16-30 April 2010
Beaufort, NC to ...
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| Date | Location | Log and Pictures | |
| 16 April 2010 | Beaufort, NC | Underway at 8 am to make the Onslow Beach bridge and head toward Beaufort, NC, a short 43 SM trip. We pushed through the North Carolina ICW arriving at Beaufort by 1 pm. The winds were quiet to begin with but increased as the day progressed announcing the arrival of the next front. We passed the Tug Albemarle again as she pulled the dredge and many feet of pipe to the next dredging site; she must have steamed through the night as she had been making only 3 knots and got ahead of us again. After arrival we watched a white heron on the pier then walked the boardwalk of Beaufort, NC, a fairly nice town. We were amazed that the marinas were almost empty. Where are the boats? We just don't know but traffic has really been light as we move north. We tied up with winds above 20 knots and are hopeful they will diminish throughout the night as we are ready to move on to Dowry Creek tomorrow, but that takes us through the Neuse River and we will not do that with winds near 20+ knots. We'll see if the prediction of reduced winds holds true when we wake up, then make a decision about what to do. | |
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| 17 April 2010 | Beaufort, NC | The cold front stalled and this morning we still had 20 knot winds so we are staying in Beaufort another day, our second weather day of the trip up the ICW. I had a great chili hamburger at the Dock House Restaurant while Carey chose a regular cheese burger. She went shopping in the afternoon and I worked on those bill paying chores. I also recorded the mustache on the bow of the boat. A mustache, in boating terms, is a discoloration on the bow caused by the dirty water in the ICW. Later, as we enjoyed a glass of wine we witnessed a recently married couple walking the docks as they had their pictures taken. The wedding must have been close by. Carey fixed a great meal on board and we're now settled in for the night and pleased that the front has finally passed and the wind is light. We'll be underway in the morning for Dowry Creek. | |
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| 18 April 2010 | Dowry Creek, NC | Underway at 8 am from Beaufort in light winds; happy that the NOAA prediction was accurate. But wait, we rounded Radio Island heading north and the wind increased to 20 kts. We are now worried whether we'd make it through the Neuse River. We moved on and by the time we made it to the Neuse, about 10:30, the wind abated and the river ride was not too unpleasant. We continued. The winds continued to abate and the seas dropped from 3 feet to under 1 footers. We continued to Dowry Creek Marina, another favorite stop for us, a 70 SM trip. We arrived by 3:30, fueled and settled in for the evening. A 5:30 social hour convened at the Marina club house and several couples enjoyed drinks, conversation, and dancing. We heard great boating stories as well. One couple explained how a thunderstorm in Georgetown, SC caused their boat to drag anchor and the wife jumped up from bed and ran to the anchor system on the bow to help her husband get it reset, realizing after the fact she was completely nude as the boat drug anchor by all of the local restaurants in town. We are going to stay here tomorrow and enjoy the area. Tuesday we'll move north again. | |
| 19 April 2010 | Dowry Creek, NC | Coffee and a while reading started our day. Dowry Creek is our favorite marina on the ICW and we stayed another day to enjoy. Late morning Carey went to the store to re-provision in the courtesy car while I worked on touching up the teak rails. After Carey returned she cleaned the inside of the boat, including cleaning all the inside teak with Murphy's oil soap. In the evening we joined 5 couples at the marina club house for a pot luck that included the marina's beer can chicken. A good and relaxing evening. We did have one casualty today when the rear view camera we use backing up gave up and quite working. We'll replace it when we return to Colonial Beach. Tomorrow promises to be a low wind and beautiful cruising day so we'll be off to Coinjock, just 50 miles from Norfolk. A great day! | |
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| 20 April 2010 | Coinjock, NC | We left Dowry Creek at 8 am and made the 77 SM trip to Coinjock under sunny skies and light winds. An absolutely beautiful trip. We traded driving duties and just relaxed and enjoyed the trip. We arrived at 4 pm, settled down and then went to the Coinjock Marina restaurant for dinner; a 16 oz prime rib that melted in our mouths. We're now on board getting ready for the trip to Norfolk tomorrow. We'll be back in Colonial Beach this weekend, weather permitting. | |
| 21 April 2010 | Norfolk, VA | Underway at 7:30 for a 7 hour, 46 SM trip to Norfolk. We're anchored at Hospital Point just opposite Waterside (the restored Norfolk downtown). It was a cloudy and rainy day but winds were low and it was a pleasant trip past tree lined shores. We saw some strange boats along the way. Unique for trips we've made was that 8 boats made the trip through the Great Bridge Lock and all bridges in Norfolk. Like little toys all in a row we made the trip; the bridge tenders were enjoying talking about the 8 boats moving north together thru Norfolk. We were fifth in line with 3 boats behind us. We'd met up again with Ross and Kathy and Pilgrim in Coinjock and are tied together with them on Pilgrim's anchor tonight. We'll make one more stop somewhere on the Chesapeake tomorrow before making a stop at Port Kinsale, then finally Colonial Beach on Saturday. |
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| 22 April 2010 | Deltaville Marina, Deltaville, VA | Hoping for a quick trip up the Chesapeake Pilgrim and Apolonia were underway at 7:30, but 5 miles into the trip were deep in heavy fog. We turned around and went back to the anchorage, as we were in heavy commercial traffic. We anchored again and waited until 10 am to start the trip north. Once underway again, Carey enjoyed watching a Chinese tanker take on coal, most probably from the area she grew up, SW Virginia. I had a good time telling Carey about the various types of Navy ships as we passed Norfolk Naval piers. We saw my old ship USS ELROD FFG-55, but passed it before we decided a picture would be nice. After the 5 mile return trip to and from the fog bank we traveled 55 NMs today to get to Deltaville, a place we decided to see as we have not been there before. The marina was nice with its screened in porch and beautiful bay where several boats were anchored. We walked to town and ate a great meal at the local eatery, then they brought us back to the boat in their car. A nice experience. We're back aboard getting ready for our trip to Port Kinsale tomorrow, then on Saturday to our home port of Colonial Beach. | |
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| 23 April 2010 | Port Kinsale, VA | Slow start today but we were enjoying Deltaville. Finally we fueled and got underway at 10 am for Port Kinsale. We made the trip in 5 hours, mooring at 3 pm. We enjoyed the small sailboats on the Potomac and nice old Virginia homes on the shores. During our trip up the Chesapeake we saw flat calm seas for the first few hours followed by 3-4 footers as we finished the trip into the Potomac. Ross and Kathy on Pilgrim stayed at another place last evening and made it into Port Kinsale several hours before us. This is there home and they are settling down for the summer. Ross, in their car took us to our home so we could pick up a car as soon as we arrived. Carey will drive it to Colonial Beach tomorrow and I'll take the boat up to our boat's home port. We've had a great 4 month trip and will summarize the details one day soon. | |
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| 24 April 2010 | Colonial Beach, VA |
Well, the trip is over. I pulled out from Port Kinsale at 8:30 and
Carey jumped in the car. We met in Colonial Beach, a 29 NM trip by
boat, at noon. Carey grabbed the lines as a local duck watched.
We started this trip 29 November 2009, stopped to come home for Christmas, then continued down the ICW and across to the Bahamas. We visited the Abacos, the Eleuthras, and the Exumas, then returned up the ICW. We traveled 3116 statue miles while the engine hours on the boat moved up 378 hours. Although we had some windy conditions in the Bahamas and a cold trip down the ICW, we had a great time. We're glad to be home now and will enjoy the new home we bought last year. We also have some short trips planned for this summer on the Chesapeake. |
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