Updated on October 28, 2021
2021 Return to the Chesapeake
After our short sojourn south, gingerly touching into Florida, we returned to Beaufort, SC. The season had turned to Spring in South Carolina, with temperatures warming enough to use the air conditioner.
I discoverd that my cousin Gwen Ste. Marie Williams was living in nearby Hilton Head. I managed to get in touch with her and we arranged for a visit. Gwen was the daughter of my godfather and godmother and a few years older than I. She had written a great book “Me and Big Ma on the Bayou” about her experiences living with my grandmother and included all great recipes from my grandmother. While we did not really know each other, we had a great visit filling in blanks and catching up on the family.
With nothing now to keep us in Beaufort, we left our winter home at 1330 April 18th heading on a leisurely return trip northbound. Our destination was Charleston where we planned to stay a few days, meeting up with my sister Martha and her husband John who were heading for Myrtle Beach for vacation.
As a matter of total coincidence, as we waited for the hourly opening of the Beaufort bridge we were passed by “Sweet Debbie”, a lovely Nordhaven motor-yacht. We had spent several months the previous winter and spring next to them “on the hard” (i.e., out of the water) preparing for this trip, not fifty feet away. While I often waved to them, I never actually introduced myself. We had crossed paths with “Sweet Debbie” several times during this trip, but the Captain and crew were never aboard and we never actually introduced ourselves. Next time maybe.
We were headed for our normal anchorage off of “Monkey Island” in the Morgan River. As we rounded out of a protected creek into the open water of the wide river, winds were from the south at 15 knots promising a rough night anchored on the windward side of Monkey Island and not worth the sighting of a shy and wayward monkey. We headed for the south shore of the Morgan River looking for a bit of protection, eventually anchoring in the river off of Edding Point.
We were up early the next morning. By 0800 we had cleared St Helena Sound and turned north. Winds were from the southwest at 10 to 15 knots. Just as we turned north, with the boat on autopilot, Elena and I were discussing sail arrangements in the cabin when the high temp alarm sounded on the engine. I am sure watching me scramble out of the cabin and into the cockpit, stretching for the engine shutoff was a show to behold. But I was able to shut down the engine in just a few seconds after the alarm sounded. We had again thrown the drive belt on the engine, losing cooling water and overheating the engine. The belt had lasted 200 hours of operation which was twice as long as in previous years’ cruises, but still a real concern because we now had to be always on the alert to a possible belt failure when motoring or risk losing the entire engine.
Fortunately, the wind was fair. We immediately hoisted the mainsail and unfurled the genoa, making a very satisfactory 5 knots. After letting the engine cool for a couple of hours, I replaced the drive belt on the engine in about 15 minutes. I have gotten to be very good at replacing those belts.
At 1800 (6pm) we arrived off of Charleston Harbor entrance, took in our sails and began motoring up the channel. Unfortunately, the tide was running against us. Nothing we could do about the situation; it is all about timing and our timing was off. We crawled up the channel past Fort Sumter at 2 knots, anchoring off of James Island on the east side of the harbor at just about sunset.
We were fortunate to get a berth at the large City Marina on what they called the “megadock” which normally is filled with superyachts. The megadock is a face dock, easy to get in and out as compared to other docks at the marina. Charleston has a ferocious tidal current, and we would not even attempt getting into a tight spot. We pulled up anchor late in the morning and were tied up dockside without incident by noon.
Our air conditioning circulating pump failed the next day. It had been a good pump, and we had given it hard use. We had replaced the air conditioner itself the previous year, but tried to get a bit more use from the circulating pump which pumps sea water to serve as the “heat sink” for the air conditioner. We found the exact pump we needed at the local West Marine. The pump runs off of 110v power, which I normally avoid working on, preferring to leave 110v repairs to the experts. But this one was a simple three wire connection, clearly color coded. So Elena and I did the work ourselves. The electrical and plumbing connections were easy, but the pump is located in a spot that was hard to get to. After several hours of wrestling (and some cursing and cut fingers), the pump was installed, and we had our air conditioning back, better than ever.
One of the contributors to the pump failure might have been a clogged strainer. When we took a look at the strainer, it was 90% blocked. I also noted how slow the boat responded to the engine. All this indicated that we needed a good bottom scrub. At the marina, we found a great diver (John from Port City Diving) who did the job with scuba gear in no time at all.
Elena enjoyed the shopping in Charleston. I escorted her on the first excursion, but after that she was on independent duty. She would make a daily run on the marina’s shuttle downtown, do whatever her little heart desired and return on the shuttle in time for dinner. Worked for me.
Martha and John showed up on Sunday, April 25th. As it was getting late, we wanted to get them to Myrtle Beach as soon as possible but still wanted to have dinner. Most restaurants were closed or would not take a reservation. Elena scrambled to find a place to eat, and while I had my doubts on the way there, it turned out to be a lovely place, oddly named the Rutledge Cab Company.
Our next leg was going to be a long day’s sail. We decided to anchor on April 26th, near the harbor entrance, to get an early start on the 27th. After we left the marina, we realized that it was windier out there in the open water without the lee of Charleston than we had expected, so we tried to anchor as close to the shore as possible to the south of the commercial anchorage.
The next morning, we were underway at 0630, turned north at 0800, raised and unfurled sails (with little hope for enough wind to actually sail) and motorsailed to Winyah Bay and Georgetown SC. We entered the entrance to Winyah Bay at about sunset and anchored behind an island near the southbound entrance of the ICW in company with two other boats. It was our first time at this anchorage, and it turned out to be very nice.
We left at 0800 the next morning, April 28th, for two days of motoring through the lovely Waccamaw River to Myrtle Beach to meet up again with Martha and John. We anchored in a tight, but quiet oxbow off the river for the evening. As is our practice, Elena picked the spot, but the anchorage was so tight we had to worry about wind and current pushing us into the shallows. It turned out that the worry was for nothing, and we spent a pleasant night at anchor.
Our final leg to Myrtle Beach was to Grand Dunes Marina in Myrtle Beach, the closest marina to Martha and John’s timeshare. We had dinner and a great visit on the boardwalk. We also had a great breakfast at a beautiful and popular place in the neighborhood – “Drift” – highly recommended!
On May 2nd, we were again underway from Grand Dunes for a quick trip to Southport, North Carolina. We were planning to stay at our favorite South Harbor Village marina and made a reservation, but as we were confirming our ETA with the marina just 30 min before arrival, we were told that our reservation was starting on the next day. Obviously, there was some confusion about dates and days. Elena got a bit panicky as there is usually no “officially recognized” place to anchor in the area. Fortunately, at that moment we were approaching St James Marina, hailed them, and they had a great docking spot for us (with that in mind, we moved our reservation at South Harbor Village Marina to a few days later). So we arrived at St James Marina at 1600. We intended to stay in the Southport area for a week or more to visit with Jamie (my oldest daughter), her husband Manny and granddaughters Zoe and Ellie. Jamie and Manny had rented a beach house for the week. Zoe and Ellie spent a good amount of time with us on SOPHIA. This turned out to be a bit more of a challenge than anticipated as Zoe and Ellie were still in school through remote learning. Keeping them focused on school with all the distractions on the boat turned out to be a full-time job. Evidently, I was not totally successful as Ellie ended up with a less than superlative grade for “participation” at the end of the academic year, and the time on the boat was specifically cited.
On the May 7th, we took Zoe and Ellie for a little sail up the ICW to our favorite marina, South Harbor Village Marina (near one of Elena’s favorite restaurants, Joseph’s Bistro). On the 9th, we said goodbye to the clan as they departed for home. Being in no hurry and watching the weather carefully, we hung around until May 15th.
During on of our evening walks, we discovered the neighborhood alligator lounging around the pond.
While we were going to stay “inside” for the remainder of our trip north, the next leg took us north up the Cape Fear River for several miles. For a couple of days, winds were out of the north, and I had no desire to motor up the Cape Fear in the teeth of a 20-knot wind. So we enjoyed our stay in Southport a little while longer.
Going down to prepare dinner, Elena discovered our potable water pump was no longer working. I did not have a replacement but managed to hot wire the pump so at least we could turn it off and on when we needed to, losing the automated pressure switch.
From here on, we no longer had much of a desire to linger. We anchored at Wrightsville Beach for the evening and then made our way along the North Carolina coast via the Intracoastal Waterway. This is my least favorite leg. There are lots of shallow spots, and those spots are always changing at the many inlets. The worst was the New River inlet where we saw 6.5 feet of depth (we draw 6 feet). Elena had done an excellent job of doing the homework, including downloading the latest Corps of Engineers surveys. She guided me carefully through the toughest parts including where the Corps was actively dredging in the New River.
Late in the afternoon, we anchored at Mile Hammock on the Marine Base at Camp Lejeune in company with six other boats.
We made a quick stop in Swansboro for a nice dinner and a bit of rest. On our last cruise, I had bought Elena a crystal bowl for an anniversary present here. I suggested she get a matching piece for this year’s anniversary, which she obliged me. Shopping done, worked for me.
We moved on to Morehead City near Beaufort, North Carolina, anchoring in a spot known as Money Bay, an open spot which turned out to be all right and not too choppy in spite of some wind. Beaufort, NC, is normally a stop for us, but we decided to bypass it this year (“been there, done that”). Online, I found the water pump I needed in Morehead City West Marine, but that would mean a dinghy ride and an Uber lift to get it. I called the store, and they were kind enough to ship the pump to the West Marine at our next stop in Oriental.
On May 18th, we were underway from Money Bay, traveling though Adams Creek, into the Neuse River arriving in Oriental at 1400. We restocked on groceries, fuel, and water, had dinner with Butch and Vicky, our friends in Oriental, and with Alan from the sailing vessel “BLUE 9”. We met up with Alan in St James Marina back in November where we shared a Thanksgiving dinner. Alan is a solo sailor (along with his faithful dog) and had sailed down to the Florida Keys. And now we have, by serendipity, crossed paths with him again. Having replaced the faulty water pump and replenished all our victuals, we were ready to move again on May 22nd.
On the morning of our departure, we were again captured by a thick fog. After a couple of hours, the mist had burnt off enough to get us out of Oriental by 0800. We headed for our next anchorage at Belhaven, NC, some 40 nautical miles away. Once again, we chose not to go ashore and spent two nights at anchor with the Captain suffering from the heat on the second day. Next time we should definitely dock at a marina. We were underway at first light for a long run to the Alligator River through the Pungo-Alligator Canal, a boring transit requiring constant attention to the helm, but, thankfully, the water depth is consistently 10 feet through the man-made channel. Late the afternoon, we exited the canal, and suddenly wind picked up, and grey clouds showed up, causing a lot of chop, and we got really concerned about where to anchor safely. Fortunately, soon after we entered the Alligator River, the wind subsided a bit, and we were able to find a spot moving closer to the shore than usual in the river. Actually, we dropped the anchor near the spot where we had anchored on previous trips.
Near the exit to the canal and in the Alligator River, we passed the 100 mile ….100 miles to Norfolk and Chesapeake Bay. We are getting closer now.
Underway at first light, we made our way north through the Alligator River and into the Albemarle Sound. Wind was out of the north at 15 knots. So we had 15 knots on our bow making 2.5 knots. We did not want to spend the entire day pounding into the waves and by adjusting our course, a bit to the west, we were able to sail for a few hours and crossed the sound with no problem with the wind or waves. At 1400 we entered the North River, mooring at Coinjock late in the afternoon.
We remained in Coinjock an extra day due to some nasty weather. The marina was crowded, and we were asked to take a boat outboard of us, which we gladly did. Bill and Amy were good neighbors and not a bother at all.
On May 26th, we were underway from Coinjock for another long, tedious leg through the North Landing River and the Virginia Cut Canal to Great Bridge, Virginia, south of Norfolk. We stayed at the Atlantic Yacht Basin marina for four days, just to take a little rest. One evening we were provided a great show when this huge dredge was towed past us.
Alsso at Great Bridge, we discovered an entire herd of turtles that agressively wanted lunch
On the last day of May we were underway from the Atlantic Yacht Basin for the transit through the Great Bridge, the Great Bridge locks, the Norfolk waterfront and the big Navy bases, anchoring at Fort Monroe on the north side of the Hampton Roads channel. We were underway the next day by mid-morning arriving at Fishing Bay Marina in Deltaville late in the afternoon.
We planned to spend a few days at Deltaville. We topped off the fuel tanks and restocked the refrigerator and the food lockers. We spent a pleasant afternoon with friends Mary and Bill for drinks and hors d’oeuvres at their home overlooking Jackson Creek. Mary took Elena to Richmond to pick up our truck from Jamie’s house. Jamie, Manny and the girls visited us for a couple of days.
On June 5th, I departed alone for a solo sail back to our homeport while Elena drove the truck north.
As is our habit on this leg, I anchored in the Great Wicomico River near Reedville, just south of the Potomac, on the first night and at the Solomons Island off the Patuxent River where Elena joined me for the evening after 7 pm. The plan was to grab a mooring ball in Solomons, but the day was hot and tiresome (Elena had to deal with a flat tire and to pick up some of her things from our storage in Stafford for her trip to Russia), so Elena suggested we stay docked at the marina face dock and use the air conditioner to recover and relax. That was a good idea.
June 7th was the last day for our 2020-2021 COVID Cruise. Underway at eight, I motor-sailed and sometimes, turning off the engine, just sailed with winds out of the south at 12 knots.
At 5pm, with Elena waiting on the dock, I arrived in our slip at Herrington Harbour North in Deale, Maryland and made the final entry in the ship’s log for this season.