The Northern Part of the South

Originally posted at www.svsweetescape.com

Just as Clark W. Griswold was on a quest for fun so too has our journey become a quest.  A quest for warm weather and soft tropical breezes. Tropical breezes we have had, but we would prefer something less than 40 knots.

None the less we know that we are making progress.  We are at the north part of the south.  There are signs everywhere.

Tonight, we walked into a Quickie Mart just up the block from the marina and bought a pint of ice cream to have with some apple cobbler that Judy was making.  The clerk asked us if we wanted a sack.

Another telltale sign are the restaurant menus.  Every menu, regardless of the time of day or what meal it’s for includes grits somewhere.  Just tonight we were at a seafood restaurant where one of the featured items was shrimp and grits.

But the definitive, for sure, no doubt sign is the way the locals refer to us.  Brian especially has been the subject of several names.   He has been called honey, sweetie, darlin’, sugar and by one rather large and likely sight impaired waitress in Elizabeth City - cutie pie.

Not that he is complaining - it sure beats some of the things he was called in his prior life.

So, a week long Mother Nature imposed break from travel not withstanding we still feel like we are making progress south.  

The next several days cold temperatures are predicted.  At this point we intend to leave Morehead City on Thursday morning.  We are mindful of the possible hazards that may exist along the ICW in the form of storm debris and aids to navigation that may have been moved or are missing altogether because of the storm.

We’ll just have to take it slow - but we’re on a quest.

Elizabeth City to Beaufort, NC

Originally posted at www.svsweetescape.com

As planned we pulled out of Elizabeth City bright and early Sunday morning and headed down the Pasqotank River and out into the Albemarle Sound.  Aside from Sunday, weatherwise we would enjoy a great stretch of weather with warm sunny days and cool nights all the way to Beaufort.

The Albemarle is a very large and shallow body of water and one not to be taken lightly.  Optimally, you want to travel on the sound in light winds from the north or south.  Winds from the east or west set up big nasty waves due to the fetch involved.

Winds were from the north in the 15 to 20 knot range - from the correct direction but a little higher than we would have liked, consequently we had three to four footers most of the way.  Our destination was East Lake, just east of the Alligator River where we planned to anchor just south and in the lee of Durant Island.  Along the way we encountered many dreaded crab pots, one of them a little two closely.  The winds had increased to 25 knots and we were sailing with just our jib when “thump” - and then the brakes came on.  We had picked up our first crab pot.  Neither of us had seen it coming but there was little doubt.  Your options in this situation are pretty limited.  You can attempt to get it off the shaft using the engine and our shaft mounted line cutters or you can go swimming with a knife and cut it off manually.

We started the engine and noted that it was really bogged down when in forward gear.  Brian shifted into reverse and revved the engine and the line cutters did their job.  The shaft spun free and out in our wake bobbed the tell tale white float.  It really wasn’t beach weather with temperatures in the low 60‘s with a lot of wind.  Thankfully we did not have to go swimming in the cold jellyfish infested water.  Instead, we continued on to our anchorage and spent a peaceful evening in about 9 feet of water.

The next morning, we headed back out to the Alligator River and turned south and through the Alligator River Bridge.  At the south end of the Alligator River you enter the Alligator - Pungo River Canal.  This is a very pretty stretch of water with one challenge for us - the Wilkerson Bridge.  This is the lowest fixed bridge we will have to get through at 64 feet.  If you recall we need 62 feet in order to clear the top of our mast and the antennas and sensors mounted there.  Two feet to play with right?  Not necessarily.  If the water levels are higher than normal that wiggle room is reduced accordingly.  According to the tide boards at the base of the bridge the water level was down about 1/2 foot giving us that additional clearance.  We approached the bridge slowly and went underneath at about half a knot of speed so that if we did hit we could hopefully back off before we did a lot of damage.   It was very close but we made it.

We anchored overnight with a few other boats at a very pretty anchorage just off the south end of the canal and enjoyed the sunset.

Tuesday morning we weighed anchor and headed out to the Pungo River for a short time before pulling into the Dowry Creek Marina primarily to pump out and refill our water tanks but as long as we were there we topped off our diesel tank as well.  It appears that the vent line to our waste tank may be clogged.  Brian will have to figure out a way to clear this line as it makes pumping out a long and tedious process.

We left the marina and cruised along the river before turning into Goose Creek.  We followed the creek south east and anchored in a widespot near Gale Creek just north of the Neuse River.  Cellular service had been spotty the past couple of days but surprisingly we have been able to find open wifi signals everyplace we have been thanks to our Wirie AP device.

We have continued to have difficulty with the Racor filter on our generator leaking diesel fuel.  We have traded emails back and forth with Racine Riverside who installed it and have come to the realization that the filter is plumbed on the wrong side of the fuel pump.  This was pursuant to Fischer Panda’s Installation Manual which has since been changed.  The fuel pump produces more pressure than the filter is designed to handle - thus the leaks.  We need to have the system replumbed and intend to have that done in Beaufort, North Carolina late this week.

We left the anchorage Wednesday morning and had a pleasant cruise along the Neuse River - more a lake than a river, before entering Adams Creek.  We followed this east to Core Creek where we stopped briefly at a floating dock at Jerrette Yacht Sales.  The purpose for this was for Corey from Trident Marine Services, the local Fischer Panda Dealer, to climb aboard so he could take a look at the generator plumbing and we could decide how to proceed.  We were parked behind two big brand new expensive sport fish type boats that were for sale and we expected someone to show up from the yacht dealer and kick us out but that didn’t happen.  We were there for about an hour.

We followed the creek another five miles to Beaufort - Morehead City, North Carolina where we are docked at the Morehead City Yacht Basin and where, sorry to say, it looks like we may be stuck for a while.  We are watching Hurricane Sandy very closely and it appears at this point that the storm will affect this area sometime late Saturday and into Sunday.  It is too early to tell to what extent the storm will be felt here and we’ll know more as it gets closer.  In the meantime Sweet Escape is tied to a very large and very robust floating dock system that should have no trouble handling a lot of storm surge should that occur.  We’ll keep you posted. 

Check our albums page for more photos from this time period. 

Elizabeth City, NC

Originally posted at www.svsweetescape.com

We wanted to get this posted before we leave Elizabeth City on Sunday morning as we expect to be without Internet access for a couple days as we head south through the Albernarle Sound and the Alligator River into areas that we expect will be somewhat more remote.

We arrived at Elizabeth City, North Carolina on Thursday afternoon following a night spent behind Goat Island on the Pasquotank River.   We headed for Mariner’s Wharf in the downtown area which are free slips the city provides boaters and the home of the “Rose Buddies” - more about this later. 

We found the dockage somewhat challenging because in reality there is not much of a dock.  There are triangle shaped finger piers that stick out maybe four feet from a headwall.  The slips have pilings on the outside and this is what you tie to.  We were able to get situated but it took some doing and some help from some other boaters.  Since then, we’ve seen just about everyone else who arrives having the same problem, so we don’t feel so bad.   The facilities are odd and require a little more effort to tie up and then get off and on the boat but in the end it is all worth it as this is the “Harbor of Hospitality”.

Fred Fearing, a local retiree decided one day in 1983 that it would be a good idea to go down to the docks and welcome visiting cruisers to Elizabeth City by throwing a wine and cheese party for them.  In addition,  roses from a friend’s garden were presented to the ladies.  After a while the idea caught on and Fred was able to recruit others and thus was born the Rose Buddies.  The Rose Buddies began throwing wine and cheese parties every night when there were five or more new arrivals at the dock.  Fearing continued to welcome boaters well into his 90’s, until his death in  2007.  Today, the tradition continues now sponsored by the Visitor’s Bureau and we attended the wine and cheese party Friday evening just steps away from where Sweet Escape was docked.  Judy did receive her rose.  Brian was happy with a Bud Light.

Thursday afternoon we walked downtown and stopped at the Cypress Grill, a great but inexpensive restaurant that features all manner of culinary happiness.  Judy had Lemon Crusted Flounder and Brian had the Texas Style BBQ beef brisket.  The food was very good.  The other must stop place to eat in Elizabeth City for seafood lovers is Quality Seafood, a nondescript painted white cinderblock building with a blue roof and awning about a block west of the docks.  Nothing fancy here but you will recognize the building by the line of people waiting to order their fabulously fresh fish, scallop, shrimp, crab and oyster dinners.

Friday afternoon we changed our primary and secondary fuel filters on the engine and cleaned out our sea strainers.

Elizabeth City is the home of Elizabeth City State University and Saturday was homecoming which meant that at 9:00 AM there would be a parade that would go past where Sweet Escape was docked.  We both went out and watched part of the parade before walking to an auto parts store to procure a lightbulb for our refrigerator.  We took some video of the parade and uploaded it to YouTube.  The link is at right.

Directly across the street from Mariner’s Wharf where the boat is docked is the Museum of the Albemarle, a beautiful museum that was built in 2006.  We spent a couple hours there Saturday afternoon and found it very well done.  Admission is free by the way but would be worth a charge if there was one. 

Farm Fresh, a local supermarket operates a free shuttle for cruisers from the wharf to their store and back so we called them and arranged for a pickup at 3:00 PM.  Brian and Judy, along with Patty from Nautical Dreamer went shopping and were able to get stocked up before Sweet Escape heads south Sunday morning.

Yorktown, VA to Elizabeth City, NC

Originally posted at www.svsweetescape.com

On Tuesday morning we got up, pumped the water from the overnight rains out of our dinghy, weighed anchor and headed out to the Chesapeake Bay where Sweet Escape made a right turn headed for Norfolk.

We had sunny skies and temperatures in the low 60’s with winds at 20 knots on the stern the entire way which means that we were not able to sail.  Seas were three to four feet but mostly following so it was pretty comfortable and we saw a pod of dolphins but we didn’t have the camera ready.

As you approach Norfolk the first thing you see are the Norfolk Naval Yards and all the ships docked there.  As we were turning off the Bay and onto the river we began hearing the Coast Guard radio traffic warning about a security zone around a transiting warship that was outbound from the harbor.  As we got closer we could see that there were three Coast Guard vessels escorting a submarine out towards the bay.  You are required to stay 500 yards away from any transiting naval vessel.  The warning that the Coast Guard broadcasts states that the use of force including deadly force is authorized against vessels violating the security zone.  Needless to say we gave the submarine a wide berth.

We continued down the Elizabeth River where we anchored overnight at Hospital Point.  This is one of the few anchorages in the Norfolk area and is a good staging point from which to begin a passage down the Intracoastal Waterway or ICW.  Hospital point is located off downtown Norfolk across the river from the Nautica Museum and the USS Wisconsin which is permanently docked there and open to the public.  We anchored with four other sailboats and had a nice evening.

Wednesday morning we we weighed anchor and headed south.  There are two routes along the ICW that you can take from Norfolk.  There is the Virginia cut which takes you down through Great Bridge Virginia to Coinjock North Carolina and then there is the Dismal Swamp route which takes you along a manmade canal to the Pasquatank River and Elizabeth City North Carolina.  

The differences in the routes is that there is generally more water (deeper water) in the Virginia Cut route and it is not as remote.  The Dismal Swamp route has a minimum of six feet in some places and tends to be narrow.  There are also two small locks at each end with limited operating hours.  Being the adventurous types, and knowing that Sweet Escape needs a minimum five feet of water, we decided that we wanted to go to Elizabeth City which bills itself as the “Harbor of Hospitality” so we elected to take the Dismal Swamp route.

We left Norfolk and made it to the Glimmerton bridge just in time for the 9:30 opening.  There were about twelve boats waiting there and we all paraded through with Sweet Escape taking up the rear.  We went through three other bridges including the “Highrise Bridge” that doesn’t rise as high as it’s name would imply.  In fact, the vertical clearance for this bridge is 65 feet.  Sweet Escape needs 62 feet of clearance so it was close and we were a little anxious as we went underneath but we made it with a couple feet to spare.  And then in our anxiety about getting under the bridge we missed the turn for the Dismal Swamp route immediately after on the other side.  Instead we followed the parade of boats a half mile south until we realized that we missed the turn, turned around and went back north and then turned left at the entrance to the Dismal Swamp Cut.

We locked through the Deep Creek Lock at 11:00 AM with no problem and headed south through the “ditch” as it is called.   We wanted to make it to Lamb’s Marina just north of Elizabeth City but would have to make the South Mills lock by 3:30 when they lock through for the last time each day.

While southbound we almost hit a bear.  Yes that’s right - we came within about two feet from hitting a black bear that swam across the canal right in our path.  It would have been interesting explaining that to the insurance company.   Judy was able to get several photos of the swimming bear and we’ll add them to our album page.

The water in this section of the ICW is tea colored.  In fact it’s darker than that - it’s like cruising along on a river of Diet Coke.  Talk about caffeine addict nirvana.  The water is clean - the coloring is from the tannins in the roots of the cypress trees that line the banks of the canal.

On the negative side we will not take the Dismal route again nor will we advise anyone else to either.  The reason for this is that the canal is loaded with sunken floating logs which are below the surface of the water and which you cannot see before you hit them.  We hit five of them, some of them very hard and while there is no indication of any damage to the boat we won’t know for sure until the next time she is hauled out which will probably be in Florida.

We made it to South Mills and were able to get through the bridge and then the locks there at 3:30.  One thing became clear - we weren't going to make Elizabeth City by dark and the last thing we wanted to do after hitting multiple underwater debris was to be attempting to pilot the boat on the river at night.   So we anchored out on the Pasquatank River behind Goat Island and spent a pleasant Wednesday evening.

Thursday morning we left Goat Island and motored to Lamb’s Marina where we took on diesel and had one of our two propane tanks refilled.  We then headed south to Elizabeth City in near 80 degree temperatures and bright sunshine.  But to hear more about the “Harbor of Hospitality”, patient readers will have to await the next installment in the Adventures of the Good Ship Sweet Escape.

See our albums page for photos from this period including the swimming bear.

Yorktown, VA

Originally posted at www.svsweetescape.com

Late Friday afternoon we pulled into the York River Yacht Haven Marina.  We had ordered a life raft which was supposed to have been shipped to the marina there but had yet to arrive.

Judy spent Saturday morning on the phone trying to track down the missing life raft between doing loads of wash.  

In the meantime, Brian rode his bike to the local West Marine store where he was able to locate the needed sight bowl for the Racor fuel filter for our generator.  It is something of a miracle that this West Marine, a West Marine Express in fact, happened to have this obscure part in stock.  According to the clerk there, someone had ordered the bowl a while back and never picked it up.  In the absence of that we would have almost certainly had to order the thing and then wait for it to arrive.  Once acquired, the sight bowl was installed and the problem solved.

The verdict on the life raft was not as satisfying.  The raft is a Viking brand life raft which was supposed to ship from Viking’s warehouse in Norfolk - only 30 miles to the south.  The delivery time was supposed to be four or five days.  Apparently the two boat shows in Annapolis, first the sailboat show and then this past week the powerboat show has thrown a wrench in the works as apparently much of Viking’s staff has been in attendance and unable to ship anything.  We are not going to hang around here waiting.  The raft will have to catch up with us further south.

We want to give some love here to the York River Yacht Haven Marina.  This is a beautiful marina just off the York River.  The staff is awesome and they can’t do enough for you.  The marina features a very good restaurant and excellent facilities including a large ship’s store and a swimming pool.  We spent three nights at the marina as they offer the third night free if you stay for two nights.

On Saturday the marina loaned us their courtesy car to go to the Food Lion to do some shopping.  Then on Sunday, Dan - the owner of the marina offered to let us borrow his BMW for a side trip to Historic Williamsburg.  We accepted his offer with enthusiasm and drove to Williamsburg where we had lunch and spent several hours touring the historic town and environs.  We enjoyed Williamsburg and plan to return next summer.

After Williamsburg we drove over to Jamestown, the first colony in Virginia, just to see what was there.  We stopped at the visitor’s center but did not pay the entrance fee because it was getting late in the day.  We would like to return here also.  This part of Virginia has so much history that one could spend weeks visiting museums and colonial villages and encampments.  It really is fascinating.

While the York River Yacht Haven Marina was a great place there was one shortcoming that caused a problem for us and that was their pump out facilities.  We were in need of a pump out and the marina’s pump out station was on a short dock at the end of a very tight fairway.  Brian was concerned about being able to maneuver in this tight space and the fact that Sweet Escape would overhang this dock by about half.  For that reason we decided to look elsewhere for a pump out.  

Elsewhere turned out to be the Yorktown River Walk on the other side of the York River.  But this presented a problem as well since they didn’t open until 10 AM.  Our original desire was to leave the marina on Monday and go to Norfolk where we would anchor overnight before starting our run south down the ICW.  But storms were predicted for Monday afternoon and if we left at 10:30 AM (best case) from Yorktown we would be out on the Bay when the storms began.  So, we decided to go get pumped out and then anchor back near the marina in Sarah Creek and get an early start for Norfolk on Tuesday.  

We went across the river and found two Coast Guard boats hanging out in the middle.  For a moment we thought we were going to get boarded again but then realized that they were enforcing a security zone for a Navy destroyer that was going down the river.  We continued on our way, pumped out and then returned to the creek, anchoring among a bunch of crab pots and spent a stormy night anchored on Sarah Creek.

We’ll post some photos from our visit to Yorktown on our albums page.

Solomons MD to Yorktown VA

Originally posted at www.svsweetescape.com

Following our hasty retreat Monday morning from the anchorage at St. Michael’s we made our way across the Chesapeake and south to Solomons Maryland and the Harbor Island Marina where we spent two nights tied to their fuel dock.

When we arrived, we were disappointed to find out that there were few facilities at the marina - but not to worry - Lenny, who is the owner of the marina, offered to drive us the five miles to the closest laundromat and then pick us up and return us to the marina after our clothes were done.  So, we all piled into Lenny’s Ford Escape and off we went with copious amounts of dirty wash.  Once the clothes were in the washer we found a restaurant next door where we had dinner.  Lenny, as promised showed up promptly to deliver us back to Harbor Island and Sweet Escape.

Following our return we had drinks with Frank and Diane the crew of Utopia aboard their boat, a beautiful 40 Caliber.  Despite being pretty tired from a lack of sleep the previous two nights, we both enjoyed the company and the conversation.  Frank and Diane are very nice and we look forward to seeing them again as we are heading in generally the same direction.

On Tuesday, Lenny once again chauffeured us - this time to the Food Lion where we stocked up on groceries and then returned to pick us up along with our shopping.

Later on Tuesday we broke out the bikes and pedaled our way to the local West Marine where we were able to procure some needed items for the boat and vinyl numbers for the dinghy.

On the way back to the marina we made a stop at the Calvert Maritime Museum.  This is an excellent museum that is focused on the maritime history of the Chesapeake Bay and has exhibits featuring the oystering and crabbing industry that is so much a part of life here.  There is an authentic lighthouse that was moved from the Bay and a great exhibit of watermen’s boats.

On Wednesday morning we left Solomons and headed south along the Chesapeake’s western shore to the Potomac River where we turned north on the river a few miles before reaching where the St. Mary’s River branches off the Potomac to the north.  Our destination was an anchorage called Horseshoe Cove on the St. Mary’s River near St. Mary’s City.  This is a beautiful, quiet and well protected cove opposite St. Mary’s College, a small liberal arts college that has one of the best sailing teams in all of collegiate athletics.  The school also has a dock which they make available to cruisers to land their dinghies in order to visit nearby St. Mary’s City,  a recreation of one of the first colonial settlements where it’s residents of different religious faiths were able to peacefully coexist.

We anchored in about 18 feet of water near two other boats and once again increased our scope to prepare for predicted 30 knots winds overnight.  The winds came but we had no problem.

We had intended to go ashore and visit St. Mary’s City on Thursday but when we woke up that morning with temperatures outside in the high 40’s and inside temperatures not much warmer we made a decision.  We have to get south.

We will be back in the Chesapeake next summer and will have plenty of opportunities to sightsee.  Right now, it is cold here and doesn’t seem to want to warm up, so we weighed anchor and headed back out to the Potomac and out onto the Chesapeake Bay where we pointed Sweet Escape south.

We sailed and then motor sailed and then motored when the wind completely abandoned us, to the Great Wicomico River where we anchored in Mill Creek, another wooded and very pretty anchorage.

It was there that we had a repeat of our diesel leak from earlier in the week.  Loyal readers will remember that the Racor filter on our genset began leaking diesel fuel when the o-ring became unseated between the filter and the plastic sight bowl which attaches to the bottom of the filter.  On Thursday evening we decided to run the generator so that we could run our heat on board (did I mention that it’s been cold here?) and warm up the interior of the boat before going to bed.  Shortly after starting the generator Brian began smelling diesel and checked in the engine space to see diesel fuel leaking out of the filter once again.

Stop the generator, take the filter apart, reseat the gasket again, bleed the system and then restart the generator and then clean up the spilled diesel - again.  This is getting old.  At this point it is clear that there is a problem with the Racor itself.  On both occasions the orange rubber o-ring between the plastic sight bowl and the spin on filter could be seen to be protruding out and this is where it was leaking.  But why?  After the first go around we replaced both the filter and the o-ring.  This leaves only one suspect - the plastic sight bowl.  

A quick internet search revealed others with the same problem and a possible cause.  The sight bowl is made of plastic, plastic is sensitive to heat,  the Racor is mounted in the engine space which gets very warm when we run the engine.  There is a good chance that the sight bowl has warped slightly due to constant exposure to heat and thus allows the o-ring to move and the leak to occur.  The fix?  Replace the sight bowl, preferably with one made of metal.

On Friday morning we left Mill Creek and continued south along the Chesapeake to the York River where we are at the York River Yacht Haven Marina as this is written.  We had ordered a life raft which was to be shipped here but has not yet arrived so we will have to stay in the area until it does.  Tomorrow, Saturday we will attempt to locate and somehow procure the needed replacement sight bowl for the filter on our generator.  Once that is done, we will anchor up the creek here and await the delivery of our package before continuing our journey south.