The ICW Part I

We arrived in Norfolk Virginia in the early evening on 10/24.  Our plan was to anchor in Willowby Bay and travel a short 10 miles the next morning to Tidewater Marina for diesel fuel and supplies which were convenient to get in Portmouth VA.  Our night at anchor in the bay was a rough one.  Winds were out of the south at 15-20kts with gusts as high as 30kts.  We left the next morning at 9:15 am and tied up at the marina at 11:30 am.  The city of Portmouth is very quaint and the area surrounding the marina is the historic district . We walked around the city stopping to read many of the historic placards which describe the significant people, places and events which took place in the city during the Revolutionary and Civil wars.  It was very enjoyable and the prices in stores and restaurants were reasonable.

Exodus from Norfolk

We left Portmouth on the morning of 10/26 and entered the lock at the entrance to the Great Dismal Swamp Canal at 11 am. 

Locking Up

The lock was full of boats and it took 1 hour to lock through.  It was really the slowest lift we had ever experienced.  Our plan was to stay the evening at the GDS visitors center and then continue the next day to Elizabeth City NC.  Once again weather becomes the story and we along with 16 other boats were destined to stay at the Center for the next 3 nights.  The problem was a lack of anhoring and slip availability in Elizabeth City.  Weather was so bad on the Abermarle Sound that boats were not making the crossing.  Therefore, our boat city in the swamp was formed.

Boat City  3 boats across

As has been the case the entire trip we made several new friends and learned a great deal about the ICW from the more experienced cruiser's in our group.  We finally arrived in Elizabeth City at 12:30 pm on 10/30.  I'm posting this blog entry on Sunday morning 10/31.  We plan to provision the boat completely today as we're told opportunites to do so are few, between Elizabeth City and Beaufort NC.  We'll be crossing the Albermarle Sound tomorrow morning leaving Elizabeth City at first light.  The dicesion to take the Great Dismal Swamp was made really at the last opportunity to do so.  You come to a junction on the Elizabeth River a few miles south of Norfolk and you can take the Virginia Cut or the Dismal Swamp Canal to the Abermarle Sound.  A couple we had met in Deltaville, Jim and Johann convinced us you really need to do the swamp at least once.  Many boaters with deep drafts tend to avoid it due to low water levels.  We contacted the Army Corps of Engineers as well as the visitor center for conditions throughout the canal.  We were told it has a consistent 6 foot water level and was relatively free of debris from storms.  We're thrilled we listened to Jim and Johann as the swamp is beautiful covered tightly on both shores with tall overhanging Cypress trees.  At points you can imagine that you're sailing up some deserted stretch on the Amazon River.


Eerie Canal



Dismal Swamp Canal

That's about all for now.  The weather is getting colder and the days are getting shorter.  Kris and I are beginning to feel a sense of urgency to get to warmer climates quickly.  We're trying to resist this urge and keep to our plan to travel 5-6 hours a day.  We may be able to keep on this schedule but we realize we'll need to be moving every day if we'll make Florida by Thanksgiving.

The Lower Chesapeake Bay

 

The Blogmeister

We ended up staying in Solomon Island for three days, waiting for, you guessed it, the weather. The marina, Zahniser's, was very accommodating and had bicycles to loan. We took full advantage of this and went to West Marine twice, dinner, and the Food Lion for groceries. While taking a joy ride, we ran into Scott and Lynne aboard Messenger, a Canadian couple we first met in the canal at Amsterdam, NY.  We found out they were in Annapolis and St Michael's  when we were there.  Marjorie and Jeff aboard Far Niente were also staying here. Small world! We stayed in Solomon Island, repairing an fuel and a water leak in the engine. Our dinghy was patched in Hudson Creek and is holding, but we lost a part to the outboard engine and needed it to be able to attach it to the boat. We met so many helpful people here. One man gave us free advice on engine repair. Then Shannon called a company, trying to find the part for the dinghy engine and the man drove over to the boat, rigged a temporary repair for us and then didn't charge us! Of course, we couldn't let that happen. What nice people. The weather improved so we decided to make a run for Jackson Creek in Deltaville, VA.  The trip to Deltaville took us 10.25 hrs. and we averaged around 6.5 knots, fast for our boat. Of course the winds were right on our nose  At one point, we were called on Channel 16 by the US Navy. They requested that we alter our course as we were headed towards their live fire target area. Our course was Southwest and so was the wind.

Schooner

As we approached the mouth of the Potomac River, the seas became confused and a short chop developed. It reminded us of the way we learned to sail on Oneida Lake. The good news is, the sun was out, no rain. The entry into the Jackson Creek anchorage was pretty tricky and shallow and you really had to keep your eyes on the marks.As we motored through the anchorage, a couple on their boat were yelling to us that they were from Utica, NY. They left before we could get their story.  We dropped anchor and realized we had found yet another gem.

Fiery Sunset-Jackson Creek

After a night on the hook, we decided to call the Fishing Bay Yacht Club. We could see it from the anchorage. We moved to a dock at the club. The price was right. We were given one night free because of our membership at Fair Haven Yacht Club. They give reciprocal nights to any yacht club. Maybe someday one of their members will pass though FHYC.

FBYC

I like this place



Beautiful view



We liked the Yacht Club so much we stayed another night. We used the time to plan our trip to Norfolk. This would mark the end of the Chesapeake Bay. We left early and on the low tide, which made getting out of the shallow channel even more stressful. But Shannon had no problem. We left for Norfolk and anchored in Willoughby Bay, just north of Norfolk. Navy ships are all over this area.

Moon over Willoughby Bay

                                                                                                                                    

Safe Haven

We had reservations at the Tidewater Marina, as thunderstorms were predicted for tonight and tomorrow. We will use this time to make sure we have what we need as we enter the ICW.

St. Michaels and the Solomons

Sunset in Hudson Creek


Kris and I left Annapolis on 10/12/10.  Our plan was to sail south to Knapp Narrows and stay at the Marina.  After ten days on a mooring we needed to recharge our batteries and top off our water tanks.  The trip down to the Narrows was beautiful with sunny skies, warm temperatures and calm seas.  We arrived at Knapps Narrows Marina in the early afternoon and set to work cleaning Dalliance and the dinghy.  This took pretty much the entire afternoon.  We did take a break to walk over to Tilghman Island looking for some provisions.  There was not much available at a small grocery just over the lift bridge but we bought some bread, milk and a bottle of wine.  We met a very nice couple from Baltimore, Craig and Sandy Doyle.  They had many years of boating experience on the Bay and gave us tips on where we may and may not want to explore.  The following morning we set sail into the Choptank River.  Our cruising guides had information on how to get to St. Michaels from the San Domingo Creek.  It's called the back door to St. Michaels.  It was quite tight getting through the channel to the anchorage southwest of the village of St. Michaels.  Kris did an outstanding job navigating Dalliance through this tight passage.  It was a beautiful anchorage and one that would protect us from gale force winds over the next three days. The village of St. Michaels is quaint but upscale.  There are numerous restaurants and high end boutiques.  A really nice but somewhat " touristy" town.  We ran into our friends Jeff and Marjorie and met for a steamed blue crab feast on Saturday evening.  Eating the crabs is very hard work getting to the meat but the taste is oh so worth it.  Walking back to the boat we passed a small pub that had live blues.  We listened from outside for awhile and commented how much our friends Sam and Barb would enjoy the music.  I'm not an expert on the blues but it sounded real good!



The calm after the storm


  We left San Domingo Creek early on Sunday morning having spent four days at anchor once again waiting on weather.  The Choptank River was still rocking and rolling pretty good from the high winds over the past few days.  We decided to run approximately 25 miles south and tuck into Hudson Creek just off the Little Choptank river.  It was the most peaceful night we have had at anchor for the entire trip.

Peace in Hudson Creek

 We were all alone in the anchorage, the winds were calm and the scenery was magnificent.  We sat in the cockpit on Dalliance watching the sunset and two Bald Eagles resting in nests high above the creek.  Pretty awesome!

SUNRISE in Hudson Creek off Little Choptank River

Eagles

We left the Little Choptank on Monday morning the 18th of October and sailed down to the Solomons.  It's an Island at the mouth of the Patuxent River with several full service Marinas and options for provisioning.  We plan to stay here through Wednesday complete some maintenance, do laundry, provision and continue our journey south Thursday morning.

Tranquility

After The Show

Midshipmen

After the Fair Haven folks went home as I mentioned Kris and I felt a bit of a let down.  The one time line destination in our journey had been the boat show in Annapolis.  Now it was over.  Our rebound was just a phone call away!  Rob and Sue who you'll remember from the Castleton Boat club posting called us on Monday to say they were on their way to Annapolis from an anchorage on the C&D canal.  They expected to arrive by late afternoon and would give us a call to arrange a get together.  What a get together it was.  Rob and Sue knew a large contingent from sailing together for many years on Lake Champlain and they were all in

Naval Academy Entrance

Annapolis.  We met the entire group at Pusser's on City Dock and watched with hundreds of others as the Boat Show broke down.  What a riot!  We saw a rigging hand climb a 56' mast with only his bare hands and feet. Once he made it to the first spreader he pointed upwards asking the crowd if they wanted him to climb to the second spreader.  Of course the crowd went wild and onward to the second spreader he climbed.  It really was quite a display of athleticism.  We stayed at Pusser's until the last of the Island Packets left the dock.  The Lake Champlain contingent as well as Rob and Sue went out for pizza.  Kris and I were leaving Annapolis early Tuesday morning so we bid our old and new found friends adieu.  All in all our 10 days in Annapolis exceeded our wildest expectations.  We'll leave this blog posting with a few random pictures from our stay in Annapolis.


People watching in Annapolis




Tying the knot on 10/10/10



THE BOAT SHOW!

Island Packets at City Dock

Kris and I did the show on Friday the 8th of October.  The skies were clear and it was sunny and warm.  A beautiful day to do the show.  We had a list of items we needed and our first stop was the MapTech booth for charts of Central America and Cuba.  The salesman could help us out with the Central America charts but being a US company he could not sell us charts of Cuban waters.  Kris pressed the man on options to obtain the charts and he finally sent us to the Land Fall booth.  He gave us the name of the salesman at Land Fall along with a note of referral.  It was a very nice jesture on his part and paid dividends.  We were able to purchase all the charts we need in both paper and electronic formats.  Upon leaving the MapTech tent I was doing some people watching while Kris looked for boat shoes.  I spotted a familiar face and went over to say hello to Bob Culver a fellow member of the Fair Haven Yacht Club.  Diane, Bob's wife soon joined us and Kris arrived a few minutes later.  We had not seen Bob and Diane at the club this summer and wondered what they were up to.  It turns out Bob retired last October sold his home and moved to Crisfield Maryland on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay.  Bob has moved his boat down and plans to sail the Chesapeake as a warm up for a Caribbean cruise.  Bob told us they have been following our blog with interest.  We exchanged cell phone numbers and email addresses.  It was wonderful to spend some time with old friends working toward the same dream.  We also ran into Lynn and Sally Means a couple we had met in Atlantic Highlands.  We had wondered where they were as we expected to see them again over our five days in Cape May.  They stopped on the way down to Cape May at Barnegat Bay and Atlantic City.  We just looked at their blog this morning and they have arrived safely in Norfolk,VA.  We're currently waiting out some weather on the eastern shore in the San Domingo creek the back door to St. Michael's.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.  Back to the Boat Show.

Boats everywhere

 Jeff and Marjorie from Far Niente were at the show on Friday and we bumped into them late in the day.  We made plans to have appetizers and cocktails at an Irish Pub we discovered earlier in the week.  The Pub's name is CastleBay and they run a happy hour every day from 5-7pm.  Drinks are reduced in price as well as the appetizers such as steamed shrimp, calamari and oysters on the half shell.  Great food and drink at reasonable prices.  We found in general Annapolis is a bit pricey.  Except for the $25 moorings.  Our accommodations were great!

Big boats, little boats

 In response to our blog invitation to followers to join us in Annapolis for a "dark and stormy," Dave and Jan Ahlers contacted us saying they would be at the show on Saturday as did Tim and Chris Criss. Approximately 4pm on Saturday afternoon I was doing some work on the dinghy and Kris received a phone call from Dave Ahlers.  It turns out Dave was calling from the Spa Creek lift Bridge and we could see Dave, Jan, Tim and Chris standing on the bridge.  We made plans to take the dinghy to Eastport where Dave would pick us up with his big bad dodge truck. Dave asked us if we needed to do any provisioning or get supplies.  I told him we were having a great deal of trouble getting our propane tanks filled.  We had tried several times and it was proving difficult to find a place that would refill tanks and not exchange.  We were told a TruValue hardware located somewhere in Eastport or Annapolis(?) would fill the tanks.  We had some trouble finding our way around that evening.  Dave drove the big bad dodge at warp speed around the narrow and traffic clogged streets until we found the hardware store and got our tanks topped off.  As we had not been in a car or travelled much faster than 6 knots Dalliance's captain was having anxiety attacks during the drive.  He settled down once he adjusted to the motion.  We then stopped for "dark and stormy's" at the Boatyard restaurant a famous watering hole for sailors known for their dark and stormy's.
 

Fair Haven Yacht Club at The Boatyard

 

After filling our bellie's with grog Tim told us about a seafood restaurant know for it's crab.  We again had some trouble locating Mike's Crab House but solid navigation skills on Jan's part got us there safely.  We all had a great time out that evening and Kris and I were thrilled to be spending time with old friends.  Thanks Dave, Jan, Tim and Chris for stopping down to spend time with us.  It meant a lot!  Dave and Jan called Sunday morning said good bye again and headed north.  Tim and Chris did another day at the boat show and we joined then for a couple of hours in a city park where St. Mary's church sells pit beef sandwich's.  It was a nice relaxing sunny afternoon and we chatted about this, that and other things with the Criss's.  We hugged and said our good bye's to the Criss's and felt some sadness on parting.  



Tim & Chris

 

Dave & Jan

An evening of laughter & sailing stories













Ten days in Annapolis

St. Mary's Cove

You're looking at our home in Annapolis (Saint Mary's Cove)  from 10/3-10/12/10.  Our stay in Annapolis can be broken down into three segments.  Pre-boat show, THE BOAT SHOW! and the close of the boat show.  Kris and I arrived in Annapolis three days before the boat show opened.  We spent our time in foulies for day one and two.  It rained continously for the first two days. We were cold, wet, and oh so happy to be here. We walked around town and were fortunate enough to see the first Island Packets come into City Dock for the setup of the show.  Being on a City mooring, we needed to check in with the Harbormaster. Once we did this, we were given tokens for showers. After days on a mooring, access to showers are very important. These valuable tokens were doled out only if you produced a receipt. We asked for more than we needed and were happy to give the remaining tokens to friends. But that's a post Boat Show story.

Spa Creek Sunset

Stay tuned for the Boat Show story.

Sassafras River To Annapolis

Hello all!  The journey continues.  We left Summit North Marina on 10/2 and sailed to a river on the northeastern corner of the Chesapeake Bay called the Sassafras River.  Several people had told us about it's beauty and fine anchorages so we decided to check it out.  We weren't dissappointed.  We anchored for the evening in a small cove approximately 2.5 miles up river.  The shoreline which bordered the cove was all farmland and the holding and protection from all directions was excellent.  The farm land actually turned out to be part of a museum of a restored 18th century tobacco plantation.  Our friends on Far Niente joined us in the late afternoon for refreshments and we turned in early to get an early start to Annapolis as gale warnings were posted for the afternoon of 10/3.  We were underway at 6:30am and reached the Chesapeake around 7:15.  It was really rolling and we took quite a beating until we turned to a southwesterly course putting the wind and the waves on the stern.

Running from the weather

  Dalliance was making between 9 and 10mph on the GPS and we arrived at the Chesapeake Bay bridge at noon.  You can see the bridge for hours before passing under it.  We've included some pictures for this unique view of the bridge.


Sassafras River Sunset

  We entered the harbor at Annapolis and proceeded up Spa Creek to the lift bridge.  From our many trips to the boat show by land we hoped we could pick up a city mooring just inside the lift bridge on Spa Creek.  The mooring gods were good to us and we picked up #52 a little after 1pm. 

At Last!!

We plan to stay in Annapolis through the boat show and leave the morning of the 12th.  Rob and Sue called us from the Hudson River having left Castleton Boat Club last weekend.  Weather permitting they'll be in Annapolis before we depart and we'll get together for vittles and grog. 







Bay Bridge looking East







Bay Bridge looking West



Spa Creek lift bridge



Cape May to the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal



Utsch's Marina



Awaiting the weather window

We ended up staying in Cape May for 5 days, waiting for a good weather window. The Delaware Bay can be quite nasty. We were not alone. As the week went on, more & more boats came in, alot with some pretty interesting and scary stories of their passage. As I always say, "there's a reason for everything", and by staying in Cape May longer we were finally able to get the navigation system up and running properly. We bought another inverter (the third one is the charm!) which now works and powers and charges the laptop. We also bought a chip for the new handheld GPS with charts of the complete US coastlines, including Alaska & Hawaii, plus the Bahamas. It's just a little bit more than we need. What a joy it was to move up the Dalaware Bay and know exactly where we were and what was ahead!


Ship John Shoal

  The trip started with a transit of the Cape May Canal. This took us right out to the lower Delaware Bay. It was a bit lumpy and reminded us of our days on Oneida Lake. As we moved up the Bay, the wind slowed and the waves were smaller. It started to rain gently off and on for the rest of the trip. The commercial traffic that we were warned about was almost nonexistent. We saw two freighters as we came out of the Cape and then two more coming out of the C&D Canal as we made our approach. We arrived at the entrance to the C&D at 4pm.

C&D Canal Entrance

We pulled into Summit North Marina well ahead of tropical storm Nicole and again we will wait for a favorable weather window. We met up with Far Niente, the IP45 we met in Atlantic Highlands and have been sharing alot of useful information about the Chesapeake Bay and our future destinations. Many familiar boat are here and we will be meeting up with their crews all along the Intracoastal.

We are 53 miles northeast of Annapolis and plan to leave early tomorrow, Saturday, to find an anchorage near the boat show. Depending on the weather, we may spend the night in Rock Hall, MD, and then continue on to Annapolis Sunday morning.

Anyone going to the Boat show??? If so, please drop us a line so we can share a Dark and Stormy!!