5/3/05 - We spent the night at an anchorage in Camp LeJuenne just above the artillery firing range along with 8 other craft and a moored WWI Landing Craft - Tank. About 5pm we had several Marine Osprey (the tilt wing vertical take-off aircraft) do low passes over us. Awesome! Then a large chopper did a series of touch and goes about 300 yards from us - wow! They left and the air show was over... until about 2am when something made several low passes in the dark.

With dawn we all headed for the LeJuenne bridge, the only one on the ICW manned by a marine. Just as the bridge did its scheduled half hour opening the sailboat behind us grounded. We advised the bridge that we would pass on that opening to pull off the other vessel. We got them off in a few moments and circled waiting for the next opening.

We quickly caught and passed the sailboats from the earlier opening, pushing our way north. The landscape was changing - more leafy trees and somewhat higher ground. The weather was cool but sunny, pleasant to be in. We followed our tow for the day from Beaufort (bow-fort) NC to Oriental NC where we sought slippage for the night. The tow was running at about 8 knots over the water so it worked well for us.

Oriental was an unexpected treat. The Oriental Marina had 9 slips (there are several marinas here), a motel, a Tiki Bar and a good restaurant.  We had a few Tiki drinks, met some great locals, and enjoyed dinner at the restaurant. We walked the town of 890 souls, visited the marine store, missed the West Marine (I don't know how), and viewed the shrimp boats and crab picking plant. I could live here!

5/4/05 - We left about 8am and rejoined the ICW on the Neuse River (essentially a shallow lake). Winds of 15 - 20 knots at a 35 degree angle demanded we sail, so we did.

As we approached a turn in the ICW channel I found that the main furling had jammed as I tried to shake out more sail for a downwind run. Ruth and I were clearing it when...

We came closer to loosing our boat than I ever had. For some unknown reason I looked up to see that at 8 knots we were within a few seconds from hitting a cluster of pilings supporting a NOAA marker. I grabbed the wheel, disengaged the autopilot and we passed a couple of feet off the mark. Whew - it's too easy to get distracted!

We sailed and motor sailed until about 4pm, anchoring in a wide spot on the Alligator River with 5 other sailboats. The weather was forecasting 20 -25 knots from the north but we had a sheltered bend. That evening we had a strafing show courtesy of two Navy jets. Their screech sounded like they were tearing the sky!

5/5/05 - We woke at dawn an joined the other boats on the trek north as we had to make the Alligator River swing bridge on the hour. The wind was as forecast and then some. We heard radio chatter concerned that the bridge doesn't open when the winds are 30 knots or above. As we got to the bridge the wind was blowing 25 knots true. The bridge opened. As we worked our way north a pair of 25-30' armed Navy RIBs (inflatables with hard bottoms) passed us at 30 - 40 knots. They came and went so fast we didn't get a photo.

As the day progressed the winds built. Ruth observed gusts to 40 knots true. We were in shallow open water and the waves quickly built to 4 feet. We had water and spray over the dodger and bimini. The wind was tiring! As we neared the end of the open water we were hailed by an overtaking pair of large Navy warships (patrol boats) asking that we slow down for a slow pass. I responded that with the size of the waves their wakes wouldn't matter - as long as they passed in my lee. They did, at 50 knots. Ruth got shots of them passing. Definitely warships. The military presence around here is more evident daily.

We finally arrived at Pungo Ferry Landing where the guide noted there was an anchorage. We found it silted in. The next stop was Norfolk, 29 miles away. We elected to tie at the end of the Pungo Ferry Landing fuel dock in 6 feet of water. Around midnight I heard the storm hit, driving rain with 30 to 40 knots gusts.

5/6/05 - We're sitting in the mud at Pungo Ferry Landing, 29 miles out of Norfolk. A strong northeasterner has blown the water out of our mooring and it's cold and rainy. We decided not to venture out in this stuff even if we could, 25 - 40 knot winds, rain and mid-50's; not nice weather. AA is leaning against the dock pilings, steadied by the fenders and mooring lines. If the weather was nicer it would be a great time to clean the waterline. As today is a perfect day to catch up on the photo galleries and log, I've added several galleries covering from Key West to here.

Three large cabin cruiser were the only boats to pass by today. Listening to the VHF radio we're glad we decided to stay put (we were on bottom anyway). The Coast Guard was nursing a sailboat along - they were offshore and had a wave stove in one of their windows. Water was pouring in as the waves broke over the boat. Not a great way to spend the evening and our thoughts were with them. We later learned that 4 boats were in trouble due to the storm. The Coast Guard air lifted the crew off the southbound one with the broken window and air lifted a sailor with a broken arm from another boat.

We have a slip reserved in Norfolk for Sunday and Monday night at Cobb's Marina by Norfolk. We expect to pick up our chart chip for the next leg of the journey. Now all we need is water.

5/7/05 - Saturday, the northeasterner history, sitting in 4 feet of water we noticed the boat rock when a tow went by and tried to back out... success! With full reverse power we inched backwards through 2-1/2 feet of slimy mud into the channel. We headed up the North Landing River, the Albemarle & Chesapeake Canal, through a lock by the Great Bridge bridge and into the Elizabeth River to Norfolk (locally called Norfik).   Norfolk was mind boggling. I've never seen so many Navy vessels in one place. We saw aircraft carriers, the retired Battleship Wisconsin, missile ships, transports, and others we couldn't ID. We couldn't find an anchorage or Cobb's Marina so we took a slip at the Otter Berth Waterside Marina near the Wisconsin, a downtown waterfront mall (a neat place) and the largest sailboat I've seen. We had dinner at a crab house (burgers... go figure.)

5/8/05 - Mother's day, sunny, cool with 15  - 20 knot northerly winds. We toured the waterfront, the museum and viewed the Wisconsin - awesome! Then we jumped into traffic and headed to Cobb's, having phoned for instructions on how to find the place. Cobb's is located in Little Creek (Norfolk), the home of an amphibian fleet. Our slip was next to a row of 17 landing craft designed to carry vehicles to the beach. We watched them performing maintenance and heading out for sea trials.

5/9/05 - We spent the day at Cobb's, provisioning and doing maintenance while we awaited the arrival of our Raymarine map chips for the Chesapeake. The folks at Cobb's were great, loaning us a car the day before to run some errands. The chips arrived around noon, but we elected to depart the next day so we could do some shopping. All day we could hear loud turbines that sounded like jet aircraft but saw no planes that fit the sound.

5/10/05 - Armed with maps we headed into the Chesapeake. On our way out of Little Creek the Navy Hovercraft put on a water show for us, flying off the beach and tearing by at 30+ knots. They were the source of the turbine noise the day before (these are not stealth vessels).

Holly at West Marine had given us a couple of must see destinations. The first was Urbanna, a few miles up the Rappahanna River. A 12 -15 knot wind made for good sailing, though temps in the 60's felt a little cool. The waves on the river ruled out anchoring and the Urbanna harbor appeared to offer no anchorage per our charts. So, we backtracked 3 miles and ducked into an inlet near Carrottoman (hey, I'm not making these names up, they're on the chart. It proved to be a perfect place to spend the night - no wave and shelter from the wind. A few homes were sprinkled along the shoreline yet you felt like you were in a private bay.

5/11/05 - Wednesday dawn warn and still. We headed to Urbanna, finding that we could have anchored there. No guts no glory! We pumped out and fueled, renting a slip for 4 hours so we could walk the town. It proved to be a quaint village just being discovered. In 3 - 5 years it will be just another waterfront baby boomer retirement town. We walked by a pizzeria. Well, we tried to walk by one but were seduced by the fragrance, following our noses to the first pizza we'd had since December. It was worth the wait!

After lunch we walked through the town, viewing the old (1700's) home and stores. Ruth was adopted by a golden lab that followed her around town for an hour. Later we packed up and headed up bay 12 miles, ducking in behind Grog Island off Fleet Bay. It proved to be an excellent choice. Quiet and well protected from the seas. Grog Island was a small sand spit populated tall weathered pines and surrounded by sand fingers that were exposed in low tide (2' tides here).

5/12/05 - Thursday dawned even warmer. I rowed to Grog Island in mid-70 temperatures early and scrubbed the bottom of the dinghy, removing the grass that had grown in Key West. The number of small shrimp hiding in the slim on the dinghy was amazing! I took a few minutes to explore the island. The sand was soft underfoot as I stepped around pine cones in search of shells. I found none. Around 10am we headed to the eastern shores of the bay under sail in 18 knot winds. Twenty one miles later we were in Onancock (watch that second "n") under cloudy skies - another cold front pushing in. The entrance is a several mile long snaking 12' deep channel through shallow water (1' to 2'), typical of Chessie harbors. After being disappointed by the pricey new yuppy homes along the channel we found Onancock to be a worthy stop. The town is old with many historic homes and buildings. We lunched at Stella's where I enjoyed an excellent soft crab sandwich, 4 little critters huddled in a bun. Uuuummmm! Ruth had her landside treat, a big burger with the works; declaring it perfect. Wish we could hang around for seconds.

5/13/05 - It's a cool overcast morning, temps overnight were to get to the mid-40's so we ran the diesel heater. Last night we met the local crew of S/V Voyager and got good tips on places to see and places to avoid (like the active firing ranges). During our visit we discussed the amount of military garbage that sits on the bottom of the bay... don't anchor here, unexploded ordinance, your anchor might jump out of the water; don't pass through this area, looks like a buoy but it's a target... they usually will send a boat to run you off. The information made us more comfortable with the areas we planned to visit.

We headed to Crisfield Maryland, and spent the night anchored in the middle harbor. We walked the town, learning that it was a major crab processing port in the process of being condo-ized along the waterfront. Too bad, it had a lot of character. I wonder how future boaters will react when they visit these ports... "Wow, it looks just like a scene from Disneyland!" Yuck!

We'll start the next page with more on Crisfield, then on to Solomon's Landing at the mouth of the Patuxent River (that's N 38° 19', W 76° 27' Dave).

Continue to Annapolis & Jersey

Return to History Log

The tides on this trip have been a real education. Our highest tides were at the Florida/Georgia boundary at 7 foot. At Oriental NC we had no tide. We've learned to live by the tide charts and we make many decisions based on it.

If you are entering a shallow or shoaling section of the ICW you want to do it on a rising tide. You gain the insurance of being able to float off a grounding as the tide rises. The last thing you want to do is ground at high tide!

When anchoring you check the surrounding shoreline and the tide charts to determine how much water you need to have under the boat to allow for tide changes. Again, anchoring at low tide has the advantage of little worry about grounding as the tide falls.

Tidal flow rates have a big impact on your speed over ground. We've recorded tidal flows around bridges as high as 3.5 knots. With AA's speed we've not planned our legs around tide flow though smaller boats do, leaving when then have a flow that advances them.

As I write we are stuck in 4.6' of water (we need 6.6' to move) tied to a marina fuel dock. When we arrived we had 8'. Tides? Nope, the strong northeasterly has pushed the shallow river (lake) south, draining the marina. The water has been receding slowly since sometime late last night. We're stuck here until the winds let up. Ohhh Mama!

above - Tow escorts us north

Ruth's Oriental Chair

Osprey over-flight

Navy Warship, Make that a fast pass

Cruising is about maintenance

Homecoming at Norfolk

Felicity West, private yacht

No. 64, The Wisconsin

East Coast Communications

Our cellular connections worked well up the inland waterway. We've only had a couple of bad days where we couldn't call out. On the Chessie we've not had signals mid-bay but they've been okay on either shore - though on the SE shore they wouldn't support data. Offshore more than a couple of miles we had no signals. Sure beats the riverway!