Half Way Back to Canada

7:00 PM anchored in the Chesapeake

Salomon here, making another small contribution to the blog. We have entered the southern portion of Chesapeake Bay and have reached, what we consider, the half way point back Canadian waters. We have calculated the mileage and have roughly 1000 or so miles to complete our trip. Reaching this milestone has led to some reflection in what we have encountered these last 260 days since we departed. Some of the difficulties include but aren’t limited to the following:

Getting stuck in a lock in the Erie Canal and having to paddle out with an oar - our gear selector had a lose nut and we couldn’t move forward

Having our mast fall on a not so windy day

Losing steerage after our rudder fell away (this resulted in two dips in very chilly water and having to haul out Second Wind)

Engine idling problems, solved by a mechanic in Oriental, NC

Small punctures in Second Wind’s and Chataqua’s dinghys

Toilet difficulties

Submerged dinghy motor

Electrical work (replacing our alternator plugs, and then realizing it was better to connect the leads directly to the battery)

More toilet difficulties

A humbling first attempt to cross the Gulf Stream

Broken wire in our voltage regulator (= no charging of the battery = no laptop charging)

Last toilet difficulties of the trip (fingers crossed)

These are but a few of the challenges that we encountered as young cruisers on a 23 foot sailboat. Although not life threatening, these events resulted in headaches, delays, discomforts, and yes sometimes arguments. Often we would find ourselves spending an entire day looking for a certain part we needed to get going (our endless searches for spark plugs, zinc anodes, and more toilet parts for example) We are very thankful that Kerry’s parents, Fred and Willie, made the journey down with us. Their generosity, help, and guidance have really prepared us for making the trip back by ourselves (but we’re still very far from home).

Although we were disheartened to leave the Bahamas, it has strengthened our resolve to one day return. For the moment however, we look forward to getting home and visiting family and friends. To reconnect with the people who have followed us our journey. We have now begun to think of what awaits us upon our arrival as we rejoin, what we call, the real world. Where everyday doesn’t feel like a weekend and wearing a watch and knowing the day of the week is compulsory. We have to make some serious considerations of where we will be living and where we will be employed. Gone will be the days, where we can enjoy the sunset after a long day’s travel, visiting new places, and meeting new people. On the other hand, we look forward to having refrigerated foods, ice, television, running water and showers as well as having the convenience of a car, and having access to modern appliances. It’s a different world where accomplishing one chore doesn’t take an entire day (for example it took one full day, 2 trips and a total of 4 km to do groceries in Beaufort, SC).

We still have quite a ways to go and our adventures are far from over. A few large bodies of water to sail through must first be dealt with and hurricane season is quickly approaching (thankfully we’re far enough North to mitigate this risk). Keep following the blog to see what our futures hold.

The last of the ICW

Final phase of the ICW

We are transiting the Dismal Swamp as I write this blog post. We chose this route over the Virginia Cut again. I just think that the Dismal Swamp it is so neat, and a little middle earth magical (yes, that was a nerdy comment lol). The tree lined cypress swamp smells so fresh and like spring, I breathe in deeply and feel a little nostalgic now that we are almost done the ICW – only 30 miles to go.

We arrived in Oriental on Tuesday May 16^th just before dusk. We anchored in a little creek under the bridge with a few other trawlers and small sailboats (thay were able to get under the 45’ bridge). We made up a feast of chicken alfredo with a piece of fried pita and a small salad. After long days, we look forward to big dinners. We fell asleep with a slight side to side roll of the boat as a bit of the swell from the Neuse Rive had made it was in to where we were anchored. That roll picked up in the morning as the wind got stronger. We decided that instead of suffering we would look elsewhere. We found a more comfortable spot up another short creek and anchored in about 4 ½ feet of water. Once settled we put the motor on the dinghy and went ashore. We were on a mission: our head had just about kicked the bucket. It was leaking with every pump and no matter how much we tightened the ‘bushing’ on the pump handle it would not stop. Time to get serious and find a real fix. We tried the West Marine with no luck (the alternative would be ordering a part that would take 3 days to arrive). We did not want to wait around for that. We saw a small shop along the walk back called Marine Tech and decided to give it a try, nothing to lose, we went in. The man literally spent almost an hour helping us out with our options and calling different suppliers to try to find parts. As they stopped producing the certain brand of head that we have, our only choices were to try to fit a new toilet in the old one’s spot or he could order us a rebuild kit for our head, arriving the next day. We considered both option and decided on the rebuild kit as we didn’t want to mess around trying to secure a new head to the floor as it would not just fit in to the existing holes and bolts. We left and came back the next day. The kit had about every part we wanted except a new bushing – the part that we thought that we needed. We took the part and searched about every store we could find, the consignment store, the hardware store, the marine store and even back at Marine Tech. We found a few similar bushings so we thought that we’d give them a try, we weren’t optimistic though.

Back on the boat, it was time to reassemble the head replacing all the parts. We took our time and made sure everything fit snugly. It took a few hours, and some epoxy resin, but by the time the toilet was back together it worked like a dream. It turned out that we didn’t even need a new bushing because the new packing and rubber washer fit around it so it didn’t even need to be tightened. It was a good day, we fixed a big problem in our lives and at the end of the day were still on speaking terms.

Though we only planned on staying in Oriental for 2 days tops, we ended up spending 3 days, which was fine by us because it’s such a friendly town, we got a major project done and we had a comfortable anchor spot. We aren’t on any time line so we took the extra day that we needed.

On Thursday we decided to leave. It was a busy day on the Neuse River as boats were migrating north. We joined them, but only for a few miles and we wanted to treat ourselves to a marina. We got a tip from a couple back in Osprey that there’s this fancy, fancy marina tucked away in a small river just past Oriental where it’s only 1$/foot. We couldn’t resist. As we pulled up we knew it was high end when the fuel attendant was wearing white pants! Yes, white pants! We filled up and got a spot among the 40+ luxury yachts. We felt a little out of place but once we washed up Second Wind and Sal scrubbed the bottom, we were proud of our little boat. After cleaning the boat we spent the afternoon alternating between the hot tub and the pool- living the life of luxury. To top it off, they have steam showers with 5 shower heads for pure bathing pleasure. How can we go back to having cool birdbaths in the cramped cabin after that?

Smoke from the forest fire in Alligator River National Park

Our day of pampering was over and it was time to come back to reality and head on. We had a couple days where we were able to sail on and off as we passed through some sounds and larger rivers. The next two nights were anchored up quiet streams with no civilization in sight.

Saturday May 21^st. We survived.

Yesterday we travelled to Elizabeth City. On the way there we picked up little shad fly type bugs. They covered almost every inch of the boat. I’m not sure what they were doing but they were sure not welcomed, and there certainly was nothing we could do about it. If you killed them, they were very dirty and left a brown smear on the cockpit and if you disturbed them then they’d fly around you head, which was even more annoying. So we just let them hang out. Once the wind picked up we pulled up the sails creating a swarm but most of them left us after that. Except of course for the ones that died all over the boat.

We arrived in Elizabeth city around 3:30 pm. They have a free dock but as the wind was coming from the SE, waves were building up and created a very rocky docking experience. We decided to pass and went through the bridge. We were called over to a newly built dock and told we could stay for there for free. As it was much more comfortable there and we really didn’t want to pass by without stopping in the town, we did. It was by the college (the Mid Atlanic Christian University) and provided us with a shower and free wifi. What a treat! Once secured to the pilings, we cleaned what we could of the bugs of the boat and then showered. We walked to the main street and watched the boats there rock and roll in their slips, ever so glad that we were not there. We stopped by to see the man who invited us for dinner on the trip down. We had a great chat and got all caught up.

We thought we had it bad until...

The whole boat became covered in these insects

This morning we got up at 6:00am to Sal’s dismay but we wanted to catch the 11:00 opening for the lock. Just like the last time it rained as we were going through the dismal swamp, which is quite fitting, but at least this time it is warm and 100% more pleasant especially in the afternoon as it cleared up.

Next stop: Chesapeake Bay

Risk of Thunderstorms

I was talking with my family last night on Skype and of course my dad chastised me for not having a new blog up. I don’t know where the time has gone. I can’t believe May is already half over!

It feels like only yesterday we were in South Carolina…

We spent about a day and a half motoring through the cypress swamps of South Carolina. It’s very pretty with tree lined narrow and meandering rivers. We bypassed Georgetown and stopped a few miles past north to Thoroughfare creek. It was a busy Sunday afternoon with many boaters enjoying the warm and sunny weather. We anchored across from a sand dune that the locals used as their ‘beach’ and had a relaxing evening. A thunderstorm came through the area, clearing out all the other boats, leaving just us and the sounds of nature.

The next day we decided to treat ourselves to a night in a marina. We returned to Osprey Marina because it is friendly, clean and peaceful, not to mention in our price range. On arrival a couple friendly turtles looking for treats greeted us. Apparently they really like dog food, a cruiser told us. We took advantage of the free fresh water and we first bathed the boat and cleaned the dinghy; she sparkled when we were done. Then we bathed ourselves and took advantage of the Internet to look up our next destination: Myrtle Beach.

We had bypassed Myrtle Beach on the way down, but wanted to take a day or two to check it out on the way up. The Barefoot Landing is along the waterway and is full of shops and places of entertainment, and the beach is also close by. There are two places to stop. One is on the east side, steps away from the Landing, the other is on the west side, and about a 15 minute walk across the waterway. Everyone mixes up the two as one is called Barefoot Landing, and the other is called Barefoot Landing Marina. After checking a few cruising websites, we decided to stay at the marina because it was cheaper and had showers, laundry, and a pool. So when we called to say we wanted a slip, of course we got the wrong place though Sal definitely said “Marina” and had to apologize to the guy waiting to receive us and then pull around to the other side of the channel. I think they should just rename the two places to alleviate some of the confusion, but anyways. We were going to go for a run across the bridge to check out the Landing and see the beach. We had our running stuff on, but a dark cloud approaching convinced us to perhaps wait until it passed before heading out. We were sitting in the cockpit reading, when I heard a sound, like when a rock is thrown on a roof. I asked Sal if he heard that, now who would be throwing rocks? I looked around, when I saw a splash in the water. It was hailing! We ran below for cover. The hail was somewhere between the size of a golf ball and a tennis ball! Then the thunder and rain came. Boy, were we glad we didn’t go out. We didn’t get a chance to go check out the Landing as it rained for the evening, so we decided to stay another day to check it out.

Wednesday was another dreary day, but no rain. We walked across the bridge and looked around. There were so many shops and stores and restaurants. We were thoroughly entertained. We walked over to the beach and couldn’t believe that people were swimming. It was fairly cool out and not sunny at all. We opted for the marina pool and hot tub. We then return to the Landing for Happy Hour.

Time to get back on the road. On Thursday we crossed over into North Carolina on another cool and dreary day. We were passed by two very legit looking pirate ships. Luckily no pirates, but the crewmembers did shout across that they liked our boat. The next day we were chased by a menacing thunderstorm, luckily it was heading SE while we were heading NE. We had a long day battling currents, a common story for us during the past few days. We anchored in Wrightsville Beach. On the way down it was quite cool here and not much activity on the beach, but today it was a little livelier with surfers, students and people vacationing. We walked around after dinner and Sal bought me an Italian ice, which was supposed to be cheesecake flavoured, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it was actually coconut – it was delicious either way.

Saturday was another long day as the current was against us ALL day! We were passed by at least 15 other sailboats. I kept thinking that we couldn’t be going this slow, and maybe we were dragging something…but no, we were going that slow. In the afternoon we raised the main sail as the wind had picked up to help give us a boost in speed, it helped but we were still about 2 hours later to arrive in the anchorage than predicted. We met a single hander along the way in a small 26 foot boat, and were invited over for ‘cocktail hour’. After we were anchored we went over for a chat and invited him back to our boat for dinner. It was our first dinner guests (other than my parents). It was a great night and we shared stories and some laughs. Sunday we sailed! After we passed through some narrow areas, we entered a large straight sound with very little current, with a good 15 knot wind off our beam, we raised a reefed mainsail and ½ furled jib and cut the motor. It felt good and we had a great time.

Today we got to sail again for a little while into Beaufort. We stopped for an hour or so to go ashore. We bought a cheap lunch, picked up a few items, then continued on our way. We are heading to Oriental, NC, where we will probably spend tomorrow, as we have a few boat things to pick up there.

Less than 200 miles to go until the Chesapeake Bay.

Charms of Charleston and South Carolina

After our quick visit to Savannah, we needed to move on as our food supplies had diminished considerably. A count in the vegetable and fruit basket yielded 5 onions and that was it. We had no bread, meats, and our reserve spaghetti supply was dwindling. In fact, our cooler was stark except for a container of French’s Mustard and a jar of mayonnaise. We knew from the way down that we could restock in Beaufort, SC so that is where we headed. We tried to anchor outside of the marina in Beaufort and encountered the same problem as on the way down, it is just too deep for us to comfortably anchor, so we went under the bridge that joins Ladies Island to the mainland and anchored up the quiet Factory Creek. Aside from our food deficit, we had not had a proper shower in a week! We set a day aside to complete these tasks. We paid a modest fee to use the facilities of the marina nearby, where a grocery store was about a kilometer away and showers available with hot running water!!! It took us two trips to the grocery store to fill our lockers and wine cellar (the bilge). We smelled wonderful and ate like kings that night enjoying some mahi mahi tacos and a few pieces of sushi. The next morning we were ready to move on.

High Tide

Low Tide - a very different view

Wednesday May 3^rd we were passed by about 5 other sailboats heading north. We exchanged words with a passing Canadian boat that was from Ottawa, and they recognized our boat as being a Rob Roy, which is very rare as not many people have heard of them. Soon we were all by ourselves and had entered a wider river. The current was with us, the winds were right, so we took the rare opportunity to put up all the sails and turn off the motor. We were sailing. Unfortunately the ICW does not provide a lot of these opportunities as it’s often narrow, with numerous turns and the currents are so strong in some areas, if we tried to sail we might end up going backwards. So we savored these couple hours of sailing until we had to change direction having the wind right on the nose, on came the motor and down came the sails. After a long day we anchored in a quiet little creek with 2 other boats. After about midnight the wind picked up and howled the rest of the night.

Busy doing the cooking

We had plans to head to Charleston the next day, but the wind was still strong and it looked as though it might thunderstorm. We decided to stay for a couple more hours to see how it played out. We left at 11 but in hind sight should have stayed because the current was against us the entire way making our predicted 5 hour day a 7 hour day and we were still 5 miles shy of Charleston. The wind was very shifty and gusty and we would pull out the jib to try to help us with our battle against the strong current. A sudden gust tipped the boat uncomfortably far over which resulted in the dinghy flipping over. Luckily we didn’t have the motor on, and all we lost was a sham-wow. We furled the jib half way but when we thought the gusts had died down we again let it out, only to be knocked over again and once again the dinghy flipped. This was not a good day, and after the frustratingly slow pace, I could see why so many leave their boat down south and fly home. We decided to anchor short of Charleston because there was only about an hour of sunlight left and the way we were going our chances of anchoring in the light were slim to none. We were glad we anchored where we did in the quiet and somewhat protected Stono River as again the wind piped up overnight which, if we were in Charleston in the crowded anchorage, would have caused a sleepless night worrying about all the other boats around us.

Replica of the first sub to take out a boat.

The wind died around 11am the next day after we had a leisurely breakfast. We left at a time which allowed us to catch the tide to Charleston. Our experiences anchoring in Charleston on the way down left me a little apprehensive as I did not want to do any late night re-anchoring, so we chose our spot carefully. There are lots of boats anchored out, many are neglected/derelict and some on mooring balls, so one knows for sure how each will swing when the tide turns. We put out two anchors in a Bahamian moor style to keep us from swinging too much. Once we were fairly sure we were secured and wouldn’t be playing bumper cars we put the engine on the dinghy and went ashore. We were able to find the dinghy dock this time, though it was quite a ride away. We walked to the downtown area and decided on a tour for the next day. We were thinking about staying the next night in a marina but decided to save our money on marina costs and instead use it towards exploring the city. Once we decided on what we would do the next day we walked back to the boat and had a quiet night at anchor.

Got to touch a horseshoe crab - only allowed to use 2 fingers though

Friday May 6^th we discovered the “Charms of Charleston”. We elected for a motorized tour and it worked out well as it rained on and off this day. Buba, our tour guide, was absolutely amazing. We have never had such an interesting, fun but informative tour. We got to see the sites of historical significance as well as some of the absolutely gorgeous huge homes in the city. After our tour we visited the Aquarium, boasted as Charleston’s #1 attraction. We battled the school children for views of the giant aquarium, which housed over 700 fish, including enormous sharks, tuna and Pompanos. I’m not a fan of captivity but I have to admit it was amazing to see all the fish. Nothing compared to actually snorkeling a coral reef though. After seeing all those fish we were a bit peckish so dined on some food along the way back to the boat. Our night ended with fireworks over Charleston harbour in celebration of some special occasion.

Time to move on. We were planning on leaving early, but were prevented due to fog making for poor visibility. We left at about 8:45 in almost complete calm. We were delayed about 45 minutes for a bridge opening but other than that it was easy going. The usual weekend traffic died down once we were a few miles out of Charleston and we had a beautiful day. We anchored in the wilderness and I once again appreciated nature and enjoyed what the ICW has to offer.

We are ticking off the miles of the ICW and currently have less than 400 to go until the Chesapeake. Time is just flying by.

Georgia Revisited

On April 25^th we said a sad goodbye to Florida, but a warm welcome to Georgia as we crossed over the imaginary State line. We felt that on our way down, we just skimmed over Georgia and never really got to see it. All we remember is lots of uninhabited marshlands with clumps of trees here and there. This time we took a few days to explore some areas.

(Wild horse on Cumberland Island, GA)

Our first stop was Jekyll Island, once known as the most exclusive club, ‘The Jekyll Island Club’, it is now a state run tourist destination where you can walk the grounds where the Rockerfeller’s, Morgan’s and others took a winter retreat in their not so humble “cottages”. The island also has many nature and bike trails to explore. Sal and I weren’t sure if we would want to stay another day here, but after a long walk from our anchorage to the historic district, I decided another day would be well spent here.

(Bike path through the forest)

On Tuesday morning, we woke to birds chirping. It seems like the last few places we have anchored in have been noisy: Jacksonville with the city sounds, Sister’s creek with the helicopter noise and the port, and Fernandina with the mill. It was so peaceful here at night. Waking in a good mood, we put on our walking shoes, as we knew it would be a long day. We took a bike path that cut through a small, forested area to cut across to the ocean side of the island. We walked along the beach in search of a breakfast place. We walked and walked and walked until we came across the restaurant. We had a well-deserved greasy breakfast to rejuvenate us for the rest of the day. We were going to head straight to the museum, but couldn’t resist first playing a round of mini golf on the way. At the museum we signed up for a trolley tour of the grounds, which included entry into 2 of the cottages. We were given a guided tour describing who was part of this exclusive club, when they came, what they did and of course little anecdotes to bring life to the members. The cottages were not what we would call a ‘cottage’, but more what we would call a large mansion. There were beautiful lawns and landscaping that they continue to upkeep. We were glad we elected the trolley tour because by that time our feet were starting to get a little sore, and we still had to walk the 5 km back to the boat. We were exhausted to say the least when we got back. We forgot how hard it is to be a tourist. Well worth the visit though and we even saw some wildlife – 2 alligators, a deer and of course lots of birds.

(One of the many 'cottages')

The next day the winds started up. Severe weather was happening further inland and we kept glued to the weather reports for any severe weather coming our way. We just received strong winds on Wednesday. The next day we had hoped to do another 30 miles, but decided to call it quits before having to cross a larger sound as the winds were in the 20 knot range and gusting higher. We found a comfortable anchorage where we were by ourselves with lots of swing room. We settled in for a lazy afternoon of movie watching, when of course the wind died. But we stayed, and were glad that we had because a series of thunderstorms passed through the area, bringing winds, rains and some lightning that seemed a little too close for comfort. It really makes you feel vulnerable in a little sailboat looking out and counting the Mississippi’s between flash of lightning and the bang. We were lucky once again and nothing bad happened, except for discovering we have a little leak and have no idea from where the water is getting in.

We had a long day of motoring with a little bit of motor sailing on Friday. After the thunderstorms of Thursday the wind shifted around to the north cooling things down. We hardly saw a boat all day, but saw many, many dolphins and baby dolphins swimming in and around the rivers. We still get excited about seeing dolphins and will always look if we hear or see a splash around. We didn’t get anchored until after sundown that day. Both were a little cranky as we had been on the go for 13 hours. We had a revitalizing sleep and the next day took another little detour off the ICW to visit the city of Savannah.

We had heard many good things about the city. We arrived on a Saturday which of course meant lots of people, but we were looking forward to that after being in quiet anchorages for the past few days. We docked at the city docks since there was no place to anchor as the river is very deep and busy with freighters, as well there is a swift current and the tidal range is about 9 feet. We were warned that the docks might have cockroaches, so we bought some spray and drenched the lines. We didn’t see any cockroaches on the dock, but we did see some in the streets, which freaked me out a bit. I am fearful that we might find some on the boat, but haven’t seen one yet (knock on wood).

(Touring of a restored tall ship)

Savannah is an old and charming city. The river street is down about 2 stories from the main streets which was designed a few centuries ago because of it being a major shipping port. The downtown streets are cobblestone and narrow. There were lots of shops and restaurants and tours going on. We decided to take a ghost pub tour, to get to see a bit of the city, hear some history, and of course enjoy a drink or two. We found Savannah an interesting place because the whole downtown area is licensed, so you can buy a beer and just walk around with it. The first time we did that I felt like I was doing something wrong, but there are rarely anyone in the bars during the day, as everyone is enjoying their beverage by the water. Savannah was also the first place that we got internet in about a week, so we got to check up on our emails and let our parents know we were ok. We just stayed one night and then it was time to continue northward and out of Georgia. We are glad we took the extra couple of days to do some sightseeing as we really enjoyed what we did and saw.