Mike
06/08/2008, Long Creek, NC

June 3rd... Town Creek, Beaufort NC to Long Creek

Happy Birthday Ellie!

We left Town Creek at 8am with "Solitaire" and had an uneventful day motoring up Adams Creek to the Neusse River. We passed Oriental and put up a sail as we worked our way down the Neusse to the Pamlico Sound. From there we turned west and headed for the Bell river.

We were planning on anchoring in Bear Creek but the wind direction was wrong so we worked our way through Bonner Bay and into Long Creek. It is one of the most remote anchorages that we've found. In the 10 miles of shore line visible I saw only two or three lights after sunset.

We called Ellie with birthday wishes as well as Robert Peek. Robert is the lockmaster at Deep Creek which is the northern end of the Dismal Swamp. We have read on one of the cruiser websites that the Dismal Swamp is too shallow for us this Spring but we wanted to verify this information with the expert. Robert said that the canal was in better shape than when we passed through last fall and that he had locked through sailboats with more draft that us within the last two days.

We are three days away from the point at which we have to make the decision but we are definitely leaning that way.

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Mike
06/02/2008, Beaufort, NC

June 1st... Mile Hammock to Beaufort, NC

We left a little after 7am to catch a bridge opening four miles away only to find it permanently open while under repair. The trip was uneventful except for the fact that we able to sail again for a few hours. We always keep the engine running because in places the ICW is quite narrow. Narrow enough that if something went wrong there isn't enough space to recover.

We arrived in Beaufort a little before the 1:30 bridge opening and anchored next to "Solitaire" in Town Creek. We ended up being too close. so after an hour or so we hauled the anchor and moved over a boat length to give us a little more swing room.

We had dinner at the Town Creek Marina with Jim and Nancy and made it back to the boat just as a thunder storm rolled in.

It was not ...just a thunderstorm. It was a series of thunderstorms that lasted well into the evening. I had the engine on in case the anchor let go ... but it didn't. Jim recorded a gust of about 50 and there was so much rain that visibility was measured in feet. Eventually things calmed down and the rest of the night consisted of mostly off and on rain.

June 2nd... Beaufort

Kathy wasn't feeling quite right this morning and seems to have been contracting a cold or something for the last few days, so I walked with Jim and Nancy to get a propane tank filled. It was good exercise after spending the better part of a week on the boat. Since we were anchored within about 100 yards of the gas dock, after taking care of the propane I made two trips in to top off our tanks.

By then is was time for a little lunch and then a trip to downtown Beaufort for a little shopping... my favorite thing... I did purchase a couple of shirts made of the same fabric as some of my shorts that dry in minutes ... while you're wearing them

Kathy bought some books and Jim and Nancy each made a couple of purchases... It was a very nice afternoon, even if we were shopping.

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Miike
06/02/2008, Mile Hammock Bay, NC

May 31st... Wrightsville Beach to Mile Hammock Bay (Camp Jejune, NC)

Today's only real challenge was the timing of the bridges. The first was in Wrightsville Beach and it opened on the hour so we simply had to guess at the time it would take to get our anchor up and motor the half mile or over to the bridge. The second was 5 miles away which posed no real problem either.... we timed it perfectly. However, after arriving at exactly the right time the bridge operator made the three of us dance for 6 minutes in the current with very little room to maneuver.

The last bridge of the day was 18 miles away which should be easy.... 18 statute miles -minus 2.4 =15.6 nautical miles. If we run at 5.2 knots for three hours everything will work out right. The only problem is tidal currents. Every inlet we pass means a change from current with, to current against. At times the current is as much as three knots. If our max speed over ground without current is 7 knots, then there are times that our headway is only a little over 4 knots. So we have to factor current, high and low tides, wind, as well as where we are going to be relative to the various little inlets. We made the third bridge with a few minutes to spare.

With about 15 miles to our destination we raised our jib and sailed up the intracoastal for the about two hours in 20 knots of wind. It doesn't happen very often.

We had a very pleasant evening with Bev, Arnie, George, and Dorene on "Scandia." It looks like we will be going our separate ways tomorrow.

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