May 4, 2018 - May 8, 2018
As the sun was rising we left our anchorage in Bay River headed for Coinjock and a night at a marina. It was an easy day of motoring through winding creeks and narrow canals. Coinjock is on a canal and provides dock space right along the east side where they pack the boats in as tightly as possible. We had time for a great shower before we went to the marina restaurant for their famous and very delicious prime rib dinner. Once again we were very satisfied with the food and the service.
We started our last day on the ICW at 8:00am. We weren’t held up by any opening bridges and actually came up to the Great Bridge Bridge just as it was opening and motored right into the Great Bridge Lock without any delay. Is this a good omen or what? Bob had planned for us to make it to Point Comfort on the Chesapeake that night, but when we got to Norfolk we were ready to stop for the night. There was an anchorage just off the channel that already contained several boats. That’s when our evening fun started. I was at the helm as Bob dropped the anchor, but once he backed the boat up to set the anchor we were a little too close to another boat. So I went to the bow to haul anchor. It wasn’t too hard until I got to the portion of the chain that had laid in the mud. I struggled to grip the anchor chain and haul it up with all of the mud slipping through my fingers. Bob, finally, had to come to the bow and finish hauling the anchor. By this time we were both liberally covered in mud and so was the fore deck. Our second attempt at anchoring went much better, but Bob was still concerned about whether it would hold. He monitored the boats movement on the chart plotter until he was certain we would be safe. Needless to say we were both exhausted and grumpy. I’ve always heard that mud is good for your skin though.
It started to rain at about 3:00am and was still raining heavily when we got up. I donned my foul weather jacket and bailed 8 inches of rain water out of the dinghy before we hauled anchor and set out (the anchor did hold us in one place that night). The rain continued until about 10:00am and then the fog rolled in. Visibility was about 100 yards. The disorientation of the fog made me feel like we were going around in a large circle and once there were no boats in front of us I could not stay on course. Bob took control and got us to Dozier’s Yacht Basin in Deltaville by 4:30pm. Our plan was to shower and go out to eat, but the dock master informed us that all the restaurants in town are closed on Sunday and Monday….bummer we were so looking forward to a restaurant meal. So, we showered and had happy hour in the boater’s lounge where we watched the last part of “Pretty Woman” with another boating couple. It’s nice to feel civilized once in a while.
In the morning it was slightly foggy and we left the marina at 7:00am headed for Solomans and another slip (have you noticed that we aren’t anchoring out any more). All went remarkably well until Bob went below and discovered the overflowing bilge which caused a flood below. After we pumped and pumped to get the bilge at a manageable level Bob fixed the bilge float switch (which we had just replaced in Beaufort, SC) and got that issue under control. Except, the shaft seal was leaking torrents of water into the bilge. We slowed our boat speed and that lessened the flow of water. While I was at the helm a loud squealing noise came from below and I put the boat in neutral and waited while Bob tried to figure out what was wrong. After calls to our boat mechanics in Galesville we decided that I should dive down and check the propeller for marine growth or rope around the shaft. Early May is not the best time to dive into the Chesapeake, but if it would get us back on the road I was willing to don my bathing suit and Bob’s shorty wet suit and check out the prop. After two dives I could not find anything wrong with the prop. Oh well, I tried. We called Tow Boat US at 1:00pm. Their expected ETA was 4:30pm. Since we started to drift into the shipping channel we put up the jib and tacked back and forth to stay near our original location. Most people think that sailing is sooooo relaxing, but it’s a lot of work. We tacked at least eight times and each time I had to haul the jib sheet to pull the sail to the other side….not easy. Boat US got to us at 5:00pm and towed us to Zahnisers Marina and Yacht Yard. We got there at 10:00pm. We were exhausted and discouraged. I thought my blog post about this portion of the trip would be boring. LOL
My next blog will outline the work we have to have done at Zahniser’s and how it goes. Boating is so much fun!!!!
Thank you for reading my blog.
