The real Intracoastal Waterway

Monday October 29
It was a treat to visit Sunday evening with Jim & Fay Mack on Wanderer-- we had talked on the radio but never been aboard their lovely boat. They had a lot of experience to share with us as they've been doing this trip for almost 20 years and they spend each winter aboard in the Abacos, Bahamas. But after spending two days at the Tidewater marina in Portsmouth, VA at Mile Zero of the Intracoastal Waterway the 30 knot winds settled down to 20 knots, and we decided to do the 50 mile run to Coinjock, NC. This can be a slow run because there are 7 bridges and one lock (our first!) The bridges were easy except when we had 26 boats all waiting in a narrow canal for one bridge to open and trying to hold their positions with the wind and current (some bridges only open on the hour). We didn't have to worry too much about depth in the ICW because we were following the yacht Grand Luxe (228 feet long and 63 feet high) so we knew they had deep water and that the bridges would stay open for them. She is a floating art gallery that travels up and down the east coast hosting events. However it was a little scary when that huge ship joined us in our very first lock designed to lower us about 3 feet to the level of the Virginia Cut.

After the bridge traffic settled down we cruised along at 8.5 knots through some pretty salt marshes in a narrow canal. This was so much easier than the rough rides down Long Island Sound and the Chesapeake that we felt we could really relax and enjoy the ICW. We had purchased the "triptik" type book Chartracker that guides boats down the ICW mile-by-mile so we could easily follow how far we'd traveled and how far we still had to go.

SeaDee started out from Portsmouth just behind us but couldn't fit in the lock with us and Grand Luxe so they arrived at Coinjock about an hour after us. We hadn't expected to see our friends on Rosetta since they'd left Portsmouth the day before-- but Coinjock is a narrow canal with a marina on each side so we could only wave to them as we tied up on the long dock on the opposite side. Coinjock Marina is known for its 32 oz. Prime Rib-- delicious with enough left over for a roast beef sandwich tomorrow!

Chesapeake can be rough!

Wednesday Oct 24 - Saturday Oct 27
We arrived in Deltaville on Wednesday afternoon expecting to leave on Thursday morning... but cruising is controlled by the weather so when the forecast for Thursday was small craft warnings and winds gusting to 30 knots we decided to wait an extra day... which turned into waiting three days as the storm front stalled over Deltaville!

So what do you do for 3 days in Deltaville (population 800)? We made good use of the time-- made some new friends, Geoff and Pepper on Rosetta, and talked on the radio with Andy on SeaDee and Jim and Fay on Wanderer who were anchored in a harbor close by. Our boat is comfortable and we have both heat and air conditioning... and our KVH Satellite TV antenna worked perfectly so we had 200 channels of DirecTV to watch in the rain storms. Even though our Sprint cell phones had no signal we had a strong WiFi Internet connection from our marina so we could do email and use our Skype phone to talk to family and friends (this Skype phone is great-- it looks like a cellphone but it searches for WiFi connections and links to Skype where for $3/month you have unlimited calling to any phone in the USA). I started to re-read Chesapeake by Michener and was at the part when he tells how, while exploring the Chesapeake from Jamestown in 1608 , Captain John Smith was stung by a stingray and he had his sailors dig a grave for him and he sat in it waiting to die... then when he got better he ate the stingray! It turns out that our marina was located on Stingray Point and we walked out to where the grave was dug!

Our marina had a "courtesy car" free to use for one hour so we went out to lunch each day to the lunch spot where all the locals dined-- great burgers and onion rings! For dinner the local restaurants will pick you up at your marina and return you after dinner-- a nice way to see some other spots. Our driver was the owner of the restaurant-- he'd lived in Deltaville all his life and tried several different businesses before settling on the restaurant, marina, and selling "aqua homes" -- floating one bedroom cottages.

But the storm continued for 3 days-- heavy rain, high winds-- and everyone in the marina got tired of the wet and the waiting. When the Saturday forecast was for a break in the weather everyone began to get shipshape in preparation for a rough ride-- putting away lamps, clearing counters, and securing chairs so they don't tip. We ended up with a "fleet" of five boats-- BettyB, SeaDee, Rosetta, Wanderer, and Pathfinder all cruising the 55 nautical miles to Portsmouth, VA within 5 miles of each other. We kept in touch on the marine radio with encouragement for each other because it was rough! We were pounding into 4-5 foot seas with winds of 20-25 knots taking spray off our bow all the way to the top of the bimini. We needed to hang on and brace ourselves as the boat pitched and rolled. Fellow "fleet" members who had done this trip many times said it was some of the roughest weather they'd face. Fortunately, about 2 hours into the trip the last of the storm clouds swept past and the seas settled down to 2-3 feet and we were able to pick up speed. Entry into the major naval and commercial port of Norfolk, VA was a nice distraction -- we passed several large aircraft carriers and Andy on SeaDee reported he had 72 commercial vessels tracking on his AIS display.

By the time we reached the marina the sun was out, we broke out the Pusser Painkillers and relaxed in our chairs in the upper deck then had a wonderful dinner at Cafe Europa in the lovely Old Town section of Portsmouth. We loved walking around Portsmouth and enjoyed seeing the maritime museumincluding the old Portsmouth lightship now firmly moored ashore on the river walk.

We found a nice church for Sunday Mass and we walked all around Old Town... knew we were now in the south by the southern hospitality and the confederate statues!

Down the Chesapeake to Virginia

Storm on the radar

Today we crossed into Virginia and tied up in Deltaville just before a storm hit. The picture on the right is from our GPS chartplotter that we use to track our position. The bottom half of the screen is the nautical chart showing depths and you can see the image of our boat in the middle going between red and green buoys. The little box on the left shows the autopilot is steering a course of 198 degrees and we have 10.8 nautical miles to go on this leg for another hour and 15 minutes. The top screen is the radar image of our boat surrounded by a small rain storm 2 miles around us. Cool, huh? Let me recap the last couple of days--

Monday October 22

We left Annapolis after a relaxing 4 day stay for the 6 hour cruise to Solomon's Island-- a real cruising center. SeaDee traveled down with us and we had a wonderful dinner at a local seafood restaurant with a couple Andy knew, Claus & Betty, who happened to be in the same port on Moonbeam. One of the joys of cruising is getting to know other cruisers-- we're really enjoying the social life! And being close to nature is wonderful-- as the sunrise to the right shows! We waited out a day of very windy weather and scrubbed Pathfinder from top to bottom and did three loads of laundry before taking a dip in the marina pool and heading out for a long walk and crabcakes at a local restaurant.

Wednesday October 24

We got an early start for the 6 hour cruise to Deltaville, VA. As we left Solomon's Island we cruised past a naval air base where fighter jets were doing "touch & go". A naval vessel also steamed passed us... on the radio this one's call sign was "Warship 72".

We're just getting settled in Deltaville. As soon as I finish this blog and Marianne finishes her book we're going to head into town for dinner. Next stop-- Portsmouth, VA and the official start of the Intracoastal Waterway and "Mile Zero"

Annapolis MD

Thursday October 18

We awoke in the delightful Bohemia River anchorage at the north end of the Chesapeake surrounded by thick fog. So we relaxed for a few hours and started for Annapolis about 10:30am when the fog cleared. Our new friend, Andy Allen, on SeaDee was anchored close by and led the way out of the anchorage. By 3:30pm we were hanging on a mooring in downtown Annapolis.

Friday October 19 through Sunday October 21

Annapolis has been wonderful! After bouncing around in the outside mooring area near the Naval Academy the first night we moved to the inner harbor up Spa Creek and it was so peaceful we decided to stay another three nights!

We love Annapolis-- they've done a nice job of providing for the transient boater with dinghy docks at the foot of almost every street and moorings only $25/night. We've enjoyed taking long walks through the colonial streets and sampling the many restaurants. The first night we had great crab cakes and ribs at Buddy's (it was so good we went back for lunch on Sunday!) The second day lunch was at Pusser's-- the same restaurant we enjoyed when we chartered in the Virgin Islands. The Painkillers (made from pineapple and orange juice with Pusser's British Navy Rum) were as good as they were in Tortola!

St. Mary's church is a short walk from the dinghy dock closest to our mooring (we took this picture from our dinghy). It is a beautiful structure with rolling lawns down to the harbor built on the property of Charles Carroll, the only Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence. We'll definitely plan to stay several days in Annapolis when we pass again next Spring!

Through New York to the Chesapeake

How thrilling to cruise down the East River, through the infamous Hell Gate, past Manhattan, to see the Statue of Liberty appear ahead of us! We had stayed two days at City Island NY to wait out some very windy weather then headed under the Throgs Neck Bridge on Saturday morning timing our departure to arrive in Hell Gate at slack water so we wouldn't have to fight the dangerous 5 knot current. It was amazing to cruise past all the well known skyscrapers on Manhattan Island but seeing the Statue of Liberty ahead of us was a highlight of our trip so far! After cruising close to Liberty Island we headed under the Verazzano Narrows bridge to Atlantic Highlands NJ for the night... cheap diesel fuel but difficult slips to back into!

Sunday October 14
Sunday morning we left at 8am for our first "offshore" passage-- about 60 miles down the NJ coast to Atlantic City. The sea was calm but it was the first time we were really in the Atlantic Ocean with water as far as we could see around us except a small strip of the low NJ coast 5 miles off our starboard side. The NJ shore was unexpected —sandy beach and beach homes for hours and hours. Not much to do on the bridge except dodge the occasional fishing boat. We talked, read, prayed the Rosary, and listened to Jimmy & Julie's Wedding CD. About 30 miles from Atlantic City we saw the huge casinos appear on the horizon teasing us for the last 3 hours of the cruise. We pulled into Trump Marina at 4pm and Rosie was sweet enough to call us with the location of a 6:30pm Mass close by at Our Lady Star of the Sea. After Mass we had a “white table cloth” dinner at one of the nicer restaurants in the casino and only lost $20 gambling afterwards!

Monday October 15
Monday we awoke to another calm day so we decided to cruise outside in the Atlantic Ocean south to Cape May at the southern tip of NJ—only a 4 hour cruise. We relaxed at the marina until 11am then had another gentle cruise down the coast arriving in Cape May NJ about 3pm and docking at Utsches Marina for a two-night stay. Utsches has a great reputation among cruisers on the Intracoastal Waterway and we were surrounded by other friendly boaters heading south for the winter—some first-timers like us, others who live aboard and move up and down the coast every year. Boating is a common interest but Chris has also met some ham radio operators to chat with on the way south. The “world famous” Lobster House restaurant is next door to the marina so we walked over for some of the best swordfish we’ve ever tasted.

Tuesday October 16
With a “day off” from cruising we walked 2 miles to the Cape May town center—a lovely old fashioned beach community with numerous Victorian homes painted in classic three-color combinations. As we walked down the boardwalk along the beach we discovered the Congress Hall hotel and tavern and had a delightful lunch in this the oldest beach hotel in the country and a summer retreat to many Presidents before Camp David.

Wednesday October 17

Bohemia River

When you leave Cape May you need to make a sharp right turn and cruise 60 miles up the Delaware Bay to the canal that leads to the Chesapeake. Although the autopilot steers the boat you need to keep a watch to dodge crab pots and floating debris... and sometimes sea life-- we saw a large sea tortoise half way across the bay heading out to sea. This is open water and can be quite rough... but our “weather window” continued and we had a smooth 8 hour cruise up the bay and through the canal to a picturesque anchorage in the Bohemia River.

Pathfinder is underway!

Our plan:
Since this is our first time down the Intracoastal Waterway we don't have rigid plans but we expect the 1,800 mile trip from Newport to Sarasota will take about 5 weeks if we cruise about 50 miles per day (8 knots for 6 hours). This would be like driving to Florida for an hour each day then finding a hotel room for the night!
We'll stop in marinas about half the time and anchor out the rest of the nights. We have plenty of food and water on board but will plan to cruise each day from 8am to 2pm then stop and go ashore for a walk and meal and to see the sites.
Some of the ports we're very interested in visiting along the way are New York Harbor and the Statue of Liberty, Atlantic City (for some gambling), Annapolis, the Dismal Swamp canal built by George Washington through North Carolina, Charleston, Hilton Head, St. Augustine, the Okeechobee canal across Florida and home to Sarasota. We'll post some pictures on our blog.

The trip so far:
We loaded Pathfinder on Monday and Tuesday October 8th and 9th and slept on board so we could get an early start on Wednesday October 10th. After weeks of perfect weather in Newport the weather had changed to drizzle and cool.
We had a rough start with bouncing waves the first day and were happy to get to Guilford CT to spend our first night at a lovely yacht club just a short walk to the famous Guilford Green in the center of town.
We got another early start on Thursday the 11th in following seas for 7 hours but the rain held off until we tied up at City Island NY with a view of the Manhattan skyline. We decided to stay on board for dinner in heavy thundershowers and stay an extra day until the small craft warnings are cancelled.

The next few days:
We expect to cruise through New York Harbor and past the Statue of Liberty on Saturday Oct 13th, then head down the NJ coast on Sunday and Monday arriving in Cape May NJ on Tuesday before heading up Delaware Bay.