Ithaka's Travels

We were off the dock at Southport on Sunday the 8th before sunrise and headed 37 miles down the ICW to Coquina Harbor and the Myrtle Beach Yacht Club. Skies were threatening when we left and pouring when we arrived...three cheers for life in the "bubble"!

Ahh the "bubble" -- our enclosure -- highlights some of the contrast between our journey aboard Ithaka and that of my Dad aboard Wanderer in 1981. Checking Dad's log, he left Southport on November 2nd headed for Shallotte Inlet -- much the same float plan we had for today. His log entry for the day included, "This was a great day of motoring except that it ended with our going aground at buoy #81. We should have been closer to buoy #81. We tried kedging, hoisted the main but the wind was light, we extended the jib halyard and Kootch and I tried leaning the boat on its side but the tide was ebbing too fast so we ended up spending the night here."

Ours was anything but a nice day weather wise, but the "bubble" kept us dry and warm. And on the way by we did get a few pictures of buoy #81, but our electronics, along with chart guides and crowd-sourced Active Captain detailing shoaling and other trouble spots has (so far) kept us off the ground -- and it's a good thing inasmuch as Ithika weighs four times as much as Wanderer and swinging from a halyard isn't likely to be anymore successful than it was for Wanderer...nice to know we have TowBoat US😊. Oh, and one last thing, from the original Captain Gil's log, "when we leveled off, we had a good pork chop dinner." No contrast here...we had pork chops too.

We were back on the ICW first thing Monday morning in the pouring rain...continued "bubble" kudos😊 Osprey Marina was our next stop -- a beautiful hurricane hole, with 100% occupancy and not enough room to squeeze in another row boat. We found out just how tight things were when we got a last minute change to our docking instructions from a port tie alone on a T-head to a starboard side tie stern-to-stern with another boat...gotta love it! Thanks go out to Captain Bill who warned us to ALWAYS have dock lines on both port and starboard!

We got to Southport Marina a day ahead of schedule in order to have our windlass serviced, but we had to postpone any service due to the time needed to order any replacement parts that are available only in New Zealand. That gave the green light to getting the folding bikes out from the V-berth for the first time and catch the ferry to Bald Hill Island site of the original Cape Fear lighthouse and present-day home to a championship golf course and some high end vacation homes. There are no cars on the island -- transportation is via golf cart, bicycle, and walking. We rode our bikes to the ferry and then caught the noontime ferry, had lunch at Mojo's overlooking the harbor, visited "Old Baldy" -- the lighthouse, and walked the beach -- on a beautiful summer-like day.

We got back to Southport just in time to take in a reception for Sail Rally participants and sponsored by the City's Mayor and Aldermen. It was really quite impressive...a city of 3,000 people welcoming our 20 boats with beer, wine, hors d'oeuvres -- and an official proclamation welcoming us to Southport. Ahh, Southern hospitality and small town Americana.

One last item for this post...hanging by a "thread". One of our fellow ralliers noticed that our fore deck light -- located half way up the mast -- had fallen out of its housing and was being held on just by the wiring. While Southport Marina had amenities a plenty, it had no maintenance staff on duty on weekends -- leaving any repairs to the Captain and Crew. While my initial concern was the thread of wire holding the fore deck light, you can see from the picture it was the bosun's chair thread that had my full attention!

After leaving Oriental our next stop was Spooner Creek -- a small marina with big amenities: pool, club house, tiled restrooms -- and the pièce de résistance -- just what every boater needs -- inlaid tile docks. Couple that with every mall store imaginable being just a short walk from the marina, and you have a great provisioning stopover. Unfortunately it rained the entire two days we were there, but we did our provisioning -- and partying and moved on.

This next section of the Intercoastal Waterway took us past Camp Lejeune, the Marine training facility. While it's not uncommon to have sections of the ICW closed during live fire exercises, our passage was uninterrupted. We did, however, see several tanks positioned at the edge of the waterway -- and presumably they saw the Stars and Stripes flying from the stern rail.

We pushed on another 20 miles to Topsail Bay where we anchored for the evening. The next morning it looked like we had been transported through the night to Maine. A thick fog had enveloped the anchorage, and it had the look and feel of home. With daylight the fog quickly lifted, and we were on our way to next stop -- Southport, NC.

On Tuesday, October 27th, we were up at "oh dark thirty" quickly got the boat ready and were underway before first light. The weather was forecast to be less than perfect, and we wanted to get an early start on crossing the Albemarle before the wind started kicking things up in earnest. As the day progressed winds were 15 to 20 knots primarily on the port quarter, and we made great time arriving at Dowry Creek Marina just after 2:00. While just a small private marina, we got the royal treatment with great amenities, a free barbecue with all the fixin's, and a memorable concert featuring Milton Bullock, formerly of the Platters -- at one time the most successful vocal group in the world with more than 40 singles in the Billboard Top 100. Milton is still going strong at 75 -- mentally sharp and with perfect pitch.

After several gorgeous days at Dowry, we headed onward 50 STM to Oriental Marina & Inn on Friday the 30th. We couldn't have picked a more perfect day for our move to Oriental -- sunny, 10-15 knots on the port beam, and both Pamlico Sound and the Neuse River were nearly flat. Oriental lays claim to being the "sailing capital of North Carolina" and despite a population of just under 900, it makes a good case with two marinas, two repair facilities, half a dozen marine supply stores. Our good weather fortune continued for the duration of our stay as did our partying with dancing and a very fine band on Halloween...the only downside -- Ithaka did not win the pumpkin carving contest😥

For more about our trip, see the Sail Rally Blog or catch us on Facebook

At 0730 engines started and the Snowbird Rally fleet left the docks at Hampton Maritime Center, crossed the James River, paraded by the Navy's armada at Norfolk, and proceeded down the Nansemond River to where two "roads" diverged in a wood, and we took the Dismal Swamp (oops, apologies to Robert Frost). In total the Intercostal Waterway stretches 3,000 miles along the eastern seaboard and around Florida to Brownsville, Texas, in the Gulf of Mexico. While many refer to traveling the ICW as "doin' the Ditch", the simple fact is that the vast majority of Waterway miles consist of interconnected rivers and bays. The Dismal Swamp is the exception. It was dug primarily by slave labor between 1793 and 1805. It connects the Chesapeake Bay to Albemarle Sound with some of the purest water to be found on planet earth according to Dismal historian Robert Peek -- and not to worry...the dark brown color and foamy texture will do you no harm!

The contrast between the Norfolk naval armada and the peaceful serenity of the Dismal Swamp a few miles downstream was stark. The Swamp is actually a canal that is nominally 150' across, but reduced to about half that width due the the heavy forestation and undergrowth on both sides. The controlling depth is said to be 6', but we hit bottom at least a dozen times with our 5' draft. The man-made section of the Swamp is around 30 statute miles, and there are two locks to adjust the water levels between the Bay and the Sound. For the best depiction of the Swamp experience, see today's pic.

We finished our day in the Dismal Swamp at the bulkhead in South Mills, NC -- a very small town consisting of two gas stations, and two flea market stores. That said, the people were very friendly inviting our group to attend the Saturday night movies outside on folding chairs in back of the gas station. Turns out, several in our group had seen The Fog and so there were no takers. Today we completed our journey through the Swamp and landed in Elizabeth City for the night. Tomorrow we'll be off at first light to cross the infamous Albemarle Sound.

For more about our trip, see the Sail Rally Blog or catch us on Facebook.

The Hampton Sail Rendezvous was more than we ever expected. The seminars teemed with practical information, the camaraderie of fellow sailors with similar goals, and even terrific food! Despite arriving a day late, we definitely got our $35 worth and then some. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

As we approached the Hampton Maritime Center there was a light drizzle, but thankfully, several Rendezvous attendees were on hand to assist the Dockmaster who directed us to land our 45' boat on a 50' bulkhead -- between two boats. And just to make things interesting, the bulkhead was at the end of a long channel between two rows of slips that were around 50' apart and directly in front of a large picture window at the adjacent hotel restaurant. A day later while we sat sipping our coffee at a table by this same window, the hotel manager called out to another employee, "I would have loved to see how they got that boat in there." Me too, I thought to myself, me too.

With our "parallel parking" experience in back of us, we ran off to our first Rendezvous seminar that was already in progress. It turned out to be fun and informative as were the others that followed. Also the people we met ran the gamut from those who had done the ICW multiple times to first-timers like ourselves. The bottom line...after the three day Rendezvous, Kinship and Ithaka decided to join the Snowbird Rally down to St.Augustine. In the past week Ithaka and all the boats in the Rally got a complete systems evaluation, a safety evaluation, bottom cleaning, zinc replacement, and technical assistance with any problems. (Hopefully it's not the "kiss of death," but Ithaka took first place in the systems evaluation and safety reviews.😊). In addition, there are regular chandlery and provisioning runs, extra bridge openings and lock passages, dock parties, and seminars -- not to mention the camaraderie and knowledge of the other Rally participants. The plan is for us to arrive in St. Augustine on December 1st, so the jury is still out, but as I write this, we couldn't be happier with our decision.