Tag: Campbell Creek

Miss Dixie

We awoke this morning around 5AM. Still dark, our Adams Creek Anchorage was flat calm. I snapped a photo in time to catch both the red buoy & green can illuminated.

5AM Adam’s Creek

We stopped here in Adam’s Creek about 20 NM short of Beaufort, NC. It was a nice 60 degree day and the Patriots game was about to start @1PM. GO PATS!

However, let me take you back to how yesterday started. We weighed anchor in Campbell Creek and made our way @5kts out the 8 ft shallows.

Exiting Campbell Creek

We were a headin’ for the “Dog Ear”. That’s not an official term but if you look at the bathymetric charts long enough you’ll see it in the depth contour line.

A dog’s ear?

We had slipped past a still sleeping Canadian sailboat who was properly displaying the US flag above their homeland flag while in our waters.

We were back in Goose Creek and heading South past the USCG station and RE Mayo Seafood with their docks full of shrimp boats and ‘snowbirds’ as we ICW Travellers are often called.

USCG Station Hobucken

Shrimp Boats

RE Mayo Seafood & Docks

Soon we were turning to port to enter Adam’s Creek where we would drop anchor just feet off the ICW. We sat in the pilothouse watching the parade of boats heading South go by.

The Verizon cell service is 3G (not the faster LTE) so it would be like the internet of the 80’s.

We setup the OTA (Over The Air) TV antenna with hopes of getting the Patriots game in HD. However, North Carolina was only giving us Gospel TV and the PBS “Remembering Miss Dixie” bluegrass tribute concert.

PBS Remembering Miss Dixie tribute concert

Miss Dixie Hall was a prolific song writer who wrote more bluegrass songs than anyone else, some 500 songs. Many sung by country hit-makers from Johnny Cash to Miranda Lambert.

Miss Dixie and her husband Tom Hall

Miss Dixie will be remembered as a kind soul who devoted her life to animal rights as much as bluegrass music.

Yesterday’s short leg looked something like this.

W02L012

Goose Creek NC

Beaufort, NC in two days requires an early departure. 6:19AM to be exact.

Departing our Anchoring Location off Durant Island, NC

Planning is a big part of cruising. It starts by thinking where you would like to get to. Then you check the weather, wind speed & direction, marine forecast, sea state, etc. If the weather is bad than you must consult the crew (wife / admiral ) and get their opinion on whether to go or stay put. If you skip this step you could find yourselves in marriage counseling.

Once you know where you want to go you must ask… “How long will this take at cruising speed?”. Slower cruising speed = better MPG = $. We conservatively plan 50 NM / day if we use the 10 hours of light that late November gives us. If we want to cover 70 or even 100 NM than we’ll have to run long into the night. Here you must know your limits. After 12 hours at the helm you may find yourself coming into an unfamiliar inlet or harbor on an inky dark, moonless night with wind & waves and other hazards. (See warning above about counseling).

I find that using every charting and weather app on your phone, tablet while underway to constantly revise your plan works best. Advise your crew that “the next two hours will be a lumpy ride but soon we’ll be enjoying a drink in a peaceful anchorage for the night”.

  • Alligator River Swing Bridge
  • Underway

The Alligator River Swing bridge crosses the broad mouth of the Alligator River. It must be fun driving over this long bridge that is only 20 feet or so above the River.

  • Sport Fishing Yacht Kelly Lynn
  • Slow Pass
  • Azimut

We had to keep to starboard as our radar showed many faster yachts coming up behind us. They would zoom on by and we’d have to do a quick 90 degree turn to cut their wake or get rocked.

When you reach the Southern end of the Alligator River you enter a 20 mile long canal that was cut through the land with a laser gun. OK maybe it just looks-like the ACE (Army Corp of Engineers) used a laser gun? It’s so straight we barely need to adjust the autopilot heading.

Alligator River – Pungo River Canal

While you are keeping an eye out for hazards like tree stumps and deadheads (trees snapped off at or near water surface), you’ll pass ICW Statute Mile markets reminding you that you have a long way to go.

  • ICW MM 100
  • ICW MM 120

There is land for sale along the canal.

For SALE

Perfect if you like duck hunting like this hunter we passes who was picking up his duck decoys.

Decoy Ducks

Moving over for oncoming or passing traffic must be done carefully as outside the center of the canal you’ll run into shoals, stumps and other hazards.

I Don’t Think We Can Keep Up

When you see a bridge like the one in the picture above you quickly grab your phone and check for a cell signal. Yup, you’ll have a signal for maybe the next mile.

It was cold and rainy but warm inside our pilothouse.

We knew from checking the wind speed & direction that when we exited the Pungo River it would be lumpy.

Soon we were tucking into Goose Creek and then again into Campbell Creek to avoid the weather. Anchored tight to the tree-lined shore in Campbell Creek we found respite from the weather.

Anchored in Campbell Creek

Saturday’s leg looked something like this.

W02L011 – Winter 02, Leg 11

The cell signal in here is either weak or just non-existent.