Hampton - we rent a car and provision

Downtown Newport News

It's not that Walmart is such a great store, it's just that it's a great one stop for everything for boaters. You can get groceries, diesel oil, some hardware, pharmacy items, rugs, electronics - all in one stop and usually at better prices there than anywhere else. So after picking up our car for the weekend, the first place we headed was the nearest Walmart. So after about 30 bags, we are now provisioned for the trip home, minus a few odds and ends along the way like fresh vegetables, orange juice, etc.

Had to see Fleetwing frorm the parking garage, eye level at the top of the mast

In the afternoon I accompanied Ann so I could buy her a Mother's Day outfit. The temperature here is hot, a high of 85 today! It's hard to believe that the weather is supposed to change so abruptly by Monday and Tuesday when the highs are only in the low 60's with a north wind! With all that coming, we're just going to stay put until summer resumes, probably Wednesday even though that really puts us making the Anchors Aweigh party in dour jeopardy.

Don and Liz Bunch will be arriving Saturday afternoon, finally catching up with us in Hampton. Looks like we'll have time to visit and play some bridge until the weather breaks. Oh well, at least we have a car for exploring Hampton and the surrounding area.

Hampton, VA - at Downtown Hampton Public Piers

Morning at our free dock last night

It was quieter last night than we had expected and very still so we were satisfied with the free dock. It provides easy access to the 9:30 opening of the Gilmerton bridge (which only opens on the 1/2 hour). On the way north you pass by the naval shipyards which looked very busy with many ships in for repairs or upgrades  Every shipyard had a patrolling boat with a rotating blue light to prevent anyone from getting too close. We dutifully fell in line behind a row of northbound boats at about 6 kts, they don't like wakes either.

Talk about be covered up! I guess there's a ship under there

There was no wind but the sun was out full and the temperature was 75 or so, a nice ride to Hampton. We docked at our of our favorite marinas. It's run by the city of Hampton and offers a 4th day free if you stay three days. You're within walking distance of downtown Hampton and the Virginia Air and Space Museum which is lots of fun. The Enterprise rental car agency is only about 200 ft away and as I said before, we're taking advantage of their weekend offer of $10/day rental. We plan on exploring the area, we have wheels! 

On the other hand, this guy was fully exposed!

The weather is not looking good for going north. There's a front coming through to be followed by north winds which, of course, create north waves (3 to 5 ft), not comfortable for going north. With that outlook, we may be here until Wednesday when the weather is due to turn with a south wind once again. However, who knows, certainly not the weatherman, so we'll just wait and see. Meanwhile, Don and Liz Bunch are due to arrive here on Saturday afternoon. We've never found the Chesapeake to be particularly good for sailing, at least not when we've been in the area.  

Chesapeake Free docks - at a dock

A house in the swamp

The night spent at Jennette's free docks was calm but noisy if you mind the noise of traffic going over the bridge. We didn't mind so we were fine. Getting off around 8:30 we headed for the Dismal Swamp canal. You have to go through two locks that lift you to the water level of the canal and on the exit, let you back down. The water level maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers is supposed to be 6 ft along the length of the canal. However, that's very optimistic from my experience. There are invariably logs lying on the bottom that get stirred up by passing boats and in my case I was following a 47 ft boat that must have had a draft deeper than my 4 ft, 9 inches and I hit three times! However, that's par for the course for the Dismal Swamp Canal, it just isn't very deep.

A turtle says Hi

We had intended staying overnight at the visitors' center but we were making such good time that we thought we'd soldier on and we transited the second dock and tied up to a free dock just before the Rt 17 bridge. We'll get up to Hampton in good time as we planned but from there on it's a crap shoot for the weather. It looks like strong north winds will prevail through Tuesday with the first break in the bad weather on Wednesday. We had planned going north on Sunday but that doesn't look likely now, Wednesday is more probable. So that burns three more of our cushion days and puts the Anchors Aweigh Party at PYC in great jeopardy. We only have two more days of cushion and we haven't even reached Chesapeake City with the Delaware River passage, Cape May and Atlantic City to Atlantic Highlands to come. 

The Dismal Swamp Experience - Straight Ahead!

John Kwak is now in motion northward and he made it to Barefoot Landing today. Mike Quick is with him and he brought along a Spot transmitter so you can follow Kwak if you desire by accessing the spot website at http://tinyurl.com/sail-trip-2013 with the password hydepark. 

Meanwhile, our next stop is at Downtown Hampton Public Piers until we get a window for more northing, probably not for a few days so we took advantage of an Enterprise offer of $10/day for a car over the weekend so we can provision and perhaps see the sights. Don and Liz Bunch are due to join us there in their own boat by Saturday. They were delayed by bad weather (what else is new this year?)

Elizabeth City - at a free dock

The free docks at Elizabeth City proper, not full yet

The forecast changed abruptly last night. Rain all day and thunderstorms in the afternoon had been predicted but this morning the forecast changed to no rain or thunderstorms until late afternoon. Also, the wind had abated overnight (less than 10 kts) and we were anxious to get out before the wind piped up again based on our experience from yesterday when the wind increased to 20 to 25 kts and then gusted to 30.

We're on the other side of the bridge at the Jennette docks

We were tied to a face dock with big, ugly pilings facing the boat and the most convenient exit was forward but that required a spin turn (forward, turn, aft to stop the boat but it continues to turn, then forward to exit). I manned the lines and Ann executed the procedure. I can't remember the last time I brought a boat into a dock or left one. I think maybe that was Charleston with the high winds but she's getting good at that too. Even there she backed the boat off the dock and out the narrow entrance into the harbor (no room to turn around in the small marina with 2 kts of current).

So we're off and running and the high winds never materialized and even the sun came out, what a difference!  It actually got warm for a change., even the Albemarle cooperated with waves less than 1/2 foot. During the night the storms are all passed off to the east, at least until much later in the day.

This has got to be a good omen - it's even in the direction of where we go tomorrow!

Elizabeth City prides itself on being boater friendly and to that extent they promote a town policy of providing free dockage. Many of the businesses or organizations that have frontage on the ICW erect free docks, usually with financial help from the town. They even hold a meeting of the Rose Buds where they hand out a rose to visiting boaters at a wine and cheese tasting party in the evening. We docked at the Jennette free dock on the north side of the bridge. It's a face dock with the main advantage that it's protected from south winds that can rock the original free docks.

Arriving in the early afternoon, we decided to have a late lunch at Cypress Creek Grill, a recommended place for sandwiches. We'll take off again Wednesday morning for the Welcome Center on the Dismal Swamp and then go on to Hampton the next day, hope the weather holds.

Alligator Marina on the alligator River - at a dock

We're at a face dock, there's many more docks to the left in slips

The night was calm and as the morning dawned, it looked calm too. Rain and thunderstorms were predicted for the afternoon so we headed out early to reach our marina before they set in - and we almost made it! Things started out innocently enough with a ride up the Alligator Canal with little wind and flat water. Once we rounded out the northern exit, the wind picked up to 15 kts but that was fine. Continuing on, we rounded the corners and increasing pointed more northerly. With the wind out of the east to south east, that gave us a broad reach and even sometimes with the wind in the aft starboard quarter, ideal for making time north (the Alligator River runs north-south).

So for a couple of hours we had a great sail. As we proceeded, the wind ever so gradually started to increase. First the 15 kts became 15 to 18 and then that shifted to 16 to 19 and then it further increased to 18 to 22 kts with higher gusts. Unfortunately, we were having such a great time with a rare sail that we kept everything up, big mistake!  The winds were overpowering the boat so it was time to take in some sail. I pulled in the jib first and then tackled the mainsail. Ann pointed the bow into the wind but had a hard time maintaining the direction into the wind as the gusts went to 25 kts! I had a hard time pulling in the mainsail as the wind was lifting the aft part of the sail causing it to form a crease on the roller furler. Nevertheless, the sail was furled and we continued through the bridge which had opened for us. Fortunately, the wind limit on the bridge (above which they do not open) was 35 kts. The bridge tender reported that he was seeing 28 to 30 kts so he opened. We flew through and did a right angle turn for the Alligator Marina.n

The marina doubles as a road stop for traffic crossing the Alligator River Bridge

Fleetwing was bouncing from the wind driven waves as we aimed for the rather narrow opening. The marina has a reputation for shoaling at the entrance but the lowest we saw was 5.8 ft, plenty for our 4 ft 9 inches of draft. You have to be careful since the entrance has rather large rocks (as a breakwater) on either side of the opening and at one point I was pushed about 15 feet all at once towards one of the breakwaters by an incoming wave but I recovered in time and we're all in one piece. Somehow, we never seem to get photos of such mayhem, a video would have been great...

Once inside, it's calm. Even the wind is moderated some by the surrounding land. The big question for us is the weather for Tuesday. You simply do not want to cross the Albemarle in any winds greater than 15 kts! The shallow waters produce block-shaped waves that provide for a very rough passage in winds higher than 15 kts. So we'll listen to the Morning Lies and then decide what to do. The winds are supposed to moderate but then thunderstorms are predicted all day long so pick your poison. The large powerboat in docked in front of us (see photo) has been waiting for 5 days at the marina for a window to cross the Albemarle! We heard from John Kwak that he's planning on leaving Charleston on Tuesday now that he has a crew of three:, one of which is Dan Martin who we met at Barefoot Landing - he has been following my blog and wanted some ICW experience so I pointed him at John, knowing that he really needed crew. With these winds I would imagine he's going inside up the ICW and not out in the Atlantic but I don't know for sure.

Pungo Creek anchorage - at anchor

With strong east winds, the water level rises - but we still had enough of a beach for Hoolie relief

Such terrible weather! We had intended leaving at 6:30 am but the forecast wasn't as bad as we thought so we left later. The morning lies said the winds would only be in the 10 to 15 kt range but when we reached the Pamlico River, the winds peaked at 23 kts! However, it was less than an hour ride across the river and as we approached the opposite shore, the waves and wind lessened, somewhat.

At anchor, actually we're very well protected from east winds, very calm compared to our last anchorage at the Zeisings

Don and Liz Bunch were going to meet us at the Pungo anchorage in their own boat but the weather report was so lousy that they delayed their departure until Wednesday at the earliest. Ever since Barefoot Landing in Myrtle Beach, the weather is more like winter than summer, cold, cold and windy. On many days it's been warmer in New York than where we've been.

We made it to the Pungo anchorage today despite the rain and high winds (gotta love that full enclosure). We even had the portable heater going in the cockpit, running off the inverter. We were toasty but then you're not supposed to need that during May! There are thunderstorms forecast for all day Monday so we'll look at the radar in the morning and then decide whether we want to move or not. Our next stop will be Alligator River Marina for fuel and an overnight stay.

Zeisings - ready to move

It's time to move on. The winds have finally subsided somewhat but the temperature only reached 62 today! Where is summer! Still, the flowers are in bloom and the area is beautiful. Pat has a flower garden in full bloom.

We were supposed to meet up with Don and Liz Bunch but the winds are so fierce that they've delayed their departure date until Wednesday (we leave on Sunday). Don knew a couple that returned from the Caribbean yesterday and motored up the Neuse River and they said it was the roughest water they had encountered in the last 6 months! So you have to be careful with high winds on shallow waters. The flower beds are just outside the front door of the Zeisings. On Sunday we'll leave early in the morning before the winds pipe up for the Pungo River anchorage.