Florida to Chesapeake Bay

Continuing North From St. Augustine

We left St. Augustine on May 16^th and headed up the ICW to Jacksonville, Fl. We found a free city dock just north of the St. John River on Sisters Creek. It was a great floating dock with water available (but no power). It is in an area with nothing nearby to walk to but it served our purposes: we spent 3 days here with Tehani and got some boat cleaning and maintenance done (changed the engine oil) while we waited for the weather window to go out in the ocean to sail to Charleston. The local Coast Guard Auxilliary and Power Squadron were putting on a safe boating demo around the bend and gave us a free vessel safety inspection so we are now good until next year.

 

A sudden storm that blew up in St. Augustine the afternoon before we left.

The double rainbow 20 minutes later!!

The other end of the rainbow. Which one has the pot of gold?

 

Passing by the tall ship in the St. Augustine Harbor to go through the Bridge of Lions

Castillo de San Marcos just north of the Bridge of Lions in St. Augustine

 

Paul and Sherry on the dock in Jacksonville waiting for the heron to relinquish his post

Sitting on Paul and Sherry's boat (Tehani) with Browne Altman, the unofficial welcoming committee and host of the dock

Getting our vessel inspection from the local Power Squadron

 Finally, we sailed to Fernandina Beach on the 19^th, anchored on the Bells River and then went out the inlet the next morning(5/20) and set sail for Charleston. We had a good sail with plenty of wind and got to Charleston, SC around noon on the 21^st. We took a slip at the Charleston Maritime Center with Tehani. Another boat, S/V Utopia from New York who we had seen in the Bahamas but had never met, came in a couple of hours after we did and we all went out for happy hour. We did laundry and grocery shopping the next day and went out again that evening for dinner at a restaurant that Diane and Frank from Utopia had recommended. We all had a good time and we decided to sail with Frank and Diane off shore to Winyah Bay the next day. Unfortunately, we didn’t really get to explore Charleston but maybe on our way South in the Fall we will. 

Leaving Fernandina at sunrise with Tehani ahead of us

Fort Clinch on St. Mary's River

Sailing into the evening on our way to Charleston

Pretty bridge coming into Charleston Harbor

Fort Sumter,  Charleston, SC (site of the first shot of the Civil War 4/12/1861)

We had to motorsail to Winyah Bay on the 23^rd and anchored in the Bay for the night. Sherry and Paul on Tehani had decided to stay in the intracoastal and anchored south of us about 5 miles in the ICW. We had a terrific thunderstorm that night with more lightning than we had ever seen and winds to 40 knots! It was scary but our anchor held and we did not get hit by lightning.

A little hitchiker on the ICW

The next day we continued up the ICW and went to Osprey Marina just south of Myrtle Beach to meet up with friends, Jim and Sue Keummel from the New Orleans Power Squadron. They have been travelling on their trawler for several years now and we got to meet up and have dinner on their boat. They have so much room compared to our boat!! Sue made a wonderful pasta dinner and we had a great visit. The traffic on the ICW was very heavy because it was Memorial Day weekend. LOTS of jet skis and power boaters out there!

Meeting up with Jim and Sue Kuemmel at Osprey Marina

The next day we continued heading north and anchored on the Calabash River near Myrtle Beach. Tehani joined us but Utopia went to visit friends in Myrtle Beach.  On Monday, the 26^th (Memorial Day) the crazies were out in full force on the ICW!! From now on we will know to get into a marina or secure anchorage and stay off the ICW for that weekend . But South Carolina has some beautiful homes and scenery along the ICW. We thoroughly enjoyed the trip up the ICW here. We sailed most of the way that day and the wind piped up as we were going into a narrow channel to get to the harbor. Had to get the sails down in a lot of wind.  We made it up to Carolina Beach, SC and took a mooring ball at the city harbor.

Along the ICW in South Carolina

5/27 Was a long day, about 60 miles to an anchorage in Mile Hammock Bay, NC off Camp Lejeune.  We had another thunderstorm that night with 30 knot winds and the boat swinging 180 degrees with 13 other boats in the small anchorage area. We saw S/V Loon( Ben) whom we had met in Warderick Wells, Bahamas and which is also a Pacific Seacraft like our boat.  One boat dragged anchor but no damage was done. On the 28^th we made it to Moorehead City, NC which is just across the Newport River from Beaufort, NC. We decided to go to Moorehead City because the marina was less expensive and supposedly better than the one in Beaufort. We used the Moorehead Yacht Basin because it was more protected from the swells of the inlet (to the ocean) than the other marinas. However, it was low tide when we arrived and we stirred up a lot of mud from the bottom just getting into the fuel dock. We met up with Ben on S/V Loon and met some new people on S/V Rejoice, who had also anchored near us the night before in Mile Hammock Bay. With Paul and Sherry from Tehani, we all went to Floyd’s for dinner. It was great and we all had a great evening.

We left the next morning, accompanied by Tehani, continuing on the ICW to the Neuse River and then the Bay River and through the ICW to Goose Creek. We anchored in Campbell Creek for the night. It was a pretty anchorage with pretty houses at one end.

On the 30^th, we continued up Goose Creek, crossed the Pamlico River and continued up the Pungo River to the Alligator River-Pungo River canal (a skinny little ditch)  and then up the Alligator River to Durant Island just before the Albermarle Sound. We anchored there for the night which was an okay anchorage for a northeast wind but the wind switched to the northwest in the morning and we started rocking on the swells. We spent a quiet night here on our anniversary.

We had to make a decision whether to head to the Great Dismal Swamp Route or the Virginia Cut via Coinjock to continue North. We headed to the Swamp. Another sailboat that went out ahead of us the next morning didn’t follow the markers closely and ran aground at Middle ground at the entrance to the Albemarle Sound. They got ungrounded fairly quickly but it gave us good warning to watch the marks. The trip across the Albemarle was rolly with the wind at 20 knots on the nose. We had to motor the whole way. We went up the Pasquotank River and had planned to stop at the free docks in Elizabeth City but the wind was such that getting into the docks (which only had about a 3 ft finger pier) was just about impossible. So we continued up the Pasquotank and anchored at Goat Island. This was a really beautiful anchorage, so quiet and peaceful. We heard frogs croaking and owls hooting and were awakened by geese honking as they flew over the next morning.

Osprey nest in the Pasquotank River.

Our anchorage at Goat Island
(Is this picture upside down?)

We continued north to the Dismal Swamp canal. We had to go through the locks at Southmills (a first for us!). It raised us about 8 ft. We stopped at the Dismal Swamp visitor center for the night. They have a free dock and a beautiful park here. While we were here, we pickled the watermaker as we won’t be using it for a while until we go offshore (probably back in the Bahamas). We took a hike on the boardwalk in the park and then had happy hour with Tehani, DoroLee and a power boat, Friar Tuck. S/V Doro Lee had anchored near us at Durant Is. but we hadn’t met Bob and Mary until we were all in the locks together. The couple on Friar Tuck came in later that afternoon and joined us at the picnic tables for Sun-downers.

South Mills lock at the southern end of the Dismal Swamp lock

Waiting for the water to rise in the lock

Water has risen. Time to go through!

DoroLee, Tehani and Lagniappe at the Visitor's center dock on the Dismal Swamp

On June 2^nd we finally made it to the Elizabeth River and Norfolk. We stayed at Waterside marina 2 nights and then moved across the river to Portsmouth and a free dock. Paul and Sherry moved their boat the same day but to a yard for some work they are having done. They live in Norfolk and are now home for a few months. They also took us to get our propane tanks filled and to the wine store and grocery. So HELPFUL!!  We also visited Virginia Beach.

Lift bridge on the Elizabeth River just south of Norfolk

Navy ships (destroyer & aircraft carrier) at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard

Waterside Marina, Norfolk

 

Statue of Neptune in Virginia Bieach

Old Coast uard station, Virginia Beach

 We explored the old town of Portsmouth and went to the Commodore dinner theater which is a movie theater with tables and chairs where you sit and order dinner (light fare) if you want. The inside of the theater reminds me of the Saenger in New Orleans. Very ornate.

Fresnel lens from an old lighthouse in Portsmouth

Beautiful old homes in Portsmouth, VA

We attended the Norfolk Harborfest together on Friday, June 6^th and watched the parade of sail with tall ships and the USS Cole and several Riverine boats.  We toured several of the boats and watched a jet pack demonstration with the guy going up 30 ft in the air and moving at 30 knots. They also had a Coast Guard search and Rescue demonstration. It was all pretty interesting. That evening, Paul and Sherry drove us to Hampton where we met up with Frank and Diane from S/V Utopia and had drinks on their boat and then went to dinner at a pub.

Fireboat spraying water at head of boat parade

Pride of Baltimore

Tall ships in the boat parade

The USS Cole

A "Viking" ship in the parade

A Navy Riverine boat

The jet pack guy

LizAnn gets to try on the Navy Riverine pack

Coast Guard Seaarch and Rescue demo

Greg takes the wheel on the schooner, Virginia

Plaque honoring Captain Lane Briggs, Greg's former boss on the Steel Rebel in Norfolk

Submarine in the "Pen" at D&S Piers in Norfolk

We left the next day to continue our trek north. We anchored in the East River in Mobjack Bay near Tabbs Creek. The shallow water alarm went off constantly although we were in more than 7 feet of water and it was set for 6 feet. We figured there was something we kept swinging over that was setting it off so we finally turned it off so we could sleep. The next day we made it to Sandy Point near Reedville about 10 miles south of the Potomac River. Nice anchorage with good protection.  

Typical lighthouse in Chesapeake Bay

We made it into the Potomac River on  6/09. Anchored the first night at Belvedere Beach and then continued up to Washington, D.C. We passed Quantico along the way and had to detour out of the main channel near Swan Point to avoid the Navy doing live firing practice. We anchored off the Capitol Yacht Club on Tuesday afternoon and were soon greeted by one of the Yacht Club members in his dinghy who invited us to the BBQ they were having that night. We signed up as transients to use their dinghy dock and all the facilities( restrooms, showers, laundry, bar, internet, etc). It was a great location from which to explore D.C. We visited the Smithsonian Castle, the American history Museum, the National Gallery of Art, the Capitol(with a tour by one of our Congressman’s pages) and Library of Congress, the Hirshhorn Museum and the Botanical Gardens. So much FREE stuff to do in D.C.!!  We took our leave of D.C. and the friendly folks at the Capitol Yacht Club on Saturday after the Club breakfast (what a treat!) and headed back down the Potomac.

Mt. Vernon

Fort Washington

Mansion on the Potomac

Woodrow Wilson Bridge heading into Wash., D.C.

The Smithsonian Castle

The new addition (a Van Gogh) in the National Gallery of Art

the Capital Building

The Center of the Capital. Supposed to be good luck to step on it.
Yes, Greg actually put on a pair of long pants for this visit.  

Mural being refurbished on the ceiling in the Capital

Beautiful Tiffany windows on Library of Congress

Library of Congress

We stopped Saturday night after a LONG day of motoring down the Potomac River in St. Clement’s Bay and had a quiet evening. The next day, we explored St. Clement’s Island which was settled in 1634 and is now a State Park. There is a big white cross on the island that is a replica of the one the first settlers erected. They were supposedly the first English Roman Catholics in America. We got down to the southern end of the Potomac on Sunday and anchored near Kinsale on the Yeocomico River off of the Potomac.

Moonlight on the water on the Potomac

Lighthouse on St. Clement's Island

Cross on St. Clement's

Cactus flower on the island

We then headed on over to Solomons Island, MD. On Monday. That is definitely a place we should return to. There were a myriad of creeks and little bays to anchor in and we didn’t have time to explore. Tuesday we made it to Annapolis, MD. We took a mooring for 2 nights and toured Annapolis. We visited the Naval Academy where Greg's brother Pat had gone to school.  We then went into the Port Annapolis Marina for some maintenance on the engine and adjustment of the prop. We had scheduled the short haulout and maintenance 2 weeks before but of course, they didn’t have us on the schedule so there was a bit of a mix up but it all worked out and they hauled our boat to adjust the prop. We also had the bottom cleaned and the engine scheduled maintenance done. The marina is very nice with a pool and all the usual facilities.  It was probably the most organized marina we've ever seen and the technicians were VERY professional.  We returned to the mooring field for a day and then left for Baltimore.

View of the Naval Academy as we entered Annapolis

On the mooring in Annapolis

Submarine memorial at the Naval Academy

John Paul Jones' crypt at the Academy

  When we left Annapolis, we sailed up the Patapsco River to Baltimore. We found an original 44 pound Bruce anchor on Craigslist that was in Baltimore and went to buy it. We walked around the Baltimore waterfront a bit and went to Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (glad I don't have to write that name out very often.) which was very beautiful. The next day we went across the Chesapeake to Rockhall and docked at the Waterman's restaurant. Had a great dinner there and headed out the next day. We made it up to the C&D canal and anchored in Chesapeake City on the canal. We stayed 2 nights to wait for the timing of the tide/current and weather to head thru the canal and down the Delaware. We made it out of the canal with a 3 knot current helping us and then we had to fight a 1 knot current as we went down the Delaware River. The current shifted so it was pushing us South, but the wind was opposing the current and created some really sloppy seas. The weather began deteriorating and raining but we made it to the Maurice River just north of Cape May where we had a dock to leave the boat. Greg's friend, Jesse is a captain on the tall ship, A. J. Meerwald in Bivalve, NJ. We got to visit for a short time and meet Jesse's wife and son, Megan and Delbay. We cleaned the boat really well and then left on Friday, June 27th to drive home for a couple of weeks. We arrived home on Sunday, June 29th. We are visiting with family and friends and will leave to return to the boat on July 13th.   

Patriotic Buoy marking the spot where Francis Scott Key was held captive on a British ship on the Patapsco River during the War of 1812 when he saw the flag still flying over Fort McHenry and wrote the Star Spangled banner!

Fort McHenry, Baltimore

Canadian geese in Chesapeake City on the C&D Canal

Steven and Connor barbecuing 7/5/14. Great ribs!!

LizAnn and Greg with Pere (LizAnn's dad)