1515 Miles Covered/Day 117 - 125 Bear DE, Cape May, Atlantic City

At Last we leave Bear,  DE

Our stay in Bear, DE ended up lasting a few more days than we had anticipated with small craft advisories for the delaware river/bay over and over again. The overnight stop turned into 5 days  It really is a very pretty area with one stop shopping if you need to go to the grocery, deli, post office or buy fire wood. Yep, they are all the same place.  Fortunately for us it was about 2 miles down the road which gave us both something to do and some exercise. 

The Marina, Summit North, is a hurricane hole off of the C&D about 2/3 of they way through the canal.  All along the canal are some very nice walking/biking trails.  The place is actually kind of weird - it's like there was a plan for a resort type facility that only got half implemented.  A very nice miami/south Florida style restaurant on the hill overlooking the river.  Roads and infrastructure as if a hotel or houses were going to be put in, but stopped in time.  All in the middle of NO WHERE - just weird. 

With the arrival of Friday, and the weather/marine forecasts clear, we were VERY excited to head south (wait, isn't this the wrong direction???) down the Delaware. The Delaware is a very busy river for commercial vessels, in our 6 hour trip, we saw at least a half dozen tanker, cargo ships & barges. The first 4 hours of our trip were great - the last 2 hours kicked the crap out of us.  Nothing dangerous, but again we had very confused 2-4 foot seas hitting us randomly from all sides.  Things were rolling around everywhere.  At one point, we heard something bang and the dingy engine that we stowe behind the ladder in the cockpit had rolled 1/2 way across and was blocking the door.  You should have seen the gymnastics required to put it back and tie it up while pitching side to side.  You can be sure that we have everything now stowed away and secured before leaving the dock, even if we are expecting a nice day!   

link to Bear DE Stop

Cape May, NJ

Scheduled for a 2 day stop, ended up being 5.  At least this time we were in a pretty cool place with lots to do and see.  I never really gave Cape May much consideration before, but it is an old fishing town, with some great beaches and lovely neighborhoods.  The entire city of Cape May is designated the Cape May Historic District, a National Historic Landmark due to its concentration of Victorian buildings. (The most outside of San Francisco).  We stayed at the Canyon Club Marina, it was great, infinity pool, a short bike/walk from restaurants, shops and the beach.  The weather continued to be sketchy - cold and windy.  We were in Sweaters and jeans (again - I had already packed them away for the summer, or so I thought). Overall a pretty great place, that we would like to visit again, but right now, we are itching to get moving again, and Wednesday looks like it's going to be the day.

Link to Cape May Pictures

Atlantic City, NJ

So happy we left the docks today!  What a great ride we had as well.  Sunny skies, a nice slow roll on the ocean and a 4 hour trip from Cape May to A.C.  We rode about 2 miles off shore, which gave us a great view of the "Jersey Shore".  It was really enjoyable all around. Here we sit under clear skies and a view of the casinos across the inlet.  We have Bally's, Harrrah's and the world famous Golen Nugget.  We had opted not to leave our $$ at the tables this time. 

The strange water patterns continue, the winds have picked up and the marine forecast for tomorrow is borderline for making more northern progress.  We are learning patience over the past few weeks for sure.

Day 110 to 116 / 1400 Statutory Miles: The Chesapeake Bay

The Chesapeake Bay is a much bigger body of water than we anticipated and we only skimmed the surface with our visits to Deltaville, Solomons Island & Annapolis.  Because of the vastness, we found ourselves so far offshore most of the day, you really couldn't see and appreciate the beautiful coastline.  If you want to "explore" the bay, you really need to get yourself "into the rivers" that are along the shoreline.  With that said, it might just alter our plans for our trip back south so that we can do some additional exploring in this area.  What we did see was simply beautiful, and each place different from the place before it.  We also enjoyed (through the binoculars) the numerous lighthouses that dot the bay. These are a few of the ones we passed.

Deltaville: 

Deltaville is located in a fairly rural portion of Virginia.  There are a couple of stores, restaurants and most every kind of support service for sailing within a 5 mile stretch along a main road.  The bay is really a haven for sailboaters.  The marina was a working yard catering to sailboats.  This is the first place we realized they have WINTER here.  It's a week after Memorial Day and there were still a lot of boats on the hard.  Some still in shrinkwrap. Deltaville has a maritime museum focused on the deadrise boats that are still used in these waters today for crabbing and fishing. We spent the day on the bikes checking out the local scenery and the afternoon in the marina pool. 

Solomons Island

Gorgeous little island located on the Patuxent River in Maryland.   Much less rural than Deltaville and had a lot more going on as far as restaurants and shops.  Very picturesque.  We had the pleasure of a mooring in the prettiest lagoon for the evening. This makes the "Do again" list for sure.  

The south bank of the Patuxent River, is home to Headquarters, Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School, the Atlantic Test Range, and serves as a center for test and evaluation and systems acquisition relating to naval aviation.  This also meant that we were treated to our own private airshow for a few hours, which was VERY COOL!. This short video doesn't do justice to the experience - they were so loud and some so low, you could feel them in your chest.

Annapolis

Spent 2 nights in Annapolis which, for anyone who know us, is one of our favorite places to visit. Our first time arriving by water (which was a real treat for us).  Visiting some of our favorite "haunts" Rams Head, Prussers and just wandering the streets was just the best.  We stayed in the mooring field located in the harbor just off the Naval Academy giving us the best views of the capital building and Naval Academy Dome that were lit up each night.  Water taxi's were available on demand to take you almost anywhere along the waterfront for $3.  Even with our own tender, it was pretty handy for venturing out at night, when the harbor seemed to get churned up.  

Saturday was a sunny warm day to explore with the dingy.  We discovered Spa Creek which runs between Annapolis and Eastport. There are a few marinas and mooring fields in very protected waters and still very accessible to town.  I think we've made this our stayover of choice for Annapolis when we return in the fall.  Eastport is the city next door to Annapolis across Spa Creek.  We spent a little time here on Saturday afternoon and wish we could spend more.  Same feel as Annapolis, but much more residential and home to several restaurants on the water.  We had the best dinner at a place called O'Leary's Seafood.  Highly recommend it!

Annapolis provided some of the roughest waters for overnighting so far.  There is a huge amount of boat traffic (harbor boat tours, folks cruising the waterfront and extremely windy on top of all that. To say we got ROCKED to sleep each night is an understatement.  Our last night here felt like we were sleeping in a washing machine.

To C&D Canal

North of Annapolis, you could see both sides of the Chesapeake, which was very different than the previous days travels.  A significant portion of the western shore, north of Baltimore, is occupied by the Aberdeen Proving Grounds.  We were racking our brains trying to remember what was "special" about this area - so our friend Google enlightened us.  Wow, there is/was some "badass" stuff taking place at this Army facility.  Once again, glad to have US on our side.

  

Located at the northern tip of the Chesapeake is the C&D Canal.  It is the waterway that connects the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays.  The Chesapeake Bay has spoiled us with its consistent water depths of 15 to over 100 feet everywhere! Expecting the canal to look more like what we are used to boating the ICW in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, we were quite surprised to find it meandering, wide and lots of communities and activity on both banks.  Making our way approximately 1/2 way through on Sunday, there was little commercial traffic, but lots of pleasure boaters buzzin around.  We are spending the night at the North Summit Marina before making our way down the Delaware River to Cape May, NJ. Looking ahead at the weather and water conditions, it is likely that this stop will end up being a 2 night stay. The marine forecast is calling for a low front to pass through today with a S winds and 2-3 foot seas.  No SCA, but with our next leg being southerly, higher wave action and opposing winds, we have learned, end up resulting in a very long uncomfortable day.  Tuesday is calling for north winds and 1-2 foot seas and sounds like a much nicer day for a boat ride.

  Click here to view all the pix.

WW32

Day 104-109/1,196 Statutory Miles Covered: Pungo River Anchorage/Coinjock/Portsmouth,VA

Neptune, Prime Rib and the end of the ICW.  We have been holding off on doing a lot of anchoring as we wait for warmer weather to catch up with us but as we made our way up the Pungo River it was clear to see there would be no better time or place.  Finding our way into a well protected basin we quickly found ourself with four other boaters.  It what can only be described as one of the most stunning sunsets that Neptune can provide it was truly the prefect ending to a great day of boating.

But what Neptune gives he also takes away!  The next day we powered our way off the hook and off to a new day making our way north straight into Albemarle Sound.  Now Albemarle Sound should take an hour for us to cross but our old friend Neptune god of the Sea decided we were not paying enough attention and were not paying proper respect.  So he decided to give us four foot seas straight into our starboard beam.  Giving us almost three hours of 30 degree pitching.  Message delivered!!! So now not only do we check and recheck our course for the next day we check and recheck with NOAA for upcoming weather.  When coastal cruising you learn one thing prepares you for the next thing.  With the Chesapeake Bay and a run up the New Jersey coast line in our future we will put the lessons of Albemarle Sound to good use. After leaving Albemarle Sound we made a short run to Coinjock home of the greatest Prime Rib known to man.  But if I'm being honest at that moment we could care less about Prime Rib we just wanted to shake off a rough day.  Shower, food and sleep!

After checking in with NOAA we decided the smart thing was to get a late start as we made our to Portsmouth VA as the weather would be getting better as the day went on.  So we slid off the dock around 10:00 and made way for a three day stop for the Memorial Day weekend.  Along the way we got to go through a lock for the first time at the Great Bridge Lock.  With great excitement the lock tender lifted us eight inches!  Eight inches?!?!  Are you kidding me?!?!  Oh well onwards we go!  As we pulled into Portsmouth we got to pass a long line of Navy war ships on the Norfolk side of the channel.  Really something to see.  First it does make you proud and second glad there on our side. Portsmouth has proven to be a great stop. It has given us a chance to clean and restock the boat. Portsmouth also marks the end of the ICW and the beginning of the Chesapeake Bay.  

Click Here    for Pix from Pungo Anchorage, Ablemarle Sound & Coinjock

Click Here for Norfolk/Portsmouth



Norfolk/Portsmouth Pix Here

              

Day 101 - 103 / 1,014 Statutory Miles Covered - Swan Point & Oriental NC

Carolina Beach to Swan Point Marina:

We had to open several bridges on this leg and most of them timed.  I want to give a big shout out to the figure eight bridge. We had terrible timing for the first two bridges today. Figure Eight Bridge tender was awesome. He personally went down under the bridge to check our clearance for us because we missed the opening by about 5 minute and we were only inches away from clearing. Then he says. "com'on down here; I won't letcha hit nothin."  Started to go through slow. Almost through...  "Awwww, back it up Capt. Your dag gum light is about 3" to much."  I can tell you with some certainty that there aren't many tenders who would go through the trouble of coming out of their houses and do this for us.  Lesson learned -  Take the one hour between the bridges and time it accordingly.

A very pretty ride along a fairly populated section of the waterway. Stayed @ Swan Point Marina run by none other than Tina Turner and her mother.  I would pass this one by next time.... 

Today we are headed to Oriental, NC.  As I'm sitting  here having my coffee getting ready to go and I hear gun fire (a lot of gun fire) from Camp Lejeune. We learn that they perform live fire operations drills here often firing across the ICW. A phone number is provided for you to call daily and find out if/when the waterway will be closed to boat traffic. No drills are scheduled for today, so we should be good to go.  We are first greeted by several security patrol boats and if you look closely, you can see the troops performing drills along the waterway and when you look toward the other side (starboard as you head north) you can see targets and shot up tanks both along the banks of the river and farther in on the dunes.  Pretty cool stuff and I'm glad that these guys are on our side!

To reach Oriental, you have the pleasure of crossing some pretty "big water"  The Bougue Sound and the Neuse River.  No Active Captain warnings today for shoaling, which is a nice break.

 Marina is fabulous and everyone is super friendly.  We walk for groceries and on the way back to the marina, we are asked twice by locals if we need a ride back to the marina.  One of the ladies who offered us a ride weren't even going in the same direction we were. Oriental is a small fishing town with a few shops here and there, but largely not much going on outside the marina.  Great place for a 2 day stay, clean up the boat and get our laundry done.  BTW, they make killer margarita's.

Click here for Swan Point/Oriental Pix

WOW DAY 100Day 99 - 100 / 899 Statutory Miles Covered - Carolina Beach, NC

****WOW!!!  Carolina Beach marks Day 100****

Myrtle Beach to Carolina Beach:

Watch:  Mrs. Middleton

Distance:  ~ 48 miles

Time:  ~ 7 hours

Navigational notes:  Snows cut can be thin on either end.  Try to catch the current on the Cape Fear River or it will be slow going. No bridges.  

Fun Fact:  Traveled roughly 48 miles today and made only 13 miles northern progression.

Hard to believe we've been at this for 100 days.  Seems like just yesterday and at the same time seems like this is the way it's always been.  None the less - Holy Smokes!!!

The trip from Myrtle Beach to Carolina Beach was fairly straight forward.  The scenery was largely developed with houses, condos, restaurants & bars along each side.  We passed through several inlets (Shallots & Lockwood Ferry), where the ocean was Bam!  right there.  

Making our way up the Cape Fear River, which is a major commercial channel was interesting to say the least.  We encountered tugs, ferries and a tanker along the way.  The tanker took up the entire channel causing us to run outside for most of it, but hey - he was significantly bigger than we were. (Dennis here- Becky might not be telling the whole story.  As the tanker was coming toward us it was making her very nervous.  And when Becky gets nervous she talks.  A lot!  Finally unable to hold it in she yelled out CAREFUL WE DON'T GET SUCKED INTO THE JET WASH! Jet wash I thought??  So I now have Goose from Top Gun standing behind the captains chair yelling at me about Jet Wash! After I assured her that we would be ok and the tanker passed harmlessly by I looked at her and just started to laugh and with a smile she looked at me and said she can't believe she had said that out load.)    

Stayed for 2 nights in Carolina Beach, which is your quintessential beach town.  It reminded us both a lot of Ocean Isle.  About 100 yards from the boat was a municipal day dock with public access to the ocean.  We spent the afternoon walking the beach and playing in the water.  After we dinghied a bit farther up the cove, to a local fish shack with good food and cold beer.  Remember, that taking dingy rides is one of my favorite things to do and today I got hours of it! :-)


This place is a hidden gem, the mooring field is about 2 years old, easy to reach moorings and spectacular views in a well protected cove.  We will be back here again!

WW: ~30

Click Here to view all the pics from Carolina Beach, NC

Day 98 / 850 Statutory Miles Covered To Date - Myrtle Beach, SC

Watch:     Laurie 

Distance:  57.1nm

Time:       7 1/2 hours

Navigation notes:  3 swing bridges. 

No Issues - NONE!  Whoop whoop!!!!

Departed Georgetown around 8:30 thinking we had about a 6 hour day ahead of us.  Well the wind and tides had other ideas.  We ran all day with about a 15-20 mph head wind causing us to take a little longer than anticipated.  We traveled primarily on the Waccamaw River most of the way to Myrtle Beach.

This was not a problem because the ride was spectacular, and while it might be hard to believe, the scenery was yet again different from yesterday.  Today, the trees turned from primarily pine to largely cypress with some pine sprinkled in for good measure.  There were no banks to the river.  The river's edge was just trees and swamp.  We also passed several "lodges/fish camps" along the way, which we thought would be pretty cool to visit by land for a few days.

We saw some of our first rocky shorelines and first swing bridge openings. 

The ride was very rural up until you reached Myrtle Beach then became pretty typical for what you'd see along a commercialized beach town.  Nice, but I prefer the "crunchy" view. 

Myrtle beach yacht club was a perfect stop for the night. Tucked back in a cove directly off the ICW made for easy off and easy on and the dock hands who met us were pleasant and very helpful. Best yet was the $1/ foot with our Boat US discount. 

Click here for all the pix to MBYC

Day 86 - 97/793 Statutory Miles: Week Home/ Georgetown, SC

Before leaving Charleston, we made a trip back home to check on things, take care of Dr. visits and most importantly get another "friend fix".  We've been spoiled for the last couple of weeks...

What a week we had too:  starting off with the Taste of Beaufort entertained by our favorite Zydeco band; Dwayne Dopsie & the Zydeco Hellreaisers

Super high energy entertainment!  In the crowd, we met an incredible lady, 80 years young, sporting a walker and O2, lead the Mardi Gras parade and danced the night away.  She reminded us once again that age and exuberance for life is a state of mind and not body.

Hard to imagine that this could be topped, Saturday was spent celebrating Paula's 50th with the crew.  Never a shortage of laughs & lies and a new appreciation for "I don't like big buts".

Monday, brought a celebration of our 31st wedding anniversary.  Look how far these young kids have come...

Thursday:  Daytona for the day.  Walking the jetty @ Ponce inlet and meandering the docks @ Halifax. Enjoyed our unplanned visit with the James', which was great fun hearing about all their adventures on the water.  (Bob - let me know if you find any typo's). Made me more anxious to get moving again.   Wrapping up the day getting our "Bourque fix" was dinner with Fran & Peg at The Grind.  Again, no shortage of lies and laughs.  

I'm not sure how we have it so good to be blessed with such a collection of awesome people in our lives, but I wouldn't trade it for the anything.

Wrapping up the week was an early morning Kayak on the Silver River on Friday before heading to St. Augustine for the weekend with the Adams' to see Jeff Beck & ZZ Top; who put on an amazing show.  Jeff Beck accompanied by Jimmy Hall were a real treat to see live & ZZ Top simply rocked the house.  It is true, rock-n-roll never dies!

Riddle me this...... Who will our kids be going to see 20 years from now that are as legendary as these guys?  Justin Bieber???? 

With the week done. We head back to Charleston, catch some more time with Mr. & Mrs. Middleton, turn the key and head to Georgetown, SC

Click here to see all the pictures from our week home, Taste of Beaufort & St. Augustine

Charleston to Georgetown:

Watch:     Christine 

Distance:  57.8nm

Time:       6h 38m

Navigation notes:  Ben Sawyer Bridge to Isle of Palms. MM 121 - 116 need to be passed a couple hours either side of low tide.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Left Charleston around 10:30am trying to time our passage between Ben Sawyer Bridge and Isle of Palm, where significant shoaling has been reported, trying to give ourselves some extra water yet arrive in Georgetown at a reasonable hour.  The tides right now are not very cooperative, with low tide @ 9:30am and high tide @ 3:38.  

The view leaving Charleston was pretty spectacular - looking back from the water to the Battery and Waterfront Park area and passing Ft. Sumter.

Making our way into Cooper River from Charleston Harbor, brought some pretty thin water with our depth finder reading 4.7 and 5.0 several times.  This was with almost 2 feet of help from the tide. Slow and steady was the word of the hour.

Once past Isle of Palm, we had lots of water and made for one of the most enjoyable and relaxing days on the water. The scenery also seemed different today.  The tall sweet grass has been replaced by shorter types of seagrass and the pine and palm trees have been replaced by Pine with a few deciduous trees sprinkled in.  The elevation across the horizon is being determined by the height of the trees popping up here and there in the expansive marshes.  Several places along the way today were completely lined in pines, which was just gorgeous.  We had lots of dolphin company on today's trip, which was a pleasant surprise, it had been a while since we've seen them while underway - even a few taking advantage of our wake. 

Georgetown, SC is a cute little fishing town, the marinas are mainly along Front Street, the main street in historic Georgetown, surrounded by fabulous neighborhoods and tree covered streets.  It reminded us both a lot of Vero Beach.  There are several paper mills in town with one being at the top of the harbor.  Fortunately, while we were here, there was no smell. 

In the category of necessity is the mother of invention.  Check out this short video of how we fueled up in Georgetown.

Shortly after our arrival, a gentleman came up and asked us how long we've had our North Pacific and had we ever met Trevor. This surprised us both, since most people ask us what it is instead.  He said his name was Tom Coleman and my jaw damn near dropped to the ground.  You see, when we went to Annapolis and "discovered" North Pacific and decided to buy the GS, it was Tom & Beth's  boat that was at the show.  We spent hours on their boat and ultimately it was after talking with Tom, Beth & Trevor - GS was conceived. What a small world once again. 

Click here to see all of our pictures of Georgetown and the ride from Charleston to Georgetown