Tuesday 27th November Charleston South Carolina

We stayed a few days in Oriental letting bad weather pass and enjoyed a fine thanksgiving buffet meal in town with Jack and Marce. On Friday 23^rd we left at dawn (6.30am) motoring with little or no wind to Morehead City and anchored off the pier, in among a crowd of small boats fishing, at midday.

Oriental after the rain

Oriental in the sunshine

Anchorage Oriental

Sunset from the anchorage

Wildlife on the ICW to Morehead

Sunset off Morehead City

 After a restless night worrying about the anchor dragging, we left again at dawn to get best use of the outgoing current and headed out to sea, I got the sails up immediately and with a good beam wind cut the engine, sailing until Sunday morning when the wind died completely. There were dolphins playing around us just before dusk on Saturday and overnight on Sunday; 

Sunday was a lovely warm day with no wind, the wind came around on to the bow in the early hours of Monday as we were approaching Charleston entrance channel, making Charleston anchorage by 8am, time for a cuppa tea and a sleep.

Charleston at dawn

Tuesday 13th November Belhaven

We left Great Bridge at 7.30am on Saturday 10^th with frost on the stackpack, and ran into an unmarked sand bank, fortunately not going very fast so backed off into deeper water. 

Leaving Great Bridge

Crossing the Currituck Sound we got covered in spiders webs streaming from the rigging and stopping the wind speed at the masthead! We anchored at the southern end of the Currituck sound in 2m at 5pm (sundown is about 5.30) not feeling well with a  headache, so went straight to bed, waking up feeling much better to a lovely starry night. 

Morning Currituck sound

We weighed anchor at 7am on Sunday again motoring all day unfurling the jib for a short time crossing the Albemarle Sound, when the light wind was not on the nose, this time there were only a few crab pot markers and very few of them in the channel, also all the markers have had the osprey nests removed with seagulls and gannets being the main fauna. We got through the Alligator river bridge before sundown and pulled out of the channel and dropped the anchor in 3 ½m at 5.15pm.

Sunrise Alligator River

Deer leaving alligator Pungo river canal

Vulture in Alligator Pungo river Canal

 Up early again on Monday to a glorious warm sunny day with little wind we motored down the Alligator river and through the Alligator Pungo river canal anchoring at the head of the Pungo River in 3m at 5pm. I saw a deer swim across the canal in front of us and lots of vultures, but with the amount of traffic going south doubtless scared the wildlife.

Sunrise Pungo River

Rising again at sunrise I raised the anchor at 7.15am and motored into Belhaven anchoring at 10am. Escape Velocity has caught up after going through the Great Dismal Swamp, deciding to go into Belhaven until the bad weather due in the afternoon and overnight, passes.
Since an abortive attempt to update the blog in Belhaven we have moved to Oriental in the Neuse river after one slightly uncomfortable night in the Bay river.

Friday 9th November Great Bridge

Hospital Point anchorage

Portsmouth

After a few days R&R I decided it was time to leave, still not getting any warmer, however another weather front (bringing snow to the near North) appeared and delayed my departure, however on Wednesday 7^th I weighed anchor at 8.15 to get best use of the current and get to the first bridge by 10.30 (it only opens on the half hour) Before entering the channel I looked back to see a tug bearing down closely followed by a large container ship, so circling back through the anchorage I came in behind this convoy and proceeded without further incident to the first bridge and passed through with about a dozen assorted craft, approaching the second bridge (3 miles further on) the bridge tender announced the bridge was closing as the boat in front passed thus slamming the door in my face, again this bridge only opened every hour so we had to circle back and waste time. My next obstacle was the lock at Great Bridge, having rigged to dock on my port side (there is more hope of getting help docking on that side) I entered the lock to be waved to the other side, so frantically changing dock lines (fenders already rigged on both sides) and trying not to get blown off course we made it to the side where I scrambled about and got us docked. I intended to tie up at the free dock on the other side of the bridge after the lock, which meant that my dock lines were wrong, and another sail boat had had the same idea and docked in the middle of the dock, after a little realigning I docked in front with the help of another cruiser already docked at the end, who turned out to be from the boat in front at the second bridge and sympathised with me at its sudden closure. Thinking back this was the last place I tied up to shore, going into town I topped up my larder and caught up on laundry on a glorious warm day.

Hurricane Sandy look for the yellow cross thats me

Monday 5th November Hospital Point Portsmouth

It’s been a little while since I updated the blog so it will probably be a long one. Having got a replacement solenoid for the anchor winch (and a spare), the salesman asking what type of winch and saying the part would take about a week for delivery, until I pointed out a similar part in his catalogue for half the price! Oh will that do sir?... refilled my water tanks and kicked back a bit, the news that hurricane Sandy was coming, and was going to hit hard, filtered through and with a palpable air of fear in the marinas, starting by removing my jib then dropping the boom, with main sail in the stackpack, and tying it down on the sidedeck, I  decided to move on to one of the harbour mooring balls at the back of Back Creek (which is itself a well sheltered hole) on Saturday 27^th  very early to ensure a spot, I also moved my dingy to another mooring ball and helped Marce and Jack refuel and move from anchor. 

Bone model of Victory

Autumn in back creek

Water Tower or Alien intruder

After hurricane Sandy

By Sunday most people were as ready as could be and the forecasts were saying sandy would hit further up the coast, as she went past on Monday we had wind speeds up to about 45 knots but very gusty and wet all day, I had left my dingy in the water (without engine) and was full of water by Tuesday morning, which was a day of light winds, just cold, I refitted my boom and mainsail and couldn’t feel my fingers on completion. Wednesday 31^st was a fine sunny day, which made refitting the jib an easy job, I also refuelled and refilled water tanks and restocked larder, then in the evening had post hurricane drinks with Jack & Marce and three friends.

I let the mooring go at sunrise on Thursday 1^st November, although I raised the main there was not enough wind to sail, so we motor sailed to Herring Bay anchoring under the lee of a tree lined sandy cliff, at about midday. The cold weather has left me with a cold disturbing my sleep, but still lifted our anchor at 7.15am Friday and raised the sails for an exhilarating sail down Chesapeake Bay into the Patuxent River, where I dropped the sails and motored into Solomons Island anchoring in a pretty creek called Old House Creek at 2.30pm in 3m of water; Marce and Jack on Escape Velocity arrived a short time later, after leaving Annapolis in the morning. 

Leaving Annapolis

Sunrise on the Chesapeake

Old House Creek Solomons Island (cat Escape Velocity)

During the evening I got an internet connection and found a nasty bit of weather due to hit the Portsmouth area on Wednesday and Thursday, so decided to cancel all my planned stops and head straight for Portsmouth; so in the morning I raised the anchorat daybreak, 7.15am, after raising all sails the wind picked up with winds of 15-25 with gusts of 35knots, on the aft port quarter, and waves of 1-4ft, giving us a boisterous ride down the Chesapeake averaging 5knots over the whole trip! The autopilot was not happy with the short waves and gusts, but we got by my taking over every now and again. Approaching Old point Comfort I saw two tugs in the channel going in opposite directions, not a problem we were not near the channel yet, so I turned into the wind and furled the jib and dropped the main, on returning to our course I found one tug heading for me and close, so changing course drastically to avoid him found he was towing a barge which I could barely see in the dark and surrounding shore lights, confirming my decision to anchor in Old Point Comfort until daylight, I dropped anchor (which did not set first time) at 1am and closed my eyes; raising the anchor at 8am we found ourselves on a mudbank but ploughed our way to deeper water and motored to Hospital point Portsmouth, on entering Hampton Roads  two tugs were in the channel with all hoses spraying, what a welcome, looking behind I saw an aircraft carrier, it was the USS Enterprise with all hands on deck on her last day under power, coming in to be decommissioned! On arrival at hospital point we found two rows of crab pots covering the part of the anchorage best for us! So after allot of hunting around, finally going for a spot again the anchor did not set first time, the boat outside me had a diver clearing a pot line from his propeller! I topped up fuel tank and water tank and went ashore to refill cans, so we are ready to move on. Slept well after supper and a hot rum.

Choppy Chesapeake

Next door neighbour Old Point Comfort

Welcome to Hampton Roads

Uss Enterprise