Further Adventures Of SV Nutmeg

 11/30- Today we passed mile marker 500. I don’t know how many more we have to go because I don’t know how far we are going. Anyway we have done 500 statuate miles on the ICW. For those that don’t know a nautical mile is around 6000 feet. ( one second of one degree of the earth’s circumference) The ICW measures its distances in regular statuate miles.       We waited until 10:00 today to take off so we could get out of the slip at slack tide. I’d like to say it all worked like a charm but alas the boat had other ideas. When we put it into reverse the stern just went to starboard as the prop walk on our left handed prop would dictate. However it wouldn’t go straight at all. Fortunately the fairways were huge and we just went in a circle until we were pointed the right way and away we went. The dock hand walked away shaking his head. He can’t say I didn’t warn him about it.      This is a really pretty section of the ICW. The rivers were big and wid...

 11/28- I think I got the date right. It’s hard enough remembering what day of the week it is.      We rose with the sun this morning. It was chilly for sure but we needed to get on the move so that we could get through all the troublesome spots with a higher tide. We didn’t have any trouble except at the Isle of Palms. This is perpetual trouble spot on the ICW with depths as low as 4 feet in places. With 4 feet of tide on top of that we didn’t have any problems with the depth. It was the current that would just toss the boat to one side leaving us scrambling to straighten it out. This stretch had several inlets to the ocean that had big currents and as we passed each one we would have to do a little dance to get the boat back on track.      We are now in Charleston at this huge marina. When I asked about filling some jerry cans with fuel they said they would pick them up in a golf cart because fuel was at the opposite end of the marina. Driving a golf...

 11/26- Yesterday we froze our asses off as it was windy and rainy Although it didn’t really rain until late in the day. The minute we stopped I turned on the heater and we huddled around it until we thawed out a bit.      The anchorage we stopped at yesterday was where the river went around an island. It was a really large area and was reasonably deep for the area. They said in the guide book that it only offered protection from the south. Well the surrounding land was just flat marsh and old rice fields. The only protection might have come from the occasional tree. Then there was the current. The tide rushed through here at around a knot and a half changing direction every 6 hours or so. It turned out to be a fine anchorage for us as it warmed up during the night.      We had decided the other day to skip Georgetown as we would be spending several days in Charleston. That’s why we picked that anchorage as it was just short of Georgetown.   ...

 11/26- Well we did a lot better getting out of our slip this morning. Of course the wind was calm so the boat actually did what we thought it would. We weren’t going that far today so we left later and then didn’t push it much. It was fine even though we had the current against us until we were almost there.      Today was mostly motoring through cypress swamps. It was interesting to note that the chart plotter had a lot of the area surrounding us as water when in actuality it was forest. This forest has its roots in the water. There was lots of the hanging moss all over the trees. It was kind of eerie looking. This was some kind of park or preserve because there were very few houses.      We anchored off of Butler Island in a large tributary of the Waccamaw River. The current here is strong and I have been curious as to how well our anchor set up will work in a strong current. So far we have gone through two tide changes and as far as I can tell we a...

  11/25- Today didn’t start out too well. We had gotten out of the last two slips with no problem so we were thinking we knew what we were doing. All that came crashing down this morning. Trying to leave the slip the wind caught the bow and blew it down so we were across the fairway and still pointing the wrong way. The wind pinned us on the far side so we basically backed all the way out to the main channel. Our boat simply does not back up well so this was quite the feat. By the time we got the boat moving in the right direction we were pretty rattled.         Then it was out onto the channel and we had to wait for a bridge to open. The bridge tender was slow responding and so we had to spin around several times while we waited for it to open. Once we were through it was an easy day.        We traveled through the Pine Cut which is 28 miles of dug canal including the infamous Rockpile. Traveling through Myrtle Beach was a lesson in how the ...

 11/24- We finally got on the move again this morning casting off our lines by 0800. It was a pretty straightforward day with only a couple of inlets that required some careful navigating. At these inlets there is usually some shoaling where the tide brings the ocean in or out along with any sand that is there. The Army Corps of Engineers has been busy dredging many of these places so we can cruise down the channel with our 5 foot deep boat. Neither inlet today was very shallow but there is always strong current around the inlet. Depending on the state of the tide you can be doing 8 knots on one side of the inlet and then barely 5 on the other side. I guess it all evens out in the end.      One thing I was thinking about today is the amount of pressure treated wood that I see. We went by piers that were close to a half mile wide all decked out with this lumber. Every house along the channel has a pier many of which are several hundred yards long. These are all held u...

 11/22- We are still here at St James marina. Turns out this was a wise decision as it has rained pretty hard all day. I can hear the wind howling out on the ocean which is a couple of miles and an island away. We are very snug right here.      The staff here has been great. When I asked if they had a parts department they said anything I ordered would be here the next day. I had a leak in my galley foot pump. I had tried to fix it but I think I made it worse. So they worked with me to make sure I ordered the right one and sure enough it was here the next morning. I also was needing to refill a prescription and what do you know next to the office is a pharmacy. I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised as this place is filled with retirees.     I want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. We will be celebrating with some friends on another boat. We will be thinking of our families and friends as we stuff ourselves as usual. 

 11/20- We got a lesson this morning on getting our boat off the dock. The way we entered last night had us on a T dock but the bow was pointing downwind. It was a fairly narrow fairway and I was sure we could not turn it around with the wind blowing right down the fairway. I talked to the guy who runs the place and he was no problem. So Sandy came and helped us. He held the bow line and kicked the stern out and the wind just took it and we spun around as pretty as you please. He pushed us off and we were away. It was as slick as could be.      We also found out what all the hype was about on the Cape Fear River. The flood was going up the river and the wind down making it fairly rough. Fortunately we only had about a mile to go until we turned off into the channel and we had the current pushing us along. We were only going about 6 miles today to get into a protected spot for the weather the next couple of days. We pulled into St James Plantation Marina around noon. ...

 11/19-We spent the last three days in Carolina Beach on a mooring. The town has these moorings and they are very inexpensive so they are full all most every night. We walked over to the beach one day and watched some rather big surf and all the surfers trying their luck. One guy told us this was the best surf in a while.     Carolina Beach is decidedly a beach town. Condos and rental apartments line the bay and shore. There is sand everywhere. It will be years getting it out of the boat. The weather was beautiful and it was even hot out.      We left today and crossed the Cape Fear River which is an infamous crossing. We had heard all kinds of nasty stories and were pretty nervous. The trouble was the tide. The word was to only attempt it with an ebb tide as when the current was flooding with an opposing wind it could get quite rough. Our problem was that the ebb current didn’t start until 3:00 in the afternoon. So we picked a marina that was relative...

 11/15- We left Swansboro early to try and time the tide at Browns Inlet. This is a notorious inlet known for its shoaling. The most recent survey had water depths at 4.5 feet and our draft is 5 feet. The 4.5 feet is at mean low water so that’s why we could use the tide. It was only 8 miles from Swansboro so by the time we got there the tide was still pretty high and we went over the bar with 9 feet of water. It was also a king tide which happens with a new moon and a full moon. One tide a day is higher than normal and one is correspondingly lower.     Anyway we were over it almost before we knew we were there as the current just swept us along. We waited a bit at the swing bridge but then we motored into Mile Hammock Bay where we anchored. This is a large pool just off the ICW in the middle of Camp Lejune. Camp Lejune is a large military base where much of the amphibious training for Marines takes place. We were not allowed ashore to say the least.  11/16- Whew...

 11/14- We dawdled at the dock this morning as we only had a short distance to go and I wanted to get there at slack tide. That didn’t work out so well. We left around 10 as that was supposed to be slack tide but backing out of the slip and the current took the tiller right out of Alayne’s hands. So getting out of the slip turned out to be almost as ugly as getting in. Well as they say any one you walk away from is a good one.     So we chugged on down the ICW which was a narrow channel with very shallow depth on either side. We were behind a bunch of barrier islands so the wind while fairly strong was not an issue. At least the current was against us and was slowing us down a bit. That is until about half way there when the current turned with us. Then we started to fly even as I slowed the motor. Once we were past Bogue inlet the current slammed on the brakes but by then we were all but in Swansboro. As it turned out the marina was up current so it slowed us nicely...

  Cruisers in Oriental Shrimp boats in the harbor  Houses on stilts  Nutmeg The outer harbor

 11/13- We finally took off from Oriental this morning. We actually put out the jib and sailed across the Neuse River. After that it was narrow channels so we called on Mr Perkins again and he led the way. We were trying to go slow so we wouldn’t get to Morehead City too early as the current would make it hard to dock. The slower I ran the motor the faster we went , sometimes hitting 7 knots. It took a couple of shots at it but we got her into the slip. The current was strong and crosswise so it was hard to line the boat up. It wasn’t pretty but we got her done.     We went into town and had a pizza with Bob and Samara. We were the only 2 boats on the dock tonight. It’s a nice place with nice showers.  Speaking of showers we have been testing out showers all down the East coast. These are mostly public showers. Even in marinas and yacht clubs enough people use the showers to think of them as public. We see quite a variety of quality. It ranges from the brand new...

 11/13- We are still here in Oriental. Yesterday was a cold and windy day so we settled in to do some boat projects. I have needed to replace the primary fuel filter for a while now so Alayne went for a walk while I tore into the motor. This filter always bugs me and I can never be sure if I can get the motor started again after changing it. Sure enough it was a struggle. I bled the motor about 6 times until finally I burbed the last bit of air out and it fired up. After cleaning up and getting the boat back together we went over and visited with Bob and Samara on their boat “ My Pleasure “. Later we were invited to Jerry and Anne’s boat for cocktails. It is so great that people are so friendly and interesting. It rained most of the evening and when we got up the street was flooded. Today the bulkhead was completely under water and I had to move my fenders again. We were just hanging out reading on the boat when a couple who had stopped yesterday to admire our boat came by. They sa...

 11/10- We are still here! We did make the move over to the town dock which is free. We tried to back right over to the dock but we got stuck in the mud. It was close enough that we threw lines to Lee and Wendy and they hauled us in. It’s weird how the water is here. The tide has a range of less than a foot. It’s really pretty hard to tell when it’s high or low. But people at the docks were complaining about how low the water was. One boat was stuck in his slip because his keel was in the mud so bad the boat was leaning. Then today the wind changed to the north and suddenly there is water across the road here. I have to keep lowering my fenders as the boat is riding higher on the dock. It supposed to blow fairly hard out of the north for the next couple of days so we might be able to sail across the street to the Bean (the coffee shop).      We bought some fresh shrimp from a guy down the street today. The shrimp boats go out all week but are not allowed to fish on t...

 11/9- Well we decided to stay another day here because the marinas in Beaufort were all full. There is apparently a big fishing tournament and some music festival that has folks scooping up slips. The thing of it is today was nice tomorrow will be nice but nasty weather is coming and we have to ask ourselves where do we want to be when it gets here. Capt John I know how you must have felt in Cape Charles now. So discretion is the better part of Valour or as I like to say live to sail another day. So we may be here a while. Trouble is we have kind of used up this town. It’s a pretty small village but the marina is great as people keep coming and going to make it interesting. Anyway we’ll see what happens with the weather in the next couple of days. 

 11/7- It took a while to get the anchor up this morning as the entire chain was covered in mud. I had to clean off every foot of it. Once we headed back out to the ICW we joined the parade. There were at least 7 or 8 boats all in a row cruising down the Pungo River. The chart plotter was lit up with AIS targets most of the day. The great migration is on!!      After we crossed the Pamblico River we entered a marshy area with a cut channel. This twisted and turned crossing various creeks and rivers until we came out onto the Neuse River. This is a big wide and shallow river. Sound familiar? This one is so wide we could not see the other side. This is also a fairly notorious river if the wind is up. Fortunately today even though it was on our nose the wind was light making only a light chop.      We pulled in and took a slip at the marina and our friends Doug and Mary came and we went out to dinner. We met them on Lake Champlain some 25+ years ago. They...

 11/6- The anchor was on deck by 7:30 this morning and we were in the Alligator River/ Pungo canal almost immediately. This is a straight cut canal that goes for 20 miles through this wilderness. As boring as it may sound the canal (and swamp) have a beauty all their own. This was some really open marshland interrupted by copses of pines and cypresses. The banks of the canal are constantly being eroded by boat traffic and you can see trees tottering on the edge. There many rotted stumps along the side of the channel to remind you where the bank once was. We were somewhat disappointed that we didn’t see much wildlife even though it was early in the day. There were very few birds except for a bunch of vultures.      We finally exited the canal and entered the Pungo River. Like all the water around here it is an extremely wide and very shallow body of water. Again today we never saw more than 15 feet of water under the keel. One of the axioms around here is this is half...

 This morning dawned bright and sunny with virtually no wind. Of course it was later than we thought because of the clock change. We successfully backed out of our slip (always a challenge) and headed down the Pasquotank River. We passed by the largest Coast Guard air base. We met a passle of Coast Guard flyboys last night at the bar. They were on liberty before the final push to graduation in 2 weeks so we waved when they flew over us (ha ha).    We then passed by the place where most of the blimps in the world are built. They had used blimps as submarine spotters during the war.  We had gone to the Ablemarle museum in town yesterday. It was very informative as they displayed the artifacts chronologically. This is why we can point out some of these sights       We had hoped to do a little sailing but those hopes were dashed by there being no wind. Still it was a very pleasant day and we were cruising down the river at 6.5 knots. We crossed the Ablemar...

  We were greeted this morning by this— ice on deck. There was a significant frost last night that left everything covered in ice. Fortunately we had to wait for the 11:00 lock opening so we were in no hurry to take off. We left around 9:45 to traverse the 4 miles to the lock and we got there in plenty of time. I am glad we did this canal but I would probably never do it again. It was kind of nerve wracking dodging hanging trees as well as logs in the canal. Anyway we survived with only 6-7 bumps and we did trim a couple of trees with the rigging.     The next section was the Pasquotank River. This is what I imagined the Dismal swamp to be like. It was 10-15 feet deep and wide enough you could avoid the trees. It twisted and turned so you were always wondering what was around the next corner. Plus this actually looked like a swamp. The cypress trees had dropped their leaves so you could see into the forest a ways. We scared up a golden eagle along the way also. There...

 11/1- The wind on the bay was honking so we decided to sit tight. We were in a comfortable spot and we could get some chores done. The marina where we were staying is being renovated as it was apparently quite the dump previously. The only real problem was no showers. So we called up the municipal dock and they were very accommodating and let us take showers there.     On the way back we stopped at the Virginia Air and Space museum. This is quite the spot. They have real fighter jets hanging from the ceiling and they have the actual Apollo 14 capsule. It was very impressive and we spent several hours there. This was a cold night. We buttoned up the boat and turned on the Buddy heater. It turned the place toasty in no time      11/2- It was cold again this morning but Mr Perkins fired right up and we took off for Norfolk. Now this is a busy harbor. There were boats of all sizes from super large freighters to tugs and barges to runabouts plying the same...