Sail Pandora

It’s Tuesday afternoon and we are tied up at the city dock in St Mary’s GA.  The remainder of our run yesterday was uneventful if you leave out the run up the St Mary’s River late last night against an ebbing tide that sometimes ran at 4.5kts.  Given the fact that Pandora’s cruising speed tops out at a normally speedy 7+ knots, that meant that it took us two hours to cover the 6 or so miles from the beginning of the channel into the river.   It felt like FOREVER.

As we arrived on the full ebb tide, we had no choice but to power against the current all the way in.  It was fine except that it was pitch dark and midnight by the time we dropped the anchor just inside the entrance.  I am happy that there was a spot to anchor close in as to spend another hour plus making our way up the rest of the way up the curvy St Mary’s River in the dark would have been a bit too much after a long day.

Yesterday, I was treated to a fabulous sunrise.  It was very soothing to watch the sky go from grey to purple and to red as the sun rose over the ocean.

The boatyard that I am leaving Pandora in until early January is up a creek near town and we have to arrive at high tide tomorrow morning or there won’t be enough water to get near the dock.  The tide here is nearly 8’ so that means that with 8’ of water at high tide, there’s mud at low.  You have to watch the tide carefully. 

Brenda and I had visited St Mary’s when we did the ICW two years ago and enjoyed Thanksgiving with other cruisers at the St Mary’s hotel.  The owner of the hotel opens up his dining room to cruisers for a free dinner for Thanksgiving.  Local residents supply turkeys and hams and anyone attending is expected to bring a side dish to share.  While we missed being with family for the holiday, it was a fun time, never the less.

You can really tell that you are in the south here as it’s classic “low country” with marshes everywhere.   As Jim and I went out for breakfast this morning, we didn’t have to worry about crossing the street as there wasn’t a car in sight until lunchtime.   Sleepy place.

The marina where we tied up is pretty simple and given the condition of many boats that are tied up here, I expect that they aren’t too focused on getting top dollar for slips.  This shot is of one boat that’s securely tied up to the dock, I suspect for a long time.  I’ll bet that you could purchase it pretty cheap.Perhaps your money would be better spent joining the ST Mary’s Yacht Club.  Perhaps not.  This is the clubhouse.  The streets are lined with stately live oaks, covered in Spanish moss.This is the second oldest church in GA.  And, as a special bonus, It’s located on Osborne street. Bummer about the “e” in Osborn”e”.  It seems that most everyone spells it “wrong”.  Oh well. Notice how it’s raised up one story above the ground.  Like I said, it’s low country, really low.  I am sure that some folks have come to church by canoe at various times.Tonight we’ll go out for dinner and Wednesday we’ll move Pandora over to the yard to be hauled.  Getting home will take some time as my flight doesn’t get to JFK in NY until 8:30 which is too late to get a train back to Essex so I’ll head there on Thursday morning.  Happily, that will give me an opportunity to spend the night visiting my good friend Craig in his new home in Rye.  I have been looking forward to seeing Craig’s palace for a while so that works out well.

I am excited about being home again as it seems like FOREVER since I have seen Brenda.  Hope she hasn’t changed the locks.  Now wait, what women would turn away a “handyman”?  Of course!  She needs someone to do the chores and I am a pretty handy guy, if a bit annoying, much of the time.  Yes, I think she’ll let me in, dirty laundry and all.  That will be nice.

It’s Monday morning and we are about 80 miles from the entrance to the St Mary’s River in GA.  We are powering along on seas so calm you’d think that we were in LI Sound on a windless August afternoon.   At our current speed, we should arrive in the mouth of the river around 10pm tonight to begin our run up the river and the town of St Mary’s.

Our plan is to head up and drop the anchor and spend the day in the river prior to heading over to have Pandora hauled in a nearby yard.

Yesterday we saw a few dolphins but none stayed near  the boat long enough to get pictures.  However, this morning, we were treated to a visit that lasted nearly a half hour during which several dolphins swam in front of our bow for quite a while.  At the peak, we had a dozen jockeying for position in front of us , darting in all directions and sometimes jumping clear of the water.

The water here is so clear that we could see their every movement as they darted around our bow.  I was able to get some terrific videos of their antics and will put an edited version on YouTube when I get home.  What a treat.

Speaking of treats, last night I cooked half of the tuna we caught yesterday.  I have to say that you haven’t tasted tuna unless you’ve had it cooked within an hour or so of being caught.  The flesh was a deep red and was nearly as firm as a good filet minion but when you take a bite, it melts in your mouth.  Amazing.  They say that everything tastes better aboard so Imagine the best tuna ever, on a boat.  Ambrosia.

I sautéed a mess of onion, set that aside and then seared the tuna only enough to cook it about ¼ through and get it warm in the center.  Then, I set that aside and reduced some teriyaki sauce that I had in the pantry as a glaze.   Jim and I had our fill, along with a nice salad.  I will spare you a photo of the dish as my son Rob is so sick of “photos of friend’s meals on FaceBook” that he only looks at it once a week.  Now that I have him looking at my blog, sometimes at least, I don’t want to do anything that will drive him away.

“Rob, it was great but you’ll just have to imagine what it looked like”.  Yum…

As is so often the case when I am making an offshore run, we were visited by a little bird for a while yesterday afternoon.  He/she landed in the cockpit and flitted (I guess that’s an apt description of what he did) from place to place aboard, including a brief visit down below.  Fearing that he’d poop everywhere, which he sort of did, I scooped him up gently in my hand and put him back out in the cockpit, where he stayed for a while before heading who knows where.

At one point he landed on Jim’s leg and looked around.  Interestingly, it seems that every bird that lands aboard is of the same species.  Last spring we had a visitor overnight that expired and had to be given a burial at sea.   Fortunately, yesterday’s visitor left prior to meeting an untimely end, if he did.  I hope that he made it “home” wherever that is.

Well, Pandora’s engine continues to drone along as it has now for over 24 hours as there isn’t any wind at all.  Did I say that the water is very calm?   Thought so.

Today’s sunrise was a spectacular show on the glass calm ocean.

We decided to fish again.   I hope that we catch another tuna but hopefully, nothing too big.  Small or large, they bleed a LOT and a small bleeder is certainly better than a BIG BLEEDER.  Wish us luck.

It’s Sunday mid-day and we have been underway since 07:00.  The seas are running about 4′ but dropping as the wind that we enjoyed for the first 5 hours is beginning to die.  I was hoping that Chris Parker, the weather router, was wrong about the wind dying when I spoke with him on Saturday but his prediction was that we’d get a good start but that the wind would go away around noon.  Chris, you are right, yet again.   Bummer for that…

Yesterday was very windy and not from a good direction and he recommended that we wait till this morning to venture out so that the seas could lay down.    The bad news is that he also predicted that the wind would also “go away” by noon Sunday.   In this case, I wish that he wasn’t right so much of the time.

Today’s forecast calls for wind under 10kts from the north, not nearly enough wind to keep us moving toward our destination.    For Pandora to sail well, she needs about 10kts apparent and with that she does quite nicely.

So, a bit ago, we gave in and turned on the engine and pulled the sails in a bit.  Happily, there is still enough wind to keep the sails filled and steady us a bit as we move along at between 6.5 and 7kts.

After some motoring I decided, since it was so calm and such an easy day, to break out the fishing gear. I have a bit of a love hate relationship with fishing.  On the one hand, it’s fun to catch a fish but on the other hand, you have to do something with whatever you catch.  And, on top of all that, you don’t know what you’ll catch and it might be alarmingly large…

Anyway, I decided that the best strategy was to use a small lure with the idea of “small lure, small fish”.    Happily, after about an hour of trolling off of the back of the boat, we were rewarded by a nice, not too big, tuna.  I don’t know what sort it was but it sure had a lot of blood for such a modest sized fish.

Interestingly, tuna are warm blooded.  Although, not as warm as mammals, they are decidedly warmer than the water that they swim in. I understand that they have evolved into warm blooded fish so that they can sustain the sort of fast swimming and aggressive hunting that they are famous for.  This guy put up quite a fight.  I reeled him/her in and Jim did a great job with the gaff, getting the fish on board.

I cleaned him up right away (he was still warm, and pretty bloody) and froze half, one filet for tonight.  No frozen lasagna tonight.   Mmmm…

Enough fishing for today as I don’t have the energy to clean another one.   We are still moving along nicely and at this rate, we will arrive at the mouth of the St Mary’s river around midnight on Monday.

I can’t say that I am thrilled about heading into an unfamiliar entrance in the dark but the channel is very well maintained and marked with lighted buoys to accommodate the Navy and their submarine base, so getting up the river will be pretty straight forward.
Once we leave the main channel to head up to the town of St Mary’s, we’ll have to be more careful.  There are lighted markers but the river is pretty windy and we’ll likely be a bit tired after the crossing. The good news, is that once we are there it will be early enough for us to get a good night sleep.  Tuesday will be spent getting Pandora ready to haul in the local boatyard where she will spend the next three months on land prior to Brenda and I rejoining her in early January.

Speaking of the boatyard, the St Mary’s Boatyard, as it’s aptly named, is run by a guy named Rocky and while I have heard that he has a nice operation, I haven’t been able to get him on the phone for a few days to alert him that I am headed his way.  Yes, we talked a few months ago, but I sure hope that he has gotten my messages and e-mails and is ready for our arrival.

Well, at the very least, I can just show up at his dock when I get there.  I expect that will get his attention.

So, that’s about all I have to report as we are now about 30nm from shore and there’s nothing but unbroken horizon in all directions.  And, the temperature is very nice in the sunny 60s, a far cry from a brisk 45 in the cabin when I got up this morning.

Don’t forget, I’ll be posting my position in “where’s Pandora” every four hours.

Here’s to smooth “motor-sailing” the rest of the way to St Mary’s.

It’s Saturday evening and it l0oks like the wind will FINALLY turn in our favor for a departure out of the Cape Fear River on Sunday morning, early.

We were going to leave today but there were strong winds that were stubbornly blowing from the south, the exact direction that we will be heading.  Heading into the wind offshore is definitely not cool.  Better to wait for favorable winds.  Yes, that’s for me.  Totally…

So, instead of heading out today, we stopped in Southport NC, and tied up in a very nice marina to wait for favorable winds.  I normally don’t spring for a slip in a “real”marina, but today I was tired from days of motoring down the ICW and decided to pay for a night with the “big kids”.

I went for a walk with my crew Jim to see the sights.  The town is very pretty with impressive historic homes framed by massive live oaks.  Very southern.Well, it was a good decision to stop here and get a slip in the marina as it seems that this place is clearly “where it’s at” with a big time fishing tournament going on with literally hundreds of boats competing to see who could catch the biggest king mackerel.    With so many participants on the prowl, someone actually caught one that bested the record books for North Carolina, at least, at more than 50lbs.

The tournament is a big deal and I guess that there are thousands in prize money, perhaps many thousands, so the event attracted folks from far and wide.

This photo is of one of the “little guys” that was perhaps half the size of the winning fish.  These are pretty big fish. Not like the little mackerels that I caught when I was a kid.  And, the boats that go out to catch them are plenty powerful with some in the 30+ foot range with 900hp to push them along at staggering speeds.  As this shot shows, there were lots folks that showed up to see what Who caught what.  Some of the boats had all sorts of sponsor signs on them.  I guess that fishing is a big deal here.This is a shot of the winning fish that were displayed in a case lined with crushed ice.  To give this some scale, the winning fish was something like 6′ long.  That clearly qualifies as a “king” mackerel. I was told that each fish is weighed and then cut open to be sure that the “catcher” hasn’t stuffed the fish with lead shot or something else that will make the fish heavier.  I guess when there’s competition and big money to be had, there’s folks that will cheat.  “honest, I have no idea how that ten pound lead chunk got into the fish’s stomach”. 

Anyway, the tournament was great fun to experience.

We ended up putting Pandora on the end of a dock with plenty of other boats and as it was the weekend we found ourselves this evening in the midst of a communal dock cookout.  We contributed some sausage and to that was added chicken, pork, cobia (whatever that is) as well as tuna and some corn on the cob.  All that and pasta salad and all matter of food choices.  Someone had even brought pineapple infused rum. Yumm…

To top it all off, there was even a key lime pie in celebration of a “birthday girl”.  And no, I didn’t ask how old she was.One of the boats on the dock is also headed to the FL Keys this winter so perhaps we’ll see them there.  In case you missed it, Brenda and I are headed there ourselves.

So, hopefully, we will head out of the Cape Fear River early Sunday to begin our 300nm run to St Mary’s.  That should put us there by Tuesday in preparation for our flights home from Jacksonville on Wednesday.

I should close with a shot of Pandora on the dock, dink on the cabin top and ready for her offshore run.  Wish me luck.  I had better get to bed as it’s going to be a long few days as we head south.  Unfortunately, it is looking like a motorboat ride.  Not a lot of wind in the forecast. Such is the “delivery business”, with deadlines to keep.

Don’t forget, I’ll be posting Pandora’s position every four hours while we are underway.  Just check “where’s Pandora”, on this site, for updates.

Oh yeah, Southport is a lovely town.  The live oaks are magnificent and it’s fun to visit a spot that Brenda and I enjoyed on our run south two years ago.

Snooze time…

It’s Friday late morning and we have been underway since 07:00 on our way to Carolina Beach NC.   The run today should be somewhat shorter than the last two days, which have both been between 70 and 80nm.   As I write this we are about 45nm from our destination which should put us there at a reasonable hour.

This morning it was raining lightly as we headed out and the sunrise was quite stunning. The goal for today is to put us near Cape Fear where we will jump out behind a cold front which is supposed to exit the coast there around mid-day Saturday for our 250nm run to St Mary’s, a run that should take us about a day and a half.  The wind is expected to be pretty strong, and from behind us, for perhaps as much as 24 hours and then it will become much lighter.   All of this suggests that we will have to motor-sail for at least part of the time.  However, we will surely make much better time, and hopefully sail for a good while, than being in the ICW. Hopefully, the winds will remain behind us and not go toward the south until we make port in St Mary’s 

As has been the case lately, it continues to be hard to get a weather window that lasts more than a few days which really makes it difficult to do any long offshore passages.  This wouldn’t be a problem if I was just cruising down the coast, but with a deadline to get home and a need to make time. it does make things a bit tricky.

When Brenda and I did this run two years ago, we had all sorts of time and really never had to worry about a schedule, which was nice.  Last year, I was able to make a run all the way from Beaufort some 600nm to Ft Pierce FL in a single shot as we had a pretty good window. However, that run was quite dramatic as it was on the tail of a very strong cold front that brought us winds of up to 40kts on the tail.  Actually, for my taste, that was a bit too much to be pleasant.  However, we did make good time.

Yesterday we saw our first dolphins as well as some pelicans.  I have had a really tough time getting shots of dolphins but was able to get a shot, even if it’s a bit blury.  Also, the pelicans weren’t very close.  However, it is a photo of a pelican and they say that blogs are better with photos, even crappy ones (editor’s assumption).  I guess you’ll have to be the judge.  Judge “nicely” please…  This is probably a photo that screams “you had to be there”.Today’s run takes us through Camp Lejeune, a major Marine base.  The ICW goes right through the camp area and there are some intimidating signs along the way to warn you when they are conducting live fire exercises.   Two years ago Brenda and I anchored in a small harbor within the camp’s boundaries and near us was a huge concrete ramp that provided access to the waters for hovercraft.  We didn’t see any during our visit but others have told me that it’s pretty amazing when the marines come blasting through on one of the big hover craft as they blast down the dirt road and into the water, throwing salt spray everywhere.

I guess that this sign suggests that they aren’t kidding.Yesterday we were passed at high speed by some really impressive powerboats manned by marines and painted in grey camouflage.   The boats, about 40’ long, were very angular looking, probably designed to be less detectable by radar.  Unfortunately, they came by so fast that I wasn’t able to get my camera out in time to get a shot.  I suspect that that’s the idea.

A few minutes ago we were passed by an Osprey VTOL aircraft, that’s “Vertical Take Off and Landing”.  These are sort of a high-bred of a prop plane crossed with a helicopter.  Their huge rotors are vectored vertically for takeoff and then are rotated forward to fly like a regular plane.  The design has been plagued by problems from the start, with quite a few crashes over the years but continue to be in service.   Never the less, they look amazing flying by.  Too bad they didn’t get closer.   I guess you’ll have to use your imagination.  No wait, I cropped it.  That’s not too bad.  Yes?The waterway here is flanked by miles of marsh grass on both sides.  The color of the grass is quite dramatic against the overcast sky.  Like the other canals on the ICW, this area is carved out of swamp and the channels go on for miles without a bend. Shrimping is big business in these parts.  This guy passed us in really narrow channel with his nets set out to dry.  A very impressive sight.  It looked like some sort of massive insect.  Well, it’s time for lunch so I had better wrap it up.  Hopefully, the weather will hold out for our run, beginning on Saturday.  

It’s Thursday morning and we are motoring down the ICW near Oriental, NC.  The winds are very calm with just enough on the beam to allow us to motorsail, sort of.  It’s a beautiful area in a bleak sort of way.

Last night we anchored in Belhaven NC, a town that some might say has “seen it’s best days” many years ago.  The main street has a number of empty storefronts, which is a bit depressing.   The land is VERY low with the streets near the water not more than a few feet above sea level.   I can’t imagine what a storm surge from a hurricane would do to the area.  Can you say “mom, there’s 8’ of water in the garage, no wait, in the living room”.  Yikes…

Jim and I went ashore for pizza and beer and were very pleased with how good the pizza was.  I wasn’t expecting much and was pleasantly surprised.  There is a new restaurant in town that was about to open up when Brenda and I were there last October and I was impressed with how nice it was. Given the look of mainstreet, the place looked a bit out of place.  However, even on a Wednesday night they seemed to be doing a pretty good business.   The place is called The Tavern at Jack’s Neck.  It’s worth visiting.

So, here we are motoring toward Beaufort and our plan to make an offshore run, perhaps beginning on Saturday. However, the dilemma is that the window for a good offshore breeze is pretty short and I am not sure if there is enough time to make the 360 mile run from Beaufort to St Mary’s GA before the wind clocks to the south and stops our progress.

In the fall, winds from the north are common but they seem to only last for a few days prior to clocking back to the prevailing southerly direction.  The problem is that this doesn’t allow enough time to make a long run offshore.  Anyway, today I was thinking about this and it occurred to me that perhaps the best option would be to bypass Beaufort NC, which is just south of Cape Hatteras and head another 80-100 mile south from there and jump out at either Masonboro Inlet, just north of Cape Fear or to continue a bit further to Cape Fear River Inlet and jump out from there.  By heading out from Cape Fear, we can avoid the 40 mile SE run to get around the Cape Fear shoals that would be required if we headed out from Masonboro Inlet.

I suspect that we will be able to make the additional distance down the ICW to Southport NC in time to catch the favorable winds in the Cape Fear area that should arrive late on Saturday.

Anyway, that’s the plan, for today anyway, which should put us into St Mary’s in time to make our Wednesday evening flights home.

Yesterday and today will be long days but the motoring is easy with very light winds and glass calm conditions.  Yesterday we were underway for over 11 hours and made nearly 80 miles.  That was a long but very pleasant day.  Today is likely to be about the same.  The shore scenery as we headed down narrow canals was a bit bleak but pretty at the same time.  I guess you’ll have to be the judge. Very peaceful.A few minutes ago two mean looking bunch of GI Joe guys in RIBS blasted by.  They were hauling.  Your tax dollars hard at work.   And, what’s a post without a nice sunrise over downtown Belhaven in a light haze.The beginning of yet another beautiful day on the ICW.  We’ll see how the plans go.  For now, continuing to mosey on down the ICW.    

And, that’ s my report.

It’s Wednesday morning and we left Elizabeth City around 07:30 to make the run to Belhaven, about 70 miles south on the ICW.   We had a very nice visit in EC last night and enjoyed a terrific dinner of boiled spicy shrimp that we peeled and ate in the cockpit and washed down with a few beers.   We also had some terrific crabcakes, dusted with Old Bay seasoning and coleslaw on a bed of lettuce.   Mmmm…

As we were preparing to head out today, we were treated to a wonderful sunrise over the waterfront park in Elizabeth City.  Pandora’s on the right. Nice place.This morning Ken  left Pandora to drive home as our run was taking more time than he had to commit to the trip.  As his schedule was really tighter than we both realized, it was unlikely that he’d be able to do the whole trip anyway. 

However, my other crew member, Jim knows the boat pretty well now having sailed with me from Nassau to Essex last year.  Actually, by the time we get to St Mary’s GA next week, he will have been aboard Pandora for more miles than anyone else who has crewed with me in to date.  He’s a pleasure to have on board.

So, we decided to make a long day today on our run to Belhaven and will be underway till early evening.

A nice view of downtown Elizabeth City as we left this morning.  The water was glass smooth. As we head south, we are making a good 7kts which is good.  Interestingly, when I left LI Sound Pandora’s bottom had not been cleaned for about a month and the best speed that I was able to get with 2,000 RPM was only about 6.4kts.  Now that I have gone all the way to Annapolis and now down to North Carolina, we are doing a bit over 7kts with the same RPM.  That suggests that the light slime that had built up on the bottom has been worn off by the passing water.

Speaking of speed, I am particularly pleased with my new Autoprop as I am getting nearly 1.5kts better speed at the same RPM.   I checked the fuel economy the other day and determined that we are now getting better fuel economy at about .77GPH versed just under a gallon per hour, and going the same speed.  That translates into a MPG of about 8.5 as opposed to something like 6.5 with my old prop.  I’ll need a bit more time to confirm that number, but it seems about right.  I was told that I would see about a 15% improvement in fuel economy with the new prop, and this seems to confirm that.

Yesterday was a wonderful day as we made our way through the Dismal Swamp Canal from Newport News.   The canal is an impressive engineering feat dug by slave labor during George Washington’s time.  Slavery is indeed an unfortunate part of our history and the canal is one example of the hardships that these people endured.  I am pleased that the canal has been kept up for all of these years as a reminder of our past.

Here’s the sunrise just below the lock.  Beautiful and very peaceful.On a positive note, one of my favorite parts of the trip is seeing the Lock Tender Robert, as we enter the north lock of the canal. Robert is always good for a smile and warm greeting.   And this time, he even shared a Danish and cup of coffee with us.  What a great guy.   As if that wasn’t enough, he even agreed to do a “short” conch concert.  I hope to upload the clip soon but don’t have the bandwidth to do it right now.  You go Robert!!!Transiting the lock to the canal is a wonderful experience as we were lifted the 8’ to the swamp and then dropped down again at the other end.   Doesn’t Pandora look right at home in the lock?Ken enjoying a cup of Robert’s coffee.  Note the wall above Pandora. Now, in the full position, 8’ higher.  An impressive rise in only a few minutes.Pandora looking good in the lock and ready to go.On our way down the canal.  So smooth and peaceful. I guess that I’d better focus on where Pandora’s going and less on where she’s been.  Don’t want to run aground.  No wait, Jim’s at the helm.  Whew…

Oh yeah, I spoke with Chris Parker today and it looks like we will get some favorable winds to jump out of Beaufort for the 2 day sail to St Mary’s, perhaps on Saturday.  Fingers crossed.  I’ll talk to him again on Friday morning.  Wish us luck.

That’s all for now.

It’s Monday morning and the sun is just peaking up over the eastern horizon as we make our way into Hampton Rhodes after an overnight from the Rhode River near Annapolis.  The sky is overcast but quite dramatic.  I tried to time the shot when the lighthouse was blinking.  No luck…The weather was unremarkable for our overnight run, with virtually no wind.  All we got was a light shifting 5kts from a variety of directions.  No wind.  Not so good.  Glass like conditions.   However,  really good for an easy run under power.

I certainly prefer to sail over motoring, but it’s nice to just turn on the motor and point toward where we need to go.  That’s particularly appealing when you are in busy shipping channels such as in Chesapeake Bay, which we were, that’s for sure.

As we headed down the bay, beginning mid afternoon yesterday, we were constantly being passed by ships come up and down the bay, some as large as nearly 1,000’.  It’s pretty impressive to see a cruise ship steam by, lit up like a city building.  No wait, these monsters are city buildings, or at least a large town, but one that floats.

In spite of all the traffic, the night was pretty uneventful (that’s good) with a lot of time spent keeping track of ships on AIS, the “automatic identification system” that all ships have on board and we monitor aboard Pandora.  This system transmits their speed and direction and that information is interpreted by my chart plotter to give me a display of CPA “closest point of approach” and other information regarding each ship that is quite useful.

In particular, the name of the ship is noted which makes it easy to call them by name.  In the past, when I called a ship, noting their general location only, I didn’t usually get a response.  Now, knowing where they are and how close they will be to me, perhaps in 20 minutes, takes a lot of the anxiety out of the picture.  It’s great to be able to talk to them on the radio and get an immediate answer and advice as to how to stay out of harm’s way.  That’s really great, calming actually. .

In the past, prior to AIS, you had to look at the lights and try and interpret what they were going to do and scramble out of the way, whatever I was able to determine was the way they were going.  At night, this was pretty difficult.  Much better now, that’s for sure.

Much of last night was pretty mundane but the highlight for me was when I spied a tug on AIS that was approaching from the south.  The name displayed was something like “Tug Jim” or other such mundane name.  However, the AIS system also tells you where they are going, such as Baltimore, for example.  In this case, the signal designated their destination as “The Hell if I know”.    I wonder what the US Coast Guard would think of that.  Hmm…  I guess “Jim” has a sense of humor.

Anyway, we are now tied up at a dock at the Hampton Yacht Club and are enjoying a day of rest while we wait for the weather off of Cape Hatteras to clear up, if perhaps only briefly.   I spoke to Chris Parker yesterday and again today and his advice is to time our arrival at Hatteras for around dawn on Wednesday.  That suggests a departure from here early on Tuesday morning.

NO WAIT…  Here’s another idea.  With the short weather window to get around Hatteras and all the anxiety that goes with that, let’s just bag it and go through the Dismal Swamp Canal.  I like that idea…

Ok, so, after much debate (in my mind anyway), as I finish this post, we are motoring down to Norfolk where we will go out to dinner and a movie and then leave in the morning to head INSIDE, the easy way, to Beaufort and then a combination of outside and the ICW to GA.  There are also crew considerations in all of this and one of my guys has to leave prior to GA so going inside this way makes a lot of sense.  Besides, the weather window we need to make the run to GA may very well close before we get there and, well, let’s just say that I got a headache thinking of all the possibilities and just decided to bag the whole thing and go inside.

And, to top it all, this is supposed to be fun and I just love the run from Newport News to Beaufort and the Dismal Swamp Canal.

Yes, that’s what we are going to do.  And, that route will make for some fun posts.

Stay tuned.

It’s Sunday morning early and Pandora is at Camp Letts near Annapolis MD.  For the last two days I have been attending the SSCA Gam here and enjoying time with some 350 other cruisers for a meeting with seminars and speakers on all sorts of topics.  Actually, it’s amazing just how many folks I recognize in the group.  

This gam, upon which the one we modeled our Essex June event, is one of several that the Seven Seas Cruising Association, SSCA, does throughout the year.

The event is located at Camp Letts, a Boy Scout camp just south of Annapolis on the Rhode River.   As the event has grown over the years, to it’s present size, with some 300-400 attendees, they have outgrown most locations that might house them and certainly the ones that they can afford, given the low cost of the events that they try to put on to attract cruisers.  The location is quite a beautiful setting with great views of the harbor from 180 degrees.

The speakers were quite good with talks by Chris Parker, the weather router that we use, as well as talks about proper rigging of a boat for offshore passages, how to set up a boat to “live off the grid”, safety and where to go when you cruise.   All and all, a great group of speakers.

It was good to see Chris Parker in person again as I speak with him on the radio off and on and get his updates on the weather nearly every day.   I also wanted to remind him of the plans we have in Essex as he has agreed to speak at our meeting.  He’s a very good speaker and teacher.

I am particularly interested in what Chris has to say about the weather coming up this week as I will be making my way down the coast toward St Mary’s GA where she will be hauled till Brenda and I join her in early January.

As the warm weather of summer battles it out with the colder weather of winter, the big question is if there will be the northerly winds that we need to head south.  I really have no interest in banging my head against unfavorable winds, and am willing to wait for winds that will get us there quickly and comfortably.

Based on his preliminary assessment yesterday at the meeting, admittedly, without his computer models, he thinks that we will be able to get a window to head out around Cape Hatteras, mid-week to make out way toward GA.   This suggests that we should make our way down the bay toward Hampton VA  at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay after the meeting today or first thing in the morning and wait a few days for the favorable winds to come through.

One thing that looks certain is that there is going to be a band of squally, nasty, weather in the waters off of Hatteras Tuesday and going out into the middle of that would not be a good idea.

At this point, the question will be if we should wait in Hampton and go out and around Hatteras, or if we should go in at Hampton,  make our way down the ICW, Intra Coastal Waterway, inside to Beaufort while the adverse conditions off of Hatteras work themselves out.   As that inshore route is protected,  we can do it even if the weather isn’t so great.  Outside, in the ocean, the conditions are exposed and it would not be a good idea to head out until things settle down.   The problem with the inside route is that we can only move during daylight hours, making the trip from Hampton to Beaufort a three to four day trip verses a much shorter offshore run as we can continue moving 24/7.

Such are the questions that I have to answer to be sure that we can make a good and safe run to GA from here, a run of about 600 miles and to get there in decent time.  My crew, Jim and Ken, whom have sailed with in the past, won’t be too keen on sailing aboard Pandora in the future if we have a nasty, unpleasant run.

To get the latest forecast, I will call Chris today on the phone and talk to him to get the forecast as he does not broadcast on Sunday.

Fingers crossed that things will play out as hoped and we will be on our way today or Monday.

Perhaps I’ll close with a nice shot of today’s sunrise to prove that it was pretty early when I wrote this.  What a peaceful spot to write.Oh yeah, I should also use the photo that Brenda took of me waiting for the train looking like a Sherpa.   Well at least like a serious “mini sherpa” ready to climb a large mountain.  You know, you can never have enough lines aboard.   I ended up replacing my main sheet and jib sheet with two of these. I was hoping that I looked mean enough to raise the conductors suspicion.  Alas, no such luck.  Well at least, if the train was to get stuck on a bridge I could have used them ro repel down to safety.  Yeah, right…  As always, I’ll be posting Pandora’s position on “where’s Pandora” as we wake our way down the coast over the next week.   I am optimistic that things will go well. 

It’s Sunday afternoon and I am aboard an Amtrak train headed from BWI to Old Saybrook and home. Today has been, to borrow a phrase, a “train, boat and automobiles” sort of day.  Thanks Jim for giving us a ride to the train.  A full service operation Jim is running for us.

Pandora’s in a slip in Annapolis at, my crew, Jim’s condo.  How convenient it is that he recently sold his boat.  Keep Pandora in a free slip and head home for a few days?  Not a tough decision.

Anyway, I had fully expected to just hang around in Annapolis for the week till the SSCA cruiser’s gam began on Thursday night, but when Jim offered the use of his slip, I thought it would be fun to head home and see Brenda.  She left a week ago for a weaving conference so the idea of waiting a few more weeks to see her after Pandora’s in GA didn’t sit well with me.

Happily, I am now on my way home.  ‘That’s good.

Our run from Essex to Annapolis was pretty much perfect. We sailed the entire way from Montauk all the way to Cape May and then motored the rest of the way to Annapolis.  It’s hard to wish for more.

The wind was behind us for the whole offshore run and blowing plenty hard to keep us moving well.  Pandora did well and kept her speed over 7kts with only a single reef in the main and no head sail.  This translated into 170 miles in 24 hours.  Pretty impressive.

The waves were pretty big and I am always amazed at how fast they build when there is any sort of wind blowing. However, with the waves from behind us, they didn’t feel anywhere as large as they looked.    They were pretty steep for a while and as they crested and rolled under our stern, I was surprised to see a few of them hit the transom and wash under the transom door and into the cockpit.  It’s a good way to rinse the crumbs out after all.

Amazingly, as we approached the entrance to the Delaware river in the wee hours of Saturday, the wind clocked to the east which made it easy for us to begin our run up the river.  As the wind was opposing the ebbing tide, the seas were a bit lumpy but they quickly smoothed out as we headed up toward to the canal.  

After an ocean transit, it was wonderful to enjoy a quiet motor ride up the bay.  I had not gotten much sleep on the run down but was happy to catch some sleep as Roger steered up the river.

The canal is so smooth and comfortable, a welcome change from the bumpy ocean.We stopped for the night in Chesapeake City, a favorite of mine.  It’s a lot of fun to go ashore for dinner after a few days aboard.  Roger, Jim and I had a nice dinner out.  I have to tell you that it was a hopping town with loads folks on small boats coming and going for drinks at the local Tiki bar on shore.  We stopped to take a look and decided that a drink aboard Pandora would be more our speed.  I wonder how safe it is when they head out after drinking to blast down the bay on their “muscle boats” that can go 50MPH.   Can you say “legal limit”.  I don’t think that there are many sobriety stops on the water. 

Speaking of “sobriety”, I made up a few delicious rum punches for Pandora’s crew that we enjoyed very much.  I even got a shot of the sun setting on my own punch.  Don’t the colors work well together?  I had to take the shot quickly before my ice melted.  Such problems I endured. I guess that this qualifies as a “rum selfie” if there is such a thing.After a good night sleep, and some of Pandora’s famous fresh biscuits, we made our way down to Annapolis.  Mission accomplished.  Pandora’s ready for the gam.  Then, on to Georgia where she will be hauled for a rest while Brenda and I do some traveling and enjoy the holidays with family.  We’ll rejoin her in GA in early January. 

An added bonus of coming back to CT for a few days is that I can visit my mother Shirley who’s turning 85 this week.  Happy Birthday Mom!!!  See you soon.

Aren’t I a good son?  I won’t talk about the 4 months that I’ll abandon her this winter while Brenda and I are south on Pandora while she’s up in the frigid north.  Hmm…  

Home soon to see Brenda again.  Did I say that it’s been a week since I have see her?  Such are the busy lives of the retired.