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

Retreat from the Waves

Before leaving Coinjock Marina, we received an email alert that MV Meanders had left Port: Coinjock. MV Meanders had been docked bow to bow with us. They had stealthily slipped away while we were making coffee.

Meanders Marine Traffic — Marinetraffic.com email alert for a boat as it leaves a port

MV Meanders is a beautiful 49’ North Pacific yachts RPH trawler. She’s a bigger version of our boat with reverse raked PH windows. MV Meanders was recently sold to a nice couple named Tom & Nancy who stopped to say “hi” when they saw our NP43 fueling up on the docks. Meanders was previously owned by friends of ours, Andy & Marty. Andy was my boat broker and took me for my first ride in their NP43. I was smitten. I setup the MarineTraffic alert when Andy & Marty were living aboard their boat and traveling to many different ports. At that time, I was working and enjoyed getting alerts about all the interesting places they were visiting. I would think to myself.. “soon that will be Kelly & I and the dogs”.

We had to delay our departure momentarily to allow for a passing tug pushing not one but two barges. We don’t want to be in the way of something like this.

Tug 2 barges 3 — Tug Pushing 2 Barges up the ICW

As we traveled down the ICW were chasing a 1935 boat called “MV NAN” out of Osterville, MA. A beautiful old boat that hails out of a marina that we have visited once or twice.

1935 MV Nan

Chasing Nan North up the ICW

At the helm, I was using my iPhone’s charting app to measure distances to restricted bridges and locks. Many bascule, lift or swing bridges only operate at certain times like “top of the hour” or on the “half hour”. You need to measure the distance to the next bridge opening and adjust your speed to arrive on time. If you don’t you’ll find yourself treading water till the next opening. As I looked up from my iPhone, I saw this log floating down the river and had to swerve to avoid hitting it. iPhones make it even easier to run into a hazard on the ICW.

Hazzard Log 4 — Hazards to Navigation are everywhere in the ICW

Just before arriving at Top Rack Marina you pass this school bus hanging precariously over a precipice. They put a sign in the window that says, “Fire Rescue Training in Progress”. I imagine they added that after someone called 911 to say that “a school bus was about to fall into the ICW!”

Fire Rescue 2 — Fire & Rescue Training Using a School Bus About to Plunge into the ICW

Soon we were at Top Rack Marina and enjoying a well deserved dinner at the Amber Lantern Restaurant. What great food this restaurant has. Kudos to the Chef.

When we awoke in the AM we could not depart due to an emergency! We were out of dog food! I hailed an Uber with the app and raced off to the local Petco. Dogs fed; we untied and headed North to Norfolk, VA.

Coming into Norfolk you feel small compared to the many warships lining the channel.

Warship IKE

68 & 69

Warship 72

Warship 77

Navy Soldier on Guard with AR15 on Bow

Warship IKE

How cool is it to have a Navy ceremony seated beneath the “Big Guns”?

Navy Ceremony 2 — Navy Ceremony – Battleship Wisconsin?

I always admire this thing as if it was a cool sculpture of sorts.

One large container ship appeared to be washing their anchor. I wish I had a dedicated anchor wash system. Sometimes when our anchor comes up, it can be covered in muck from the sea bottom.

We exited Norfolk harbor and pointed the boat up the coast. The weather was supposed to be 2-4 ft with 20kt winds.

We soon realized that the waves which were on our beam were far larger than predicted and made for a miserable ride. When we arrived at our planned anchorage which was just inside the “Great Machipongo Inlet”. We had only to cross over the bar shoal at the entrance. By now the waves had built into large breaking waves that were pushing us from behind toward the bar. As we progressed slowly over the bar I watched the depths with dread. 10’, 9’, 8’, 7, 6’!!! When I saw 5.7, we did an immediate hard spin and raced back out to sea the way we came in. You don’t want to run aground in breakers 30 miles from anyone.

As the spray from the waves washed over the pilothouse, Kelly & I had an emergency discussion about what to do?

We had 4 Options:

Hold the bow into the large waves until the tide rises and attempt to cross the bar again. It would probably be dark before we got enough lift from the tide.
Continue North 70+ miles to Ocean City, MD. I was exhausted and did not think I could make it another 10 hours into the night.
Continue North 30+ miles to the MARS anchorage. Zero protection against the large waves would have made for an unbearable night on anchor and the next day was predicting 25 kt winds and larger waves.
Return the 30+ miles back the way we came and tuck around Fisherman’s Island and into Chesapeake Bay to find an anchorage.

We chose option 4. This was hard for me because I often say to Kelly, “I hate moving backward or retracing steps”. I think this comes from a combination of being A.D.D and always not wanting to go backwards for something that you forgot and just a desire to never see the same scenery twice. Always seeing something new brings happiness.

As we made our way back into the bay, the sea began to soften and the ride became smoother.

Cape Charles Sunset 4 — Sunset off Fisherman’s Island, VA

We selected an anchorage called Sunset Grille Anchorage. As we approached it was very overcast and dark. Radar pings were showing two docks extending far out from shore on either side of our intended anchorage spot. If we didn’t approach from exactly perpendicular to the shore we’d have slammed into these pilings on this dark night. Thankfully we have radar and a remote searchlight to identify hazards the radar pings.

We anchored and tried to get some sleep.

1AM and the boat was ROCKING. The wind had picked back up and the current had aligned us so the waves were on our beam. The boat was rocking violently. So much so that eventually, I had to start the boat and pull anchor and leave into the blackness. It’s always better to stay on anchor than attempt to navigate an unfamiliar harbor on a black night. But spend 4 hours in a boat that is rocking like an amusement ride and you’ll take your chances underway.

The wind had picked up and we were on the wrong side of a 20 mile fetch of water that was now battering us with large waves. We fought our way to the calmer side of the bay and then turned North looking for an anchorage that would give us protection against the strong Southerly wind and waves. We motored our way to Godfrey Bay and anchored in a calm protected bay, safe from the day’s harsh weather. It was only 11AM and I could barely keep my eyes open even with the 3 cups of coffee I had pumped into myself.

As we entered the anchorage, we passed this classic Chesapeake crab boat.

Crabber 20 — Looks like a painting I’d hang on my wall

Now peacefully on anchor. We are plotting a new course that takes us up the Chesapeake Bay.

We’ll traverse the C&D canal and then have to sail down Delaware Bay, round Cape May and go North up the coast toward NYC.

Cumberland Sound Anchorage

As we weighed anchor in Robinson’s Creek you could feel the power of the wind. The airport wind speed last showed a 30 MPH gust.

30 mph Wind Gusts at NE FL Regional Airport — 25 MPH Winds with 30 MPH Gusts as we passed NE Florida Regional Airport

Even with the strong winds a pair of US Custom agent boats zoomed by, unaffected.

Our route would look something like this:

Route 4 - Robinson Creek - Cumberland Sound — Our Route from an anchorage in St Augustine to Cumberland Island Anchorage

We would avoid many shoals:

We would cross over the St. John River in Jacksonville, FL and see sights such as this Navy ship in dry dock. What a narrow beam and sharp bow these attack vessels have.

St Johns River Battleship — Navy Ship in Dry Dock

I had always wondered what a trawler would look like with a wind generator mounted on the fly deck and I just have to say I can’t imagine ever doing this..

Trawler 3 Wind Generators — A trawler with 3 Wind Generators on the Flydeck

The free overnight dock in Jacksonville had a spot open but we were determined to use what we had left of the light and cover more ground. Our plan was to cross over the Savannah River and into GA.

Once in the Savannah River we saw that many of the river banks had been built up possibly for storm surge.

Savannah River Tree — Lone Tree standing proud on the banks of the Savannah River

As you approach Cumberland Island there is a heavy Navy presence in the area. We passed these two big Navy ships in port.

Cumberland Island Navy — Navy Ships near Cumberland Island

We read the writeup on the Cumberland Island Anchorage.

We chose this anchorage because it offered a lee in the face of strong winds.

Cumberland Sound Anchorage — Our Anchor spot in Cumberland Sound

The anchorage was quite busy and the only spot we found was one tucked between two other anchored boats. I had to anchor in an area that had oyster shells and mud. Not a strong seabed for anchoring. The anchored dragged a bit as we set it at 700 RPM. I backed off a little on the throttle and this would have to do for the night. I was tired and needed sleep.

I set the anchor alarm app on my phone and drifted off to sleep.

Key West

The trip down to Key West was full of things to see. It started with an overturned vessel. We saw a diver in the water possibly attempting to flip it? Hope nobody was injured?

There was a diver in the water hooking lines to the overturned hull

As we got closer to Key West, the water became a beautiful green-blue color.

We passed SV Toucan, a 40’ Manta catamaran underway and hailed them on the VHF offering to take some pics of them. Capt. Elizabeth thanked us and returned the favor.

The crew of Toucan would later invite us for a “Sundowner” which is live-aboard speak for why don’t you dinghy over to our boat just before the sun sets and we’ll do drinks and appetizers. They were terrific hosts and I enjoyed getting a tour of their amazing catamaran. If I get a copy of the selfie we took, I’ll post it here.

When you approach Key West from Hawk’s Channel (ocean side) you see sights such as huge cruise ships underway in the channel and others docked.

You pass Margaritaville Marina and many anchored boats.

Looked like they had student sailors aboard?

The US Coast Guard Key West station is down here and they have a large ship docked.

The Navy’s Naval Air Station and Army Special Forces Underwater Operations have a presence in Key West. We passed the many buildings with military logos and such.

US Army Special Forces Underwater Operations building logo

At one point a couple of inflatables with Army Special Forces motored by.

We grabbed a mooring ball in Garrison Bight Mooring field rather than fight the crowds in the different anchoring locations. Garrison Bight is the only real transient mooring field that I am aware of here in KW. The mooring field is run by Key West City Marina. Getting onto the mooring is a lot like in Boot Key Harbor where the mooring ball has a short pennant line that comes up from below the ball (rather than on the top of the mooring ball as it’s better to keep the scope angle low leading to the mooring anchor itself). Up North in Rhode Island, most mooring ball pennant lines are mounted on the top and have either a single long pennant line or a single that spits into two lines with loops for throwing over your bow cleats. Here in Key West the mooring pennant line is very short with a thimble that you must thread two of your own dock lines through. They ask that you keep a minimum of 10 feet between the boat and the thimble. The winds can really blow down here and they don’t want you short tying to the ball and potentially dragging the mooring anchor.

Dock lines through mooring pennant with thimble at end

Once tied up it was a bit of long dinghy ride into the marina office which is located in a different location than the transient dinghy dock.

We arrived on St. Paddy’s day so we wasted no time getting an Uber to Duval St. and hitting some of the local watering holes like Hog’s Breath Saloon. Want to see the drink menu? It’s on your plastic cup (not a bad idea). I had to do a Gumbash Smash just to make Danny & Dina smile. (Inside joke)

Every bar should do this. Starting at the top…

We found that the Sunset Pier had a good band playing and spent some time there taking selfies and enjoying the cool breeze off the ocean.

We ate at Margaritaville’s and found it was less crowded than adjacent restaurants due to the St. Paddy’s day crowds. The food & drinks were good.

The dinghy ride back to the boat was hysterical as we had not paid enough attention to where we left the big boat and we were driving around in the dink trying to find Simple Life. Fish were jumping out of the water as we skimmed over the shallows at high speed.

While there I got to visit places like The Green Room.

The Whistle Bar (AKA the Bull)

Is it the “Whistle Bar” or “The Bull”? – Branding issues?

We joined the 1st ever Key West Cruisers Net Social at Key West Waterfront Brewery (right on the water). We had lots of fun sharing drinks and stories with other live-aboard cruisers.

They teased me a bit being a live-aboard cruiser on a trawler vs. Sailboat but I like to tease them back a bit 😉

Waterfront Brewery right on the water, nice breeze

Lots of fun drinking & chatting with the other cruisers

We made the first ever Official KWCN Social

Don’t you just love the banter between sailors and those who went to the dark-side?

Some nights were dead calm which can get hot aboard without a breeze. Other nights the breeze was blowing in through the hatch and you needed a blanket to keep your toes warm. The funny thing about no wind is… the boats tend to spin randomly rather than all lining up with the wind. Our neighbors on a Manta 44 power catamaran had to jump in the water to untangle their mooring line that was wrapped around their mooring ball.

I offered help but they wanted to fix on their own. He’s a trooper

At night we would see amazing sunsets as we relaxed in the aft cockpit with a drink or two.

Entering the ICW

Norfolk Leg — Route from The Great Machipongo Inlet to Top Rack Marina, Chesapeake, VA

Well we woke up early and left The Great Machipongo Inlet. The dolphins once again escorted us out and I turned South with the sun streaming in the port side pilothouse windows so hard I had to close the curtains and use the radar alone to tell what was on that side of the boat.

The sea was as flat as a model’s tummy so I lowered the RPMs on the diesel to get 2 MPG rather than 1 MPG. Simply by slowing the boat 1.3 knots we double our fuel efficiency! Don’t you wish that were the case for your car?

Thimble Shoal Light - Norfolk VA — Thimble Shoal Light

In a few hours we had snuck through the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, past Thimble Shoal lighthouse and we were approaching Norfolk Navel Station.

What an amazing sight to get to these American Navy ships up close.

Warship 19 — USS Mesa Verde (LPD 19) – Amphibious Transport Dock Ship

You can see the barrier fence that they stretch across the opening and that fence line is protected by a Navy Patrol boat with a machine gun on the bow.

A local news story revealed just a few months ago there were six bomb threats called in to the naval station and you can call NCIS if you know anything. I wonder if you can call and ask for “Leroy Jethro Gibbs” or “Tony DiNozzo”?

USNS William McLean (T-AKE 12) - Military Sealift Command — USNS William McLean (T-AKE 12)
– Military Sealift Command

USS Leyte Gulf (CG-55) – Ticonderoga-Class Guided Missile Cruiser

USS San Jacinto CG-56 — USS *San Jacinto* (CG-56) – Ticonderoga-Class Cruiser

MH-53E Sea Dragon Buzzed Us From Overhead

As the Sea Dragon buzzed us my navigation system popped up forcing me to ACKNOWLEDGE the fact that there was a “Dangerous Target” nearby. The Helicopter was not alone and there were a pair of jets making that deafening sound that seems to well up from a simple background rumble to a roar.

Jet — McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet – Screeching Across the Sky

I believe that is a McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet? Maybe one of our military aficionados will comment if I got any of this incorrect?

Dry dock ship — I Believe this is the Stern of a Amphibious Transport Ship?

Medical Ship — USS Jason Dunham (DDG-109) – Arleigh Burke-Class Destroyer Alongside The Hospital Ship Comfort

The Hospital Ship Comfort made it’s way down to Puerto Rico as part of the relief efforts.

News Story about Hospital ship and it’s relief efforts.

So after navigating past all the warships and being careful to keep our distance it’s on to the Norfolk International Terminals and the Virginia Port Authority.

Star Wars AT-AT Walkers were all I could think about.

Hapag-Lloyd Passing By — Hapag-Lloyd Container Ship Passing By

North PBL RR Bridge and Jordan Fixed Bridge, ICW’s First Set of Bridges – Many More to Come

Norfolk Southern Railway Bridge 36 Feet — Norfolk Southern Railway Bridge @36 Feet – Room to Spare

Paddle Wheel James C Echoles 2 Passing us By

You can’t help but notice that everywhere along the shore seems posted “WARNING – US Government Property – Restricted Area – KEEP OUT”

US Gov Manned Towers with searchlights Guard Wharf Entrances

Finally, we arrived at our chosen destination, Top Rack Marina.

Top Rack Marina setting sun — Top Rack Marina in the Setting Sun

I promise to post more about this terrific marina and the on site restaurant called the Amber Lantern that we plan on having dinner at tonight.

New Haven CT & Gale Warnings

PtJudithSunrise2 — Pt. Judith, RI – Harbor of Refuge @ Sunrise

We departed Harbor of Refuge @ sunrise this morning. We felt a sense of urgency due to a gale warning (gusts to 35 knots) which is in effect beginning Thursday afternoon. The cause is two separate low pressures that are having a complex interaction West of our current location.

Below is a rough depiction of our second leg of our journey South. Our course took us from Pt. Judith’s Harbor of Refuge, outside Fishers Island to Morris Cove Anchorage in New Haven, CT.

Today’s cruise was long but relaxing. The sun was streaming in windows making the pilothouse warm as we made way @ 8.5kts West down Long Island Sound.

We saw only a few sport fishing boats and had to dodge the occasional ferry crossing our path.

Every captain knows it’s better to take the stern of larger vessels rather than attempt to cross her bow. Ten or so years ago I had a close with a US battleship @3AM in pea-soup fog in Norfolk, Virginia’s entrance channel. Our close call was not a crossing issue but instead the warship was inbound in the channel and was not basting fog signals. After they suddenly appeared on radar from under the Chesapeake Bay bridge/tunnel we quickly blasted our horn. When they responded with their horn I swear my ears blew out. The warship quickly passed us not 100′ off our port beam (frightening in the fog). A shout out to that day’s offshore crew – Eddie, Sean and Amy who can attest to this poop-your-pants experience.

After this harrowing experience, we installed Kahlenberg triple trumpet air horns as well as AIS (Automatic Identification System) in Simple Life.

AIS equipped vessels can each view on their chart plotter the other’s vessel name, size, speed, heading and course-magnetic. AIS works by sending & receiving digital data over VHF channel 70 so that two ships can see each other on their chartplotter screens even without radar. I have also learned to that programming your marine VHF with a MMSI # make ship2ship communications easier when it’s dark or foggy.

Tomorrow our plan is to push west down the coast of Connecticut with hopes of catching the 4.8kt ebb tide through the East River (where the dead bodies are found on many Law & Order episodes). Kelly & I always enjoy the East River’s Hell’s Gate (where the Harlem River meets the East River). Hell’s Gate is infamous due to the strong currents that mix in the way a washing machine mixes water.

We hope to make the Liberty Island Marina in Jersey City by sunset on Thursday. We’ll spend two nights at the marina while we wait for more favorable weather for our trip down the Jersey coast. Until then we’ll just sit on anchor watching the lights from New Haven.