Blue Crab Country

We enjoyed 4 days in Hampton VA, just north of Norfolk.  Lots of marinas along the Hampton River, but we stayed at the City Piers where I was pleasantly surprised how much they welcomed boaters.  We stayed right across the dock from the local charter fishing boat (a “head” boat where you pay $40 per head to go fishing for 4 hours), which was a bit noisy at 6:30 in the morning, but we could see what was biting out in Hampton Roads.

Just north of the city is Langley Air Force Base, which was the location where NASA began.  The original astronauts (the Mercury Program, for you wet-behind-the-ear young kids) conducted most of their training here, since most of the aerospace technology was originally developed here, except for the rocket propulsion technology, which was developed in Huntsville AL. (Now, students, you have completed your history lesson for today.)  Hampton has a large impressive museum sponsored by Langley showcasing the history of space flight, where we spent a lazy afternoon.

The marina loaned bicycles for free, so we took advantage of this to further explore the city.  We rode several miles to Fort Monroe at the southern-most tip of the peninsula, and wore ourselves out.   It was built just after the War of 1812, and remained an active military base until 2011.  It guarded the mouth of Hampton Roads, and is close to the location where the Monitor and the “Merrimac” (actually the C.S.S. Virginia) had their ironclad duel.  Robert E. Lee was one of the construction engineers for the fort.  Jefferson Davis (President of the Confederacy, for you wet-behind-the-ears) was imprisoned here after the Civil War (which actually wasn’t very civil).  Throughout the Civil War, it remained in control of the northern troops, which didn’t sit too well with the rest of Virginia.  The size of the fort was impressive, being the largest stone fort ever built on US soil.

Wolf Trap Light near the Western Shore. Some lonely
lighthouse keeper used to live here!

On Monday June 23 we left on a 2-day cruise for Crisfield MD on the eastern shore of the Bay.  The wind & waves were kind of “iffy”, and we were taking sea spray all over the boat.  We planned to anchor for the night, then cross the Bay to the east, in spite of a forecast wind shift and more 2-3’ waves on our beam.  But as we motored along, we decided not to chance deteriorating weather, and changed course to Crisfield.  The Somers Cove Marina was charging only 50 cents per foot, which was actually cheaper than us anchoring all night & running the generator.  By the time we arrived at Crisfield, the entire boat was covered with salt, and needed a fresh water wash down.

Sue with her pile of blue crabs

As we left Hampton that Monday morning, we heard on the radio that traffic was backed up for 3 miles trying to cross the bridge-tunnel into Norfolk.  Funny, but we didn’t see any traffic out on the water!  We did decide to “rock and roll” that morning, but that is the kind of stuff that sea stories are made of!

On our second night in Crisfield, we met another boater who had gone to Purdue Univ the same time period that I was there (yes, we both have grey hair).  Also, they knew the same friends in Daytona Beach & had kept their boat at the same marina.  They led us to the local restaurant where Sue & I split a dozen large blue crabs for dinner.  Sue thought she had died & gone to heaven.

We have our other restaurants picked out to eat crab every day we’re here.  To paraphrase John Paul Jones: “I’ve just begun to eat!”

The End of the Beginning

We retrieved our car from Myrtle Beach, but it took two days to do so.  Of course we had to have dinner in Myrtle Beach at an all-you-can-eat seafood buffet.  Sue ate so many crab legs that I almost had to carry her out of the place.  One thing we did accomplish during the trip was to select a marina in Myrtle Beach in which to spend the upcoming winter.  We want to stay somewhat north, so we can make it to the Great Lakes next summer.

Huge osprey nest on top of ICW marker

Our week stay at Dowry Creek Marina was kinda unremarkable.  We learned that the afternoon seabreeze came from the SE at 15-20 mph, which created whitecaps against the exposed stern of our boat.  It made so much noise that we sometimes slept in the forward bunkroom.  I’m reminded of the term “fetch slap” which one of our boating friends in Chattanooga invented.  The marina had way too many spiders, which was surprising, considering the salt water environment.  And the city water was barely drinkable, but only if you didn’t notice the yellow color.  The marina did have a nice Father’s Day get-together for all the permanent and transient boaters.  We met a couple aboard the S/V Nemo, whom we traveled with for the next 3 days.

Our friends aboard S/V Nemo about to cross into our wake

We anchored our first night out amidst a thousand crab pots.  This was the first time we saw as many crab traps as we used to dodge in Lake Pontchartrain.  The second night found us at Coinjock Marina in North Carolina, where we bought a T-shirt which said “Whereinthehelliscoinjock?”  At the marina restaurant we ate a 32oz prime rib, and again, I almost had to carry Sue back to the boat.  (We’re actually eating our way up the East Coast).

The Admiral at the helm, with everything under control

We got up early the next morning to help S/V Nemo get under way, since their sailboat actually motored more slowly than our “crawler”.  We soon joined them as we worked our way through the 10 bridges (all needing an opening) and one lock in the last 20 miles getting into Norfolk.  We needed a listing of all the bridges, their Mile Mark (location) on the ICW, and their hours of openings.  It was very slow going in daytime temperatures approaching 100 degrees.  And they call this “pleasure” boating!

Red buoy "36", the beginning of the ICWW.  Behind
is Portsmouth Naval Hospital, where I spent a week
in 1973 with viral meningitis

The 4^th day we worked our way past the highly industrialized waterfront areas of Norfolk, Chesapeake and Portsmouth VA.  We passed the numerous Navy ships, both in the repair yards and at the Naval Station Norfolk.   We passed the Naval Air Station, where I had the pleasure to spend 2 years of my adult life, when I was young and indestructible, flying Navy helicopters and defying death. 

We passed Red buoy “36” at Hospital Point in Norfolk, which is the official end/beginning of the Intercoastal Waterway, which then runs south and west all the way to Corpus Christi, Texas.  It is a mile mark for us, since we started cruising this year on April 24 from Sanford, Florida, and have traveled exactly 900 statute miles so far.  Also of note, we have used 240 gallons of diesel to travel the past 360 statute miles, a fuel economy (if there is such a thing with boats) of 1.5 sm/gal.  (The next time you fill up your car & complain about the cost of fuel, don’t come crying to me!)

As this USCG Cutter was getting under way, we had
to keep our distance from him

Because another cold front was coming through the area bringing lots of thunderstorms, we decided to head to Hampton Public Piers up the Hampton River in VA.  It seems like a very nice place which is really boater-friendly.  We’ll spend 3-4 days here acting like a tourist, and planning our next venture.  We have officially reached our destination – Chesapeake Bay!!  Now we gotta figure out where to go next!

One aircraft carrier after another at Norfolk
Naval Station

In Hampton Roads, we met our first
buoy with a gong, or bell. It took us
a while to figure out what we were
hearing!

North to North Carolina

Somehow, I think this is just tempting the
next hurricane!

With our fuel tanks full of the cheapest fuel around, and our bellies full of local seafood, we again headed north on Wednesday June 4.  We cruised through the “Rock Pile” past Myrtle Beach at low tide & saw how narrow the ICW was, and how suddenly it shallows to nothing.  What surprised me is how stretched out Myrtle Beach is – about 30 miles along the coast with plenty of tourist traps sprinkled in

Myrtle Beach had miles and miles of trailer parks.

North of Myrtle Beach, we considered going on the outside into the Atlantic for our run to Southport (on the Cape Fear River), but re-considered that they call it “Cape Fear” for a reason.  Actually, the winds were too high in the ocean, and the seas were 3-4 feet – not exactly what you’d call “Pleasure Boating”.  So we slugged it out in the ICW going through all the shallow spots at idle speed.

At Southport Marina, a 95' yacht had 6 horns
plus a whistle.  I guess you can do almost anything
if you throw enough money at it!

As we passed one boat, he called us on the VHF radio to say that we had a “red liquid” spilling out of our port stern!  Now, those who know diesel engines will know that the “red liquid” can only be marine diesel fuel.  I scrambled down into the engine room to realize that my fuel return valves from the engines, were routed back to the aft fuel tanks (instead of being routed back to the side tanks), and they were so full that they were spilling out the overflow vent.  So much for all of our cheap fuel we had aboard!

Avast, ye landlubber!!  Pirates along the ICW !!

We made our marina in Southport N.C. and spent an extra day there while a cold front came through.  Besides, Sue had some good Yankee greenbacks that she had to spend yet at the local stores.  A highlight here was the free weather and navigation briefing conducted by a local volunteer.  He used to be a Navy meteorologist, and in fact served under our other friend now in Daytona Beach, who was C.O. of the meteorology office for the US Atlantic Fleet.  Our Power Squadron friends in New Orleans know very well of whom I speak!

The best part of this photo is the huge USMC flag
on the bow of the "tourist" boat!  The Marines were
no match for the pirates that day.

We departed Southport, trying to time the tide and currents, but ended up with more head currents, sometimes reaching 2.5 mph.  Kinda screws up you fuel economy.  The ICW in this area takes you under 3 bridges which all have restrictions on their opening – only on the hour.  We got to sit & wait over an hour among the 3 bridges.  Our highlight of the day was when a pirate ship attacked a boatload of US Marines right in front of us!!  I wasn’t sure who to cheer for!!  (Sorry, Clint).  It was all for the tourists, but the pirate ship was firing “cannon”, cut right in front of us, and boarded the “tourist” boat.

But within Camp Lejeune, the Marines are all business!
The ICW is closed when our military gets serious.

We anchored that night within the boundaries of the USMC base Camp Lejeune.  Pleasure boats can stop there to anchor, but you’d better not even think of stepping foot on the base!  The next morning we had to call the Range Safety Officer for permission to continue on the ICW through Camp Lejeune, because they routinely conduct live firing there from artillery, offshore Navy vessels, and aircraft bombing/strafing.

We made a safe passage through Camp Lejeune, eastward towards Morehead City N.C.  Our only “oops” was when we hit bottom at low tide, even when we were still within the ICW channel.  I saw the depth sounder counting down, put the boat into neutral, hit softly, and was able to back off the shoaling.  Like the saying goes, “There are only two types of boat owners: those who’ve run aground, and those who have yet to run aground.”

At Morehead City, we saw the "Wind Horse", which
was built in New Zealand & cruised most of the world.
It has been featured in many boating magazines.
It had been recently purchased by a new owner.

We spent just one night in Morehead City, where we found ourselves in the middle of a blue marlin fishing tournament, with huge Sportfisherman yachts all around us.  Still, we were able to walk into town to spend some of our limited retirement income.  On Sunday we took advantage of absolutely beautiful weather from a big high pressure system sitting over us, and cruised about 45 miles to an anchorage out in the middle of nowhere.  We had no cell phone or wifi coverage, so we enjoyed the peace and quiet watching all the jellyfish float by.

I guess that the Army Corpse of Engineers can't maintain
the ICW markers, so some creative soul has taken over.

The next day was a short run to Dowry Creek Marina, near Belhaven N.C.  As the morning wore on, the winds started increasing, partly due to the daily offshore breeze from the ocean.  As we tried to back into our slip, the winds were 15G20 from exactly the wrong direction.  All of the canvas enclosures on our boat made it into a sail boat on which you can’t take down the sails.  Of course, the slip next to us had a sailboat with a long bowsprit sticking our past the pilings, which further complicated things.  After 4 attempts at docking stern-in, we decided to go bow-in, which still took 2 attempts.  Finally, after we got off the boat, we found the slip was only 16' wide, and our beam is 15.5'.  No wonder we had problems.  At least we remembered to “Never approach a dock at a speed faster than that which you want to hit it”.





Gee, do you think Obama will say that this guy doesn't
really "need" a house this big, and then try to put 3 or
4 more families to live with him?  After all, this guy can
certainly "afford" to pay more taxes!

We’ll stay at this marina for a week while we retrieve our car from Myrtle Beach (at least that’s where we THINK we left it), do some chores around the boat, and plan our final leg to the Chesapeake Bay.  We’re only 136 miles from it now.  When we started cruising this spring, we started almost 1000 miles from the Chesapeake.  Even “crawlers” will eventually get to their destination!

Friends from Chattanooga

We spent a week in Chattanooga taking care of family business and visiting old friends (no, the friends aren't actually that old).  First off, we need to thank again some of our best friends, John & Susan, who graciously opened their "mountain-top motel" for us for our entire stay.  They have managed to find us during our travels the past year, no matter where we are along the coast.  They have really taken us under their wings since we first met them several years ago.

We visited with some other good friends, Clint & Leigh aboard their new "Barefootin".  I had fun getting dirty in Clint's engine room, troubleshooting an issue.  We all had "fun" taking the boat out for an hour on the TN River, dodging rain storms all the time.  How many times did we pass that dead tree by the red marker?!?

We participated in manning the booth for the Chattanooga Sail & Power Squadron at Erwin Marine's customer appreciation day, and got to see squadron members for the first time in several years.  We exchanged "sea stories" ad infinitum, and got to eat free hot dogs!

And finally, we visited several times with Sue's mother, who is holding her own at the memory-care facility.  All in all, a good visit

Now, back to boating!