Oriental Bound

Dowry Marina at Belhaven NC is not close to anything but what a beauty.  The location is country, the buildings like on a seashore and well maintained.  The road leading into the marina is lined with pines with minimal streetlamps making it eerily dark when walking Chester at night.  Beneath the feet is the pine needle crunch and the smell is heavenly!   Felt we could only spend a night since the sunshine & warm weather keeps calling.  The next hazy morning we head to Oriental.  The forecast is a sunny mid-70 day.


Looking back at Dowry Marina, Pungo River
 

The haze burns off quickly and it is a beautiful day = peel off layer #1 of jackets and gloves.  We head down the Pungo River which is uneventful even with an earlier warning of possible stumps and logs in the ICW at mile mark 99.5    The Pungo River joins Goose Creek (about 125' to 300' wide) and getting closer to an area of known shoaling.  We cruise along about 6 knots following five other boats when Journey lunges forward and dips her bow ... we are aground.  It's soft so we back off, move to the left of the channel and are on our way.  With 5 boats ahead of us, why are we the ones who run aground?!  Deeper draft or 6" off course?

We dock at Whittaker Creek in Oriental.  Oriental is called the 'sailing capital'.  Its where a large majority of circumnavigators end up.  It is a town of 900 people and 2000+ boats at least.  Marinas everywhere you look.  Friendly people, fun restaurants.  We rode our bikes to the hardware store, post office, thru town, dinner at M&Ms, grocery store and back.  Dark and quiet!  The whole town is 1/2 mile long and maybe a couple blocks wide.  Everything that we've read about Oriental in the boating realm, we anticipated a much bigger place.  However the marinas did not disappoint.

Our really nice camera is sitting at home, oops.    We miss our lenses.

North Carolina yea hoo

Well, the problem with the heat/AC system is still with us. The inlet thru the hull keeps clogging. We have been considering hauling the boat and fix it once and for all. But one more idea was suggested first....try running a hose down and pressure wash from the inside out. Seems to have helped it quite a lot. Will try it again a few times before resorting to a haul out. We walked up and bought an electric heater...nights are in the 30's...burrrrrrr.

Headed south again.  Spent the first night in Coinjock. Even went out to dinner at the only restaurant which happens to be at the marina. It was so cold on the way down.....I know, but this is true. Forties and windy. After Coinjock it has gotten better. See pictures. Came across the albermerle Sound today. Winds were up to 2-3 sometimes. Dead flat and calm. We are on the Alligator River and the sun is shining. Tomorrow  on to Belhaven. Yeah, I never heard of these places either. Lots of boats moving south.

Convoy after bridge opening

Shivering

hurry up and wait

As related in the last post, we tied up at the city wall in Great Bridge, va. Nice place and nice people. But, as we are winding down Fri night, the Generator is running to run the heat. After the gen quits  we discover a leaking injector line. Damn. When we get up the next morning, it is cold. So we move to the marina on the other side of the bridge. BUT, it is Sat...nothing open until Mon. As this is by far the best place to get repairs, we decide to stay. Monday I order the line. One left in existence. Now the over night shipping got goofed up so Wed. But being we are plugged in, it is warm place. Wed it comes in, installed, bled and running. Now about where we are.

As I have learned, the Atlantic Yacht Basin is the premiere boatyard coming down the east coast. There are separate buildings for the wood shop, fabrication, etc. Now what is really cool is the in the water storage. it is all covered! And on three sides. These boats from probably 100+ ft down to 30 are all stored basically inside, but in the water. And we are talking acres here. See the website, it is amazing.  atlanticyachtbasin.com. Look at all the buildings. Now a 70 footer came in from outside for a water pump repair. sitting in front of us.
 Check out the pics.....I call it eye candy...or boat porn.

These beautiful boats store here ...including the presidential launch, the Sequoia. Lots of high end boats.

Slow Go but Going

Survived Hurricane Sandy without any injury or fright.  We shove off at first light and meet several other boaters doing the same heading South to hopefully warmer climate.  It is chilly, we are layered with clothing including hats and gloves.   Nothing is finer than a hot cup of coffee once under way. 

We travel along the ICW adding boats to our caravan as we go:  Mama boat hailed the bridges for us and we all followed her being the good little boaters that we are!  We did encounter some wait for bridges to open on the Interstates and busy areas during high commuter traffic.  As we wait, the boaters get to know each other a little bit until the signal of the bridge opening.   Then we trail each other to the next bridge.  The wait cramps the timeframe so we did not get far.  We  are only 12 miles into the ICW!

After locking through the Great Bridge Lock, we see fellow boaters from Catskill on sailboat Autumn Borne!   The decision whether we should stop or not for the night is made when we see them.  Dean and Susan watched over our boat in Catskill while we were home for a month this summer.   Would you believe we lacked for nothing to talk about?!  It amazes us how the world of cruising is a small one.   (and Great Bridge Chesapeake VA has a Panera!)

IT IS COLD evenings and nights.  The generator is not to be parted with when on a dock w/o electricity for heat!  However, Friday night it stopped.  Mark has discovered a fuel line leak which will need repaired.  We go to bed to stay warm.  This morning we weren't sure if it was steamy coffee or our breath we were seeing.  It actually ended up being both.   Saturday (today) with the 9 a.m. Great Bridge opening we move to a marina and plug in for heat.  Of course with it being Saturday, marine shops are not open.  Monday morning we are on it.  Must get south!

Halloween am

We are still sitting safe and sound in Portsmouth,Va. Plan to cast off Thur am. Others are saying the Dismal Swamp Canal is open and clear. Will call today to make sure.

Yesterday we installed a WiFi booster. Very minimal power draw but what a difference. Hopefully it will make keeping up on this blog easier. They say it is good for up to a mile.

To get a visual on how much water we had, see pictures. These are at normal high tide. When the surge came in the water was up to the building. This wall behind us had been rebuilt to stop the surge. This is the road behind that wall.

This next pic is us in our slip. Floating docks are great. Notice all the fenders. Next door is a Navy yard.

The two problems we had were condensation in Journey and getting stir crazy. The water just dripped from all hatches and ports. Others had the same problem. Cold, wind and rain with heat in the boat. Think this added to the stir crazy. Of course Chester still had to go out. Don foul weather jacket, bibs and boots and out we went. Even he didn't like it. Did I mention wet dog in small area.

Today is putting canvas back up and preparing to CRUISE.

Oct 29 11am Still here

We are still sitting at Tidewater Marina in Portsmouth Va. This is on the Elizabeth River across from Norfolk. It is raining hard and blowing 30+.  The biggest concern was high tide, which was at 9:20.The water was so high I could barely climb on to the ramp to the solid dock to shore.
Although this is extreme, I find it less than a Michigan BLIZZARD. There is lots of flooding here and all up and down the coast. But we are not freezing.

Until later.

Oct 26 We are Back

Drove back to Norfolk. Arrived this afternoon to warnings for Hurricane Sandy. Welcome back!
Unloaded the car, stowed our gear,  Now why does it always seem we have more coming back than what we took home. And we forgot too many things. Went after groceries and replacements for forgotten items. Take the rental car back in the am.

More to come on Sandy.