposed to leave so must make my escape when no one is watching.   Generally I just hang about on the dock until I am noticed missing at which time I take a flying leap back on to the boat -  thank goodness for my upper body strength as I am usually hanging from the toe rail and must pull myself up.   I don't like to look at M's face while doing this as she usually has her hands in front of her face and crying OMG, OMG....so far all has ended up OK.



For the last two weeks Branko and I have been sailing the boat together,   and personally I think we have made a good pair - he has voiced the same opinion but out of ear shot of M.  Maggie was back in TO getting a few things  done and visiting with family/friends.  She did miss a few people who are very dear to her and says thank goodness for email - whatever that is?

Oriental, NC

Today and for the last few days we have been in Oriental North Carolina.   An interesting place,  advertised as the  "sailing capital of North Carolina" - so we decided to visit.   A number of sailboats make their home here,  plus its right on the ICW route so lots of visitors come by.    B and M took a walk around town and noticed the lack of people, children and bustle generally found in towns.   A beautiful place complete with a well thought out playground for children (included tennis and badminton courts) but missing the children.   The grass and area around the playground was in perfect condition - which led M to think of  the saying "you  never seen grass in the playground" - because it is used so much.   Discovered that there are about 4-7 children who live in Oriental and the town is made up of mostly retired sailors - who are getting a little older each day.   All in all  a different kind of place.  But one  worth visiting.

B and M have spent a few days fixing things and will leave tomorrow for Beaufort NC -  hopefully meeting up with HOBOII and Reboot to continue down the coast to Florida.   Yahoo more night sailing!