We left Wrightsville Beach in late morning right after Carol got back from LA and headed to our usual stop at Mile Hammock, Camp LeJeune. When we got there we saw a boat we had talked with earlier in the day. He was aground, way out of the dredged anchorage basin. It took TowBoat/US several hours to drag him out. He then anchored in front of us. We stared long enough at him to get him to move farther away and off to one side. Not far enough.
In the middle of the night I was awoken by a large bang and found him, a Grand Banks 42 trawler, broadside against our two bows. A bad situation that was rapidly getting worse due to his slow response time to suggestions. Took a while to get him to start his engines. He was just trying get free by pushing off us against the wind and his 20 tons of boat. Not going to work. He had also smashed his teak railing against us which was threatening to impale someone. Luckily when he started his engines and backed away he did not catch our bridle or anchor chain. He then went in the opposite direction I suggested and promptly went aground again. We discovered that his extra weight on us had caused us to drag and we had to re-anchor up near our original spot. Hard to do in complete darkness. Few people in the US these days know what complete darkness is like. In some areas, boaters do. It looked to us that he had thousands of dollars of damage to his boat. We had some scraped paint and scratches. A little buffing and we'll be fine. We cancelled our insurance claim.
End of adventure one.
We then went to a free dock in Oriental to watch the semi-final game in the UConn WBB run to the National Championship. After that we usually anchor somewhere in the southern end of the Alligator River. The winds were pretty strong out of the south but some time during the night they were forecast to swing to the north and approach gale force. This meant the next day would be bad, very bad. We decided to do something we had never done before, travel at night on the ICW. This is usually not recommended. And for good reason. But we were going to cross Albemarle Sound which is open water, then go up the Pasquotank River which is fairly open until Elizabeth City, the seas would be behind us most of the way, and we have a chart plotter we have come to trust. We had an hour of rough stuff when we had to turn broadside to the seas but otherwise it was kinda okay. Much better than the next day would be.We tied up at the free dock at Elizabeth City a little before midnight. BTW: we watched the NCAA final and we won our 11th National Championship. No other basketball team (of either sex) has that many.
End of adventure two.
Now we were going to be going up the Dismal Swamp Canal, something we enjoy even though it is very narrow and we have hit many things... logs, trees, and zombies. Okay, unknown things not zombies. It is only three hours to the Dismal Swamp Visitors Center which is a highway rest stop, a free dock and a park. We stayed two nights and did some walking and bike riding when it wasn't raining. The boat that had dragged and hit us days earlier came up the Canal but, lucky for us, kept going. Then it was up to Deep Creek and Elizabeths Dock. This is a free dock near the Deep Creek Lock that is a short walk to groceries, hardware, automotive supplies and now, diesel. It is also a great resource for the history and ecology of the Great Dismal in the person of Robert Peek, the Deep Creek Lockmaster. I had several chats with him as traffic was still pretty slow. He also offers breakfast to visitors. He talked us into staying a second night at the dock because of the weather forecast north of us. I also got to start the fill operation of the lock. Robert went to one end of the lock to start the procedure there and told me to go to the other operation shack and push three buttons labeled UP. Because of my years as a chemical reactor operator I could recognize the word up on a button. And could push them. With authority, of course.
Then it was up to Hampton, VA and the end of our seven night string of staying at free docks. $1.25 per foot but we got water, showers and laundry facilities. We were also able to put things back up at the top of the mast that would get destroyed by the low bridges of the ICW. After that we headed out into the Chesapeake Bay. A little rough but not terrible. The second day we were bouncing into 2-3 ft. seas when our engine water alarm went off. Investigation revealed a leak in a coolant hose caused by chafing with a serpentine belt. Of course I had spare coolant, and I did a temporary repair but sea conditions did not make it easy at all. Or fun. The next day I had to re-do the repair but didn't lose much coolant. It got us to Annapolis where I could buy a replacement hose and more antifreeze.
End of adventure three.
I hate adventures.
We are hoping to get home without any more. Our next passages should take us back to Long Island Sound but do involve a stretch off of the New Jersey coast. The forecast is not good. And it's colder up there.
