Day Three - On Towards New Bern

6/20/14.  The next morning we were awakened at the Alligator River Marina by our next door neighbor, Ryan, leaving his slip along with most of the other boats at the marina.  The marina didn't appear to have any permanent residents, apparently serving only transients.  Ryan thanked us for our help and the rosary Sharon had given him, and told us he was headed for Belhaven, NC, a small city on the Pungo River about 50 miles away.  We told him we might see him there since we knew we had another 22 mile canal to transit and assumed that it would be at "no wake" speeds like the Dismal Swamp Canal.  Figuring that the Alligator-Pungo canal would take at least 3 1/2 hours at 6 mph, and the remaining 30 miles or so to Belhaven at least another hour or more, we figured that would be a good stop for the night.

By the time we left around 8:30 am all of the other boats from the marina were gone.  We got underway and water conditions were very good, so within 1/2 hour at our 30 mph cruising speed we passed Ryan as well as all of the other boats that had been at the marina the night before.

When we reached the end of the Alligator River and entered the 22 mile Alligator-Pungo Canal, I kept looking for "no wake" signs, but did not see any.  The canal was a good deal wider than any we had been on before, so the wake we were putting out had pretty much dissipated by the time it reached the shore on either side.  Since our wake was causing no damage I decided to maintain speed until I had a reason not to.   As it turns out I only had to slow down for other boats, of which there were very few, and a couple of bridges.  Consequently we transited the canal and entered the Pungo River in less than an hour.  By the time we reached the turnoff to Belhaven we had only been on the water for about 2 1/2 hours, so we decided to skip Belhaven and continue on towards New Bern.

As we proceeded down the Pungo River the water became increasingly choppy, and consequently Jake and Kimi started to become anxious again.  The previous evening we had called our son Michael, who is a veterinarian and owns Clevenger's Corner Veterinary Care near Culpeper, VA, and gotten instructions from him for medicating the dogs for anxiety should we encounter rough conditions again like we did on the Albemarle Sound.  Since it was beginning to get rough, Sharon gave the dogs their medication and they began to calm down.  Exiting the Pungo River, we entered the Pamlico River and the water became much more choppy, so I'm glad we had a way to help the dogs cope.

We left the Pamlico River and entered a creek and then another "land cut" canal that ultimately put us into the Bay River, which is a tributary of the Nuese River.  At this point I kind of lost track of exactly where we were and was just following the purple line on my chartplotter that represented the ICW.  At the resolution of the chartplotter base map there were no names on the rivers to tell me exactly where we were,  I knew we had to depart from the ICW "purple line" part of the way up the Nuese River in order to continue up river to New Bern.  We fully expected the Nuese River to be rough and choppy since the Pamlico had been, so I figured I would know once we entered the Nuese.  Since Sharon was dealing with anxious dogs I did not ask her to get out our charts to determine our position.

We entered another creek, then entered another canal, and when we reached a "no wake" zone I decided I had better figure out exactly where we were.  I turned the helm over to Sharon and got out the paper charts.  Since we had just crossed the "Mile 190" marker on the ICW it was fairly easy to determine our position.  I found that we were at least 20 miles past the point that we should have left the "purple line" to proceed up the Neuse River!  The lower Nuese had been so calm that I did not realized we had actually already been on it for some time.  We turned around and made our way back to the Nuese, and then 18 miles up river to the turn off to Fairfield Harbor just downriver from New Bern, where my brother lives.

In the creek just before entering the Fairfield Harbor canals is a very nice marina, the Northwest Creek Marina, where we docked for the night.  We were surprised to have made the transit from the Alligator River Marina all the way to Fairfield Harbor in just one day, but conditions were favorable, and in spite of my navigation error, here we were!

The Alligator River Marina

The harrowing crossing of the Albemarle Sound left us exhausted and spent, so the Alligator River Marina on was a welcome sight as we entered the Alligator River.  We refueled and then tied up for the night at our assigned slip.  The marina is remote, but nice.  The docks appear to be relatively new.  There is a convenience store on site and a small restaurant that served wonderful food.  The food was mostly typical diner type fare, but I thought it was delicious, especially the fried okra!  The marina also has a bath house with somewhat plain but serviceable showers, washers and dryers, and a lounge with some tables, chairs, a sofa and a TV.  In addition there is free wireless Internet available.  It is a BoatUS participating marina, but they don't discount the fuel unless you purchase a larger amount than we needed, and I don't remember what that amount was.   There was a nice wide open area where I could let the dogs run, something that both they and I appreciated since we could work off some of their pent up energy.

We were docked next to a sail boat from New York.  The owner was a young man from Florida named Ryan, and he had just purchased the boat in New York, and as he put it, was delivering it to himself in Florida.  He owned a real estate company and was in his "off" season, so had the time to make the trip.  We found out he had limited sailing experience, he had taken a class and done a little bit of sailing before purchasing this boat, so this was quite a step for him to solo this "new to him" boat hundreds of miles to his home.  The boat had one of the old Atomic 4 engines, an engine, that while dependable, is known to be somewhat cantankerous. True to form he was having some unpredictable engine problems, but was able to fix them and keep heading for home.  He had also crossed the Albemarle Sound that day and was as exhausted and beat up as we were.  Due to his limited boating experience he did not have his boat tied properly in his slip so as to weather the predicted storms that night, so I showed him how to add some lines and tie up securely.  Sharon also gifted him with a rosary that she was carrying since we found out that he had been raised as a Catholic.  He seemed appreciative.  

That night we had a tremendous thunderstorm and I saw something I had never seen before. It was raining cats and dogs and the wind was blowing at 30 mph and gusting higher. I happened to look out of the back door of the boat and saw this family of Canadian geese.

They were absolutely anchored to that spot, unmoving, facing into the wind and rain. It was as though they were boats and had turned into the wind and anchored to ride out a storm.  Every now and then one or another would raise their head as if they were drinking, I assume because rain was blowing up their nose. The parents were on either end of the formation and the three youngsters were between them. At one point one of the youngsters decided he had had enough and broke formation. There was a momentary flurry of action while the parents poked and prodded everyone back into formation, then they sat anchored again, riding out the storm.

New Bern Trip Day Two, Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Fire!

6/19/14.  After spending a very hot night tied up at the Dismal Swamp Visitor Center, we started early enough to make the first lock opening of the day at 8:30 am at the South Mills lock, four miles from the Visitor Center.  We locked through without incident along with the southbound sail boat based in Oriental, NC.   Even though the Dismal Swamp Canal was a "must do", we decided that we had done it and there was no need to do it again.  We vowed then and there to return home through the Chesapeake and Albemarle Canal "main route" of the ICW instead.  The Dismal Swamp Canal may be historic, but we found it monotonous to creep down a perfectly straight, narrow waterway, lined on both sides with trees, no air moving, and with very little variety of scenery.  In addition, when you are used to cruising at 30 mph, 7 mph seems like a snails pace, especially on a hot day.  In the future we will take the other route if we have a choice.

We transited a short "land cut" that connects the Dismal Swamp Canal to the upper Pasquotank River after locking through at South Mills.  Finally, we entered the Pasquotank River and were able to open up the motor and travel at a decent speed.  The upper Pasquotank above Elizabeth City, NC is quite beautiful and is, in my opinion, the only reason you may want to endure the Dismal Swamp Canal.  It helped that we were finally able to get our first relief from the heat in the last 24 hours by traveling at our 30 mph cruising speed.

We had read that Elizabeth City, NC was a very nice stop on this route, and planned to stop there.  However, as we approached I was checking the marine weather on the Albemarle Sound and found
that this day was projected to be the best of the next several days, with forecast waves of one foot.  Subsequent days waves were projected be 2-3 feet, so we decided to cross this sometimes treacherous body of water today under better conditions.

After we passed the TCOM Airship Factory on our starboard (they build blimps there) and entered the Albemarle Sound, we realized that the forecast one foot waves were actually closer to 4 feet.  Slowing down and trimming the boat made the passage rocky but possible, so I elected to continue.  It took us almost two hours to transit the wide open mouth of the Pasquotank and across the Albemarle to the mouth of the Alligator River.  It was a very rough passage, requiring intense concentration on my part to keep a good angle on the waves and at the same time avoid the innumerable crab pot floats.  The Albemarle is virtually paved with them.  Every time I thought I was settled into a good angle and path of travel, another crab pot would appear directly in front of the boat!  Sharon also had a rough time attempting to keep Jake and Kimi somewhat comforted.  They were both very disconcerted with the constant and unpredictable motion and sounds.  We were taking a lot of spray over the cabin as well, which they did not like either.  All in all, by the time we reached the other side we were both exhausted and the dogs were nuts.

After finally entering the mouth of the Alligator River and winding our way carefully through the shoaling at the river entrance, we went directly to the Alligator River Marina which is about 4 miles into the river to starboard just before the bridge.

New Bern Trip Day One - Into the Dismal Swamp!

We left our home on the York River near Gloucester, VA early on the morning of June 18th.  The plan was to fuel up and pump out the holding tank in Norfolk prior to entering the Dismal Swamp Canal.  We had read so much about how the Dismal Swamp was a "must" for cruisers, so we decided to take that route, at least on the way out.  We thought there was an outside chance of getting through the canal by the last lock opening at South Mills, NC if we could get into the canal at Deep Creek, VA early enough.  The alternate plan was to spend the night at the Dismal Swamp Visitor Center not too far from South Mills.

We decided to fuel up and pump out at the Ocean Marine Yacht Center since it was a BoatUS participating marina rather than at the Tidewater Yacht Marina at ICW "Mile 0".  I made a wrong turn off of the Elizabeth River, and it took me a little time to get straightened out and go down the correct branch to the marina.  After fueling and walking the dogs, we started toward the Dismal Swamp Canal.  I did not realize ahead of time that much of the route around Norfolk was a no wake zone, so it took much longer than I had anticipated to get through the area.  In addition, we got caught for about a half hour at a railroad bridge that was lowering as we approached it for a train to creep across.  Consequently we didn't arrive at Deep Creek Lock until after the scheduled 11:00 am opening.   After calling the lockmaster on the radio, we found out that the lock was not operating because the power was out.  There was a northbound motor vessel stuck in the lock that would have to finish locking through after repairs were made, then we could get on our way.  We anchored out and waited.  It took until the next scheduled opening at 1:30 pm before the power was restored to the lock.  As it turns out a squirrel had gnawed through some wires, so it took a while to locate and repair the break.

After the northbound vessel finished locking through, we entered the lock for our first locking experience.  The lockmaster's instructions made it easy for us, and with Sharon handling the bow line and me on the stern line we went through without incident.

My plan had been to start the kicker motor and shut down the main motor once we were in the canal to save fuel.  The kicker will easily push the boat at the required no wake speed in the canal, so there would be no need to run the main motor for this 22 miles of the trip.  Of course, even though the kicker had functioned flawlessly about two weeks before, it refused to start.  I tried it on several occasions as we proceeded along the canal, but no luck, so we just motored along on the main motor at 6-7 mph.  The day was HOT!  I believe it was the warmest day of the summer so far, with temperatures hovering around 100 degrees.  With trees lining both sides of the canal, there was no air moving except for the minimal breeze we generated as we crept along the canal inside of our aluminum oven.  Luckily, we had a fan we could plug into the boat's 12 volt outlet, so we could get some minimal relief from the heat. We were very glad to see the Visitor Center when we finally arrived about 5:00 pm.

There were two sailing vessels tied up at the Visitor Center sea wall, one at each end, so we maneuvered between them and tied up.  The Visitor Center is a nice free place to tie up for the night, there are clean bathrooms but no showers or electricity hookup.  In addition there are nice picnic tables with roofs over them, and a nice area to walk the dogs.  We found out that there was one water faucet available, but it was in use by the sail boat on the north end of the bulkhead.  The bulkhead is only 150 feet long, meaning there is only room for about 3-4 boats to tie up, so if you are traveling during a busy time there may be no room for you to dock.

The boat on the south end of the bulkhead was a sail boat based in Oriental, NC.  A couple was traveling back to their home there, I did not find out where they had been.  They were traveling with their dog, with whom Kimi promptly picked a fight after slipping out of her collar, even though he outweighed her by about 40 pounds.  Sharon had to separate them, getting a small bite in the process.  There were no other injuries.

The sail boat on the north end was based in Norfolk.  It was an older man traveling with his parrot, since his wife would not go sailing with him any more.  He had left home on October 24th to sail to Florida, and was just getting back after having some boat trouble in Florida.  He had been tied up here for over two weeks because his motor was shot and he was waiting on a new one to be delivered in about another week.

After showering on the dock using "north bound's" hose, we retired to a sweltering night.

Planning the first trip

Although my wife Sharon and I had done a few overnight trips on a previous boat and on Coast2Coast, we had never done an extended trip.  We planned to do so when we purchased Coast2Coast, but life, family obligations and business obligations got in the way for a couple of years.  Finally, this year all of the elements were in place to have the freedom for an extended trip, so we began to plan.  My brother had moved to a place on the water near New Bern, NC, and since we are on the water near Gloucester, VA, it seemed like a perfect first trip, especially since the Intracoastal Waterway, also called the ICW, came down the Chesapeake Bay and approached within a few miles of New Bern on the Nuese River.

We would also be cruising with our two Border Terriers, Jake and Kimi.  While Jake had overnighted on the boat, Kimi never had, and neither of them had been on an extended boat trip.  We decided to do an overnight trip just to shake down a few things and acclimate the dogs to sleeping on the boat.  I also wanted to teach the dogs that they could use an Astro Turf mat I had placed on the swim platform as a bathroom in case we could not get them ashore.  We anchored behind the Goodwin Islands near the mouth of the York River near our home for the trial.

It was a pleasant evening and everything worked fine on the boat.  Jake and Kimi enjoyed the evening.  They both have life vests and I have attached a sensor to each one that is part of my Autotether System, so if they go overboard I'll get an alarm.

The biggest problem was getting them to use the Astro Turf.  They both see the boat as a "no go" place, but after telling often that they could "go out" there, and walking them through the access door to the swim platform on a leash like I was taking them out from a hotel, they finally both reluctantly agreed that it was OK.  The only other problem that night was that it was a little windy so it took a while for Kimi to get comfortable enough with the sounds and motion to settle down for the night.

After the trial run and outfitting the boat with food and equipment we felt we would need, we figured we were ready to give it a try.