First day at the
Mooring's with Island Time's mast secured to the deck in the background |
Sept. 29, 2005 |
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Starting Out |
Sep. 29, 2005 |
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We
finally made it out of Malletts Bay on Monday 9/19 at 1 pm
thanks to the able assistance of Linda and Nile Schnieder on
Sunday and Bruce and Pam Foshay on Monday in securing the
mast on deck for the trip. We motored down to Kingsland Bay
on Monday to anchor for the night. We put up the dodger and
bimini (canvas covers over the cockpit for you non sailors)
as we anticipated rain on Tuesday. Good thing as we
encountered t-storms on Tues at Tigonderoga and would have
been miserable without the canvas.
We
arrived at Whitehall at about 2 pm Tues which is the start
of the Champlain Canal which would take us to the Hudson
River. There are 11 locks on the canal and Whitehall is
Lock 12 (go figure). Actually, there is no lock 10 as the
builders found out they didn't need 10 afterall. The first
three locks are up going south. This means you enter the
lock, the gates close and the lock starts filling with
water. This water pushes the boat against the coarse
concrete wall while the boat is rising all in an attempt to
sandpaper the fiberglass. Our first up was not so smooth as
it took tike to learn how hard to push off the bow from the
without pushing the stern into the wall. By the third up
lock, we were pretty proficient in keeping the boat off the
wall (both ends simultaneously. The fourth lock was our
firt down lock and it was much easier as the water rushing
out of the lock pulls the boat away from the wall.
We
spent Tues night tied to the wall below lock 8. |
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Preparation |
Aug. 24, 2005 |
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Summer 2005
has been a busy time. We have both retired from our jobs in
Vermont and have spent our time prepraing Island Time
for the our departure into our new life afloat. John has
been busy preparing/installing the systems on the boat.
Genie has collected cruising guides and charts. Unstepping
the mast has been scheduled for September 19 for our
departure from the Malletts Bay Boat Club on September 20,
2005 for the first leg of trip through the Champlain Canal
to the Hudson River. |
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Travels With Charly |
Oct. 1, 2005 |
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We left lock eight early Wed morning
and headed thru the last seven locks with no disasters.
Down locks are easy. We stopped at Waterford, NY to meet up
with Charly Dickerson who signed on to help us thru the
locks but his job delayed him until Wed pm. He met us at
Waterford driving from Montpelier. For those going thru the
Champlain Canal, Waterford has a municipal dock with free
water and electricity (for cruising sailors, free is a magic
word) located at the NY State police barracks. One bad sign
we noted was the padlock on the dock lines for the State
police patrol boat tied at the Waterford dock. Charly
helped get us thru the Troy (Federal) Lock which is the
first lock to both the Champlain Canal and the Erie Canal.
The Wall
The Federal lock is only a few miles from Waterford and we
got there about 8 am Thursday. The lock gates were not open
and the lockkeeper said it would be about 10 min to get the
lock ready. We saw a barge tied to the wall and assumed it
was locking thru with us, so we tied at the end of the wall
behind it to wait. The light turned green so we started to
leave from the wall to enter the lock. All of a sudden we
were pinned against the wall and with both Genie and Charly
pushing away as hard as they could, we were not able to get
away. Island Time was hitting against the wall at the deck
level above the fenders and fender board. The top of the
mast banged into the wall. We finally decided to try and
use reverse to back away from the wall as the prop would
pull the stern away. Genie backed up Island Time hard
reverse while I went to the bow and managed to push it away
with Charly’s assist, while the stern pulled away due to
Island Time’s prop. We were finally free and heading for
the gate when we noticed a tugboat across the entrance
pushing a dredge into shore. The backwash from the tug’s
prop was the cause of our problem. The barge ahead of us
was part of the work crew rebuilding the entrance wall (from
the north) to the lock and was not locking thru, so we did
not need to tie up behind it. That was quite a scare.
Fortunately the only damage to Island Time was scuffing of
the stainless rub rail and a slightly bent wind vane at the
top of the mast. For all you lake sailors do not get behind
a tug.
Hop O Nose
We
motored down to Catskill, NY to Hop O Nose Marina to get
Island Time’s mast put up. We arrived about 2 pm and
removed the cockpit canvas and the mast was up by 4 pm. Now
the real work started in putting up all the items we removed
for the trip down the canal such as the solar cells, wind
generator and sails. This took until Friday evening to
complete so we stayed at the Marina Friday night. The
owner, who just purchased the marina, did the work to put up
the mast and also worked at the bar/restaurant as we met him
later. He is a Yankee fan (good guy) and Charly and I
watched the game at bar Friday nite.
The crane used to put up the mast was like a page out of
history. It has riveted beams, open gears to drive the hook
and a block and tackle attached to a nearby tree to swing it
around. I was very happy with their work and would
recommend them to anyone for mast stepping.
Poughkeepsie Yacht Club
Charly was keeping an eye on the train schedule for his trip
home and we decided that Poughkeepsie was a good place to
drop him off so he could catch a train to Troy to get back
to his car he left in Waterford. We arrived at the Yacht
Club at about 12 pm and watched them set ready to start a
regatta. For those of you, who froze on the committee boat
to run a race, listen to this. The clubhouse sits above the
river with a second story and deck overlooking the river.
The starting line is a pumphouse on the far shore and the
flagpole right in front of the deck (which is adjacent to
the bar). The RC starts and finishes the race from the
clubhouse deck. Talk about convenience.
The members were very friendly and quite informative. The
clubhouse is very clean and well maintained. The club has
its own travel lift and stores members boats for the winter
along with a fuel dock. One of the members was kind enough
to give Charly a ride to the train station. It was a good
place to stay.
New York City
Sunday we motored down to NYC riding a favorable current
most of the way and stayed at the 79th Street
Marina on a mooring. We need to get used to currents and
tides which do not exist on Lake Champlain. Neither do tugs
and barges. The picture posted below show that you can see
everything in NYC.
The marina is right on the Hudson River and is not protected
from wakes and waves. The mooring balls do not have pick
ups so it was challenging to tie onto the mooring ball. Due
to the tangle of lines on the mooring ball ring and the
strong current, we did not get our best dockline thru the
ring but instead, it was thru the thimble of one the lines.
The next morning we found our dockline pulled thru the
bottom of the thimble and was held only by the splice. We
were lucky the splice did not chafe thru and all it cost us
was a dockline as we could not get it free and had to cut it
away when we left.
The marina is well protected from the city surrounded by a
fence and security gate. We walked under Riverside drive
and ended up on Broadway at 79th Street. We
walked 4 blocks to the Fairway Supermarket to do some
provisionng. This is quite a store. They could not put
more items into one place, a real study in efficient
packing. The place had ethnic food of all varieties, fresh
fruits and vegetables piled high in the aisles, a cheese
area with more kinds of cheese than I ever knew existed.
There is at least one advantage of living in the city.
The weather was bad on Monday with south winds at 20-25 so
we stayed put at the marina doing small projects on the boat
such as rigging jack lines in preparation for the nighttime
transit of the Jersey shore.
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New Jersey and Beyond |
Oct. 6, 2005 |
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We
left the 79th Street Marina about 8 am Tuesday and caught
the ebbing tide which gave us a 2 knot boost thru New York
Harbor. The harbor had a lot of traffic especially water
taxis. We stayed out of the shipping lanes and saw at least
12 large freighters apparently moving up the Jersey side of
the harbor. We passed Ellis Island (where my grand parents
entered the USA) and The Statue of Liberty. Certainly a
majestic sight in the harbor. As we neared the freighters,
we saw that they were anchored one behind the other. Must
have been some problem with the traffic in the harbor. This
made it easy for Island Time as we needed to cross the
shipping channel to get to the Jersey coast. Shortly after
going under the Verazano Narrows bridge, we crossed west to
the Jersey shoreline. When Sandy Hook was abeam, we were
out of most of the ship traffic and since it was blowing
about 15 knots from the north, we finally got to sail. The
wind lasted for about 3 hrs and then died to less than 5
knots which is not enough wind to move Island Time.
We
motored down the coast all afternoon and at sunset, we were
3 miles west of Manasquan inlet, which is the last harbor
accessible to Island Time until Atlantic City. We chose to
continue thru the night and go to either the C&D Canal or
Cape May. At sun up we were just outside Cape May and
decided we were too tired to continue. We took about 2-3
hour watches with the off watch catnapping in the cockpit so
we did not get much sleep. This was our first nite sail on
Island Time and we were both nervous and excited. We saw
many tugs with tows (two whites over the red or green) which
stayed outside the sea bouys while we were inside so there
were no conflicts thankfully. A few sailboats passed us as
we slowed down not to reach Cape May before dawn.
After anchoring in Cape May harbor, we showered and thought
we would get some sleep. We still had too much adrenaline
for sleep so we took a swing around the harbor took scope
out the bridge over the Cape May Canal to see if we felt
comfortable going under it. Island Times mast is 54 ft 3
inches above the waterline. We have lights, VHF antenna,
and wind indicators above that add another 1.5 feet to that
height. The marker board at the bridge showed a little over
56 feet at low tide. Since we planned on leaving on
Saturday, the low tide was at 1 am. This meant that we
would have to try to get under the bridge in the dark. We
decided to go around the bottom of the Cape rather than risk
damaging Island Time’s mast.
There are many shoals at the outside of Cape May and the
course we plotted around them would add several miles to our
trip. Fortunately, we met Irv and Marsha, experienced
cruisers on a boat called Hangout, who hearing of our
planned route told us to follow them thru the inside passage
close to shore. Since their boat draws 5.5 ft and Island
Time draws 4.6 ft, we followed them knowing if they didn’t
run aground, we would not. We decided to follow them and
left Cape May at 9 am Saturday morning.
Thursday saw a front move thru with north winds. As we
would be going up the Delaware Bay on a flood tide, the wind
and waves would be opposite which makes for large, short
period waves on the Delaware Bay. We stayed put on Island
Time just loafing. Friday, we went to shore and explored
Cape May. It is a quaint town with lots of Victorian
houses. We walked from the marina area to downtown (about 2
miles) thru a nice old neighborhood. Unfortunately, the
downtown area was a typical tourist town with tee shirt and
souvenir shops. Not very interesting.
After lunch at a very nice restaurant on the waterfront, we
stopped by to visit with Jack and Karen on White Knight, an
Island Packet 35 anchored in the harbor. They could fit
under the bridge and were leaving at 3 am to catch the flood
tide up the bay. After a nice chat with them, we headed
back to Island Time. Enroute, we passed Octopus a fellow
club member at MBBC. No one was aboard at that time. I
dropped Genie off at Island Time and went for ice and beer
at a nearby marina. When I returned, Genie told me that
Benoit from Octopus had stopped by. I also noticed a new
boat anchored next to us was Spellbound with a home port of
Charlotte, Vermont. I went to visit Benoit and had a good
chat and cold beer with him. On my return, Genie was
talking to Jud and Paige Guertin from Spellbound. They are
also going to Annapolis to exhibit their turncouple product
at the show. We met them several years ago in Vermont.
This is a small world.
We
left Cape May at 9 am Saturday morning following Hangout
around the cape. The water did not go below 10 feet deep
during this transit. We continued up the Delaware Bay, a
very boring stretch of water and anchored at the Cohansey
River for the night. We saw several freighters along the
way, but we stayed out of the channel so the passage was
easy. |
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On
Sunday morning Oct 2, 2005, we left the anchorage on the
Cohansey River to continue up the Delaware Bay to the
Chesapeake and Delaware Canal (C&D Canal). We went thru the
canal without problems except for some of the powerboat
wakes. It seems the larger the boat, the faster they pass
you leaving a bigger wake to toss you about.
At
the end of the canal, the Chesapeake Bay is still very
narrow with a marked channel in the middle. We stayed at
the edge of the channel to avoid the shallow water outside
and to take advantage of the current in the channel which
gave us a 1 to 2 knot boost down the Chesapeake. Since we
needed fuel, water, clean clothes and to get the anchor
light repaired we decided to spend the nite at a marina. We
chose Worton Creek Marina as it only charges $1.35/ft for
the nite which was the cheapest marina in the area.
After leaving the channel heading for the marina, the water
depth read 8-10 ft all the way to the creek. After our
experience at Cape May, this did not bother us too much. We
went into the creek and the depth dropped to six feet.
Still okay as Island Time draws 4 ft 7 inches. We stayed
close to the green markers as advised by the marina. We
went by two marinas with the depth dropping to 5 ft. As we
approached Worton Creek Marina, the depth went down to 3.2
feet and we still were not aground. From there we went back
up to 4-5 ft at the fuel dock. I guess our depth sounder in
mounted below the water line by at least 1.4 feet. This was
still a different experience as the lowest depth we saw in
Lake Champlain was in the 10 to 20 ft range.
Worton Creek Marina was pleasant being far enough up the
creek to be free from wind and waves so the nite was very
calm. We took showers and then gathered the laundry and
headed up the steep hill where the at the washing machine
was located. We decided to eat at the Harbor House
Restaurant located next to the Laundromat while the clothes
were washing. This was a good choice as we met Paul and
Cindy from Tom’s River, NJ who were delivering a 38 ft
Hunter sailboat from the dealer in Tom’s River to the
Annapolis Boat show. They invited us to sit at their table
for dinner. They were live aboards for several years
wintering in the Bahamas. They gave us many tips about
crossing the Gulf Stream and where to stay in the Bahamas.
They also knew many people and gave us a lot of names. All
in all, it was a good nite as the company was good and the
food was also excellent.
Monday morning we went to the work dock to have the anchor
light bulb checked as it did not show continuity thru the
wires up the mast, so I assumed the bulb was burned out.
When the mechanic got to the top on the yard crane, he found
the bulb okay. I then moved the connector at the base of
the mast and the light came on. Apparently, there was loose
connection in the 4 way plug used to connect the wires from
the boat to those going up the mast. I rewired the system
removing the plug and replacing it with a terminal strip.
All works well now. We needed to get the anchor light
working as our backup battery powered unit burned out a bulb
at Cohansey River so we were without an anchor light. We
also found the right bulb for our backup anchor light, so
Island Time can now be seen at night at anchor.
It
was around noon when we left Worton Creek Marina and the
tide was midway between low and high so the trip out was
much less exciting as we had at least 1.5 feet more of
water. We continued to motor down the bay as the wind was
very light and we wanted to get to Annapolis in the
afternoon to find a spot to anchor as it gets very crowded
at boatshow time. We went up the Severn River to Back Creek
to find a gadzillion boats already anchored. Luckily, we
found an open area and dropped anchor. After anchoring
about 4 tries we were finally situated where we were not too
close to our neighbors. We made it to Annapolis four days
before the boatshow. |
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11 Days in Annapolis |
Oct. 18, 2005 |
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We arrived in Annapolis on
Monday, Oct 3, 2005 in the afternoon and left on Friday, Oct
14, 2005. Can’t believe we spent a week and a half in
Annapolis. We met with many old friends and made some new
ones. We anchored Island Time in Back Creek, which is close
to everything in the Annapolis area including the Boat Show
which was our purpose in visiting Annapolis at this time.
Back Creek has notoriously poor
holding for anchors as it is a mud bottom topped with soft
silt from a nearby treatment plant. On Tues the
harbormaster came by distributing a letter to all boats
anchored explaining (very politely) the situation and
recommending a Danforth anchor be used as it holds better in
mud. Since we had down our CQR, we had to assemble Big
Bertha, our Fortress anchor (Danforth type) which we
purchased as storm anchor for the Bahamas, which sat
unassembled in the cockpit locker. The eye had to be
spliced on the line and the anchor put together. We
deployed Big Bertha at an angle to the CQR to allow it to
hold in the predicted wind shift. So Tues was an anchor
watch day to be sure we held. Back Creek was very crowded,
so the amount of scope we could put out was limited. We
barely had 3 to 1 which is marginal. Two anchors made us
feel more secure.
Wed we decided to explore and
get some groceries as we had not provisioned since New York
harbor. We landed at the public access at the Back Creek
Nature Park and started walking to where we thought the
grocery store was located. We passed several boat yards and
boating related businesses including Kato Marine who made
the davits for our dinghy storage on the rear of Island
Time. We walked for some time thru residential areas and
continued to see more residential areas and we were about to
turn around when we saw a traffic light ahead. We continued
to the intersection and lo and behold there was Giant
Supermarket. We stocked up on essentials including 4 Liters
of tonic water for G & T. The only problem was we had to
carry the groceries back to the boat. The walk back seemed
much shorter but my arms seemed much longer after carrying
all the stuff. Must have been the tonic water but it was
worth it as the G & T tasted mighty good when we got back.
Thursday we went to Annapolis
to see how to get to the show. Annapolis is a very cruiser
friendly town when free docks for dinghies in several
locations. We left ours at the dock at the end of sixth st.
which left us about six blocks from the show entrance.
Friday, we went to the show and
checked out several vendors for water makers and other items
we wanted to purchase. In the afternoon we met Bob and
Lorna from MBBC (by chance though we knew they would be
there) and they told us where to meet them and Bruce and Pam
at the show later for refreshments. We also saw two other
MBBC members (Ed Zeimer and friend Jackie) at the show.
Jackie told us they were staying on the boat owned by a
friend of hers berthed nearby.
Saturday, we went to the
meeting (called a GAM) of the Seven Seas Cruising
Association at nearby Port Annapolis Marina in the pouring
rain. In spite of the rain, the meeting went on with four
guest speakers on topics ranging from boat maintenance to
weather prediction. At dinner that evening (still pouring
rain), we again met Bob and Lorna and Bruce and Pam along
with Lynne and Rich and Bob and Carol longtime friends of
Bob and Lorna and Bruce and Pam. Bob and Carol cruise their
MacGregor 26 to the Bahamas and were full of information
about going to the Bahamas and spending the winter there.
We hope to meet them there this winter. Lynne and Rich live
in Annapolis moving here from New England several years
ago. We found a table in one of the tents big enough for
our group occupied by one man. He was agreeable to us
joining him. After we all ate and were chatting, we started
talking to man at the table telling him about our trip from
Vermont etc. He told us he had friends staying with him who
sailed in Vermont. Upon further conversation with him we
found out his friends were Ed and Jackie from MBBC. It’s a
small world.
Sunday we again went to the
show first stopping by the booth of Jed and Paige Guertin
who we saw in Cape May. We have known Jed and Paige for
several years as they lived in Charlotte, Vt and sailed Lake
Champlain. They invented a union for rubber hoses called a
turncouple which allows the hose to be disconnected from the
pipe fitting without disturbing the barb fitting. Anyone
who has wrestled with removing a barb fitting from a hose
without destroying either should check out their website.
Google turncouple for the site.
Later on Sunday, we met Bruce
and Pam who drove us to the hardware store to get propane
for the boat, liquor store for beer and gin, and the grocery
store. No more lugging tonic water. By the way, it turns
out the walk to the grocery store was only one mile as
clocked by Bruce. We thank him for their efforts. After
these chores, we went to Lynne and Rich’s house for dinner.
The painkillers flowed freely and dinner was great along
with the company as Bob and Lorna were staying at the house
along with Bruce and Pam and Bob and Carol (staying on their
boat at Port Annapolis Marina) joined us. It was a great
evening and we thank Lynne and Rich for inviting us to their
home.
Monday, we brought the spreader
bar for our dinghy davits to Kato Marine to be shortened as
it was too long for our new dinghy. They said the
modification would be ready by Wednesday. We then called
the Gerald W to pump out the holding tank on Island Time.
For $5 Gerald W comes along side and pumps out the holding
tank. It is operated by the Annapolis Harbormaster’s
office. Then it was off to the show again. We finalized
the purchase of our watermaker by scheduling delivery to the
companies Portsmith, Va office where we will pick it up in a
few weeks. After that, we met the group to watch the show
be disassembled. It was a hoot. There where boats and
docks moving everywhere after 5 pm when the gun sounded the
end of the show. Everything was so well coordinated that by
7 pm the whole show was disassembled. There were at least
200 sailboats of all sizes and types that moved in the 2
hrs.
Tuesday, the big event of the
day was getting pizza in Annapolis. We have not eaten pizza
since we left. There was one place in the center of town
which had good pizza. Exciting day!!!!
Wednesday, we picked up our
spreader bar from Kato and installed it. Jay and Priscilla
from MBBC were in town looking at boats and called after
they finished. We picked them up at the sixth st dinghy
dock and brought them out to Island Time for cocktails.
After, we went to dinner in Annapolis and really enjoyed
ourselves at the buffet at Buddys. Jay and Priscilla are
fun to be with and we enjoyed their company very much.
Thursday we planned to leave
Annapolis but woke up to a grey, cold damp day and decided
we did not feel like sailing as the wind would make it
colder. So we just read and did a few small boat projects.
Friday, we finally left
Annapolis for St Michaels, Md on the eastern shore. We had
a fun sail over to St Michaels. We left Annapolis with a
lot of good memories of friendships old and new.
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Saint Michaels, Md |
Oct. 18, 2005 |
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After leaving Annapolis on
Friday, we had a lively sail (20-25 knts wind) over to Saint
Michaels on the eastern shore of Maryland. Sailing in the
northern Chesapeake is a lot like sailing in Lake
Champlain. You can see both shores although they are
certainly flatter than Lake Champlain. The waves are short
and choppy without the rollers you see in the ocean and the
wind is just as variable in speed and direction.
We anchored in the harbor right
next to Octopus from MBBC. I am sure we will see Benoit
again along the way as he is going to the same place we are
going. The anchorage was calm but the wind was still gusty.
Saturday was chore day. We did
some grocery shopping. We took the advice of Wendylyn
Duquette (a friend from MBBC who just finished a long cruise
with her family) and bought a folding cart at the boatshow
to assist is carrying things like groceries and laundry. It
was well used as we did the laundry as well as grocery
shopping.
Saint Michaels is a cool town
that is cruiser friendly with dinghy docks for transients,
many shops of all description, several good restaurants and
good parks. Sunday we went to the Chesapeake Bay Maritime
Museum located in Saint Michaels. It was a well done museum
with many interesting displays showing all aspects of the
Bay from crabbing and oystering to recreational uses such as
sailing log canoes. The canoes carry vast amounts of sail
and are balanced by people hiking out on long boards.
Capsizes are frequent but it looks like fun. Traditional
boatbuilding was shown along with a lighthouse that was
relocated from the bay to the museum when it was taken out
of service. The keeper’s life was certainly harsh and
lonely.
After the museum we did some
souvenir shopping and then found a bar to watch some
football. Watched the Steelers lose on a fumble in overtime
much to the dismay of local fans. Also saw the score
updates of the NY Giants who also lost in overtime to my
most hated team, the Dallas Cowboys certainly not this
American’s team.
While on Island Time on Sunday,
we had some visitors. We were sitting in the cockpit and
along side appeared three white swans. Based on size, there
was a male and 2 females. They were begging for handouts.
Genie fed them some bread. The male was tall enough to put
his head above the side of the boat which is at least 4 feet
above the water. I got a picture of them which I will post.
We left at sun up on Monday
headed for Solomon’s Island Md on the Western shore.
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Solomans Island |
Oct. 19, 2005 |
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We had a good sail from St Michaels to
Solomans Island, Md on Monday Oct 17. Wind was 15-25 knts
which is ideal for Island Time. We arrived late in the
afternoon and anchored in Mill Creek. Solomans has many
anchorage areas but limited dinghy docks for going ashore.
It rivals Annapolis for the number of sailboats in one area.
On Tuesday, we went to shore to explore
the town. It was about a mile walk to the grocery store and
West Marine. We needed to get a rebuild kit for the head as
it is leaking flushing water at the pump shaft and cleaning
supplies recommended by one of the seminar speakers at the
SSCA meeting in Annapolis. After returning to the boat, we
were again visited by a swan. Genie fed it some bread even
though it hissed at her. I went to get ice at the marina
leaving Genie below oiling the interior teak. Upon my
return I found her in the cockpit feeding the swan again.
The swan had pecked at the hull to get her attention. Very
persistent bird.
We left at sun up today (Wed) to
continue south. We anchored in another Mill Creek off the
Great Wicimico River south of the Potomac River. The
entrance to the creek was difficult to find but once inside
the creek the anchorage is excellent, very calm and rural.
We are now in Virginia as the state
line crosses the bay at the bottom of the entrance of the
Potomac River into the bay.
Tomorrow we will leave at sun up again
to go to Mobjack Bay if the winds cooperate as predicted.
According to the weather service they are to be 10-15 knots
from the north and we will be going south. |
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Norfolk, Va |
Oct. 25, 2005 |
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We left Thursday Oct 20 from Mill Creek
off Great Wicimico River bound for Put in Creek off the East
River on Mobjack Bay. This anchorage was not as pleasant as
the previous one in Mill Creek as it was wide open at the
intersection of Put in Creek and East River. The wind blew
across the open area causing waves and moving Island Time
around. We had a good sail with 20-25 knot winds from the
north while we were heading south.
As with all the anchorages we stayed in
the Chesapeake Bay, you travel at least 7 miles from the bay
to the anchorage which takes about an hour plus so it seems
that you will never get to anchor. Fridays dawned gray and
rainy, so we decided to stay put at Put in Creek and work on
boat projects. I finally started few long planned projects.
Saturday Oct 22 we left Put in Creek
for Chisom Creek, about 20 miles south across Mobjack Bay
and south of the York River to minimize our travels on
Sunday. We anchored at the mouth of the creek were it was
very busy with lots of traffic by weekend fishermen. A few
storms passed by as evidenced by the dark clouds passing
west of us and the winds. Fortunately, the storms were over
by nightfall.
We left early on Sunday Oct 23 for
Norfolk, Va which was about 15 miles south of us. Norfolk
is at the bottom of the Chesapeake Bay and marks the
beginning of the Intercoastal Waterway (ICW). As we had our
watermaker, which we purchased at the Annapolis Boat show,
shipped to the Village Marine Tec store in Portsmith, Va and
wanted to pick it up an Monday, so we reserved a slip at a
marina in Portsmith. It was only $0.85/ft which is the
cheapest rate we ever stayed.
Once we arrived at the Thimble Shoal
lighthouse at the edge of the main shipping channel into
Portsmith, we heard a Navy ship on the radio stating its
intention to anchor off the channel. I think it was really
saying “I’m coming through, get out of my way”.
As we progressed through the harbor
towards the marina, we saw more battleship grey than
anywhere else we have been. There were Navy ships of all
descriptions from aircraft carriers to submarines berthed
along the harbor. The Norfolk/Portsmith area is one of the
largest naval bases in the USA with ship building center at
Newport News and major repare facilities in Portsmith. Your
tax dollars at work!!!
The marina is right in the middle of
the commercial shipping port with containers everywhere. It
is quite well kept with very clean restrooms and maintained
grounds. It is Scott’s Creek Marina and even has free
washer/dryers. Free is good.
Monday, Oct 24, we got a taxi to
Village Marine Tec to pick up our watermaker. The office
manager who we met at Annapolis, arrived at the office at
the same time we did and offered to drive us back to the
marina, saving the $12.00 cab fare. We can’t say enough
good things about Village Marine Tec. They have been great
to deal with this purchase. I spent the afternoon planning
the installation of the watermaker. Its going to be a tight
fit as is anything else on the boat.
The rest of Monday was very windy and
rainy, so we stayed in the boat. On Tuesday, Oct 25, we
went grocery shopping and Genie did the laundry while I
finally changed the shaft seal on the pump for the head and
cleaned the bilge.
It has been cold and damp. We actually
used the heater on Island Time to keep warm for the first
time. Fortunately, Hurricane Wilma passed out to sea east of
us. We heard that Vermont is going to feel the effects of
Wilma along with the low that gave us rain and wind to form
a Nor’easter going up the coast. Based on the weather
reports we heard, we are happy to be in the marina. |
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Dismal Swamp |
Nov. 9, 2005 |
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Dismal Swamp
We
finally left Scott’s Creek Marina on Thursday, Oct 27. We
stayed a day longer than planned as we enjoyed the stay in a
marina after 20 or so days at anchor. Didn’t do much on
Wednesday. Tried to go for a walk but the truck traffic
made it unpleasant as there was no sidewalk and we had to
walk along the side of the busy road. We did watch
containers being unloaded from trucks onto railcars. The
containers are held onto the truck by a metal peg at each
corner. There didn’t appear to be any latch down to hold
the container onto the truck. I am surprised that they stay
on the truck. Same is true for the railcar, the containers
just sit on pegs.
We
decided to take the Dismal Swamp canal route to Albemarle
Sound as we keep hearing it will be closed in the near
future due to lack of funding by the Feds. This is a very
historic waterway that was started in the late 1700’s with
George Washington as one of its financial backers. There
is a story that he actually surveyed the route, but this has
never been proved. The canal was hand dug starting in 1793
and completed in 1805. It was dug by slaves hired from
local plantations. These slaves became very familiar with
the swamp and it became a major part of the Underground
Railroad that brought runaway slaves north. Large colonies
of runaway slaves lived in the swamp prior to the Civil
War. It would be sad to see this history lost.
The trip today started out in the heavily commercial area
around Norfolk, Va and ended in very rural North Carolina.
There is an up lock at the start of the canal. Being old
pros with locks, the 8 ft rise was a piece of cake. We are
currently at a dock behind the first visitors’ center on Rte
17 in North Carolina. This is very unique to have the same
visitors’ center serve both automobiles and boats.
At
the visitor center there was a nature trail that went along
the canal’s edge. We walked over to the start of the trail
with the intent of walking it until we saw the sign at the
start of the trail at said “Beware of snakes”. So much for
that walk. The water in the canal is the color of coffee
due to the tannin released by the decaying trees and other
vegetation. Tannin is responsible for the color in coffee.
The visitor center had small areas planted with local
crops. There was a small area of cotton plants which wee in
bloom. We picked some of the bolls and felt the seeds in
the cotton. It was just like cotton balls you buy. There
was an area with peanuts that we picked. They were still in
the shells which we opened and tasted the peanut inside.
Now I know why peanuts are roasted. They had a small nut
taste along with a large uncooked pea taste.
One good reason to take the Dismal Swamp Canal is the lack
of power boats. The wake kicked up by some of the power
boats can really knock Island Time around. The power boats
go down the Virginia cut which is the alternate to the
Dismal Swamp Canal.
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Elizabeth City |
Nov. 9, 2005 |
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On
Friday Oct 28 we exited the canal through a lock (down) and
went down the Pasquotank River to Elizabeth City, NC. This
town is the most cruiser friendly place we have ever
visited. There is free dockage at the pier downtown. Each
berth has four pilings to tie off the boat at each corner.
There is a number painted on the wall of each berth which we
assumed was the berth number. We picked number 12. I nosed
the boat between the two rearmost pilings perfectly centered
and continued forward at idle speed. All of a sudden we
were stuck at the widest part of the boat. There were two
men at the bow to whom Genie passed the bow lines. They
said keep coming and we would make it into the berth. The
combination of their pulling and the engine popped Island
Time into the slip. We later talked to the dockmaster who
informed us that the 12 is the width of the berth. Since
Island Time has a beam of 13 ft 4 inches, its no wonder we
popped into the berth. Needless to say, the boat did not
move around that night.
Every night the welcoming committee hosts a wine and cheese
party for the boats docked in Elizabeth City. It’s a great
way to meet fellow cruisers going down the ICW. This
tradition started in 1983 and has continued. Fred Fearing
started and still hosts the party at age 91. He is quite a
character and has been featured on TV in a show done by
Willard Scott. They used to give each lady from the boats a
rose but stopped that as roses became too costly.
Saturday dawned gray and cold with a strong north wind. We
decided to stay in Elizabeth City for another night. Friday
night I started the generator so we could run the heater.
Island time has an air conditioner with a reverse cycle
heater so you need 110 v to run the heater. The generator
stopped after a few minutes. High temperature in the
exhaust caused the shutdown. Starting it again showed no
cooling water exiting at the rear of the boat with the
exhaust. Since it was dark any further troubleshooting was
put off until Saturday while we put on more layers to cope
with the cold.
Saturday we went to the hardware store to get some nuts and
bolts needed for the watermaker installation. We saw a
Verizon Wireless store and went to buy batteries for our
phones as the batteries were not holding a charge. They did
not have batteries for our model phone at this store and we
also found out our model phone is obsolete and they are less
than 1 year old. They called around and found batteries at
the store in the next town. One of the Verizon employees
volunteered to go pick them up for us. Great service from
Verizon in Elizabeth City, NC. Everyone we met in this town
was very friendly and most helpful.
After getting the batteries I started to determine the cause
of the generator problem. It turned out to be a broken water
pump impeller. Fortunately, I had a spare on board and
replaced it. With the generator working again we had heat
on Island Time Saturday night. After another wine and
cheese party, we ate at a restaurant recommended by the
locals. The bill was $16 for a good meal. In NYC it cost
us $25 for hamburgs for lunch.
We
left early Sunday Oct 30 morning squeezing out between the
piles and headed for the Alligator River. Another claim to
fame for Elizabeth City is the blimp manufacturing facility
located south of town. There is a huge hangar visible for
miles located on the shore of the river. All the blimps you
see with the exception of the Goodyear blimp were
manufactured in Elizabeth City.
The Alligator River started with a bridge. I started to
type drawbridge, but this bridge actually rotated on a
turntable assembly. We have seen many types of opening
bridges on this trip.
At
the south end of the Alligator River we entered the
Alligator-Pungo River canal, which goes for 20 some odd
miles thru the swamp. Since it was getting late and we
could not make the next anchorage before dark, we anchored
just off the ICW at the start of the canal out in the middle
of nowhere. There were no background lights so it was
pitch-black outside. The stars were visible like I hadn’t
seen before.
On
Halloween, we completed the trip through the canal into the
Pungo River. We read about Belhaven,NC in one of the guide
books we are using, which raved about the quaint little town
Belhaven. We needed fuel and an anchorage, so we stopped in
Belhaven. The marina (River Forest) where we stopped for
fuel was a nice old Victorian style house converted to a
marina. As we were paying Miss Lily for the fuel, we were
convinced to eat lunch at their buffet. It was very good
with, of course, southern fried chicken and fried flounder,
both were prepared well. It was a good choice. The rest of
Belhaven was forgettable. There wasn’t even a store in town
to buy eggs and bread. It was at least 2 miles outside of
town.
From Belhaven, we proceeded down the Pungo River to the
Neuse River where we stopped at Oriental, NC which has quite
a fleet of sailboats along with some commercial fishing
boats. We anchored in the small harbor and went ashore.
They have a nice dinghy dock to allow cruisers access to
town. Oriental is a good place to stop. There is a marine
store a few blocks from the dinghy dock, where I found a
check valve I needed to install on the water feed line to
the generator to avoid burning up impellers in the water
pump. The generator is above the waterline on Island Time
so when it stops, the water drains out of the pump. When
the generator is started, there is no water in the pump to
lubricate the rubber impeller so it heats up and after
several starts it disintegrates. The check valve will keep
the water pump full of water at shutdown so it will be
lubricated on the next start. We walked about a mile to the
grocery store to buy eggs and milk. It was good exercise. |
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Elizabeth City |
Nov. 9, 2005 |
|
On Friday Oct 28 we exited
the canal through a lock (down) and went down the Pasquotank
River to Elizabeth City, NC. This town is the most cruiser
friendly place we have ever visited. There is free dockage
at the pier downtown. Each berth has four pilings to tie
off the boat at each corner. There is a number painted on
the wall of each berth which we assumed was the berth
number. We picked number 12. I nosed the boat between the
two rearmost pilings perfectly centered and continued
forward at idle speed. All of a sudden we were stuck at the
widest part of the boat. There were two men at the bow to
whom Genie passed the bow lines. They said keep coming and
we would make it into the berth. The combination of their
pulling and the engine popped Island Time into the slip.
We later talked to the dockmaster who informed us that the
12 is the width of the berth. Since Island Time has a beam
of 13 ft 4 inches, its no wonder we popped into the berth.
Needless to say, the boat did not move around that night.
Every night the welcoming
committee hosts a wine and cheese party for the boats docked
in Elizabeth City. It’s a great way to meet fellow cruisers
going down the ICW. This tradition started in 1983 and has
continued. Fred Fearing started and still hosts the party
at age 91. He is quite a character and has been featured on
TV in a show done by Willard Scott. They used to give each
lady from the boats a rose but stopped that as roses became
too costly.
Saturday dawned gray and
cold with a strong north wind. We decided to stay in
Elizabeth City for another night. Friday night I started
the generator so we could run the heater. Island time has
an air conditioner with a reverse cycle heater so you need
110 v to run the heater. The generator stopped after a few
minutes. High temperature in the exhaust caused the
shutdown. Starting it again showed no cooling water exiting
at the rear of the boat with the exhaust. Since it was dark
any further troubleshooting was put off until Saturday while
we put on more layers to cope with the cold.
Saturday we went to the
hardware store to get some nuts and bolts needed for the
watermaker installation. We saw a Verizon Wireless store
and went to buy batteries for our phones as the batteries
were not holding a charge. They did not have batteries for
our model phone at this store and we also found out our
model phone is obsolete and they are less than 1 year old.
They called around and found batteries at the store in the
next town. One of the Verizon employees volunteered to go
pick them up for us. Great service from Verizon in
Elizabeth City, NC. Everyone we met in this town was very
friendly and most helpful.
After getting the
batteries I started to determine the cause of the generator
problem. It turned out to be a broken water pump impeller.
Fortunately, I had a spare on board and replaced it. With
the generator working again we had heat on Island Time
Saturday night. After another wine and cheese party, we ate
at a restaurant recommended by the locals. The bill was $16
for a good meal. In NYC it cost us $25 for hamburgs for
lunch.
We left early Sunday Oct
30 morning squeezing out between the piles and headed for
the Alligator River. Another claim to fame for Elizabeth
City is the blimp manufacturing facility located south of
town. There is a huge hangar visible for miles located on
the shore of the river. All the blimps you see with the
exception of the Goodyear blimp were manufactured in
Elizabeth City.
The Alligator River
started with a bridge. I started to type drawbridge, but
this bridge actually rotated on a turntable assembly. We
have seen many types of opening bridges on this trip.
At the south end of the
Alligator River we entered the Alligator-Pungo River canal,
which goes for 20 some odd miles thru the swamp. Since it
was getting late and we could not make the next anchorage
before dark, we anchored just off the ICW at the start of
the canal out in the middle of nowhere. There were no
background lights so it was pitch-black outside. The stars
were visible like I hadn’t seen before.
On Halloween, we completed
the trip through the canal into the Pungo River. We read
about Belhaven,NC in one of the guide books we are using,
which raved about the quaint little town Belhaven. We
needed fuel and an anchorage, so we stopped in Belhaven.
The marina (River Forest) where we stopped for fuel was a
nice old Victorian style house converted to a marina. As we
were paying Miss Lily for the fuel, we were convinced to eat
lunch at their buffet. It was very good with, of course,
southern fried chicken and fried flounder, both were
prepared well. It was a good choice. The rest of Belhaven
was forgettable. There wasn’t even a store in town to buy
eggs and bread. It was at least 2 miles outside of town.
From Belhaven, we
proceeded down the Pungo River to the Neuse River where we
stopped at Oriental, NC which has quite a fleet of sailboats
along with some commercial fishing boats. We anchored in
the small harbor and went ashore. They have a nice dinghy
dock to allow cruisers access to town. Oriental is a good
place to stop. There is a marine store a few blocks from
the dinghy dock, where I found a check valve I needed to
install on the water feed line to the generator to avoid
burning up impellers in the water pump. The generator is
above the waterline on Island Time so when it stops, the
water drains out of the pump. When the generator is
started, there is no water in the pump to lubricate the
rubber impeller so it heats up and after several starts it
disintegrates. The check valve will keep the water pump full
of water at shutdown so it will be lubricated on the next
start. We walked about a mile to the grocery store to buy
eggs and milk. It was good exercise.
|
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Beaufort, NC |
Nov. 10, 2005 |
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On
Wed Nov 2, we continued to Beaufort, NC which is located
along the coast. It’s pronounced bo-fert not to be confused
with Beaufort, SC which is pronounced bew-fert. This marked
the end of the inland portion of the ICW as the rest of the
route is along the coast.
It
was windy (20-30 kts) when we arrived at the anchorage in
Town Creek just north of Beaufort. While looking for a
place to anchor, we found the bottom for the first time this
trip. Fortunately, it was soft mud and we backed off easily
with the knowledge of where not to anchor. For non sailors,
there are two types of sailors, those who admit to running
aground and liars. Because of the wind, we did not want to
leave Island Time at anchor so we stayed aboard.
On
Thursday, Nov 3, we put the dinghy in the water and went to
Beaufort, NC. There is a nice dinghy dock for cruisers.
The town houses an impressive maritime museum which is
free. There were many exhibits on the different types of
boats used in NC along the coast, life saving exhibit which
showed the equipment used for rescue people from ships
wrecked near the shore and artifacts from the recently
discovered wreck of “Queen Ann’s Revenge” which was the
pirate Blackbeard’s flagship.
We
had a great lunch at Spouter Inn along the waterfront. As
the day was warm and sunny, we sat outside on the deck
overlooking the harbor.
We
left Beaufort on Friday to continue the journey south. This
next section of the ICW passes thru Camp Lejune, which is a
large Marine boot camp. There are warning signs at the camp
entrance to stop boats when there is live fire training
along the beach area. Fortunately for us, there was no live
five training that day. We anchored for the night in Mile
Hammock Bay which is actually part of Camp Lejune where the
Marines train for amphibious landings. There is a mock up
of a ship in the bay that is used for training.
The next stop was Wrightsville Beach on Saturday, Nov 5. We
were in our fist traffic jam on the trip. The bridge at
Wrightsville Beach opens only on the hour so there was a
backup ahead of the bridge, but it was nothing compared to
the backup after the bridge where there is a marina located
along side the ICW. We needed to turn left to go into the
channel to the anchorage at the beach and thought we needed
a traffic light to get across the ICW into the channel.
Wrightsville Beach is a good stop with a cruiser friendly
dinghy dock, grocery store and Pizza store. We ate at
Vito’s Pizza on Saturday evening. Finding a Pizza shop has
been rare, so, this was a treat. We met a cruising couple
from Mass., who spent the last winter in the Bahamas and
they gave us many suggestions for a successful cruise.
Sunday was grocery shopping after a long walk for exercise.
There is a sports bar in Wrightsville Beach, so I went there
to watch some football (with $1.50 16 oz. draft beers). Of
course, the Carolina Panthers was the featured team but this
place had about 10 tv’s showing other games along with
NASCAR and the NYC Marathon. There was a NY Giants fan in
the place so I had a good time. Genie stayed on Island Time
and finished her book. Unfortunately, I did not get to see
the Giants win their sixth game of the season. Go Giants!!!
Monday morning Nov 7, we left Wrightsville Beach to continue
our journey. We went down the Cape Fear River for about 10
miles with a current of 2 kts against us so that was a slow
trip. That night we stayed at St James Marina near
Southport, NC. The weather was beautiful with warm sunshine
and temps in the 80’s. We decided to give Island Time a
good cleaning on the exterior to remove the salt and dirt
from the decks and hull. This took up Monday afternoon and
Tuesday. |
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South Carolina |
Nov. 15, 2005 |
|
On
Wednesday Nov 9, we entered South Carolina and anchored in
the Calabash Creek near Calabash, SC. The anchorage is just
off the ICW. There was a strong current and wind at this
anchorage so we only stayed one night. The guide book
claims there are several good seafood restaurants in
Calabash, but we did not try any of them.
It
was like turning the Verison switch on when we crossed the
border. All through NC, we could not get Verison service
with the National plan for internet connection. Soon as we
crossed the border, the cell phone came on showing us
connected to the Verison network with the National access
plan. This is the reason for the long gap in posting
updates. In NC we could get the misnomered “Quicknet” which
was about 14.4 kb service. The National access plan is 250
kb service. Ain’t technology wonderful?
On
Thursday Nov 10, we anchored off the Waccamaw River in Cow
House Creek, which was very narrow and secluded. It was
like having an anchorage to yourself even though a small
marina (Wacca Wache) was out in the Waccamaw River a short
distance (1/2 mile) away. Earlier in the day we went
through the ‘Rock Pile’ which is a land cut that runs
parallel to the Myrtle Beach area. The story about this
area is that once the canal was started, more rock than
originally thought was found, and to stay on budget, the
Army Corp of Engineers kept narrowing the cut to reduce the
amount of rock that needed to be removed. I believe that
story as in the middle of the cut, there is not room for two
boats to pass.
Next stop was Georgetown, SC where we stayed for three
nights, Nov 11-13, as we had some extra time and found
Georgetown a nice place to visit. Georgetown is the third
oldest city in SC and was the heart of the Rice culture in
the days preceding the Civil War. This area grew about 80 %
of the rice consumed in the US and shipped rice all over the
world. It was called Carolina Gold and was grown in the
cypress swamp areas. There are four freshwater rivers
converging at Georgetown and rice requires a lot of water to
grow as the fields need to be flooded for most of the
growing cycle. There were many plantations in the area with
a large slave population. During the height of production,
over 80% of the population were slaves.
Clearing the swampland and digging the canals for flooding
the fields took about 15 years of hard labor before rice
could be planted. The fields were all along the rivers with
dikes built to control the flooding. Remnants of the dikes
are still visible today along the clearings. In Georgetown,
there is the Rice Museum which we visited that preserves
this history.
Georgetown is filled with many old homes built during the
rice culture and restored. Good examples of the
architecture of the period. We had a good walk through the
town on Sunday using their historic places map for a self
guiding tour.
We
left Georgetown Monday Nov 14 and continued southward. We
have reservations a Charleston City Marina for Wed Nov 16
through Sun Nov 20. We will meet by brother Peter and his
southern belle wife Donna on Friday and go to their new home
in Greenwood, SC for the weekend. We are looking forward to
the visit. We will play tourists in Charleston as neither
of us has visited here before.
Also while in Georgetown we meet another cruiser from
Jacksonville, Fl and asked him for suggestions for a marina
in Jacksonville to leave Island Time to return to Vt for the
holidays. He is leaving his boat at Seafarers Marina in
Dec/Jan. Genie called and made a reservation at Seafarers.
Genie also bought our plane tickets leaving Jacksonville on
Dec 14.
From Georgetown we traveled to Awendaw Creek which is a few
miles north of Isle of Palms, SC and anchored in the inlet
just off the ICW. While at anchor, we saw a family of
dolphins traveling through the inlet. It looked like two
adults and the cutest little dolphin. We did not get any
pictures as it is difficult to predict where they will
surface. We also saw a pair of bald eagles perching in a
tree along the side of the ICW. This is the first time
either one of us has seen a bald eagle in the wild. They
are very majestic looking.
Today, Nov 15 we traveled to Inlet Creek anchorage which is
about 7 miles north of our marina in Charleston. We tried
to anchor in Seven Reaches Creek but came very close to
running aground at the entrance and felt it was too narrow
to safely anchor as there are strong tidal currents in this
area which turn the boats around when the tide changes and
this requires some swinging room. We could put out two
anchors to limit the swing, but that is a hassle especially
when you raise anchor and they get tangled. The cruising
guides suggest two anchors, but most of the cruisers we
talked with say they only use one.
Tomorrow we will leave late morning to go to Charleston City
Marina as the current there is listed at 3 knots at maximum,
which will occur at 10 am. We plan to arrive there at 1 pm
which will be slack to avoid docking with the current
running. |
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Typical Anchorage along the ICW |
Nov. 15, 2005 |
|
The
ICW is just beyond the Trawler. This is Inlet Creek, about
7 miles north of Charleston City Marina on Nov 15, 2005. |
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Charleston, SC |
Nov. 28, 2005 |
|
On Wednesday, Nov 16, we
arrived at Charleston City Marina about 2pm after crossing
Charleston Harbor dodging a huge container ship and steering
clear of a Coast Guard cutter anchored at the junction of
the Cooper and Ashley Rivers, which merge to form Charleston
Harbor. Boy, the shower at the marina felt good.
Charleston City Marina is
a well kept facility that looks recently renovated. It has
shower facilities separate from the lavatories with each
shower unit with a large stall with a seat which made it
comfortable as opposed to the small stalls in the lavatory
that is found in most marinas. The docks were floating with
electrical service and water. It looked like the original
docks were fixed as they were remnants of these docks left
as part of a sea wall protecting the docks. The outside
dock is called the megadock as it can (and did) accommodate
ships up to 100 feet. As we were low on provisions because
we could not find an open grocery store in Georgetown on
Sunday, we dined out at the restaurant at the marina. It
was good with seafood featured on the menu.
Thursday, we rode the free
van from the marina to the South Carolina Aquarium. This is
a new facility with many interesting exhibits. They show
the aquatic life in South Carolina from the hills in the
west to the seashore which culminates in a large tank with
many different species of fish from eels to sharks including
a large turtle. They have a feeding demonstration where
diver’s actually hand feed the fish. The sharks are not fed
by the divers in the water so they won’t associate the
divers with food. Smart idea if you’re a diver. They feed
the sharks well to keep the population of other fish intact.
In the afternoon we took a
tour of Fort Sumter, where the first shot of the Civil War
was fired in April of 1861. The Fort has a long history of
defending Charleston Harbor as it sits right at the entrance
where any ship entering the harbor must pass.
Thursday evening as we
were walking to dinner at Sticky Fingers, a rib place, we
were pulled in from the street by a nice young guy offering
free tours of Charleston. Of course this was a come on for
time share sales. They were offering several different
packages. We took a horse drawn carriage tour of the city,
tickets to the aircraft carrier Yorktown and $25 toward
dinner at many of the best restaurants in town. All this
cost us was 90 min of our time to listen to the spiel and
look at the property. It was a good company and would
appeal to us if we were not on Island Time. They were not
too “hard sell”.
On Friday, Nov 18, we rode
the van into town to attend the time share spiel at 9 am.
We then used our free pass to take a carriage ride through
the city, which was quite interesting. The city once was
walled with a moat around it fashioned after the medieval
cities of Europe to protect it from Indian attacks. The
economy of Charleston was devastated by the Civil War as it
was based on the wealth of the Plantation owners. As there
was no money to rebuild the city after the war, the houses
were repaired and preserved and today serve as living
history of a bygone era. The examples of different
architecture were plentiful. Most of the homes had verandas
on the side of the house and the lots were narrow and deep.
This was due to the practice in Europe of taxing property
based on its street frontage with higher taxes for more
frontage so the early homeowners of Charleston made sure
they would pay less taxes. Churches were plentiful as we
found them to be in all the southern cities we toured.
In the afternoon, we took
a taxi across the new suspension bridge to Patriot’s Point
where the aircraft carrier Yorktown is on display along with
a submarine, destroyer and Coast Guard Cutter. The Yorktown
served in WWII until the mid seventies. It’s hard to
describe the size of this ship. It must have taken sailors
serving on the ship months to find their way around. The
ship was self contained with all the necessary equipment and
skilled personnel to handle all situations. The bakery had
a display showing the ingredients needed to make 10,000
chocolate chip cookies that starts out with 112 pounds of
chocolate chips. The ship had a complete machine shop along
with a shop for the shoemaker.
Several aircraft were on
display from the propeller driven models to the jet powered
models used at the end of the Yorktown’s tour of duty. It
is amazing that the planes could take off and land on the
deck. There were several examples of tailhooks on display
along with the wire that they grabbed on landing. The
submarine was a contrast to the carrier. It was so small
that the sailors had to sleep in bunks suspended over the
torpedoes. It certainly took a lot of courage to serve on
the submarine under those conditions.
On Friday night, my
brother Peter and wife Donna picked us up from the marina
and drove us westward to their home in Greenwood, SC, a 3.5
hour drive. This was 7 hours on the road for them. Genie
and I really appreciate their efforts in entertaining us for
the weekend. They have a beautiful home in a pleasant
town. We went grocery shopping at Wal-Mart with a car which
made it easy to buy heavy items such as soda and beer along
with normal replenishing of the boat food supplies. Donna
gave us a grand tour of Greenwood which is where she was
raised and has moved back to care for her parents. We had
dinner with them on Saturday night and found them to be
wonderful company.
Sunday afternoon we rode
back to Charleston again a seven hour round trip for Peter
and Donna. Thanks again for the great weekend. After
watching the second football game to get the Giants score,
27 to 17 over Phil (go gints); we were going to marina
restaurant for dinner. It was closed and the only place to
get a bite within walking distance was the gas station at
the entrance to the marina. They had premade subs. This
had to be the worst sub I ever had. Fortunately they sold
Ben and Jerrys, so a pint of Cherry Garcia salvaged the
night.
On Monday Nov 21, we
decided to stay at the marina one more night and complete or
grocery shopping at a store called Harris Teeter which was
on the van route. This was a good grocery store that we
never head of until Charleston. We needed cold cuts and
bread which we didn’t buy at Wal-mart where we shopped with
my brother as we wanted them to be fresh for the next week.
That evening we ate at Hyman’s Seafood to use our $25
voucher from the time share presentation. It was a good
place to eat. We tried boiled peanuts served as a snack
prior to the dinner, yuck.
On Tuesday Nov 22 we left
Charleston and went to Town Point Creek just off the ICW.
Our knotmeter became fouled after the 6 days at Charleston.
With great trepidation I pulled the sensor from its housing
to check it for fouling. The housing has a built in check
valve which actually worked to stop the water inflow. The
sensor was free and I put it back in and it worked.
We spent the evening
before Thanksgiving in Beaufort (bew-fert) SC anchored in
Factory Creek just before the Lady Island bridge. This was
a good place to anchor in the marsh but close to downtown
Beaufort. We went to Beaufort on Thanksgiving to visit the
town. There is a good dinghy dock that allows access to the
main street. Being Thanksgiving all the shops were closed,
but we walked through the town to look at the old homes.
The streets had oak trees covered with Spanish moss just
like the pictures of the south. Unfortunately I forgot the
camera for the walk. We went back to Island Time and had or
Thanksgiving Dinner with Cornish Game hens substituting for
Turkey but with all the other fixings including stuffing and
cranberry sauce. Watched the Cowboys get beat by the
Bronchos yeah!!!
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