Dec 4^th & 5^th

Wednesday morning the temperature outside was in the low 40F’s and it wasn’t forecasted to get much past 45 the rest of the day.  While it was cool outside, our portable electric heater kept the cabin at almost 60 throughout the night and we rested well. Unfortunately, we can only use it when we’re in a marina with an electrical hook-up so for the next several days we would be without any external source for heat. Glad we have some good cool weather clothing!

After a nice breakfast we finished putting everything away down below and got ready to finally get EOS underway and headed south.  We fired up the engine, pulled in all our dock lines, and got underway right at 9 am.  We spent the first hour or so underway re-checking all the equipment and items we had serviced over the summer to make sure everything was functioning as it should.  Everything checked out ok, so left the Middle River, entered the Chesapeake Bay, and headed south.

Our plan, weather permitting, was to motor all day Wednesday, through the night and reach Norfolk mid-morning Thursday, rest, refuel, and then start traveling down the ICW on Friday.  When we left last February that 190 mile leg took us just over 26 hours.  The forecast this time originally had west winds of 15 to 20 knots most of the time with occasional periods slightly lower and some slightly higher.  The forecast ended up being fairly accurate throughout this leg. Heading south, this put the wind on our starboard (right) side and as the day and evening went on, the waves began to come from this direction as well. Fortunately, the waves were small and the motion wasn’t bad most of the evening.  They did build a little in the early morning, and the combination of the waves and wind on the beam (side) made for a ‘lumpy’ ride just before sunrise.

We reached the mouth of the Chesapeake at around 8 am, turned west, headed into Norfolk and crossed the Hampton Roads Tunnel at 8:45 am.  This trip down the bay took just under 24 hours.  As we were approaching Norfolk we heard on the marine radio that there was a submarine returning from sea and all vessels were directed to stay out of it’s way and approach no closer than 500 yds.  It had been years since I’d seen a surfaced submarine and Diane had never seen one, so we were hoping to see it as we were coming in.  We ended up getting to Norfolk ahead of the submarine, but we slowed down, took a few extra laps around the harbor, and waited.  We must not have looked too suspicious or threatening because none of the escort boats came by to chase us off. 

We probably didn’t get much closer than a half a mile, but we could clearly see the boat, the conning tower, and the tail.  It was worth the wait even though the pictures didn’t turn out very good.

Since we had made such good time coming down the bay we decided that once we had refueled, we would continue on into the ICW for just a few miles and stop early afternoon.  This would allow us to pass through a bridge early afternoon that doesn’t open during rush hour and enable us to leave whenever we wanted Friday morning.  So that is what we did.

We ended up making it to Chesapeake, Va (ICW mile 12) just south the Great Bridge drawbridge and lock shortly after 2pm.  We caught a brief nap, took a stroll around town, and then headed back to the boat for an early taco dinner.

Next stop …. Coinjock, NC, home of the 32 oz prime rib! Fortunately, they do serve smaller portions!As always, keep the prayers coming.

3 December 2019

We finished loading our provisions onboard earlier today, fired up the engine, checked out the navigation system and will make it an early evening so we can start heading south first thing in the morning! We’re excited to finally be getting back on board, even if it will only be for a few weeks to start with.

This past May we returned EOS to her slip on the Middle River, packed up all our gear and provisions, and headed home to Pa. It was amazing how quick the transition was from boat life & cruising time, to life ashore.  We no sooner finished cleaning EOS then were off to the mountains in Virginia to attend our niece’s high school graduation. Next we joined a group of folks from our church and spent a week in Swan Quarter, NC helping refurbish several homes damaged the previous fall by a hurricane & subsequent flooding.   We spent the 4^th of July down in Virginia visiting family.

We then spent several weeks tackling a few projects on the boat – repainting the bottom, completely rebuilding the refrigerator/freezer, re-varnishing the teak, and updating the upholstery.  In between projects we headed back to NC twice. Once to unpack all the furnishings at my parent’s beach house in Topsail, and another trip to visit the kids in Winston- Salem.

In early August & September my mother was hospitalized several times as she had contracted Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (a tick-borne illness) and was also diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (a form of blood cancer).  Fortunately, mom started this journey in great health and continues to work hard at regaining her health. Her treatments do make her very tired, so we’re all pitching in, taking turns at the house to make sure both mom & dad get the support they need.

Towards the end of October, we spent two weeks in Greece with our daughter. Her four-month sabbatical from work was coming to an end at the beginning of November and she wanted to get a little more traveling in before returning to work.  We spent a few days in Athens, travelled north to see some beautiful monasteries, had a weekend on the island of Santorini, and finished the trip by spending 4 days on a 40’ sailboat (with a captain) in the Aegean Sea!

November found us wrapping up last minute boat projects, spending time in Virginia with the family, and getting an addition of sorts installed on the boat.  We had new canvas made and included a full enclosure to cover the entire cockpit area. The enclosure will allow us to be ‘outside’ but protected from the wind and rain and gives us some extra living space.  We’re very pleased with the installation and are looking forward to spending more time hanging out outside.

We’re not sure yet what our cruising plans will be for this winter as we do intend to spend time back in Virginia with my parents. Most likely we’ll be on the boat for a couple of weeks, and then bounce back north for a few weeks.

For the next two weeks though we will be heading down the Chesapeake Bay and the ICW and intend to leave EOS just south of Topsail, NC. We’ll return home for Christmas and then see what 2020 has in store for us.  We’ll try to post some pictures and a few updates along the way.

As always, we appreciate your prayers and support as we travel.

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May 20^th – May 23^rd

We explored Portsmouth early Sunday morning, then took a ferry boat over to Norfolk and spent the rest of the day walking through our old neighborhood. While the area had obviously changed over the past 33 years, we were both surprised by the fact that neither of us recalled that our old neighborhood was so close to the river or to the waterfront area.  The apartment we rented was only 4 or 5 blocks from the river, but neither of us remembered it being that close. In fact, we don’t recall ever walking to the river or to the waterfront while we lived there.  We did drive to the waterfront, but never walked.  Not sure what has changed, but maybe spending the past several months floating around on a boat has made us much more aware of waterfront areas. Or maybe we were just too self-absorbed as newly-weds that we didn’t notice anything around us but each other back then!

Regardless, we did enjoy our time walking down what we could recall of memory lane.

Once we left Norfolk, we would only have 170-180 miles to go to reach the Middle River but rather than sail straight through, we wanted to take a few days and visit some areas within the bay.

We had both been reading the book Chesapeake Requiem by Earl Swift.  The subtitle of the book is “A year with the watermen of vanishing Tangier Island.” Throughout Swift’s career as a journalist for the Virginia Pilot he had periodically covered Tangier Island and in 2016 & 2017 he spent almost a year living on the island. In the book he covers the history of the island, follows the current inhabitants, and observes first hand island’s continuing retreat into the bay. 

We enjoyed reading the book and both wanted to visit the island ourselves on our way home.  When I was still in elementary school, my parents took us there one summer on our family’s sailboat, but I really don’t recall much about the island other than the people had a funny accent.

It was going to be a long sail to make it to Tangier’s in one day, and we wouldn’t be able to get in until early evening.  So rather than sail up VA’s Eastern Shore, we decided to sail along Western Shore, anchor near the mouth of the Potomac, and then have a pleasant sail across the bay in the morning.  That was the plan.

The first part of the plan went as expected. We did have a great sail up the bay and found a nice anchorage in Mill Creek just south of the Potomac. A brief shower and storm in the evening cooled everything off and we slept well in a cool cabin that night.

When we woke in the morning the water in Mill Creek was flat, the breeze was negligible, and it looked like all was going to go according to plan.  We enjoyed a nice breakfast and got underway at 7:45 am as we only had 10 to 12 miles to go to reach the island. It was almost directly due East of us so with winds from the south we should be sailing on a nice beam reach.  It was going to be a peaceful morning.

Shortly after getting underway we managed to run out of water again. Nothing nearly as dramatic as Charleston. We were completely upright but stuck.  We had managed to get a little too close to the edge of the channel and ran into what was likely just a sand or mud mound right on the edge.  Fortunately, the tide was rising and we only needed to wait 30 minutes or so before we were able to get moving again.  That wasn’t in our plan.

After getting underway again we left Mill Creek and its flat water and negligible breeze and headed due East into the bay.  The breeze was projected to build throughout the morning and the waves were supposed to gradually be building with it throughout the day. 

Well both the breeze and the waves apparently didn’t follow instructions very well or were just being impatient that day for shortly after entering the bay the wind picked up and so did the waves.  Had we been heading North this wouldn’t have been much of an issue since the wind and waves would be coming from behind us and would simply ‘push us along.’ Unfortunately, the wind and the waves were coming at us from the side and were causing the boat to really roll.  We were rolling so much that as the boat rolled from side to side the fuel gage was constantly changing from full to about 1/4. This wasn’t because we were losing fuel, but just because the fuel in the tank would all run to one side as the boat rolled left, and then run to the other side as the boat rolled right.  With each roll, the level of the fuel the gage was reading would change.

It was not our most pleasant sail of the trip. 

We ended up finally making across the bay by 1 pm – almost 5 hours to cover 12 miles! As we were attempting to dock – I say attempting because the wind and current we had to deal with was making it difficult to enter into a slip.  We’d motor into the wind passed the slip we were supposed to pull into and then turn our bow so that we were pointed in the right direction. As soon as we would get pointed in the right direction, the wind and current would push us so fast we’d blow right passed the slip.

After several failed attempts, we elected to just pull parallel to the end of several slips, tie a line to one of the pilings, and hold ourselves in one place until the wind and/or current finally died down.  While we were tied to the piling waiting for the conditions to change we attracted several ‘helpers’ from other boats you were giving us suggestions on how to maneuver the boat into a slip.

One of these helpers was the 87 year old owner of the marina and the other was a 60-something powerboater who had a similar experience docking the day before.  Both of these guys were offering suggestions, one using a radio and the other shouting. We had lots of advice coming our way.

Diane and I discussed our options and decided that she would drive the boat and I would deal with all the lines as we pulled our way into the slip.  Normally I drive and she deals with the lines, but with the wind and having the throw multiple lines and try to hold the boat onto the pilings it seemed like the right move to switch rolls. Besides, Diane has become a very proficient ship handler during these past few months and we knew she could do it.

The powerboater on the pier actually helped provide another set of eyes and was able to help Diane judge when to go forward or start going into the reverse, etc as I worked the lines.  It was all going well, we were almost in.

Remember earlier we mentioned the fuel was sloshing around from side to side? Well when fuel sloshes around in a tank and/or a boat is really rolling, any gunk or junk on the bottom of the tank starts to slosh around with it.  Most engines don’t like gunk or junk in the fuel, hence the reason cars, planes, and boats all have fuel filters. Well if the junk or gunk clogs the filter, the engine doesn’t get enough fuel, and will shut off.

Murphy’s law for seamanship states that if something can go wrong, it will likely go wrong at the most in opportune time – such as docking. Yep. Just as we are trying to dock, the engine starts cutting off because the fuel filter has gotten clogged. Arggghhh.

Diane did a great job. Everytime the engine would cut off, she’d calmly reach down and restart it while still keeping the boat pointed in the right direction. This happened several times.

We eventually got the boat into a slip and thanked everyone for their help.  I offered to buy everyone who had helped a drink at the bar, but since Tangier’s is a dry island I got off cheap!

We spent the afternoon walking across the whole island, grabbed a great lunch at one of the restaurants we had read about in the book and then went back out later for a cup of seafood soup and desert at another.

Wednesday morning rolled around and the tide was still going to be going out until 930 so we got another walk in.  We waited until almost noon for the tide to rise enough that we weren’t worried about running aground leaving the island.  We got underway right at noon.

The forecast for the next few days was changing has we made our way north. Fortunately, the winds were still from the south and this time, since we were headed north, they were pushing us rather than rolling us. As the afternoon went on the forecast had changed to small craft warnings starting around midnight and continuing throughout the next day and a chance of thunderstorms in the later afternoon . Then on Friday the winds would shift and start coming from the north at about 15 to 18 knots meaning we would be heading directly into strong winds and waves – not a fun way to sail.

We only 70 miles or so to go until we reached the Middle River but now our options looked like they were to:

1. Anchor Wednesday evening and stay put until the Saturday so that we avoided the storms on Thursday afternoon and weren’t bashing our way north on Friday
2. Sail another 12 – 14 hours through the evening and get in early Thursday morning well before the storms and avoid traveling on Friday completely.

We talked about it, and since we would be going with the winds, even if they continued to build we knew ride would not be uncomfortable so we elected to press on.

The sail throughout the evening and into Thursday morning was uneventful. The wind did pick up, but the direction and the waves were not uncomfortable. The only uncomfortable part was about an hour out from the marina, we had to turn west to enter the Middle River where we keep the boat.

We ended up reaching our slip at 530am Thursday. Fortunately, the winds were calm and sunrise was only a few minutes away so we had plenty of light to pull into our slip, put on the dock lines, and secure the boat.

Once we had everything secured, we sent off a quick text to the family letting them know we had arrived safely and then crashed until noon.

We spent the rest of the afternoon doing some cleaning then baked a pizza to celebrate our return and the successful completion of a great trip.

Friday was spent changing out all the fuel filters and packing up.

We got picked up on Saturday and were back in York shortly after lunch.

We had a few days to reflect on the past several months and are thankful that we’ve had this opportunity to travel, to learn more about EOS and ourselves, and to have met so many great people.

We have a busy summer planned visiting with family and friends and getting both the boat and house ready for our long trip next fall so we probably won’t be posting much until we start traveling again in the fall.

We’re thankful for the support and prayers we’ve had of our family and friends and hope you’ve enjoyed following along with us and we look forward to seeing or hearing from you all soon.

May 13^th  – May 18^th

After a nice weekend docked in Swansboro we were ready to get underway again and continue meandering our war north.

We got underway just before sunrise at 630 and traveled almost 70 miles on Monday.  We ended up anchoring in a place called Bear Creek just off the Neuse River. We were hoping to see some of the creatures after which the creek was named, but the only bears we saw that evening were the Major and Minor bears (Ursa Major & Minor are the formal names for the big and little dipper constellations).

On Tuesday we did just over 70 miles and anchored near the mouth of the Alligator River off the Albermarle Sound and again, we did not see any of the river’s namesake.  After a second 70 mile day in a row I’m not sure how much ‘meandering’ we’re really doing. We’ve been pushing these last two day so that we can have a few days to explore the Albemarle Sound and visit with some friends.

In a previous post we mentioned ‘The Great Loop’, circumnavigating the East Coast, Great Lakes, and parts of the Mississippi River.  While traveling through North Carolina we learned that several marina’s located around the Albemarle Sound were working together to promote their marinas and towns and had created the “Albemarle Loop”. To encourage boaters traveling up and down the ICW to spend a few extra days in the area they were offering up to 2 nights FREE docking and other amenities in each town.

Although we experienced mostly great weather and good sailing conditions while we were there, the Albemarle Sound can dish out some nasty conditions, primarily due to its rather shallow depth. If winds are blowing from one direction for several days in a row or pick up strength suddenly, the chop or waves build to a point that makes sailing and boating very uncomfortable.  Additionally, the towns and marinas are at least 10 to 12 miles away from the main ICW course so to stop at a marina or visit one of the towns one needs to be willing to make the detour.  Given the reputation for some nasty conditions and less than ideal location of the marinas, many travelers along the ICW just don’t take the time to visit the area. Hence, the promotion.

Our first stop along ‘The Loop’ was the town of Edenton on the far western edge of the sound.  We called ahead to make sure we could secure a reservation and were told we’d be the only boat at the town dock. 

We arrived just after 2pm and enjoyed a great afternoon exploring the town. If you are traveling through North Carolina and have an afternoon to spare, we’d both encourage a visit visit Edenton. The town is full of history (we learned that several of our founding fathers are from the general area and that the women of Edenton staged their own tea party during the revolution) and has several very nice restaurants.  It was a great place to visit.

Our next stop along ‘The Loop’ was the planned community of Albemarle Plantation at the mouth of the Yeopim River.  ‘The Plantation’ as the residents refer to it, is the home to a links style golf course, 100+ slip marina, a yacht club, and a club house with a pool.  There are single family homes, some townhouses, and a few condos — all of them looked beautiful.

One of my colleagues from work (actually one of the 3 people to interview me for my job at Harley over 28 years ago) retired several years ago and built a home here. We were excited to be able to visit with him and his wife as they were life long boaters.  They had owned several sailboats throughout their years, and prior to retiring they purchased a 36’ trawler and spent time doing the ‘Great Loop’. They have also traveled extensively, and we enjoyed hearing about their travels and the places they visited. 

They were great hosts and we’re already making plans to stop back on our way south this fall!

We left ‘The Plantation’ around 8 am and headed east to rejoin the ICW so we could continue the trip north. This leg of the trip was a little tricky.  It wasn’t the sailing or navigation that was difficult but what was challenging was figuring out where & when we should stop for the day.

We rejoined the ICW just before 1pm at mile 65.  There were several good anchorages just a few miles north at mile 60 but that seemed way to soon to anchor. There was a marina located at mile 50 and then the next proper anchorages weren’t until around mile 25.

So, our options were to:

1. anchor early and have a long day on Saturday
2. travel a little further and have a moderate day on Saturday
3. travel to mile 25 or so, make today a long one, and then have a short day on Saturday

It really didn’t take to long to decide. The restaurant at the Coinjock Marina is famous for their prime rib dinner.  They offer a 32 oz Captain’s cut and a 16 oz First Mate’s cut and you need to make your reservations early in the afternoon if you want to be guaranteed they have some for you.  So, option #2 it was.

We were originally wait listed for a slip when we first called, but later in the day we were able to confirm they had room for us.  We docked just after 3:30 and as soon as our lines were secured, we walked over to the restaurant and made our reservations for the evening.

Upon returning to the boat we began chatting with the couple on the sailboat tied directly in front of us. They had spent the winter cruising the northern island of the Bahamas and were slowly making their way back up to Maine for the summer. They were intending to spend the next several weeks exploring the Chesapeake Bay but weren’t very familiar with the area.

 As we continued talking, we invited them to join us for dinner so that we could hear about their trip to the Bahamas and we could share some of our favorite places to visit in the Chesapeake Bay. It was another great evening. I continue to be impressed with how nice everyone has been that we have met along the way.

We did elect to pass up the 32 oz cut and opted for the smaller 16 oz one. Diane ended up ordering fresh catfish so we split the two entrees and made our own ‘surf and turf’ special.

We got up Saturday and got underway shortly after 8.  We only had 50 miles to go and we’d be off the ICW and almost back in the bay.  It was hard to believe that we’d traveled around 2000 nm so far since leaving the Middle River back in February, but this trip was starting to wind down.

We passed under our last bridge of the trip just before 4 pm and were anchored at mile 0 just of Hospital Point in Portsmouth, VA at 4:30 pm. Right across the river from us was Waterside in Norfolk (similar to Inner Harbor in Baltimore) and the neighborhood of Ghent where Diane and I had our first apartment after getting married back in 1986. 

We were looking forward to walking through the old neighborhood the next day, but for now we were content to spend a quiet evening on the boat and reflecting on the trip down and back on the ICW. It was a beautiful evening watching all the activity in the harbor. (people on/in dinner cruises, tall ship sunset cruises, small day-sailor boats, power boats, and outdoor restaurant seating,  all enjoying the peaceful evening.

We had so much fun in NC that we have not been keeping up with the posts. We will try to catch up soon but did want to let everyone know that as of 430 pm today we are officially off the ICW.

We are spending the evening anchored off Hospital Point in Norfolk Va and will spend next week exploring the Bay before heading home next weekend.

May 6^th – May 10^th    

After our adventure in Charleston we decided to stay put on Sunday and simply chill out and regroup before heading north.  The forecast for the afternoon was for high winds and possible thunderstorms so staying put was an easy decision.

We took advantage of our time at anchor to finally start reading some of the books we had brought and to also catch up on some administrative work we needed to do. And since it was Cinco de Mayo we had planned a Mexican meal for dinner.

It was a lazy Sunday and we did indeed enjoy a much needed day of rest.

We left the Isle of Palms shortly before 7 am so that we would have favorable currents with us for our 50-mile trip north to Georgetown, SC.  The water was flat, and there wasn’t much of a breeze for most of the morning, so the miles ticked away at a steady and uneventful pace.

I don’t recall if we’ve mentioned it before or not, but this time of year the waterway is full of ‘snowbirds’ making their annual northernly migration.  Snowbirds is the term used by residence of the southern states to describe boaters and others who come south for the winter to escape the cold and snow of the northern states and then leave in the late spring.  During our time in Florida we met many people who would do just that, come down for the winter and then head back north before the humidity and heat of summer sets in. It appeared that most communities and places we visited welcomed the snowbirds, but also looked forward to their annual departure so that shops, restaurants, and beaches weren’t as crowded.

We encountered another species sharing the waterway with the snowbirds – the ‘loopers’.  Loopers preferred mode of transportation is a 40’ to 50’ trawler or powerboat that is NOT much taller than 18’ to 20’. The height is important because it allows them to pass under most bridges on the ICW without needing a bridge opening.  ‘Loopers’ are members of the “American Great Loop Cruisers’ Association” (www.greatloop.org). Like the ICW (intracoastal waterway), the ‘Great Loop’ is a waterway, or rather a route, through a number of different waterways, rivers, and the Great Lakes.  To ‘do the loop’ a boater follows a route that allows them to complete what is essentially a circumnavigation of the US East Coast, the Great Lakes, Mississippi River, Gulf Coast, and the Florida Keys.  When a boater joins the AGLCA, they display a white flag with the organization’s logo signifying their first journey around the loop. With each successive ‘loop’ they receive a different color flag. Almost like earning merit badges.

All the loopers we have met were very friendly and generally eager to discuss their progress along their journey and were traveling on motorboats. In order for a sailboat to travel the complete loop, the mast would need to be removed at some point during the journey otherwise the boat could not pass through some of the fixed bridges because the mast is too tall.  It is possible to remove the mast, but it is typically a fairly complicated task, and not something one does very often in a sailboat’s life.

We met our first looper couple while we were leaning on our side earlier in the week.  They were anchored just around a bend in the creek from us and when they saw us leaning over, they came over in their dinghy to see if we needed any assistance.  They were doing the loop in a ’43 trawler but had previously travelled and lived aboard a sailboat so they knew all about being aground and hanging out at weird angles.

A few days later we ran into them while walking through Georgetown SC.  They were exploring the town on their bicycles (trawlers have room to carry things like bikes) and we were walking (sails boats don’t have much room for bikes). We waved to them but they didn’t recognize us at first, so we both leaned over to our right about 30 degrees or so and it was then that they recognized us. We had a nice chat, learned a little about their story/journey and then parted company as they were in pursuit of a nice dinner and we were on the hunt for ice cream.

After Georgetown we spent a day anchored along the banks of the Waccamaw River right next to a National Wildlife Refuge and enjoyed a very quiet afternoon and evening listening to and watching the birds, and actually saw several rather large alligators swim by on the far river bank.

From there we stopped in Myrtle Beach to connect once again with our friends who live there.  We had a great evening and as always, enjoyed catching up.

The next day we ended up anchoring in the same small harbor with the loopers we met earlier. This time we dinghied over to their boat and spent a nice evening visiting.

While we were visiting with them on their boat a pirate ship sailed into the harbor and anchored nearby.  The pirate ship was actually a 28’ sailboat named ‘Tiny Bubbles’ that had a captain (dad), a first mate (mom), and 3 able bodied seaman (3 boys ages 11, 8, and 4) on board.

We had seen and passed their boat several times along the waterway in recent days and had spoken with them briefly over the radio getting fishing reports and sharing location of the best frozen treasures (ice cream) that we knew of.

Once they set their anchor, two of the boys began climbing up the mast and rigging of the boat without any assistance (or shoes). The way they scampered up those lines was quite impressive. Later, dad and the three boys climbed in their inflatable kayak and paddled over to chat.  We enjoyed talking with them, learning their story and hearing where they were headed next. If you’re interested you can get read about their adventures at (adventureswithboy123.blogspot.com).

The next morning we continued our trip north and stopped in the small seaside town of Swansboro, NC.  Our daughter from Winston-Salem was coming over the spend the afternoon with us and fix her mom a nice Mother’s Day breakfast.

Shortly after meeting us at the town dock, a rather large trawler was preparing to dock. There was a strong current flowing at this time of day, so we stayed on the dock just in case they needed any assistance with their lines. As it turned out, while beginning to dock, the current did begin to push their boat sideways similar to what we experienced in Charleston.  Fortunately for them though, there were several of us there to assist with their lines and they had a bow thruster on their boat which helped the skipper move the boat sideways.

Once they were docked we spent time sharing docking stories with the captain and his wife. They’ve been living on their boat for several years now and have cruised the Pacific Coast, Alaska, Pacific NW, traveled through the Panama Canal, and are now traveling up and down the East Coast.  Nice people, and we’re looking forward to seeing them again along our trip home.

Hopefully you can tell that we have enjoyed catching up with our friends & family along the way and are also enjoying meeting and making new friends as we go.  So far almost everyone we’ve encountered on the waterway has been very friendly and extremely helpful. 

As always, thanks for your support and prayers along our journey.  We plan on spending the next week making our way slowly north through NC – we have one more planned stop to visit someone from work who now lives on the Albermarle Sound – and then we’ll be heading back to up to our homeport on the Middle River in the Chesapeake Bay.

May 3^rd – 5^th

I’ve been sailing and playing around on boats most of my life and Diane has been learning right there with me for the past 33+  years, so one could assume that we’re fairly seasoned sailors and know a thing or two about how to safely operate a boat.  For the most part that is a fairly accurate assumption.  But as with many things in life, new circumstances arise, and with them come opportunities to learn new things. 

Our stay in Charleston presented us with not one, but two opportunities to experience and learn from. Before going into what we experienced and learned, let me review a few nautical terms and concepts for those who may not be too familiar with boats.

Terms –

Bow – front of the boat

Stern – rear of the boat

Starboard side – the right side of the boat

Port side – the left side of the boat.

Keel – the weighted portion of the boat that is under the water and typically located directly on the center line of the boat. The weight in the keel helps keep the boat stable and upright, counteracting the force from the wind on the sails.  Different boat designs have different shaped keels depending on what the boat will be used for.

• A racing sailboat may have a ‘fin’ or ‘wing’ keel that is only several feet long and has a big weight at the bottom. 
• EOS has a ‘full’ keel that runs from the bow to just a few feet short of the stern.  The full keel design provides a lot of stability when sailing in the ocean or heavy seas.  Unlike a fin keel, the full keel has a lot of surface area under the boat. (remember this point … it will be helpful later on in our lesson).
• Our previous boat actually had two keels, one on each side. This design is great for regions where there is a large difference between high and low tide. When the tide goes out, a twin keel boat will actually just sit straight up on the bottom – no tipping.

Rudder – the small fin at the stern of the boat that is used to steer the boat. In order to make the boat move, water must be flowing across the rudder. Without much water flowing across the rudder it is difficult to steer the boat. A boat is much easier and responsive to steering when water is flowing across the rudder from the bow to the stern.

Current – the lateral direction and speed the water is flowing.  When the current is flowing against the boat (from bow to stern) it slows the boat down, but since the water is flowing across the rudder in the preferred direction, the boat is easy and responsive to steering.  When the current is flowing with the boat (from the stern to the bow) it helps push the boat forward, but it’s harder to steer and the boat is less responsive when the current is flowing with the boat.

And now for the rest of the story …..

As we wrote in our last post, we had a great overnight sail from Fernandina Beach, Florida to Charleston, South Carolina and spent Thursday evening exploring the town.  It truly was an enjoyable evening.

Our plan for the upcoming weekend was to leave the Charleston City Marina as late in the day as we could, then head across the harbor and find an anchorage just north of Charleston at the Isle of Palms. The same area I lived in almost 35 years ago.  If all went according to our plan we would find a place where we could possibly grab an Uber and have dinner at The Shem Creek Bar Grill. We used to eat there years ago and were looking forward to trying their Shrimp &Grits and their Shrimp& Sausage meals again.  It was going to be a great weekend.

We just needed to leave the dock and head across the harbor.

Many of you may recall from what we shared about our trip south, portions of Georgia and South Carolina can have pretty substantial currents and high swings tides.

As the checkout time of noon approached, I was ready to get off the dock and start heading across the harbor.  As I reflect on it now, I was probably more concerned about leaving on time, than I was about the tides and currents.

The current was flowing the same direction we were heading … it was flowing with us (not the preferred way). We untied our dock lines and began to maneuver EOS off the dock and into the channel and I turned the boat to starboard (right).  With the bow starting to point into the channel, EOS’s full keel was perpendicular to the flow of the current.  The current began to push the boat down the pier quicker than we could move away from the pier.

Quick action by the crew, the dock hands, and crew from some other nearby boats help us get EOS secured to the pier again and prevent any major issues.

We ended up having to wait another hour and a half before the current changed and we could safely move EOS off the dock.

While we knew that the direction and strength of the current effects the way a boat handles, we now had first hand experience with how much it can effect our boat and the difference the full keel makes to how the boat maneuvers.

We finally left Charleston around 230 pm and made it to our anchorage shortly after 530 pm. We were too mentally exhausted from our lesson on currents that we decided to skip the restaurant and would just hang out in this quiet little creek and regroup in the morning.

We did enjoy a nice quiet evening and a very lazy Saturday morning.  I tackled a few boat chores and Diane took the opportunity to do a little baking. 

The creek we anchored in was fairly deep (15 to 25 feet) for most of the width and had what appeared to be nice steep banks. That is the water was still pretty deep only a few feet from shore so we anchored several yards off the bank ensuring we would be out of the way of any boaters using the creek on the weekend.

As we were going about our morning, Diane commented that it appeared that we were a little closer to shore than before.  I looked over at the shore line and figured that since we had already gone through one complete cycle of the tides and had plenty of water throughout the night we should be good now. What I failed to pick up on was that the wind had changed and was now gently moving us more towards the shore.

About 5 minutes later while I was up on deck and Diane was down below the boat began to lean to starboard. We had in fact moved closer to shore and were now aground as the tide was going out.  It didn’t take long before that ‘lean’ to starboard turned into a full out ‘tilt’. The boat was tilted so far to the right that when Diane looked out the starboard windows from inside the boat she was looking at the ground, not the beautiful scenery around us!

Fortunately we already had the dinghy in the water so I was able to get off the boat and use the dinghy to help me place a second anchor out. We put the second anchor out to prevent EOS from moving any closer to shore when the tide would eventually come back in and start floating EOS off the mud.

By the time we had the second anchor out, the falling tide had lowered the water to the point that there was no water under the boat.  Remember the point I made earlier about our previous boat and how the twin keel design allowed the boat to sit upright when the tide went out.  Well, unlike a twin keel boat, when the water retreats from under a boat with a fin or full keel they begin to lean to one side as the water lowers. If the water level gets low enough, the boat will eventually just lean all the way over on her side.  That’s the position we found ourselves in with EOS. 

Now all we could do was wait approximately 6 hours for the tide to change and begin returning water to the creek. So, we waited. Me floating in the dinghy and Diane sitting well above me on the portside rail.   The boat had leaned over to the point that I could not reach either the stern ladder or the portside boarding ladder to get back on the boat.  All we could do was wait.

While waiting, we had plenty of time to replay the events and decisions we had made the past several hours that put us in this position.    Diane had recognized that we were closer than before,  but knowing it would take time and effort involved with re-anchoring, I based my decision not to move more on having plenty of water the previous evening rather than our current circumstances.  As they say in investing, “past performance is not guarantee for future success”.

The tide did eventually change, and the creek began to refill with water.  After six hours of being tilted to starboard, EOS began slowly floating upright again and I could climb back onboard.  Once the water level had risen to the point where it was 4 ½ feet deep around the boat, we started the engine, pulled in our two anchors and moved squarely to the middle of the channel in 20’ of water. 

In less than 24 hours since leaving the dock at the City Marina, we got to experience the effects of tides and currents and how EOS reacts to them. Along the way, we were presented with hints and clues that the situation was changing and had the opportunity to act.

Fortunately, this time the bottom and banks of the creek were soft mud which provided EOS a nice soft cushion to rest on while she waited for the tide to return. As we extend our cruising range in the future to include New England and the Bahamas we will find ourselves anchoring in areas with bottoms and shores lined with either rocks or coral.

We are thankful we are learning these lessons now and getting the chance to improve our seamanship skills without hurting the crew or the boat!

As always, thanks for your continued prayers and support as we continue to make our way north, learning everyday as we go!

May 1st – 2nd

We enjoyed our last evening in Florida anchored just inside the inlet at Fernandina Beach and were blessed with another wonderful sunset.

Surprisingly we did manage to get a good night’s rest even though we had a big day and a half in front of us.

The sail from Fernandina to Charleston would be approximately 150 nm and most likely take us just over 30 hours. We would be offshore and out of sight of land for most of the passage and would be sailing straight through the evening. (There are no marinas, mooring balls, or anchorages when your out in the ocean). That would mean that one of us would be sailing and ‘on watch’ at all times.

Although not cast in concrete, we essentially followed a 2 hour rotation. One of us would have the responsibility for steering and navigating while the other one was free to rest.

Throughout the day, our ‘off time’ was primarily spent looking for marine life and simply marveling at the vastness of the ocean. During the evening though, the off time was spent sleeping and resting.

While underway in the ocean we made sure that we both always wore our life jackets. As a further safety precaution we both were always ‘thethered’ and physically connected to the boat via a harness. Although we were once again blessed with a good weather forecast, having someone fall overboard in the ocean is not something we wanted to chance, regardless of the conditions.

Throughout the passage we spotted a few more sea turtles and several dolphins. But we never saw any whales, mermaids, or pirates!

We were very pleased with the performance of EOS and the electronics upgrades we had made. With the new AIS system we could ‘see’ large ships almost 20 to 30 miles away and they could see us as well. The system also would show the other vessels name, course & speed, and also calculate the CPA (closest point of approach). Knowing the CPA allows us to make course or speed changes early on so that we can maintain a safe distance between us (at least a mile or so at night).

It is amazing how even though we didn’t see a lot of other boats, the ones we did see usually were going to pass too close to us unless we took some type of avoiding action.

The weather throughout the trip was pretty nice and we were able to stay on a beam reach most of the passage. There were periods where we turned the engine on so that we could maintain a minimum speed and reach Charleston by early afternoon Thursday at the latest.

The waves were generally around 4 to 6 feet and coming at us at around 4 to 5 o’clock relative (slightly abaft the beam for those of you keeping up with your nautical terms). As we approached the Charleston inlet though than began to build to closer to 6 to 8 foot swells. Those were big enough for us for this trip and we were glad they weren’t any bigger.

We made it through the channel just after noon and made our way to the Charleston City Marina (home of the 1500′ megadock – it’s worth checking out the City Marina’s website to see a few photos of the dock- it’s huge!)

The city marina is within walking distance of historic old town Charleston so once we docked and got all checked in we enjoyed a nice evening walking through town. We also took the time to celebrate our passage with some sweet tea and southern cooking from Jestinne’s Kitchen – awesome!

It has been almost 30 years since I’ve been back to Charleston so I really enjoyed walking around and seeing how things have changed over time.

Last Florida sunrise for this trip

Hooked in while underway

April 30th

We enjoyed our 2 days in St. Augustine but it was time to move on. We wanted to try our hand at sailing in the ocean and planned a short 50 mile trip from St. Augustine to Fernandina Beach.

We would only be 5 to 10 miles offshore most of the day, but this would be enough for us to see if we felt comfortable going further offshore for a run up the Georgia and Carolina coasts to Charleston, SC. This would allow us to bypass the winding and shallow passages of Georgia and have more time to explore South Carolina’s low country.

We got underway just after sunrise this morning and had an uneventful passage out the St. Augustine inlet. Although the seas were relatively calm, it still was exciting to steer EOS out through the rolling waves as we entered the ocean.

Once out in the channel we turned north and headed to Fernandina Beach. We motor sailed for the first 4 hours and then the winds increased enough for us to finally turn the motor off and sail the rest of the day. For most of the day we were on a beam reach reach (the wind was coming almost directly perpendicular to the boat’s course) and the waves were coming from slightly behind that.

The wind was blowing between 8 to 15 knots which pushed EOS along at speeds between 5 to 6.5 knots. It was a beautiful sail.

We reached the Fernandina Beach inlet a little before 5pm and then had another couple of miles to cover before reaching our anchorage.

Throughout the day we kept a lookout for dolphins, sea turtles, and whales (part of our course crossed a right whale habitat area). Unfortunately we never saw anything other than a fish or two jump. However, once we started heading into the inlet we saw a few dolphins and then were greeted by a sea turtle swimming in the channel.

We made our way to our anchorage, showered, and then made a quick dinner so we could enjoy once last anchorage in Florida.

Tomorrow we will go out offshore again and head to Charleston. That trip should take us somewhere between 24 to 30 hours. The forecast is for great weather and we’re looking forward to another wonderful sail.

As always, thanks for your continued prayers.

April 26^th & 27^th

After a nice few days in Melbourne it was getting time to cast off the dock lines and start heading north.  Our plan is to take a few days to get up to St. Augustine or Fernandina Beach, spend a few days exploring and then hopefully head ‘outside’ for a quick sail north to Charleston. It’s approximately 150 nm to St. Augustine and another 50 nm to Fernandina Beach from Melbourne so we decided to take our time and allow at least 4 or 5 days for this inside passage.

Since we were going to be anchoring out along the way and possibly not getting off the boat until we reached St. Augustine, we decided to take one more walk through Melbourne before heading out.  We got a nice hour plus walk through town and arrived at Jacqueline’s Bakery and Café just in time to grab two fresh almond croissants for breakfast.  They were still warm and absolutely delicious … well worth both the walk and the delayed departure!

We ended up casting off the dock lines just after 9 am and headed out into the channel and then hung a quick left to re-enter the ICW at mile 918. On our way out of the channel we were met by several crew shells out on the water for morning practice. They were members of the Florida Institute of Technology crew team. We saw 2 eight man shells, 2 four man shells, and one or two pairs.  Seeing those shells out on the water brought back many fond memories of my own time as a member of USNA’s Lightweight Crew team when I was back in college.  Had there been an empty seat in one of the shells I may have tried to join them for a workout!

The passage north that day was pretty uneventful but we were blessed with winds from the south which allowed us to put out the jib during our sail and once again pick up some speed.

Besides the memories of pleasant visits and delicious croissants, one additional item we did pick up in Melbourne was several dozen ‘love bugs’.  According to Wikipedia the lovebug is a species of march fly and lives here in Florida and Central America. It is also known as the honeymoon fly or double-headed bug and during the mating season the adult pairs remain coupled, even in flight, for up to several days.  These pairs were all over the boat when we left Melbourne and remained with us until we reached Daytona Beach two days later. They must have thought they all had booked passage on the Love Boat rather than Eos!

We ended up anchoring just north of Titusville shortly after 4pm.  By that time in the afternoon our nice southerly breeze had picked up to a steady 18 knot plus breeze and remained pretty steady most of the evening.  Once anchored it was time to break into our stash of canned food and try out a new dish for dinner. 

Earlier last fall Diane purchased several cookbooks especially targeted for cooking onboard a boat.  One of the meals that sounded delicious was the Boat Galley salad.  It consisted of artichokes, corn, black & green beans, craisins or cranberries, almonds, and tomatoes mixed with either pasta, quinoa, or couscous.  The only item needs to be cooked is the pasta, quinoa, or couscous so it is really easy to prepare while underway.  We went with the quinoa and it was delicious. It’s a good thing we enjoyed it because by the time we added all the ingredients we ended up with enough to last us for several meals!

After dinner while enjoying a beautiful sunset with the Kennedy Space Center behind us a flock of two dozen or so small birds decided Eos would be a great place to stop and rest for a while.  It was getting dark so the pictures didn’t turn out too well, but the birds took up roost on our lifelines.  First Love Bugs, now birds. Eos was quickly becoming quite the floating motel.  Since the birds weren’t nearly as quiet as the bugs, and would probably leave us some nice presents to clean up in the morning we decided we really didn’t want them to overnight onboard. So after allowing them some time to rest, we started making noise and ‘shooed’ them off the boat.  They squawked a little bit but eventfully flew away for the evening.

It was a quiet night on board.

The wind was negligible when we woke but was forecasted to build throughout the day and shift towards the north, northeast. This would likely put the wind either on our bow or just slightly off the starboard (right) quarter. If it was on the starboard quarter we could use it to our advantage, but if it was coming directly on our bow it would likely slow us down some. So we wanted to get an early start before the wind started to build.

Shortly after getting underway we received a text from my parents that sometime during the previous evening or early morning a black bear had come onto their property and decided to help itself to the contents of all my dad’s bird feeders! The picture posted below shows one of the bird feeder poles that the bear bent in order to reach the feeder. This particular feeder was made out of a recycled two liter bottle with a special seed dispenser. Apparently, the bear was successful at removing the bottle and eating it’s contents, destroying the bottle in the process, but leaving the dispenser for dad to use again!

 Later in the morning we once again transited Haulover Canal on a weekend day and found the canal full of kayakers, paddle boarders, and small boats.  Fortunately, most of them do their best to stay on the side of the canal and don’t really present much hazard. There was one fellow though that decided to anchor his small boat just beyond the bridge and kept drifting into the channel adding an unnecessary hazard for other boaters to navigate around while making the bridge passing.  When I politely suggested that he might consider moving out of the channel, he let me know he had been fishing there for years and he wasn’t moving.  I’m glad boaters like him are the exception and not the rule.

After leaving the canal, the channel turned slightly to port and the breeze was now coming squarely on the starboard quarter.  We let out the jib and actually turned off the engine for while and were able to travel up the water way at 5 knots via sail only.  With the engine off and only the wind moving Eos along, it was very peaceful. Unfortunately, we were only able to sail this way for about 30 minutes before the wind began to drop and our speed slowed to right around 2 knots. We were all about taking it slowly on our return trip but making only 2 knots was too slow. So, we turned the engine back on and continued motorsailing.

Throughout the passage north to Daytona the coast line would alternate between being undeveloped, natural, and uninhabited to then being developed, lined with houses of all sizes or seasonal campsites. While we tended to favor the natural vistas, the landscaping and architecture of some of the homes along the waterway truly are stunning.

We made our way up to Daytona later in the afternoon and ended up anchoring just north of the twin bridges near ICW mile 829.

We fixed a nice dinner of chicken taco salad and enjoyed a nice sunset even though high-rise buildings dotted the shoreline and soon after turned in for the evening.