August 1-10, 2016 Coinjock to Charleston

Woke up to the pitter-patter of rain.  Latest forecasts are depicting a rainy and  stormy afternoon aith near 100% heavy rain chances.  So, lying here at 5:30AM I decided we’ll stay based on the weather, our passengers and the fact that we have yet to get Bubbie in one of the dinghies for pee/poop runs to the beach.

After we were all up and fed breakfast I went to get the little dinghy down and inflated.  And then the little Nissan outboard Dave and Joann gave to us last year.

Successful embarkation 

Alas, this little outboard we used so extensively in the Bahamas last year is frozen.  I couldn’t free it up.  Even though I fogged it last year I'm guessing there was moisture in the cylinder and its probably rusted tight.  I got some oil in the cylinder and then will get a good amount of diesel in there too which I hope might breakout the rust.  Maybe Huckins guys can get it going again if I cant, but they wont see it until November which does us no good now.

First dinghy ride

So in the meantime our dog dinghy is a motor-less dog dinghy.   I’m sure I’ll end up caving in and hauling the big dinghy down just to take a 20 pound dog to the bathroom.  Sigh …

After some orientation and jockeying of the little dinghy we got a bewildered looking Bubbie in and Jack rowed her around a little.   She stayed in the boat looking a bit bewildered, but never tried to climb out.  I consider that a pass on the dog dinghy test.

After that, Jack went off kayaking a few times and Mary took a turn at rowing the dinghy with Bubbie.   Mary is the primary dog-pooping dinghy driver so it made since to practice at least once.  

Poor Bubbie though might be seeing a glimmer of  a future filled with wilderness beaches, hard sand and unattractive pooping bushes, a rather unsettling contrast from the lush lawns of a marina.

The skis turned dark and we endured perhaps 17 minutes of mist before the clouds evaporated and we were left with sunny skies and heat.  The storms, it seems, went elsewhere.  I think I'm mifted though.  We stayed here becasue of storms and just where the heck are they?  I want my storms!

He was napping on the power cord when I removed it from the dock pedestal 

Bubbie walking along the dock this morning (yes, I took her out for her morning constitutional ) was quite cautious when we would encounter a few planks that were skinny to the point they left  wider cracks between the planks.  This was done to thread hoses (electrical cable etc. to the boats from the dock pedestals where water and power are available.  On her first foray yesterday she fell through one of the cracks. Now she's a little wary.

We had cocktail hour with beef jerky hors'devores (Jacks second favorite food behind crab legs).

In the marina office... Politics are an endless source for humor

After sitting for 24 hours, the small dinghy motor is still frozen up.  

We have several 60-70 mile days ahead.  

We left early, about 7:30AM but not before several other boats.  It was uneventful although as we started to cross Albemarle Sound we encountered some stronger west winds and the resultant heavy chop.  In other words it was a little rough.  But Jack, and even Bubbie didn’t seem to mind.  Both of them were actually out on the bow for a portion of the trip.

As we drew within 6 miles of the Alligator Swing Bridge (14 feet vertical clearance) I heard the bridge tender on the radio saying repairs about to begin an the bridge would be closed for several hours.  I called him back and he said sure, he’d hold it open even though we were 40 minutes out.

Well, he didn’t keep it open,  It was closed when we came within ½ mile and after a few exchanges the bridge tender said it would be several hours until he could open again.

Noting the approaching weather, a long line of heavy thunder storms, I figured we’d just go into the marina nearby and stay the night.  I was pretty confident the bridge repairs would most likely be delayed by the rain and why anchor out in the hot, heavy air when we could be snug at a dock with A/C. 

Of course there is also the Bubbie situation.  She has to be taken out to do her thing, and I wasn’t keen on taking the big dinghy down during a thunderstorm.  So into the marina we went.

The Alligator River Marina is in a small basin and bigger boats have to tie alongside on the seawall which was fine by us.

Entering the Alligator River Marina

The marina office is in a Shell station which has a small little restaurant.  It was cheap too. 

Storm rolling in.  Heavy winds and heavy rain.

After we paid up it began storming out.  Very heavy rain, on and off for most of the afternoon.  Did I mention we pulled in here around 1PM?

The TV zombies watched TV and I worked on the computer.  They have a fast internet connection. here.  It was great except for a number of times when the connection abruptly dropped off because, I suspect, of the storm.

We had a mediocre cocktail hour and ended up eating dinner at the Shell station.  It was pretty good.

Dinner!

Later Mary took Bubbie for her constitutional and I trailed along for a bit but then headed back when they disappeared in the tall grass.  I walked the docks a for a few minutes and chatted with a truck driver who drives for Teeter Harris Grocery Stores.  He stops here on his nightly runs to take a break and stretch his legs.  Nice man

We have at least 80+ miles to go tomorrow so its an early departure.

We left before 7 this morning.  Bubbie seems a bit shocked at the early morning activity but she did her thing so no worries.  

Marina office in the gas station

Tied up right across from the light house

We left the marina and I called the bridge saying we’d be there shortly.  He misunderstood and opened it right away so I had to really scoot to get through there.  Impressive line of traffic!

It was a hot, uneventful journey.  As we neared our destination I did talk briefly to a Nordic 37 who wanted to know what the conditions were on the Neuse River.  This river cant get pretty rough but we were turning into Bay River where the Vandemere anchorage was so I wasn’t of much help.  Even in the Bay River it was pretty rough.

Tiny town of Vandemere

The anchorage across from Vandemere was fine.  We were the only boat there.  The charts indicated we set the anchor 500 feet from the 2 foot contour line, but I think the charts a little off.  It seems much further.

Once we were settled in the plan was for Mary and Jack to row Bubbie to shore.  And then back.  My innards were screaming "Bad Idea" but I didn't utter any objection.

"All plans are subject to change",  as one placard on a marina restroom wall proclaimed.  And so it was.

In this case, it was apparent I had to take the big dinghy down after watching those two row in circles and bounce around in the chop while Bubbie maintained her stoic bewildered look ... "why am I here?".

Anchored in Vandemere.  It was a long way to shore

The shore was a good mile away and we weren’t even sure where the boat launch dock was located.  In the gusty wind rowing a small dinghy with two people and a dog just didn't seem like a winning idea.

So I really had no choice.  We got it down and true to form it started right away.  Everyone hopped, stepped gingerly or was carried into the dinghy.  Then off we went looking for a dock to disembark the object of the trip along with her handlers

We were slowly driving up along the shrimper boat docks when I saw a pleasure boat ahead so we moved closer and I asked the couple on the boat where we could dock for a few minutes to let a dog out.  He said use his dock, where his shrimp boat was tied up.  It was right in front of us. Sweet!

It was a little dicey getting everyone off on this “working” dock with all sorts of machinery.  But we managed.  So while they all went off to motivate Bubbies bowels, I cruised around and found the delightful public boat launch the couple had mentioned.  It had a large number of piers and nice grassy areas with gazebos and new picnic tables.  It was rather odd setting though.  Surrounding the boat launch were dilapidated buildings, old rusted equipment and areas of of uncut weeds. 

The couple I had previously talked with were there and we chatted a bit.  He’s the shrimp boat owner and captain of the boat which is part of a consortium of other shrimp boats that pool their catches.  Very nice people.

I went back shortly after, to fetch the gang who were all giddy with success.  Back on the boat I  started up the generator and I fired up the water maker while we had dinner and watched Jack’s new favorite TV show.

The water maker filters were pretty dirty after the water maker had filled the tanks so I’ll have to change those before we use it again.  We also back-flushed the membranes for an extra minute or two just to be sure.

Next morning we, well Mary, Bubbie and I were up before 6AM.  Jack was peacefully snoozing away on the couch, his preferred bed.

We got her in the dinghy, made our way to the public boat launch I discovered last evening.  Bubbie did her thing and we made it back to the boat.  I started the engines and we hauled the dinghy up.  Then got the anchor up and off we went.  88 miles to Mile Hammock.

It wasn’t a typical, eventful journey except for the heat.  It was hot.

The crew spent most of their time in the “cool” cabin either napping (Mary, Bubbie) or watching The Goldbergs (Jack).  I engaged in current battles most of the day.  We were fighting the current except in some spots where it pushed us along.  The "pushed" spots were quite short.  The stretches where we were doing 6mph against the current seem interminable. 

The fly bridge, where we drive the boat, becomes an oven in the sun and when the temps are hovering near 100 it can be hellish.  Even with a fan going full blast I was sweating profusely.  Water consumption was way up, evidenced by the growing heap of plastic water bottles waiting to be recycled.

I'm day dreaming of an air conditioned pilothouse.  Meanwhile I douse myself with water every so often and stand in front of the fan.

The only impediment too overcome today was the Onslow Bridge which has a very precise opening schedule dictated by the Marine Corp.  We could be idling around for an additional hour if we missed the opening.

But we did make the Onslow bridge on time and passed through it and then a few miles further on we entered Mile Hammock, a large basin in the midst of the Camp Lejune marine base.  There was only one other boat in there with us. 

Anchored in Mile Hammock

We lowered the dinghy and everyone managed to get in and then we drove out out of Mile Hammock into the ICW looking for a place for Bubbie to do her thing.

It was high tide though so the numerous beaches I seemed to remember were absent.  We poked around a for a few minutes and finally settled on a shell beach composed of broken shells and stones but it was deep enough to get the dinghy relatively close to shore.  Our trim/tilt isn’t functional so I cant tilt the motor up without it sinking down.

Exciting new experiences on usual mundane dog walks

I had to stayed with the dinghy to keep it from drifting down stream (strong current) while Jack, and Mary trudged up the beach and disappeared into the brush being led by master bushwoman, Bubbie. 

She ultimately did poop near a dead tree so received “good” treats after we returned to the boat.  It was dusk when we did get back aboard.

I wonder if my impression that our lives are now being run by an 11 year Boston Terrier are valid?

We ran the generator and all three air conditioners to try and cool off the boat but it was so hot it didn’t help much.

Later at night, we had a few hours of helicopter sorties.  They would swoop right overhead, so loud the boat shook.  Big craft too, but it was too dark to make out any identifying details.  So there we lay, snoring dog in a stuffy hot cabin listening to helicopter maneuvers.  Sweet!

We took Bubbie to her place this morning and she did her thing.  I rigged the towing line so we could tow the big dinghy to Wrightsville Beach, our destination today. 

It was hot, with building clouds.  Wrightsville Beach is sort of a college resort town and lies south of Mile Hammock.  Traveling there from Mile Hammock, one encounters three bridges that we have to negotiate.  And they have specific opening times which are not in sync with old, slow boats like ours.

Every time through here (this will be the 5^th) we screw up the bridge schedules and have to wait. The bridges are far enough apart that we cant make an opening within thirty minutes.  We just cant go that fast. 

Memory being what it is, I always forget to check my notes, (4 years worth) which has a rich explanation of timing and speeds.   So again we guessed and went speeding (plodding) down towards the infamous set of North Carolina Bridges (Figure 8, Surf City and Wrightsville Beach).

We ended up waiting for 90 minutes.  And just to add some entertainment to an essentially boring cruise down the ICW, we waited at the last bridge for 40 minutes in a thunderstorm.  At least the boat got rinsed off.  And Bubbie slept through it all.

As we neared Wrightsville Beach we noticed it was teeming with kids, surfer dudes, guys in go fast boats, girls in bikinis dancing on big, booze cruise boats … a wonderful spot to enjoy a quiet summer evening.  But with the rain storms all around, the activity was less than we have experienced in the past.  

Sand Flats at Wrightsville Beach

Jack off in search of sea creatures

Mary and the dog exploring the shore

We anchored in Banks Channel off of Shinn Creek.  Its very near the Masonboro Inlet.  On the opposite side, across the inlet are sand bars and large dunes.  We took the dinghy there.  All of us.  Jack went looking for dead things, Mary walked Bubbie and I contemplated life, listening to some go fast boat blaring yucky country music. 

After, we dropped Bubbie off at the boat and we humans went into town to get ice cream.   And, as we ate, walked the ½ block to the beach.  Jack, having completely devoured his cone, stared longingly at the beach.  “Sure”, I said.  Go wade in and test the waters".

Wrightsville Beach Ice Cream!

30 minutes later he was out swimming with the surfers, the wading immediately turned into full wave immersion.  He as having a grand old time.  Mary, trying to wave him into shore was knocked down a few times by the waves, got soaked head to toe and abandoned the effort.  I waded in and finally got his attention and finally plucked him out of the water.  I took the two soggy “waders” back to the boat.

Jack frolicking ever further out in the ocean 

Strong  waves equates to a drenched Nona

Bubbie, apparently miffed at being being left behind, somehow got a plastic bag down from the freezer top, dug in and found the little treat bag, and inhaled every one of them leaving the shredded bag on the floor so we’d get the message.

I grilled shrimp, and we made water and watched Jack's current favorite program (I'm tired of typing Donn Reed) again in the coolness of the cabin.  Then it was showers, dishes and laundry before I shut down the generator and we retired to cool cabins. 

Bubbie, a wise old girl seems to prefer our big comfy king size bed to her recently purchased doggie bed.  The rapidly warming cabin doesn’t seem to phase her except tonight where it was still up in the eighties at midnight even though we were near the ocean.  She was panting and we were sweating even though I had two fans running.  Gotta love these new batteries!

Everyone in and heading to shore

We left late for the 69 mile cruise to Myrtle Beach.  Bubbie's efficient support staff first had to take her to shore.  No dinghy with a motor this time.  Oar power.

We were anchored a 100 yards from shore and it was a calm morning so this worked just fine.

Luckily we were anchored close to shore in Banks Channel

Once everyone was back aboard we hauled the little dinghy up on the bow and brought up the anchor.  The we headed back to the ICW and turned south.

Going through Swans cut a few miles past Carolina Beach and before Southport, the trip became a slow slog becasue of the substantial tidal current in the Cape Fear River.  We were blowing by napping seagulls at 5 mph as we motored down the Cape Fear River.

Once we made the turn at Southport we got a big boost for a few miles (10 mph) but it quickly moderated until we were zipping along at our normal 7 mph.

The nice weather brought out every boat owner on the eastern seaboard.  It was fun dodging them all but when they didn't move I didn't either and, well size does matter.  We are such bullies ...:-) 

Everyone like to see a fire boat testing it's hoses

We had to pass through only bridge this time though.  But getting there meant traversing some very shallow areas.  One, Shallottes Inlet, is where crowds, and I do mean crowds of people set up tents and tables on the sandy shore and and dunes that border the inlet.   Towboat/US and Sea Tow had tow boats waiting there for inevitable groundings because its so shallow.  We literally plowed our way through the syrupy, sandy slush formed from the current blowing in from the inlet.  Some boats weren’t so lucky which was why tow boats linger here.

Two power boats, Roxane being one, passed us as we left the inlet area. 

Next was Lockwood’s Folly, named after a guy named Lockwood who built a large boat 100 some years ago and then discovered it was too deep drafted to get out to the ocean.  Hence the name, Lockwoods Folly.

It too is shallow, but there is a well documented path through the shallow area.  The boat traveling with Roxane though cut a corner too sharply and went aground.  We passed them sitting up on the mud waiting for a tow boat to pull them off.  I should mention it was low tide by then.

Next up was Little River which is sort of the border town between North and South Carolina.  It was packed with little runabouts buzzing all over.  Luckily we are big enough that most would move over.  Occasionally though we ended up playing chicken.  I usually moved rather than squish a bunch of idiot boaters.

We had to go through the Little River Swing Bridge but fighting the currents was making timing difficult.  In this case we were trying to catch up to a sailboat so we could go through the bridge together.  The bridges opens on demand but heavy weekend traffic make the interval somewhat long.  Complicating the situation was the very tight area near the bridge.  And the gusty 20mph winds.  I was trying to avoid waiting in such tight quarters with all these little boats buzzing around

So I called the sailboat and he slowed a few mph and we caught up.  I called the swing bridge as we only had to wait a few minutes and sailed right through the dozens of little boats to the other side of the bridge.  The bridge tender is an older guy, very nice who I remember from back in 2013 and subsequent years. 

Next obstacle was Rock Pile.  But it was low tide which made the rocky shoal area very visible.  And we didn't encounter a boat coming in the opposite direction so it was all good.

We passed under the Barefoot Bridge and called Nick the dock master for Barefoot Landing Marina.  He directed us to go between  two closely packed boats.  It all worked just fine.  Nick, is still good dock master and a great guy.

We discovered we had the wrong phone number for the marina which was why we couldn't contact them at first by phone.    

Since we were tired and no one was particularly enthusiastic about making dinner we went out to eat at Joes Bar and Grill.  Randy the cab driver took us in his golf cart.

It was steamy hot when we returned but the A/C in the boat was wonderful.

We settled in and starting watching the Olympics.

Went to bed later.   We finished eating dinner at 9:30 but don’t tell Jacks parents we fed him steak and lobster so late.  

We all slept in becasue it was a cool night.  Bubbie hogged the whole bed to the point where Mary and I were clinging to the sides while the dog enjoyed the expanse of a king size bed.  Bubbie is not a large dog. 

We washed the boat, and then I went shopping.  I walked to BiLo grocery store and when I had a good sized heap in the cart, I called Randy's Flip Flop cab service again.  He runs this tricked out golf cart and only asks for tips … its sort of a hobby, driving around.  He's retired and this gets him out of the house and out of his wife's hair.

Randy picked me up and we drove the few miles back to the boat.  Meanwhile Mary and Jack started cleaning the boat.  It was pretty dirty but succumbed to the energetic scrubbing and started looking good again.

Jack Kayaking in Myrtle Beach

We had the kayak down and Jack took the opportunity to go kayaking again.

Had a long pleasant conversation with Terry who is Nick’s (the normal dock master) replacement.  He’s a live-aboard-too and is a retired pharmacist.  His wife is a surgical/trauma nurse and is still working.  He married a younger woman.  They were down in Marathon about time we arrived so we’ll probably see them this winter.

We ate aboard watched "that program" and went to bed after walking over to the ice cream place where we all had ice cream.  There was some disbelief when I suggested a visit to the  Beef Jerky Store while we were out.   Yes, there really is an entire store devoted to beef jerky.

Jack loves beef jerky so in we went and out we came with jerky.   And to think some youngsters still scoff  at my encyclopedic knowledge.

We left early this morning. Its almost 20 miles to the Socasteee swing bridge which would open on demand, before a mechanical failure 2 months ago.  Now its on the hour.  Lucky I caught that note to mariners describing the change.

Entering Osprey Marina

We made it through the 11AM opening, swung into the tight confines of Osprey Marina for fuel (216 gallons) and ran back out into the ICW which, in this area is really the Waccamaw River.  The river is just stunning.  Beautiful place.

It took us a few hours to travel down to Georgetown.  We arrived, with Roxane a 37 foot Nordic Tug owned by David and wife, following us in.  They are also live aboards. 

We both were tied up end to end on the T-head of the main dock at Harborwalk Marina.

Harborwalk Marina

We walked to downtown, noting the Rice Museum was closed.

Disappointed (not really)  Rice Museum visitor 

Then, trying to beat a closing time, I went an extra mile to the liquor store for rum which, to my dismay was $10 more a bottle than anywhere else.  So I bought a tiny bottle of it and headed back to the boat where Jack and Mary were immersed in Olympics.   Womens rugby.

We did that for a bit, enjoyed a strong shower that rolled through and then I grilled and we watched yet another episode of that TV program from the 60's.  Jack is enamored with the series.  We didn't stay up to late though.  We leave at 8am tomorrow to ride a high tide through the troublesome area of the ICW north of Charleston.

We were up at 7 to a calm day, but with a passing shower or two.  I let Mary and Bubbie (and Jack sleep) while I did dishes and took the garbage out.

Mary was up when I returned and took Bubbie for her walk and I checked with Dave from Roxane who were  tied up directly in front of us.  He was leaving about the same time so we waited until they left and then we pulled out.

Alligator on the way to Charleston

I was trying to time it so we’d make McClellanville about 2 hours before high tide.

We passed through here in June going up to Norfolk and went through at high tide then without much trouble.  It's very shallow water for about a 4 mile stretch.  Going through at or near high tide makes far it less risky.

And we made it just fine with the same shallow spots we noted 2 months ago.

 There was a rising tide which I thought would give us a long speed boost, but that boost died away 10 miles after entering the ICW.  Then several miles past the shallow stretches, we encountered another strong current against us again. 

Aikido Style bug zapping

It was hot and buggy all day.  But when the bug zapper came out they suffered heavy losses.

We entered Charleston Harbor around 5 on a brisk ebbing tidal flow.   We called the Charleston Harbor Marina and they initially wanted us to tie up at the fuel dock while they figured out where to put us.  But I suggested we just wait out in the main harbor until they figured it out.

 There were 20mph gusts augmenting the ebbing tidal current of about 3 knots.  In the tight confines of a marina, it can be difficult to control a boat like ours with these kinds of winds and currents.  Getting into a slip will be exciting enough.

The dock hand finally got back to me after a few minutes and said they were putting us in a slip, C40.  Fine.  So in we went.

C40, as it turns out put us in the downstream current as we would turn to enter the slip.   Normal convention is to head into a strong current which helps in controlling the boat.   Well, not this time.

With the running tide there was no way I could get the boat in the slip by backing it in, so we tried to go bow in but failed on the first two attempts fighting the action of the current pushing us and the wind setting us to one side.

After the first attempts I pulled away and moved down the fareway a bit and turned the boat around. So now we'd be making a turn to port into the slip and using the current to slightly push against us as we turned.

That helped and we managed to skitter in the slip without hitting the boat next to us (4 feet away).  Or the dock.  The dock hand did get a taught bow line on so I could twist the boat around to swing the stern in close to the dock and avoiding hitting the boat next to us.   The usual convention is to use a breast (middle) line to do this sort of thing.    But you take what you can get!

We quickly had a stern line on so we weren't moving sideways but the current was pushing our bow forward almost into the dock ahead of us..  The dock hand ran up to the bow and began pushing against the boat to keep us from crashing into the dock ahead of us.  There was no aft spring line!

Mary couldn't jump off the boat, and the dock hand was trying to keep us from crashing in to the dock ahead of us.  Jack probably could have but he wasn't experienced enough to know what to do.
I'd normally just put the outboard prop in gear and let if work against the current while we set up our lines, but we were corkscrewing around because of the wind which required constant adjustment.

So I  powered the boat as close to the dock and back against the bow line as possible while Mary rigged a spring line.  Then I ran down, jumped off the boat and secured the aft spring line which prevented the boat from moving forward.

Success!

Finally tied up!

Here, there were no pilings, just the slips.  Usually, marinas place tall pilings out in front of the slips to use as leverage points where you can nudge the boat against one and then pivot it to bring one end or the other in alignment with the slip.  These poles also act as fenders in the sense if one does drift in towards another boat the piling will keep it from colliding.

Exciting times!  And after all that the dock hand mentioned we might have to move in the next couple of days.  What?  Your kidding?!

The dock hand was a prior Colorado state trooper,.  Very nice guy but had been doing this for less than a week which explains the excitement.  Live and learn.  He was, at least I think anyway since he was talking on the phone quite a bit, taking directions from the real dock master who was not present but at home.  

There was an unspoken consensus that we go off to the bar to eat dinner.  So we did.  It was typical bar hamburger food which sufficed.  Pretty pricey though.  Another late dinner Jack's parents need not know about.

Napping in a comfy chair before dinner?

When we returned, Mary took Bubbie for a walk and then joined us to watch the Olympics for a short while and then off to bed in the cool air.  It was a long, hot day.

Jen and Dave arrive tomorrow night.  And it appears I have a port side battery charging problem.

I also noted that Jen and Dave will be treated to a real tropical weather experience.  It's forecast to be in the mid to high 90's all week.  Thank goodness for air conditioning!