Typical scenery on the Virginia Cut ICW.



So here is how it has been going. For the last week or so the weather has been pretty good for cruising the iCW: cloudy, with some light rain, but light wind for powering down rivers and canals, and for cruising sounds. In this we have been lucky. And we didn't get trapped in the Dismal Swamp when it closed for almost a week (a few boats did) and only one side of a drawbridge failed on the Virginia Cut route. On the other hand, the dinghy outboard failed (and was replaced), the anchor windlass wired remote "down" switch has failed (but I have a less-convenient one at the helm), the weather seal on our GPS chartplotter started leaking so the screen is fogging, and we have a rear-main-seal leak on the diesel that seemed to increase. All of these difficulties can be dealt with by work-arounds or credit card.

Then there is hurricane Matthew. In the Carolina's, the Captain does not like the choices when it comes to riding out such a storm. There are good facilities in exposed coastal locations (Beaufort, NC, and Charleston, SC are examples), and typically not-so-good facilities in the less-exposed, inland areas. Therefore the Captain has pointed the bow north, and we are back in Portsmouth/Norfolk where we are going to watch developments for a few days. The Admiral is not pleased.

When we made this trip 5 years ago, our insurance required that we stay north of Cape Hatteras, NC, until November 1. With our current insurance we have no such restrictions, but of course we knew there was a risk. Looks like we have lost the gamble.

Bottom line: the Captain is beginning to believe that there is a Jonah aboard and that we should head for home port.