Waccamaw River

We had spent a fun two nights at St. James Marina with friends. Kelly & Wende got to compare charity bracelets made by their niece, Michaela over drinks.

Ladies were both wearing their favorite bracelets

While we were at the dock I watched a sailboat snap a piling off. I felt bad for the captain as there was some mis-communication that had the sailboat backing out of a fairway in the marina and then incorrectly tying up to a T-dock that was reserved for a similar sized sailboat that had just entered the marina’s entrance. The captain quickly untied from the T-dock and attempted to back up but while he must have thought he had shifted from reverse into neutral, was clearly still accelerating in reverse. He hit the piling and snapped it off without putting a single scratch in his boat. I don’t know what the manufacturer of this sailboat is but that’s a solid boat.

https://youtu.be/iYRLxAPCWGA

After that excitement, I spent some time finding an iPad app that would give me detailed charts of the Bahamas. I settled on the Aqua Map app. I had been using Charts & Tides by Navionics.

I was not happy that when Garmin bought ActiveCaptain.com they killed the integration with other iPad navigation apps in favor of integration with their own chartplotters.

I had been using Charts & Tides for the last 15 months because it was not very expensive to purchase the Navionics charts for the US & Canada ($30 or so) and the app gave me ActiveCaptain integration. ActiveCaptain.com was a web page that had a live map and a database of crowd sourced data and reviews of marinas, anchorages, local knowledge and hazards to navigation. Better yet iPad navigation apps could download the ActiveCaptain database of information for offline display in any compatible iPad navigation app. ActiveCaptain integration is a must for cruising the ICW. It puts small icons right on your navigation screen that show you marinas, places to anchor, hazards to navigation and local knowledge of inlets and difficult areas. Charts alone don’t list the nearest place to anchor when it’s dark and you need to stop for the night. Knowing there is a shoal around the next bend in the ICW and the only way to safely get past it is to hug the red daymark to within 30 ft is knowledge that active captain gives to you right on the navigation app’s screen (if the app has active captain integration). The Charts & Tides app which is extremely easy to use and very intuitive had ActiveCaptain integration until Garmin bought them and they seem very slow to fix the broken integration. You can however buy a Garmin Chartplotter and get ActiveCaptain. hmmmm?

Before the Garmin acquisition, ActiveCaptain used to be Open and Free

I did not want to be forced to buy an expensive Garmin chartplotter. When we purchased MV Simple Life we chose to outfit our trawler with Raymarine electronics for navigation. Expensive navigation electronics like chartplotters, radar, depth and AIS are essential but when cruising the ICW you need to use an iPad with a navigation app that supports ActiveCaptain.

Aqua Map has ActiveCaptain integration and also allows you to purchase the very detailed Explorer charts for the Bahamas. I have never sailed around the Bahamas so step one was to purchase the charts and start studying the different islands and cays to plot my own safe routes to anchor locations of interest.

Green Turtle Cay, Off Little Abaco Island, Bahamas
Abacos, Exumas, Eluthra

When we awoke our friends Jim & Wende had left squid wings and fishing tackle on our swim platform. I had been asking Jim for tips on catching fish in this area of the Atlantic and advice from someone who fishes the area is exactly what we need.

Soon we were making our way past ICW MM 325

Statute Mile 325 on the ICW – Southern NC

We made it through the Lockwood Folly section of the ICW without touching bottom near low tide.

View from the ICW out Lockwood Folly Inlet to the Atlantic Ocean

We passed many amusing sights along the ICW shore.

it’s a boat
It’s a dock
Boats docked along ICW
Crew working on the Fishing Vessel
Fishing Vessel inside Little River Inlet
FV Wesley’s Pride
Little sunken boat
This is the M Casino Ship
Giant XMAS ornaments on the lawn

We passed this sailing catamaran that must have just gotten to tired to continue or find a place to anchor off the ICW so they just dropped anchor on the edge of the ICW. They used both a bow & stern anchor to prevent swinging into the channel but I would not be comfortable with the fog that another boat would not hit us.

There were hazards that were floating down the ICW like this dock.

As we came into Myrtle Beach area we started to see lighthouses & golf courses.

Governer’s Lighthouse, Little River, SC
Myrtlewood Golf Course

It was raining and foggy.

https://youtu.be/1Z6NxflkQBE

Somewhere on the ICW around Myrtle Beach, SC

Soon we were tucking into the Waccamaw River to anchor for the night.

Kelly made an amazing chicken fajita dinner to enjoy as the sun was setting in our swampy anchorage. It was yummy!

Our leg today looked something like this.

Camp Lejeune, NC

We loved our stay in Beaufort, NC but we awoke to 34 degrees and it was time to leave.

We had lots of fun in Beaufort riding around in the sexy loaner car. The car was green but the door was red. You had to pump the breaks to slow down and it had a death rattle sound as you drove down the road. We loved it. It was FREE.

We decided to do a pub crawl through Beaufort but we only made it to the Black Sheep Bar which was 20 feet from our boat. We met Capt. Scott from MV Legacy (58′ Grand Banks). Capt Scott kept us entertained with stories about his grandparents yacht that he was now the captain of. Capt Scott even gave me a tour of MV Legacy when we left the bar and she was very impressive.

Our GPS tracker was capturing our journey as we headed South. It clearly was not recording where the straight lines are shown but it gives a reader an interesting view of our last few days of travel.

I met another fella who said he noticed my Boston accent as he was also from that part of town. When I said well I’m from Foxboro (home of the Patriots to be exact) he mentioned someone he knew from Foxboro and it turned out to be a childhood friend of mine (Small World). Turns out we knew many of the same folks from back home. I snapped a selfie as it seemed like the right thing to do in the moment.

As we made our way out of Beaufort we passed a buoy tender with two gentleman who looked quite cold.

It was a small craft advisory and the whitecaps were appearing even in the small body of water we were in.

As we made our way down Bogue Sound I hailed a boat that was anchored in the channel. Turns out they were having engine trouble but were not in need of assistance.

We passed this fishing vessel that had clearly sunk in the shallow waters.

And around the next corner was the Marines Camp Lejeune. They were doing live fire exercises to we were forced to stop and drop anchor.

https://youtu.be/qa3AjDRH3jA

We dropped anchor believing that no traffic could pass during the exercises but soon a tug boat was passing us on anchor. Maybe he was just slow making his way out of the firing zone?

https://youtu.be/MhbdwIWZjCw

It was fun to watch the Osprey plane flying over the top of us. Recall the Osprey is a plane capable of vertical take off and landing.

https://youtu.be/x8L67uPYD2s

When we were finally allowed to continue down the ICW we and all the other boats were racing to make it to the only decent anchorage within range. You must be careful when you run fast down the ICW because if you run up on a shoal going fast you may not be able to back off of it. Soon the sailboat behind us ran aground and they asked us if we would turn around and come back and wake them as hard as we could to possibly rock them off the shoal that had them stuck. We agreed knowing that it was risky as in order to wake them we’d have to run fast right next to the shoal they were stuck on. We did our best but in the end a local crab boat was the one who deserves the credit for pulling them off.

We were thrilled to see them free as it was still 2 hours away from low tide and if they had not gotten off that shoal quickly they were going to sit there into the night.

As we made our way to the anchorage at Camp Lejeune we passed many bullet riddled targets on shore.

The sun was setting and it was beautiful.

Soon were were anchored for a peaceful night.

Today’s leg looked something like this

Clawson’s Pub Beaufort NC

Adam’s Creek was a peaceful anchorage.

At least until this fellow came blasting through..

Once the morning’s parade of boats down Adam’s Creek began, it was time to weigh anchor.

As you make your way down Adam’s Creek you’ll love the beautiful homes and boats along the water’s edge.

House had it Own Helicopter
House Painted Like it’s in the FL Keys
Red Right Returning from Sea – You did it Wrong!
Morning Girl is a Sexy Commercial Sport Fishing Boat
Adam’s Creek Wavy Bottom due to Strong Tidal Currents

Somewhere along Adam’s Creek it turns into Core Creek where we passed more ICW statute mile markers and a derelict sailboat.

ICW MM 195
Delelict Sailboat (no dinghy = nobody aboard)

We were aware from the USCG securite warnings broadcasts that there was a 61′ capsized fishing trawler in Core Creek. When I had to dodge floating rope and netting coming down the river, I knew we were close. Then it appeared.

Boom Netting to Contain debris
Resting on her Side
FV Miss Melissa

Soon we were heading into an area called the Newport Marshes named after the nearby city of Newport, NC. This area can be a bit tricky as the channel bifurcates and we stay to starboard. I believe there is deeper water to starboard.

Crabber Working the Marshes in the Rain
Tow Boat US Racing to Pull a Baot off a Shoal

For a brief moment we had a motoring sailboat attempt to cross our bow from the port-side. We were on a collision course so I gave them a single blast of our air horns to indicate a one-whistle-pass (meaning port to port like driving a car on the road in the US). They did not alter their course so it was time to blast it again! That did it. They waved as we passed and the rain. The rain covered dodger and a crowded cockpit were probably the reason for the distracted captain.

Morehead City, NC was next and the clouds were getting dark with rain and even some lightning strikes.

We were fast approaching Beaufort Inlet and the strong wind could be felt. Our rearview camera’s view of our flag atop our VHF antennas showed the flag whipping around.

To get into Beaufort using the East side entrance you need to head like your exiting Beaufort Inlet then turn hard to port after going by Radio Island. We did this as quickly as we could as a large cargo ship was fast approaching. Even the two tugs were joking on the VHF about “giving it all she had” to get out of the way of the large ship. The tug hailed the ship saying… he would have to point his bow directly at the ship but not to worry as he was crabbing his way in the wind and would soon be out of their path. On a boat unlike a car sometimes even though your bow is pointing in one direction, the wind and current can be moving you in a straight line that is not where your bow is pointing.

Large Cargo Ship Coming in Through Beaufort Inlet, NC

We had timed our arrival into Beaufort at slack current. Last time we were here we docked in a max ebb current and it took all my skill to keep MV Simple Life from crashing into other boats at the docks. A full keel trawler at 90 degrees to a strong current moves down-current quickly. It’s not something that your thrusters can overcome.

We were thankful for our pilothouse as the rain was coming down pretty good at this point.

We passed Moonrakers and some sexy boats tied up in port.

“Moonrakers,” named after the rectangle sail flown at the uppermost height of a three-mast 17th-century ship
Nordhavn Trawler in Port
Sexy British Sailing Yacht

The Beaufort Docks Dockmaster had assigned us a great slip all the way in right next to the restaurant. The docking was a “breeze”, no literally, we simply turned sideways and let the breeze blow us sideways into the dock. Worked beautifully and Kelly was soon tossing our stern line to the dockhand.

1995 Saberline 43 Green Hulled Trawler Next to Us
Note our Flags Indicating a Beam Breeze

Once in our slip we quickly jumped ashore and walked the docks.

Mums Line the Docks
Walk the Docks
Betting that is the Marina Loaner Car
Santa’s Workshop in Beaufort NC

I almost forgot there was one casualty along this trip and it was my slippers. Kelly demanded that my stinky slippers stay in Beaufort, NC. I will miss my favorite slippers but our boat and crew would thank me for giving them up.

I checked in at the dockhouse, paid the bill, got the WiFi password and two beer tokens! My favorite part is taking those wooden tokens straight to the sailor bar at the Dock House and enjoying a well-deserved beer. We were sharing dog pics with Shelby, our bartender. She showed us pics of her 3 new hunting hounds that her dad had given to her.

Have a Draft on Us – Dock House
Welcome Shipmates
Sailor Bar Closed so we got to use the more Upscale Bar Upstairs

After a quick couple beers it was time to find something to eat at Clawson’s Restaurant & Pub.

Clawson’s bartender, Kayla set me up with a great Hazy NE IPA and life was great.

The bar itself dates back to 1905 and Kayla was entertaining us with ghost stories about the ghost-like little girl on the third floor. She offered to take us up to the 3rd floor to look for her but we chickened out 😉

Clawson’s Bar
Ghosts Straight out of 1905
Deer head amongst Boating Motif

We are thrilled to spend two nights in Beaufort, NC.

Our leg here looked something like this…

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Saturday’s leg looked something like this.

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

Night Crossing of Albemarle Sound

We spent Thanksgiving at Top Rack Marian. Kelly used InstaCart grocery delivery service to order everything that she needed and whipped up an amazing turkey dinner. This woman has skills :-).

All the Fix’ins
Yumm
Pie at the helm while underway
Saloon cleaned up after T-Day dinner.

We left Top Rack Marina after sharing an amazing Thanksgiving aboard. However, the temps were dipping into the 30’s at night and we needed to go South as fast as possible.

Leaving Top Rack Marina

a mile or two South down the ICW is the Great Bridge Lock. The water level only drops 2-3 ft so it’s pretty gentle as far as river locks go. However, the ICW (InterCoastal Waterway) is a federal commerce waterway and that means that it’s there for commercial boats first and pleasure boaters second. We had a stand aside while the lock tender let this huge tug and barge in ahead of us.

They asked us if we felt comfortable trying to squeeze past the tug n barge to get ahead of it in the lock. Challenge accepted.

Soon the gates were swinging open.

https://youtu.be/uCdNnLo4Q-s

Great Bridge Lock, ICW in VA

We saw lots of Canadians looking for a warmer winter

We passed through the Centerville Turnpike Swing Bridge

https://youtu.be/8i8TA1ITDwA

Centerville Turnpike Swing Bridge

Then it was through the “normally open except for when a train is a coming” bridge.

If a train comes and it starts a lower.. push the throttle to the pins 😉

Not long after that we were passing Coinjock Marina in NC. This is normally our stopping point for the night but the winds were going to increase early in the AM so we decided to anchor just before our Albemarle Sound crossing. On our way to our anchorage we heard a sailboat on the VHF hailing TowBoatUS to come pull them out of the shallows. It was 1.5 hours before low tide so it was only going to get worse.

This boat had wandered outside of the narrow channel and run aground

Soon we were passing ICW mile markers 55 & 65 and approaching our anchorage for the night.

I did one last check to see if the weather forecast had changed and … it had.

The strong winds were going to come before sunrise so Kelly & I decided do a nighttime crossing of Albemarle sound and anchor in the Alligator River rather than have a lumpy crossing in the AM.

Just before the sun went down we snapped one more photo.

The full moon came up but we were not running into it but away from it. I always prefer to run down the moonstreak as it helps me spot crap pot floats before we run them over and wrap the line around our propeller.

The crossing was a bit lumpy but we picked a spot to anchor behind Durant Island that would give us a lee shore. Tonight we will sleep well and get plan for a sunrise departure before the wind starts to whip in the AM.

Anchored Behind Durant Island (red marker)

Today’s leg was 70 NM from Chesapeake, VA to Durant Island, NC. This year we agreed to throttle-back to somewhere in the 6 knot range and stay in the 3 NM / gallon diesel range. We conservatively plan to make 50 NM / day. That’s 10 hours of daylight x 6 kts minus time weighing / dropping anchor and waiting for bridges to open.

Apple Maps Screen Capture with Finger Drawn Route – A Close Approximation

Slipping into Venus

The sunset before we went to bed was beautiful in Godfrey Bay

We had woken up at 4AM and decided to get underway. It was pitch black but I wanted to arrive at Top Rack Marina before they closed without having to burn more than 2.5 gals/hour. So as we twisted and turned our way out of the Piankatank River we had to rely on the lighted buoys and cans. Recall that buoys or “nuns” are red, even numbered and have pointy “nun hat” tops, cans are green cylinders with odd numbers and flat tops.

MV Simple Life in the center passed Red lighted beacon #8 and approaching Green lighted beacon #7

Directly above the red beacon light you can see Venus. I think the halo effect making it look even bigger in the photo

As we headed East the planet Venus was brilliantly lit up and acting as a perfect aiming target to stay on course. We were slipping our way past shoals and straight into Venus.

At times I would run with the searchlight lit to attempt to view and steer around crab pots and unlit fish weirs. This is the hazard of running at night that you can wrap a crab pot line around your propeller or become ensnared in a fish weir.

I have a project to install LED lights under the bow to light crab pots without reflecting off the foredeck

Two hours passed and first light was upon us. Sunrise was a coming…

6:04AM – First Light
6:19AM
6:47AM
6:50AM Sun Peaking Above the Horizon
6:52AM
6:54AM

Danger Area… If you go to lower zoom levels to see what chart note is attached to the Danger Area you only get an annoying note that says to read NOAA’s US Coast Pilot Vol #3. That’s not very helpful as I used to keep all the Coast Pilot books printed and stored aboard but I found that I was using the online versions linked above.

Danger Area, Why? Have to look in the US Coast Pilot Vol #2

Coast Pilot is a FREE, online pdf, navigation book published by NOAA.

Coast PIlot 3
Chapters vs. Areas Covered

It’s a lot like the Maptech Embassy or Waterway Guide books that I used when I first started boating.

2018 $45
Also $45

The trip down to the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay was easy smooth going.

However, as we approached the inlet to Norfolk, VA the current was quickly ebbing.

Green Marker being pushed over by current
Speed dropped from 6kts to only 4.2kts
It necks down going into Norfolk, VA

Soon we were surrounded by military gun boats and helicopters buzzing overhead. On the VHF you can hear Virginia Pilots calling ships preparing to enter the harbor. They are landing on a cargo ship via helicopter for inspection of the vessel. All hatches must be open except the one the helicopter is landing on. Specific instructions were given not to have crew approach the helicopter on landing.

Warships were everywhere to see in port but we let those boys do their work and stay clear of them.

If you click on any of the AIS targets they come up as “military” or “US Govt”

The shipyard has some amazing mega-sized structures.

it’s looks like it climbed onto the building

As you proceed further down the Elizabeth River you are reminded that much of what’s on the shore is off-limits to anyone other than the US Government and military.

Watch Tower
Keep Out
Floating Gate Barrier
Navy Police gave me a 2 whistle pass rather than a 1 whistle so as to keep us away from the shore

At one point in our journey down the channel I noticed that the gigantic MSC Silvana container ship had black diesel smoke coming out of it’s stack. OMG. it’s underway and blocking the entire channel!

Blocking our path down the channel
MSC Silvana AIS info
Tug on port and stern

https://youtu.be/f7xwTYWq-mA

We had to get out of the channel to get past her

Soon we were passing this lifeboat that looked like it had lost it’s ship. These fellows were just riding around in the life boat. Maybe they are on shore leave and wanted find a restaurant 😉

I just think these are the coolest. I’m jealous of this woman getting to launch one of these free-fall lifeboats.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGuLXLTWiCA

How cool is she?

Soon we made our way to Top Rack Marina.

A Marina, Deli and Store all-in-one
She’s just happy we are going to eat at the Amber Lantern
Filet & Tips
Morning Fog @TopRackMarina
54′ Sabre Pretty but at about $1.8M a bit too pricey
I love a SP Cruiser Motorsailer
Kelly made me breakfast in the AM with the leftovers.

We love this stop for several reasons.

Amber Lantern Restaurant
Great fuel prices
1. $2.74/gal Diesel – we took on 306 gallons.
Great slip prices
1. $35/night any length boat (includes power)

People often ask us how cheap can you live aboard? It’s a great question and the answer is “it depends”. It depends on the life-style you want to live. Sometimes we hit marinas and restaurants every day and money seems to disappear. However, other times we spend cruising on anchor every night and spend nothing but diesel. We left Warwick, RI on Sunday, Nov 11th at around 3PM. It’s now 10 days later, Nov 21st we are at Top Rack Marina in Chesapeake, VA. Being a fan of science I believe people would rather see a data-driven answer where they can draw their own conclusion. If we “Do the Math”.

We have completed 9 legs of our journey over 10 days.
We put 89 Hours on the diesel
86 hours / 8 legs = 10.75 hours a leg. (skipping the first short 3 hour day)
10 hours on the genset (4 because I forgot to shut it off while underway)
$242 on 2 nights dinner & drinks (I don’t recall getting back to the boat on 1 of them)
306 Gallons of diesel (main engine, genset & forced-hot-air diesel heat)
$838 on diesel
$150 for 3 nights at marinas

I hope that sheds some light on budget.

Our 9th leg looked something like this…

Apple Maps screen capture with hand-drawn finger route

Solomons Island MD

After getting some much-needed rest on anchor in Godfrey’s Bay it was time to push North to Solomon’s Island. This meant dodging the many fishing boats that dotted our path and taking in the sights along the shore. There appear to be many military type buildings which were festooned with satellite dishes and other communications equipment.

Satelitte Dishes — Maybe it’s just someone who wants fast internet?

As we got close to Solomons Island, we hailed Zahniser’s Yachting Center and requested a slip for the night. With each attempted to pronounce the name right, I butchered it worse. It’s sounds something like “Anheuser” in “Anheuser-Busch beer” except starting with a “Za”. Turns out it was a Sunday and they were closing at 3PM but the dockhands would be around till 3:30PM. We pushed the throttles down and MV Simple Life roared from our usually leisurely 6.5 kts to 9.3 kts. We arrived just in time for Jason the dockhand to catch our lines and we had no sooner tied up and plugged into power and we off to dinner at the Dry Dock Restaurant.

Bartender Timmy introduced me to a local IPA called Calvert Route 4. Apparently we were in Calvert County MD. It was great and so was dinner.

Calvert Route 4 IPA — Calvert Brewing Co Route 4 IPA

We chatted a bit with some of the locals at the bar and soon we would be back aboard to race off to sleep. In the morning, I walked the dogs around the yachting center and found many interesting boats.

Hinkley named Dragonfly

You don’t see sailboats on lifts back home

SV Grey Owl on a custom trailer

Stubby shoal keel and add on bow thruster

37 foot Hunter

Sharp knife-like keel with bulb at bottom

Must be difficult to slip like this?

Chesapeake Bay Deadrise Boat

Jason the dockhand was nice enough to use the courtesy van and drive us to the local Weir grocery store to reprovision. I was starving and purchased some precooked fried chicken. As I chased Kelly around the grocery store with the carriage I kept taking bites of fried chicken. Kelly remarked that “she could find me simply by following the smell of fried chicken down the isles”. I can’t believe I ate all 8 pieces of chicken and was now in need of a napkin.

At the checkout I heard a “hello” and it was the friendly couple from the bar the night before. Calvert County seems full of very friendly people. As we made our way back onto MV Simple Life, we passed through this simply designed gate and we were gone. On to Annapolis, MD.

Lead Weight — Love the old-school simplicity of design

Coinjock Marina Going North

We had a quiet night on anchor in the Alligator River. Our anchor spot was just off the ICW and was an “easy in” and “easy out” in the morning. Note: some anchoring spots can have shallow or tricky entrances.

The sunrise was amazing.

Alligator River Sunrise

Sunrise over Alligator River

We had no sooner got through the Alligator River Swing Bridge and we hailed the large cruise ship, Independence, coming up on our stern. The captain was very friendly and thanked us for giving him exclusive use of the narrow channel.

MV Independence uses AIS just like us so it was easy to acertain their ship’s name and hail them directly. I simply let the captain know that I saw they were going to overtake us and stated we would manuver to starboard and allow them exclusive use of the entire channel for a “2 whistle pass”.

Cruise Ship 1 — American Cruise Lines, MV Independence

As the channel got narrow we had to get in line behind this sailboat who did not seem to have their VHF radio on. (repeated hails from us and the Alligator River Swing Bridge with no response). On the ICW you must monitor channel #16 (the international hailing channel).

Note: the ITU (International Telecommunications Union) designates 3 channels internationally as “Safety Channels”.

Channel 16 (156.800 MHz) – Distress, safety and calling

Channel 13 (156.650 MHz) – Intership navigation (bridge-to-bridge)

Channel 70 (156.525 MHz) – Digital Selective Calling

DSC Discussion (skip this technical section if you like)

CH 70 or DSC or Digital Selective Calling is a new technology that uses EM wave pulses on channel 70 to send digital (1s and 0s encoded in electromagnetic pulses over a radio wave transmitted on channel #70’s designated frequency)

This channel is not for human voice transmission but for ships continually broadcasting their current position and heading. The data is received by your VHF antenna and processed by your AIS transceiver before finally being plotting on your chartplotter. Instead of just a radar blip on my chartplotter, I see a triangular icon representing the ship and if I click on it I get all sorts of info like:

Ship Name: So I can hail them by name instead of “Motor vessel off my port bow”
Heading
Speed
Ship length
MMSI #
Sail or powerboat
CPA (Closest point of approach or how close will they come to our boat if nothing changes)
CTA (at what time will they be the closest to us).

DSC also has a well hidden secret function where you can use a ship’s MMSI # (like a personal phone number) to call them directly. By this I mean you don’t hail them by name (ie. “ship name, ship name, this is motor vessel Simple Life on channel 16”. Instead you type in their MMSI number and a channel that you want their VHF radio to automatically tune to. Hit the PTT (Push To Talk) button and a loud tone plays over their VHF radio and their radio automatically jumps to the channel you wanted to communicate with them on. It’s a great feature but I must say I have not used it, nor have many other boaters. Maybe it will just take some time till the early adopters start teaching other boaters how to use it?

As we approached Coinjock, NC, there were large plumes of smoke coming from shore. I saw that the smoke which had started as grey/black was now white indicating that it was burning itself out (Where are my firefighter friends here, keep me honest). Maybe it was a controlled burn of the low lands?

Close Up

Far Away

Getting Closer

As we were pulling into Coinjock Marina, named for the NC town of the same name, we were aware that our port fuel tank was running on fumes. NOTE: we had some reserve fuel in the starboard diesel tank.

We had made two long runs up the coast and at almost 9 kts and burned lots of fuel. Coinjock about 20 cents more per gallon of diesel than the marina we were heading to next. While not the cheapest place to take on over 300 gallons of diesel it was convenient. I mentioned to the dockhand that the next marina North was 20 cents cheaper a gallon and he responded, “Oh, our costs are higher because we sell more fuel than them”. I just smiled and thought, I’m pretty sure this friendly dockhand skipped school that day in business class 😉

When choosing a location for diesel be sure to chose a location that sells a lot of diesel. Common wisdom says: the more they sell, the less time the deisel sits in storage tanks acculmulating condensation water or other contaminations. If you have ever had your engine die offshore due to bad fuel you’ll agree that it’s better to spend a bit more for the likelihood of clean fuel.

The cruise ship which had passed us on the ICW was now docked in Coinjock to take on 5000 gallons of diesel.

Cruise Ship Coinjock — MV Independence Docked in Coinjock NC

I believe in large ship terminology, the captain and crew talk about the amount of diesel they have in terms of weight rather than gallons. Diesel is about 7 lbs / gallon while gasoline is about 6 lbs / gallon. When you take on 5000 gallons of diesel you need to be thinking about how much that excess fuel weighs and what it does to your ship’s draft. Draft = how deep your boat sinks into the water. Air draft = how tall is your boat is above the water for fitting under low bridges.

MV Simple Life took on about 311 gallons or 2,177 lbs of diesel while we were there. We also filled our water tanks (8.3 lbs / gallon) so that adds another 3,700 lbs to our boat. If you ever read the specs for a boat it will list it’s dry weight as well as it’s water draft. Always remember that when you load your boat up with your possessions, passengers, dogs, food, fuel, water, etc that it will sink your draft a few more inches into the water. When a boat is designed they guesstimate the weight & displacement of the boat from summing up the weight of every item in the CAD drawing. This we know thanks to the ancient Greek scholar Archimedes and his “Eureka” moment when he figured out that a body (boat) displaces it’s exact weight in water.

An engineer friend of mine who also loves physics, Andy, once asked me this fun question about a man in a canoe in a pool who drops a stone into the water and asks how high will the water rise?

Boats with sharp narrow hulls must sink lower in the water to float while boxy square hulls like that of a barge need only sink a small amount to displace their weight in water. The boxy square shape to the cruise ship allowed it to have ashallower draft than MV Simple life. So don’t follow the cruise ship up the ICW thinking… ”if there is enough water in the channel for them, we can easily follow them”.

Alligator River NC

We awoke at sunrise and just before pulling anchor, I snapped a few photos of just how still this anchorage was in Adam’s Creek.

Sun Reflection off Still Waters

Active Captain Royal Thurman Anchorage

Today’s ICW route through Pamlico Sound would end just short of crossing Albemarle Sound. Our route looked something like this.

ICW NC Route — ICW Route Through Pamlico Sound and almost into Albemarle Sound

On our way out of Adam’s Creek, I hailed a loaded tug and barge to let them know we would deviate from the channel and not impede their passage. The strong current was at their back forcing them to keep their speed up. As a tug captain it’s better to be driving the barge rather than being driven by the current. It’s always better to push a barge into a current than be pushed by it. At least that is how I understand it.

We no sooner exited Adam’s Creek into the Neuse River and passed this beautiful schooner with the captain at the helm and sails set.

Once it Pamlico Sound you realize it is a pretty large sound. Wikipedia defines a sound as, “…In geography, a sound is a large sea or ocean inlet larger than a bay, deeper than a bight, and wider than a fjord; or a narrow sea or ocean channel between two bodies of land (see also strait)…”. These geography terms can be confusing.

As we motored on, a USCG boat hailed us over VHF channel 16 and let us know to stay to port as we passed. They had a line around and were pulling what remained of a green daymark piling using their boat. Our best guess is that a boat hit the piling in the night and snapped it off. We figured they were dislodging it so that it would not float away and become a hazard to navigation?

USCG Pulling Daymark — USCG with a line off their bow to a green daymark that was broken off.

We passed a several duck blinds confirming that North Carolina is duck hunting country.

As we motored on we were reminded that we are getting closer to ICW mile marker 0 in Norfolk, VA.

Statute Mile 160

Statute Mile 125

Statute Mile 115

Statute Mile 100

The predicted forecast for Albemarle Sound had the wind out of the West at only 10-15 kts.

We chose an anchorage with a small fetch to the West but far enough off the shore that we could open the hatches and get a good breeze while we slept.

As I was setting the anchor on the bow I looked up and snapped this photo of the setting sun.

Sunset Framed.JPG — Sunset in Alligator River, NC

Downtown Marina Beaufort SC

We had reservations to be at Downtown Marina in Beaufort, SC and the weather was not looking good. With 25 knot winds and gusts to 35 knots.

Gusts 35 tonight — 35 knots = 40 MPG Gusts

As we rounded Hilton Head Island the only thing my radar saw was rain.

Hilton Head Rain Radar — That Magenta on the screen is rain reflecting my radar

Our route would look something like this:

Route 6 New River - Beaufort — Our Route from New River to Beaufort, SC

There were only a few locations where I knew we would have to face the wind if just for a short bit. When we rounded Hilton Head and came out of Skull Creek to cross Port Royal Sound inlet was one of them.

The weather worsened just as we were crossing Port Royal Sound Inlet. High winds shutdown the Lady Island swing bridge but luckily we have a reservation @ Downtown Marina in Beaufort, SC just feet from the shutdown bridge.

Waves maybe 3-5’ with the occasional 6-7’. The challenge was that I was hitting each new wave in under 2 seconds and having to work the throttle to slow down from say 6 kts to 4 kts for the larger waves. Being an unstabilized trawler we headed into the waves (rather take them on the beam) till we got a little shelter from the Northern side of the Inlet. Then we had to turn and run at 10 kts with the waves on our stern.

As we approached Downtown Marina the Lady Island Swing bridge was shutdown due to high winds. Docking in high winds and strong currents makes for an interesting learning experience but the dockhands and fellow boaters came out in the driving rain to help catch lines. We had to put out extra fenders to keep the waves from smashing us into dock but it was time for a beer and to sit back and watch the storm.

The next day we observed the rushing sounds of water around the boat and took a short video of the current alongside the dock.

Beaufort, SC is a wonderful stop and we always enjoy the local restaurants like Plum and the gastro pub, Old Bull Tavern

We’ll use the time here to re-provision the boat and get ready for another week of anchoring out as we attempt to push North into North Carolina.