Onancock, VA to Annapolis, MD

April 22, 2019 - April 29, 2019

We woke before sunrise and left Onancock Marina at 6:30 am.  The prediction was for calm wind and seas, but when we reached the mouth of Onancock Creek we discovered that we would be fighting 12 to 15 knot winds out of the north which caused us to hobby horse with waves crashing over the bow onto the deck.  Thank goodness for our enclosed which protected us from a soaking.  I became violently seasick after about two hours of the trip (yuck)  After that I wasn’t much help to Bob.  Instead of crossing the bay to Solomons we opted to travel up the Tangier Sound behind Tangier and Smith Islands.  We cut our trip short for the day and anchored in Fishing Bay on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.  In the morning we raised anchor at 7:00 am heading for St. Michaels.  We hadn’t visited St. Michaels for several years and were excited about returning.  Because of the weather predictions we could only stay in St. Michaels for two nights.  One night we anchored out in the Miles River just outside of St. Michaels.  

In the morning we motored to the marina to tie up on the face dock. We had lunch at the Crab Claw a local restaurant on the water.  I had my first crab cake since leaving Maryland last fall and Bob had a soft crab sandwich. Both were delicious.  St. Michaels used to have an Acme on the main shopping street in town which we discovered had been torn down to make room for more small shops.  Consequently, we Ubered  to the local Graul’s supermarket to provision.  After stowing all our groceries I set off to explore all of the town’s shops.  I took my time as Bob had stayed back at the boat and enjoyed browsing through the unique merchandise.  In the morning we had breakfast at a new restaurant called The Galley that was a couple of blocks from the marina.  We had a short trip across the bay to Annapolis, our home port.  

Rainy Days on mooring 16 in Annapolis Harbor. 

This was the weekend for the Annapolis Spring Sailboat Show and we were glad to get a mooring.  Because of the prediction of windy and stormy weather we planned to stay in Annapolis for seven days.  For four days the wind howled, sometimes with gusts up to 50 knots, but we enjoyed our time anyway.  We visited the boat show on Friday and were able to order the fabric, notions, and tools to complete the remaking of the cockpit cushions and a few other items that are showing wear.  We received a 10% discount and free shipping.  On Sunday we visited the Spring Festival on Maryland Avenue which consisted of a wide array of food, art, antique, and craft vendors.  There always seems to be something going on in Annapolis.  Annapolis has a vibrant and busy downtown and harbor with people and boats coming and going constantly.  It’s entertaining just to watch the activity. On Monday we did laundry and tried out the new Thai restaurant on Main Street, Tarin Thai Cuisine. 

The Maryland State House dominates State Circle.

Colorful houses on Corn Hill Street.

Fun times at City Dock!

Something unusual occurred over the weekend. A duck used the lines stored on our forward deck as a nest to lay her eggs.  Lola discovered two on Saturday and then on Sunday morning a third was added to the “nest”. We will try to place them in a more appropriate spot. but with the cold weather I don’t think they will survive.

Three duck eggs on board !

Thank you for reading my blog.

Hampton, VA to Onancock, VA

April 14, 2019 - April 21, 2019

 We had stopped In Hampton on the way down the bay last fall and had visited most of the “places of interest” then.  It’s a nice walkable town with cute shops, restaurants (our favorite is right next to where our boat was docked), a beautiful antique carousel, an air and space museum, and an informative history museum.  Our main goals during our two and a half days in Hampton were taking showers, buying provisions, and eating lunch out.  The marina was not busy; only two other boats were anchored on our side of the marina. We must be well ahead of the crowd of cruisers heading north.

We docked our boat at the Hampton Piers.

We decided to leave Hampton and head across the bay to Onancock on Tuesday given the great weather conditions. Bad weather was predicted for the rest of the week and Onancock is a spot well protected from high winds.  Our first year of cruising we waited out Hurricane Michael there.  On Tuesday night we anchored our boat out in the creak that leads to Onancock as our trip across the bay was lengthy and it was well past the closing time of the marina.  We arrived in Onancock before lunch on Wednesday, unloaded our bikes, and road into town for lunch at Bizzoto’s Restaurant.  After a terrific lunch we explored some of the shops in town.  One of our favorites is North Street Market which features a gallery, gourmet foods, wines, kitchen essentials, and local crafts.  We bought a new tea pot since the one we had (probably 25 years old) had ceased to whistle.

From our cockpit we had a lovely view of the creek.
 This picture was taken at sunset.

 During our stay pollen dust covered everything.
It was almost plague proportions.
This is a picture of pollen on the water.  

On Thursday we rented a car and drove to Cape Charles, a town we have wanted to visit by boat but never have.  I’ll tell the story of our visit in pictures.

This view is from the back porch of The Shanty where we had lunch.
It shows an entrance to the large marina.

This is where we were seated for lunch.

 These houses lined the road next to the beach.

...and the requisite Irish Pub.

The main street was lined with shops, restaurants,
and an old fashioned hardware store.  

The beach was wide and enjoyed by many on this 80 degree day.

When we approached this sign a couple asked Bob to take a picture of them
in front of the sign. Then the man proceeded to get down
 on his knee and present the lady with an engagement ring
and ask her to marry him.  Bob got a great picture
 of the event for them with their cell phone.

It was a long day and we got back to the boat around 6:00 pm and were greeted by two hungry cats.

The rest of our stay in Onancock was uneventful.  We were able to take several bike rides to explore the area, catch up on some cleaning tasks, and visit Bizzotti’s once again.  One night we experienced winds gusting up to 50 mph and torrential rain.  We were glad to be in a protected creek.

On Monday we will continue our travel up the bay.

Thank you for reading my blog.

Beaufort, NC to Hampton, VA

April 8, 2019 - April14, 2019

We were all set to leave Beaufort early Monday morning until Bob tried to start the engine and all we heard was “clunk”. Starter trouble, again! Bob called the marina office for a mechanic recommendation.  We couldn’t reach him on the phone so the office contacted him for us.  If he was able he would stop by the boat at the end of the day. Like all great mechanics he was overbooked and couldn’t make it until Tuesday morning.  He spent less than an hour reconnecting the ground wire of the starter and the engine came to life.  Hurray!

We took advantage of the extra time in Beaufort to visit two more restaurants, go to the grocery store and finish visiting the shops.  It was two days of relaxing.  Our big disappointment was the Black Sheep Restaurant with its fabulous pizza was closed both days.

Early Wednesday morning we cast off at sunrise to continue our journey north.  Our “Windy” app forecast some strong winds until 2:00 pm.  We debated about making it a short day or going the planned distance.  We stuck with the plan.  The wind was right on our nose and in the open waters of the Neuse River it seemed like we were riding a bronco. Yippee ki yi aah! We considered turning in at Oriental, but continued north. When we turned to the north east the waves were hitting the boat obliquely creating a washing machine effect. It was much worse than the bronco. After four hours of traveling the Nuese River we finally turned into a more narrow river and had a smooth ride to our anchorage in Goose Creek.

Our reward for rising with the sun

On Thursday we were up with the sun and headed to our anchorage in the Little Alligator River.  We were in narrow protected waters all day and did not feel any adverse effects from the wind.

I’m at the helm on the North River.
As you can see the weather is warm
enough for shorts and a tank top.

Friday was different.  We left at dawn, but traveled up the wide Alligator River, across the Pimlico Sound, up the wide Pongo River, and finally across the open waters of the Albemarle Sound.  It was a rough day again with lots of rocking and rolling. We made it to Coinjock Marina by 3:30 pm just in time for showers and a great prime rib dinner.

Saturday, was a short trip up some winding rivers to a free mooring just south of the Great Bridge Bridge.  We had our left over prime rib in sandwiches when we stopped.  We heard geese honking and observed a family with newly hatched goslings.

We had several down pours last night
so I had to bail out the dinghy.

We left our mooring at 8:00 am Sunday and made it through the Great Bridge Bridge and Lock in record time.  We were making good time until we were stopped for an hour in Norfolk for a railroad bridge.  We made to Hampton Public Pier by noon.  We have completed our travels on the ICW and are now in the beautiful Chesapeake Bay.  We are almost home!

Travel on the ICW through Norfolk provides
different sitings than the wildlife
we encounter on most of the ICW.

The weather this week has been warmer than we expected for this time of year, but we had some heavy rains on two days.  Our cockpit enclosure is a life saver during stormy weather.  

We will take our time traveling up the bay to Baltimore stopping at some of our favorite spots.

Thank you for reading my blog.

Southport, NC to Beaufort, NC

April 1, 2019 to April 7, 2019

Our stop in Southport was fun and relaxing.  We visited many of our favorite shops and restaurants and added a new favorite to our list.  Moore Street Oyster Bar was outstanding.  It offered a variety of oysters of which we choose four raw and six broiled with a unique topping of cheeses and spice to share.  The Costal Outfitters shop has a vast assortment of beach, boat, and sports wear. Bob and I both found items we "needed" there. We were able to ride our bikes around town even on Tuesday when it rained most of the day.

On Wednesday we waited until 12:45 PM to leave Southport so we would have a favorable tide on the Cape Fear River.  The Cape Fear River has approximately a three knot current and if you are fighting a tidal current like that it can slow your progress considerably.  We traveled 26 Miles that day and anchored at Wrightsville Beach around 5:00 PM.  It was great to be able to grill and Bob fixed a delicious dinner of marinated pork chops and cucumber salad.

Thursday we hauled anchor at 8:30 AM in order to make the 9:00 AM opening of the Wrightsville Beach Bridge. We had two more opening bridges that day so we paced our speed to eliminate circling around in front of the bridge waiting for the opening.  This strategy worked well until we came upon the third bridge of the day only to find that the bridge had been replace by a fixed bridge and we didn’t have to slow down at all. We made it to our anchorage at Mile Hammock Bay (part of the Camp Lejuene property) in the early afternoon.  It was a quiet anchorage once the pilots of the vertical take off and landing planes stopped practicing touch and goes. I helped Bob trouble shoot the problem we had with the starter that morning.  After checking the starter and battery connections we discovered that the battery charger had been on "two" instead of "all".  Could that be the problem?

We were the last of the four boats anchored in Mile Hammock Bay to leave in the morning at 7:20 to make the 8:00 AM opening of the Onslow Beach Bridge.  We just made it.We were tied up at Beaufort Docks (North Carolina) by 1:00 PM  in time to enjoy a pizza and salad at the Black Sheep Restaurant (maybe I should make this a foodie blog).

Friday and Saturday were spent changing the oil, doing laundry, visiting shops, provisioning (with the marina’s loaner car), and relaxing.  We both enjoy Beaufort with it’s dockside boardwalk, numerous shops and restaurants, and boating atmosphere. 

Fritha, a 74 ft. Brigantine, was docked at the marina. 

A bow view of Fritha

On Sunday we ate breakfast at the Cru Wine and Coffee Shop. (just a note - Southerners have no idea what a good bagel is.  They should stick to their delicious biscuits.) I completed cleaning the boat after which it was time to relax. We had lunch at a new Mexican restaurant, Mezcalito.  The food was delicious, especially the fried ice cream dessert.

This logo was displayed all around the restaurant and on the wait staff.
Sorry for the reflexion!

We plan to leave in the morning for three days of anchoring out on our trip north.

Thank you for reading my blog.

Charleston, SC to Southport, NC

March 26, 2019 - March 31, 2019

We spent our last three days in Charleston preparing for our trip back to Baltimore.  Tuesday we rode our bikes to Amen Street Oyster and Seafood Restaurant on East Bay Street.  This restaurant had been recommended to us by a friend of Bob’s who we enjoyed lunch with the week before.  We had delicious oysters on the half shell and blackened grouper over grilled asparagus and jambalaya.  

We found another favorite restaurant
just two days before leaving Charleston.

Wednesday we took the shuttle to West Marine and Harris Teeters in Avondale to buy needed provisions and a new solar light for the cockpit. After stowing all of the groceries, I cleaned the inside of the boat and did laundry in the afternoon.

Thursday we splashed the dingy and tied it off to the bow of the boat so it would be out of the way when we backed out of the slip.  Next, we loaded the bikes on to the deck and were surprised at how well they fit between the shrouds and the cabin top.  I, also, cleaned the deck which was covered with pollen and grime from our winter stay. Since we completed our tasks before noon we took the shuttle to Brown Dog Deli for a final lunch in Charleston.

I had a delicious Chicago dog and coleslaw and
completed the meal with a chocolate chip cookie.

Friday morning we got up early to be ready for our 9:15 departure.  Because of the strong current in the marina from the convergence of the Ashley and Cooper Rivers we had to wait for slack tide (the state of tide when the low or high tide are ready to change).  I filled the water tanks and waited for the Captains instructions for casting off.  One of the Marina dock hands helped us with the lines and we exited our slip cleanly (no scrapes or dings).  

Our first ocean passage started with bright skies and calm seas.  There were still 2-3 foot swells that caused the boat to rock and roll a bit and I was careful to stay in the cockpit and watch the horizon as much as possible to avoid sea sickness. (note to self - Get a prescription for seasickness from my doctor this summer.) All went well watching the wildlife: sea turtles, sea gulls, cormorants, and pelicans.  Around mid afternoon while I was at the helm the boat hit something in the water with the propeller.  We looked all around to try to see what it was. All we could see was a small whale raising its tale repeatedly in the water behind us. Could a whale have tried to surface under our boat? The trip took longer than expected and we went back and forth about continuing on to Southport or anchoring in Winyah Bay for the night.  Anchoring won out and we motored into Winyah Bay just before sunset. While we were anchoring Bob noticed that the dinghy had broken loose from the boat.  In a panic Bob raised the anchor and I guided the boat to the dinghy where Bob tried to grab it with a boat hook. I was not handling the boat well and we changed places.  Success, with both of us using boat hooks we wrangled the dinghy back to the boat. I climbed over the side into the dinghy and retied the painter to the dinghy. We walked it back to the stern to tie it off securely. It was a long day and we were glad for a good nights rest.  You would be surprised how tiring it is to remain upright on a boat that is pitching from side to side.

This is sunrise looking out toward the ocean
from Winyah Bay.

On Saturday we rose before dawn and hauled anchor at first light.  We had a 12 hour day of motoring and wanted to make sure we arrived in Southport Marina, NC before nightfall.  Several incidents occurred that made our trip longer than expected.  First, Bob noticed steam coming from the back of the boat and the water temperature gauge was pegged all the way to the right.  We stopped the boat, I emptied the quarter berth, Bob checked the coolant level (fine), and then checked the engine cooling system.  He cleaned out the basket that filtered the incoming water.  That helped and we were able to continue, but at a slower speed.  Again the engine overheated and Bob knew it was time to change the impeller in the water pump that feeds the water that cools the engine.  Bob crawled into the quarter berth and started the process.  In the meantime I noticed that the dinghy was filling up with water.  I got in the dinghy, replaced the stopper that had come loose and bailed all the water out.  Next, I needed to climb into the cock pit locker to help Bob change the impeller.  It took both of us from opposite sides squeezing into the engine compartment as best we could to manage the screws and replace the impeller.  An hour and a half later we were ready to continue on to Southport. Later that afternoon we were visited by a dolphin family that played in our bow wake for about ten minutes.  It was an amazing site and my clapping and cheering seemed to encourage the acrobatics. Obviously, we didn’t make it to the marina by nightfall.  All I want to say about the experience is I never want to dock a boat in the dark again, period.

Sunday, we rested our weary bodies all morning, vowing not to do any work for the day.  After great showers we got the bikes off the boat and rode to Fishy, Fishy Cafe (one of our favorite restaurants in Southport) and had a great lunch.  We are planning for a nice long stop here in Southport for some much needed R and R.

Thank you for reading my blog.

More about our trip north next week…