Crew Log for November 12th – 15th, 2022
Trip Summary:
Great Bridge Village (Chesapeake City) – Long Creek, Bonner Bay
Trip Distance of 140.9 NM, Total Distance To-Date of 1,709.3 NM
07h30 on November 12th, arrived at 13h40 on November 14th
We have been at the Atlantic Yacht Basin for a week. We liked it so much we decided to leave one of our fenders (dock bumpers for you non yachty types) as a gift. Actually, we have no idea what happened to it. However, a short distance down the ICW we realized it was gone. We circled back and tied up at the service dock and did a pumpout, while Judy combed the lagoon for our runaway fender.
We decided to abort the recovery mission so we wouldn’t miss the next scheduled bridge opening a few miles away. In these parts, most of the bridges on the ICW are a standard vertical height of 65 feet. If your air draft is more than 65 feet, taking the ICW isn’t an option. Our air draft is just shy of 50 feet.
However, there are occasionally other lift and swing bridges that are less than 65 feet. Some are rail bridges which only close if there is train traffic, but the majority are automobile bridges. A few, in the more remote places, will open on demand, but generally they open on a defined schedule. Every hour on the half hour, excluding rush hour time periods, for example. “Our Bridge” read, RESTRICTED: Daily, 6:30 am to 8:30 am and 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm. From 8:30 am to 4:00 pm, opens on the hour and half-hour.
It doesn’t sound like a big deal, but considering how narrow the ICW is and the effect of currents and wind, you don’t want to be hovering around a closed bridge waiting for it to open with 2 – 3 other boats, if you can avoid it. You also don’t want to have to run the engine at dangerously high RPMs to try to catch the tail end of a scheduled opening.
So, if you are ever passing Great Bridge Village, and you see a really nice, low drag white and blue fender, well, I guess salvage rights says it is yours. It was nice to be moving again, despite the fender incident.
Everyone was on the move given most people had been battened down for Hurricane Nicole for the past several days. There was a lot of traffic on the ICW. Trawlers, sailboats, fishing boats and the odd skiff. There is a certain orderly procession of boats, generally all moving in the same direction, south this time of year.
However, since everyone travels at a different speed, the radio buzzes all day long with “…this is trawler, She’ll Get Over It, on your stern, requesting a slow pass on your port side…”, “…roger that Captain, we’re good for a port side pass…”. It’s fine. The exchange usually ends with “…y’all have a good day and stay safe…”. Our radio has an incredible range though. So, as all those boats, who are passing all those other boats all the way up the ICW, we get to hear the same transmission over and over again.
As annoying as all that chatter is, the worse “passes” are the silent ones. Those are usually, a three storey sports fishing boat throwing a wake of over 4 feet, that sends the contents of Elizabeth M into swirling chaos. So, as much as we find the radio chatter slightly annoying, we have grown to despise sports fishing boats.
This section of the ICW is fairly remote. We passed by massive wetland areas that looked like a paradise for migrating birds. It seems they are more organized than us, and have already passed these parts.
Our first stop was Broad Creek, on the northern side of Albemarle Sound. We had put in a full day, some 46 nautical miles and it was getting dark. Crossing the Albemarle Sound was not something we wanted to do at the end of a long day. As the guide book reads, “Many scary stories are told about Albemarle Sound. You will hear tales of bad weather, broken boats, and sinkings”. Despite the fact that we were on the ICW, descriptions like those are a reminder that the ICW is no picnic. There was one other important reason for stopping in Broad Creek.
Our buddy boat, Adanaco, that we first connected with in Shelburne, Nova Scotia and again in Hampton, Virginia was on anchor there. After getting settled, we dropped the dinghy in the water and went over to say hi and enjoy a few munchies and beers as the sun went down.
Despite being relatively open, the anchorage was very comfortable and we had a great night. As forecasted however, the rains started at 04h00 and the wind started gusting over 30 knots out of the north. We weighed our options of staying put, doing a crossing later in the day, or leaving and taking our chances with the wind at our backs.
We were very comfortable here, so we made the decision to stay put until the following day. The rest of the day was spent making date squares and bread and catching up on some of the blog posts. I typically am 2 – 3 weeks behind, real time. We, well mostly me…Ok, only me, also watched the F1 race on TV. All and all, for a rainy, windy day, it wasn’t that bad! We had a nice feed of home made fish and chips for supper and called it a night.
It was cool in the morning, 5 degrees celsius and while the wind had eased a bit, it was still gusting 15 knots or more. However, we decided to cross the Sound and head up the Alligator River to our next anchorage at Tuckahoe Point. This meant we’d be leaving Virginia and going to North Carolina. Any time we cross off another State means we are one step closer to the Bahamas, which felt a long way away today as we climbed into our warm, wet weather gear.
The conditions on the Sound were really rolly. In fact, of the more the more than 1,700 nautical miles we have travelled to-date, this was my least favorite trip. The waves were hitting us on the rear quarter which meant that in addition to pitching us forward, they pitched us sidewards. I had flashbacks to the Tilt-a-World ride at the Truro Exhibition, which turns me green just thinking about it.
We made our way up to the Alligator River Bridge and called for an opening. The bridge operator asked if the boat behind us would move up closer to minimize the time the bridge need to be open. The boat’s name was Zephyr and I noticed that in addition to the US Courtesy flag on the starboard spreader, they were flying Canadian and Australian flags from the port spreaders. Only hardcore YouTuber watchers would know, this had to be James (from BC) and Natalie (from Australia) on their boat Zephyr.
Once we were safely through the bridge, I slowed the boat in the Alligator River and, much to the embarrassment of my Co-Captain, I climbed out on the deck and yelled over to James and Natalie as they motored by. They seemed to appreciate being recognized and happy to hear that I enjoyed their channel. Other than this brief brush with Youtube fame, the remainder of the trip was uneventful.
We, along with Adanaco, anchored at Tuckahoe Point, which is at the end of the Alligator River portion of the ICW and the beginning of the Alligator River – Pungo River Canal. It was only 13h30 when we arrived, but by my calculation, we couldn’t make it to end of the canal before it got dark. We had travelled 41 miles, so we were making progress.
It was a pretty quiet anchorage until the military jets started doing multiple fly overs in the evening. It went on for what seemed to be hours. They flew over in pairs. Each time rattling the boat and drowning out any attempt at conversation. So much for our peaceful anchorage!
Adanaco were hoping to get some repairs done in Belhaven and so we said goodbye to them once again. At first light we headed out with the objective of getting as far as we could. We had picked several anchorages along the way that we would be happy with.
It was a beautiful morning on the Canal. It had warmed up a bit and the wind had finally died down. A few weeks before, our former buddy boat Bleue Jazz saw a bear and her cub up a tree along this stretch of the ICW, so our resident nature expert, positioned herself on the foredeck with her morning coffee and assumed bear watch duty. We did see a few bald eagles and other assorted birds, but no bears.
Later in the day, Judy had been reading our friend, Mike Johnson’s obituary, when word came in that our friend and neighbor, Hossain passed away. Our thoughts for the rest of day were with both families as we shared stories and memories of both Mike and Hossain. It is hard dealing with the emotions of these events, so far from home.
We did manage to get a sail out when we reached the Pungo River and motored sailed for a bit. We had covered over 50 nautical miles and it was getting late so we started looking for an anchorage. We decided on Long Creek in Bonner Bay, which seemed to cause a giggle. It was a very well protected anchorage, with good holding. The only draw back was it was 2 miles off the ICW, which added to our travel time tonight and again in the morning.
The only other negative was our ongoing habit of driving by something and later discovering it was a worthwhile stop. Spoiler alert, this would play out several more times in the following weeks. However, on this occasion, we motored past the RE Mayo Seafood docks. We had heard from friends of ours that you can dock there, but we also read reviews that the facilities were poorly maintained and you were on your own, getting on and off the dock. We motored by, not giving RE Mayo Seafood docks another thought.
While we were on anchor in Long Creek, we engaged in the nightly ritual of reading about what we missed. It turns out, RE Mayo was a great place to stop for fresh seafood. We added it to the list of places to stop on the way home in the spring. However, the list is getting long, and so there is a real possibility that we may never get home.
The good news was, Beaufort, NC (pronounced Bow fert), not to be confused with Beaufort, SC (pronounced Beu fort) was a day away. We were planning a couple of days in Beaufort (not Beaufort) and had reserved space on the town dock. After 5 days of never getting off the boat, we were looking forward to a break. And a shower.
But, more about that, next time.
Additional photos.
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