Southbound 2021–Phase I

Summary:

With our experience of three cruises, the first part of the 2021 Southbound leg was fairly routine for us.  The 2021 cruise was marked by weather delays (a total of two weeks before getting out of the Chesapeake Bay) and lots of “boat gremlins”.  The delays left us weather that was colder than desired by the time we got through North Carolina.  The gremlins were a bunch of small problems which seemed at first to have no particular obvious cause and disappeared on their own or were solved with some simple change.

Gremlin Number One:  The relatively new generator refused to start.  I think I correctly diagnosed this to a low oil pressure problem, probably due to a change in temperature changing the viscosity of the oil from the summer.  Adding a bit of oil and just cranking up the starter a couple of times seemed to solve the problem.

Gremlin Number Two:  The head (toilet) stopped working intermittently.  It is an electric head and frequently would not make a sound.  I tore into the cabinetry to get to and test the solenoid switch (it worked, but I replaced it anyway) only to discover a lose wire in the fuse holder.  Replaced the fuse holder with a more substantial one. 

Gremlin Number Three:  Our inside chartplotter started losing GPS satellite reception.  It would recover very quickly, but, if we were at anchor, the loss would set off the anchor drag alarm, frequently when we were sleeping.  It has an internal antenna and is, of course, inside the cabin.  I was going to hook the chartplotter to an external antenna from a third chartplotter, but for some reason (perhaps a change in latitude as we headed south) the problem disappeared.

Gremlin Number Four:  The engine would not start.  No sound at all when turning key.  I was getting ready to tear into the control panel to look for a loose connection, but on a whim, just changed the twenty-year-old key with one that we never had used.  Worked like a champ.

Gremlin Number Five:  One of the fuel tank sensors (brand: Maletron) just stopped working.  Started working without me doing anything.

Gremlin Number Six:  We were unable to use shore power to recharge the batteries in marinas that had been upgraded.  This was supposed to have been fixed last summer but was not tested before we left our homeport.

Cruise Details:

October 23rd	We departed Herrington Harbour North, our home marina, on October 23rd to begin our 2021-2022 cruise. Happy to have thrown off the lines after a summer of refitting, we steamed 30 miles south to Solomons Island, Maryland despite an ominous weather forecast over the next week, just happy to be finally underway.
October 24th-30th	Moored Zahneiser Marina’s mooring field, Solomons Island Maryland.  Gremlin Number One and Gremlin Number Two attacked.
October 31st	Finally, after we spent a week tied to Solomons mooring, the weather cleared, and SOPHIA got underway at 0745.  Soon the sails were up with winds out of the north and we were making good time across the Potomac River.  We arrived at the Great Wicomico south of the Potomac, anchoring near our favorite spot in company with two other boats that we have seen before, Isla Hope and Truant.  Gremlin Number Three (chartplotter) attacked.

November 1st	Underway at 0815, we were able to raise sails again and sailed south on strong winds of 15-20 knots, making lots of sail changes for a comfortable ride.  Entering Fishing Bay near Deltaville, Virgina, there was not a room at the transient dock, so we anchored out for the evening.  The next day we came in to top off the fuel tanks and were allowed to remain at the fuel dock for a couple of days.
Deltaville Notes	We made our customary food run and visited with our friends Mary and Bill, who we met on our anniversary back in 2016 while anchored off their dock in Jackson Creek.

November 4th

We were underway from Fishing Bay on a grey and cloudy morning with north winds of 10 knots.  We unfurled the large genoa to get some sail time in.  As the day progressed, the wind piped to 15-20 knots and we switched to the smaller staysail.  When we entered Thimble Shoals Channel and rounded Old Point Comfort, we furled sails for, as it has turned out, for the last time during this phase of the Southbound leg.  (This was about the time Gremlin Two attacked). At 5pm we moored at Old Point Comfort Marina on old Fort Monroe, a former Army base, now just a community in the city of Hampton, Virginia.

Fort Monroe to Southport

November 11th	Veterans Day, we were finally underway from Fort Monroe.  Before we could shove off, Gremlin Number Four attacked (we could not start the engine).  After a bit of jiggling, we finally got her started and took in all lines.   As we passed the nearby Norfolk Naval Base at 0800, morning colors was called, sending shivers of emotion down my spine and maybe a bit of a tear to my eye.  Just after noon, we moored at the Great Bridge free dock and had dinner at a local bar and grill.
November 12th	We were underway at 0800 for the long trip down the Virginia Cut and to Coinjock arriving at 4pm.  “Belvedere” moored outboard of us.  Elena evaluated the weather and predicted a rough ride across the Albemarle Sound.  We decided to stay an extra day. We used extra time to rest and top off fuel tanks.  Gremlin Number Five attacked.
November 13th	“Belvedere” underway at 0800. Remained moored at Coinjock.
November 14th	We were underway at 0815 from Coinjock Marina.  Albemarle Sound was calm as Elena had promised.  At 3pm we anchored at the south end of the Alligator River in company with two other ships.
November 15th	We were underway from our Alligator River anchorage at 0815 and began our transit through the Pungo Canal.  At 1300, we exited the canal and entered the Pungo River and anchored Pantego Creek off Belhaven, North Carolina at 3pm.

November 16th

We were underway from Belhaven anchorage at 0800, arriving at Oriental Marina at 4pm.

Oriental Notes

We stayed a few days in Oriental to visit with friends Butch and Vickie and to restock on food and fuel.  I had done something sneaky, which is unusual for me.  Without telling Elena, I had ordered an expensive electric outboard for the dinghy.  I did it specially so she could go ashore alone and so that we can prepare the dinghy quickly to go ashore.  We might never use it as intended, but the deed was done.  I picked up the Torqeedo electric outboard at West Marine during Elena’s food run.  We spend the next day playing with our new toy.

November 20th	At 0700, we got underway on a clear cold morning with west winds at 20 knots.  We made a somewhat bumpy ride across the Neuse River and into Adams Creek.  We moored at a marina we had not tried before in Morehead City, the Morehead City Yacht Basin.  We toured Morehead City a bit and then prepared for the next day.
Morehead City Notes	This point in our trip south is the time for our big decision:  do we go inside or outside?  I do not like dealing with the shoaling in the ICW between Morehead City and Southport.  But the weather was not cooperating with no fair winds predicted for a week.  Now the two week delay we experienced earlier was coming into play.  The weather was getting cold and our options for more delays were getting limited.   I left the inside/outside/stay decision up to Elena.  She chose to go inside and so we did. The expert on the ICW is a fellow that goes by BOB423 (Robert Scherer is his real name).  Bob literally wrote a book on the ICW, but he also has a website that provides the latest tracks with the best depths through the shoal area, developed using Corps of Engineer soundings and crowd sourcing from other cruisers.  We downloaded Bob’s tracks and uploaded them to our chartplotter. At least now we had the latest and greatest intel on what lay ahead.
November 21st	At 0730 and after breakfast, we got underway from Morehead City with temperature of about 50F degrees, partly cloudy, with winds out of the north at about 10 knots.  By 0830 we were following Bob’s track with good results.  At about 1pm we moored at Casper’s Marina at Swansboro to wait for the high tides in the morning to go through the shoals of the New River inlet.  We remained at Swansboro for two days to wait out bad weather.
November 24th	We were underway from Swansboro at 0730.  After successfully getting past the first shoals at New River at high tide, we anchored at 1030 for the day at Mile Hammock (a small bay off the ICW on USMC’s Camp Lejeune).
November 25th	Thanksgiving. We were underway at 0700 from the anchorage at Mile Hammock on a clear, cold morning for a run to Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina.  We arrived and tied up to the dock at the Bridge Tender Marina and had a Thanksgiving dinner at the bar of the local restaurant.  We consider ourselves very fortunate because none of that was planned.
November 26th	There was no availability at the Bridge Tender Marina for the 26th.  We got underway for a quick trip around the corner to Banks Channel close to Wrightsville Beach proper.  We anchored in 20 feet of water with 80 feet of chain.  At noon the wind increased and coupled with a strong current, SOPHIA pulled her anchor out of the mud at 2pm.  We dragged the anchor about 150 feet and close to shore.  We quickly started the engine, brought up the anchor, and re-anchored in an area with 10 foot depth and used 100 feet of chain.  We rode out the evening in good shape.  This was the second time we have dragged anchor in Banks Channel.
November 27th	At 0800, we were underway from Banks Channel. By 1000 we had entered Snow’s Cut, a canal cut between the barrier islands and Cape Fear River and infamous for shoaling.  Thirty minutes later we exited Snow’s Cut and entered the Cape Fear River, running at 7 knots with an ebb current.  At 1pm, we arrived at one of our favorite places, South Harbor Village Marina in Southport North Carolina.  Gremlin Number 6 attacked.
Southport Notes:	This is one of our favorite stops because of the local Italian restaurant.  We ended up eating there twice and once at the local seafood restaurant.
November 28th-29th	Remained at South Harbour Village Marina

Southport to Beaufort

November 30th	Underway at 0700.  Clear, cold, winds out of the north at 5 knots.  Crossed into South Carolina around noon.  Moored Barefoot Marina, Myrtle Beach South Carolina at 3pm.
December 1st	Underway at 0730.  Moored at Heritage Plantation Marina, Pawley’s Island, South Carolina (first time at this marina)
Heritage Plantation Notes	After studying the charts and the tides carefully, Elena has decided that we will make the offshore run from Georgetown to Beaufort South Carolina, skipping past Charleston.  Winds are going to be light, so we expect to motor the entire 100 miles.
December 2nd	Underway at 1000.  At 2pm, anchored in the Winyah Bay near the mouth of the ICW in preparation to jumping offshore.  We completed all preparations and checks for offshore operations by 6pm.

December 3rd

Waiting for the outgoing tide, we were underway at 0830.  At 1000, we turned south after exiting Winyah Bay.   Winds were south at 5-10 knots.  By noon we had seen a few boats including four motor yachts that passed us quickly.  At first 3-4 foot swells were unpleasant, but soon the seas calmed down and made the trip uneventful except for crossing the Charleston channel, which we did at 7pm. The night was pitch black and ships coming out were difficult to see against the shore lights.  We delayed a bit to allow two of the big guys to go past and then got across the channel as fast as we could before the next one came out.  Up to this point, we averaged 4.8 knots.  We needed to arrive at St Helena Sound, the backway into Beaufort, at sunrise to catch the flood tide.  We slowed to 3.8 knots to make the timing needed.

December 4th	Elena and I were standing 2 and 2 watches.  Two hours on, two hours off.  At 0630, we arrived at St Helena Sound.  Sunrise was at 0700 and we spotted the first of the buoys that marked the channel.  By 0945, we anchored off of “Monkey Island”.  We only spotted a glimpse of the monkeys that live on the island.  We actually anchored too close to the island.  At 3pm we got to low tide and with a south wind that blew us toward the shore, the anchor alarm went off with 7.1 feet showing on the depth meter.  The current moved to a flood tide and we were soon with plenty of water under the keel.
December 5th	We were underway at 0800 with a flood tide and made a quick transit to Beaufort City Marina, arriving at noon.
Beaufort Notes:	We have decided that Elena will depart for her bi-annual trip back to Russia from Beaufort.  We will stay here a week or so until Elena leaves for her flight.  Meanwhile we visited with friends Scott and Kristen who live here in Beaufort.

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