We got underway after a week in Annapolis. Only one engine (port) is operable. Our starboard transmission failed as we trying to pick up our first mooring a week ago. Exploring showed the saildrive had no gear oil at all in it. The port drive had some oil (but not much) so it didn't fail. The new seals installed in August apparently failed after less than 50 operating hours. Inspections included diving under the boat to eyeball the saildrives. Conditions in Naptown were mostly gray while we were there but improved the last couple of days. Our passage to Solomons was a bit foggy to start but ended beautiful, warm, dry and with a light to no breeze.
In Annapolis we got a couple more vaccines each, food shopped, dined out and did boat work. Boat work was mostly trying to figure what was wrong with the saildrive and searching for someone/ somewhere to get it worked on. Also had the outboard starting pull cord snap. Rewinding that was lots of fun. Took hours but after a couple of tries finally got it right. I now know the trick to doing it. Also did our regular battery maintenance.
My cell phone case finally wore out. The buttons fell off. Of course, after I stopped using the case I dropped the phone on a sidewalk. New phone needed. Sigh. It was a rough week.
Our passage to Jackson Creek, Deltaville was mostly uneventful. At times there were ripples on the water, like when we were crossing the front of the Potomac River, but mostly it was flat calm. Nice. A long passage but nice. Leaving Deltaville gave us a little breeze. Very light but not flat calm. We went to Cape Charles Harbor to be hauled out just as we started having trouble with our other saildrive. Difficult maneuvering with only one engine and that one only able to go in forward. We likely have serious internal transmission damage from loss of gear oil and seawater intrusion.
Saildrive seal showing damage.
Interesting seeing all the internal parts of a saildrive transmission. And what can break. Perhaps could have done without that knowledge.
While waiting out the search for and the delivery of new saildrives we explored Cape Charles (doesn't take long) and found some pickleball courts and players. We also discovered a nature preserve with trails through the woodlands out to the Bay. Our marina had a loaner golf cart to help get around town but getting groceries meant using the local (free) bus service.
After two weeks ashore a young woman I met playing pickleball loaned us a car (SUV) and that let us get farther afield than the golf cart allowed. We went on some hikes in a few not-so-nearby park/nature center areas and did a little exploring of surrounding towns. Groceries were much easier to get on our schedule and not dependent on the bus schedule or reserving the cart. Thanks Jackie!
Cotton boll we picked on the side of the road, probably illegally.
Pickleball was very interesting. I thought I was a decent player and I do quite well in Marathon. Out of 3 dozen players there I am in the top 5 in ability. Here I am the worst. Really. What a difference playing top players! Someone, trying to be kind, said I wasn't the worst but struggled to point out someone clearly worse than me. Playing with one of (not the) top players got very frustrating. For her. Trying to pull my level of play up. Oh well. Playing challenging people makes you better.
On our walk at Kiptopeke State Park. Also saw the sunken WW II cement ships that are now a breakwater.
We got underway after 3 weeks of delay and installation of two new saildrives to replace the ones severely damaged by Essex Boat Works. Cost us about $16K. Hope the insurance comes through so we don't have to sue the marina directly. Easy passage to Portsmouth, VA and we squoze into a very tight spot at the free dock in South Basin.
The next day had us make a fuel stop a Top Rack Marina for one of the cheapest prices we will see this trip and then go to Great Bridge for a stay at the north free dock. First time using our old spot in quite a few years. More recently we've been using the south docks. In Great Bridge (Chesapeake, VA.) I got a new phone (finally!), saw our drug supplier (Walgreens), got some groceries and gear oil to replace what was wasted in our old damaged saildrives. All packed into one afternoon so we could press on.
Leaving Great Bridge we went an extra long time, passing Broad Creek and going all the way across Albemarle Sound to the Little Alligator River. This is just off the northern end of the Alligator River and a couple miles from the swing bridge. First time spot for us. Not great protection but none needed due to the tail end of the great weather we've had since Cape Charles. The breeze picked up overnight so we now know why this was not a highly recommended spot. Wasn't terrible. In the morning we picked up, went through the Alligator River swing bridge and went all the way to Bear Creek near Mesic, NC. This is just a bit south of Hobucken. We wanted to go to R E Mayo in Hobucken for cheap dockage and shrimp but it was full up. Oh, well. Bear Creek is only about 3 miles further and we'd used it once before.
We got underway just as it started getting a bit light. Being in a no hazzard area made it possible and we are still pushing to get south ASAP. Not wise. After a very long day (11 hours) and several changes of mind as to our destination, we ended up at Mile Hammock, Camp LeJuene (the Marine Base). Mile Hammock had more boats than we'd seen in quite of few years but not over crowded. We left at first light and ended the day on a mooring in Carolina Beach. We got cold water beach showers and I went to Publix for a few items. Met some new people on a nearby boat because Carol could not restart the outboard. Turned out they had been to Mystic Seaport recently and had taken a Viking Cruise similar to the one we have scheduled next year.
We left early again the next day although early is getting later and later each morning. Someone wanted to keep pushing (again) so we passed by Calabash Creek on the NC/SC border for a pay marina, Osprey, in Socastee near Myrtle Beach, SC. Just about an 11 hour day. 😟 We got a shower, hot this time, and then went to bed. Very cold in the morning when we left. We stopped at Wacca Wache Marina for fuel, probably the cheapest we will get anywhere south of here. It got very windy as we were leaving and the passage down the Waccamaw got choppy. Winyah Bay was very rough but the 2-3ft waves and the wind were behind us so not a problem. Near freezing cold, however. We anchored for the second time in South Santee River just off the ICW. No wind protection but good holding in the strong but declining winds. We were comfortable enough.
Several mentions of the cold the last few days but now it's really cold. About 8° above freezing. Real freezing. Not quite as windy as it's been, but still breezy. With that breeze and the cold 🥶 we had several extra layers of clothes on but to no avail. Cold. Cold. Cold. We went through Charleston and pushed on (at my suggestion for a change) to Tom Point Creek, a spot we haven't used in a lot of years. We sat out a major gale here too many years ago to remember.
It was just past low tide when we left the next morning so shallow areas were getting deeper as the day went on. All good and not quite as cold. Not quite. We went through Beaufort, SC but we just missed the Ladys Island Swing Bridge at noon so we sat around until 12:30. We ended up in a new spot for us, Bull Creek across from Daufuskie Island. A very nice spot. Lots of dolphins.
It was just before low tide this time when we left but when we got to the shallow areas it was after low and the water was rising. Most of those areas had been dredged within the last year so we had no depth issues. We cruised very slowly through the one tricky area for two reasons. 1 - although it was dredged, it was not a straight path and not all that deep and 2 - we were ahead of schedule to pass through a de-construction area that has limited open channel periods. Even though we traveled very slowly for about 5 miles we were still early and had to sit idle for 30 minutes. Oh well. Better than being late and waiting 90 or more minutes. After that delay all went well and we ended up at Walburg Creek where we last anchored about 10 years ago. Nice but a bit too deep. We didn't hear the strange animal noises in the woods we used to hear in the past. Werewolfs probably. Too tired after Halloween I guess. We did see the ghost forest on St. Catherine's Island. Look it up.
We got up very early as Daylight Saving Time ended and both sunrise and sunset are earlier by the clock. We were also up early because of a shoal at the southern entrance of Walburg Creek and the tide was falling. We wanted to get out at least 75 minutes before dead low. We went very slowly and zig-zaged our way and made it out with depth to spare. A little extra depth. Because of this departure we had a rising tide throughout the day and the shallow areas were passed in relative comfort. We stopped at Jekyll Harbor Marina for fuel. It was very expensive but almost $1/gal. cheaper than down the road. Crazy. Shortly after getting fuel we went to Umbrella Creek to anchor. A new spot for us. Deep and wide but little wind protection. We were fine. Light breeze.
It was warmer on wake up than it has been but still cool. Warms quickly as we are near the Florida-Georgia border. A little tense due to going through shallow areas at low tide in the Cumberland Dividings. We were cautious but had no troubles at all. No troubles in the Fernadina- Amelia shallow areas either. We ended up early at the free dock on Sister's Creek outside of Jacksonville, FL. Took on some water and did some cleaning with our extra time. Preparing for boat broker photos and possible visit by a looker. Nice spot and surprisingly not crowded.
We had difficulty getting on the free dock at Sisters Creek because of the current but were very comfortable overnight. Getting off the dock in the morning was even worse. We ended up tearing two fender straps and were lucky to recover the fenders. The passage to St. Augustine was non-eventful even though crossing the St. John River was made briefly interesting by dredging and traffic. Our meeting with our boat broker was cancelled so we had the opportunity to meet up with Marathon friends who sold their boat almost a year ago and moved ashore, about an hour away from St. Auggie. Great get-together! Great catching up with Kate and Allen. The friends we usually meet here were away in Europe. I also got some computer time in to arrange our bill paying. Major credit card charges from our repairs and a vacation cruise scheduled a year from now combined to make an interesting financial month.
After leaving St. Augustine the Crescent Beach bascule bridge made us wait for a slow sailboat to catch up to us. The Matanzas Inlet shallow area was interesting. It was being dredged and the dredge was way off to the east and away from the normal channel. We had to leave it to starboard even though it was off to port. Maneuvering involved a sudden 90° turn to port to avoid floating pipelines. Fun. Then we cut in front of the dredge and took another 90° turn to go alongside it closely. Great fun.
The normal route is the light blue area with C-81c and C-81d to port. Floating pipes were at the 1st 90° turn and the dredge was at the 2nd 90° turn. Fun piloting! The darker blue area is under 6ft. Well under 6ft! Like 2ft. Or less. The dredging is making major changes. We'll see how long it lasts this time.
The rest of the passage was easy and non-eventful except we just missed the George Musson bridge opening and had to wait 20-25 minutes. Sigh. We anchored in our usual spot in New Smyrna Beach opposite the yacht club. 7 or 8 years ago we spent a lot of time anchored here while I went to the hospital at 4am in great pain. Stayed a while. Oh well.
An easy, uneventful day followed. As we approached Cape Canaveral we could see a Falcon rocket poised for launching in the evening. The Kennedy Space Center is in sight a long time as we approach and as we go around and go by it. One reason: the buildings are awful big. Huge. The Haulover Canal bridge was open for repairs. The Jay Jay Railroad bridge was open as usual. The NASA/Addison Point bascule bridge has been replaced with a fixed bridge. This meant no major slow downs and another non-eventful day. Nice. We anchored around Dragon Point in the Banana River near Eau Gallie in a spot we've used for a lot of years. Nice. The only problem was noisy neighbors. No, not the people ashore. Birds. Dolphin. The birds squawked all night. Left presents on the deck, too. And the dolphin fought, frolicked, fed and/or f--ked all night. Noisily. And bumped into the boat. A lot. Sigh. We've been to plenty of anchorages with lots of dolphin around but none are like this one. Don't know the reason. It's nice but... sleep is nice, too.
For the first time this season we woke and put on short pants and a tee-shirt and nothing else. No jacket needed at 0630! Nice. It did get a bit warm on the way to Vero Beach where we picked up a mooring for about 2 weeks to let us leave the boat and fly home for a wedding. We met with several boating friends already moored there and will likely see more before we leave. Maybe make new friends, too.
Our time in Vero and our passages to Marathon will be in the next posting in 2 or 3 weeks.
