We just returned from our first longish trip on our Catalina 30 sailboat,
Logos. We had a blast. Below is a daily log of our journey that I wrote each day along the way.
Thursday, October 1 -- Pre-Cruise Sail
Barry's folks drove all the way from Ohio just to spend a day with us on
Logos, going for the first sail of their lives. We were thrilled to show them our boat, all the projects we've done (especially Barry), and introduce them to the pleasures of sailing.
Fortunately, we had an absolutely picture perfect day for it. It was sunny and warm, with highs in the 70s. The day started with very light wind, and we thought it might not even be worth putting the sails up, but after motoring a bit on the Neuse, the wind did start blowing just enough to make sailing worthwhile. The light winds provided a gentle way to start out without making Barry's mom nervous, and when they freshened to 10-12 knots later in the afternoon, they had gotten used to the boat's motions, so they seemed to handle it fine.
We had a nice lunch of sandwiches, chips, and grapes during the sail; and Barry's mom brought brownies to cap it off.
The only slight snafu (and there always is one, right?) is that when we went to fire up the engine to get back down the creek to the slip, the alternator belt squealed like crazy. After Barry tightened it, all was well, and we proceeded to calibrate our new Raymarine X-5 Autopilot in the creek. Had an easy docking as winds were from the west (the way our slip faces). Met the folks for a delicious pasta dinner at the Silos in Oriental, where they were staying at the Oriental Inn.
The portions were generous!
They left on the 12-hour drive back to Ohio the following morning -- crazy "kids"! :-)
Friday, October 2 -- Cruise Departure Day!
Paisley keeping us safe before departure
"Never leave on a Friday" is an old sailing superstition, as this is supposed to bring bad luck. Hopefully it is just that -- a superstition -- as this was the day we were leaving so long as weather permitted, and indeed it did. We had gone back and forth about which way to head first: south to Cape Lookout, or north to Bath and little Washington. The former would only work if winds were light and seas were low, and the latter would be our fallback. Unfortunately, the NOAA weather forecast seems to change on a dime, and while it the initial forecast precluded trying to get to Cape Lookout due to high winds and seas, the forecast we heard on the VHF Friday morning was quite different. We had spent Thursday evening planning to head north towards Bath, which is much further inland and thus would provide protection from high winds, but the new forecast was much more benign, prompting us to swing back to our original plan of heading to Cape Lookout National Seashore first on this cruise. In retrospect, perhaps we should have stuck with Bath, but trusting the new forecast, we headed south.
Due to 10-15+ knot winds on the nose (another reason Bath might have been the preferable destination), we motored the entire way to Adams Creek on the Intra-Coastal Waterway (ICW, also known as "the ditch"), where we arrived at our planned anchorage in Cedar Creek at 2:15 pm. It would have been nice to get a little farther, but there were no good anchorages for quite a ways after this one.
We were able to try out "Otto" the auto pilot for the first time, and he did an amazing job keeping us on course so that we didn't have to hand steer the entire way, a huge improvement. We marveled at how he freed us up to eat lunch at the same time in the cockpit and make the cruise far more relaxing. Cool stuff!
"Otto"
Cedar Creek anchorage was incredibly peaceful and quiet, and aside from one sailboat on a mooring with no one aboard, we had the place to ourselves. Another sailboat came in after dark, but there was plenty of room for all of us.
Astonishingly, we dealt with our third serious thunderstorm in just four nights we have spent at anchor on
Logos overnight. At around 2 am, thunder, lightning, and rain began, and this was a doozy of a storm. Two lightning strikes were so loud and close that our galley fluorescent light actually turned on from the electrical energy! I was scared that we were going to get struck and lose our electronics (including our brand new auto-pilot!) Barry put my laptop and our handheld VHF radio into the oven to protect them, but thankfully,
Logos weathered the storm without any problems, and the anchor held well. Thank goodness for North Carolina mud! Still, we think that we have weathered enough serious thunderstorms for at least six months of cruising, so it is time for some benign nights at anchor. Do you hear that, oh weather gods???
Saturday, October 3 -- Cedar Creek to the Atlantic and back to Beaufort
What an interesting day! I can say that now, the day after, when I am writing this, but at the time, parts of it were downright scary. Thankfully, we survived unscathed, but it was a big learning experience.
The day started out perfectly. Cruising south on the ICW at 5 knots with Otto steering was incredibly pleasant and peaceful. There were many interesting houses, from small beach cottage-like dwellings to mega-mansions, to see, and we were close enough to them on this relatively narrow waterway to see people's gardens and yards and lives. I love that. We got passed by occasional power boats, and a couple of faster (larger) sailboats, and waved at a lot of folks. What simple fun this was -- this is one of the reasons we bought a boat.
"The Ditch"
Great house along the ICW painted in Carribbean pastels -
even their little boat is painted with polka dots!
Morehead City area - plenty of boat traffic
As we approached Morehead City, the water became choppier, and the speedboats, mega-yachts, and commercial craft became more plentiful. We got "waked" numerous times and were rocking and rolling. All of a sudden, we were in the cut to the Atlantic Ocean, which is unavoidable if you want to get to the pristine beaches of Cape Lookout, a favorite destination of boaters of all types. This, however, was not the day to go. Most boats we saw were coming in, not heading out to sea, and we never saw a single sailboat at this point. Almost before we knew it, we were in what felt like incredibly big waves, being tossed around like a toy. We've always read that the Catalina 30 can handle conditions that perhaps the owners can't, so I expect
Logos would have been just fine with continuing on, but we were very nervous, especially me. We started talking about turning around and heading back, but I was scared we couldn't even get
Logos turned around in these short, steep waves. All of a sudden, Barry saw a tiny window of opportunity and turned her around quickly. What a captain! Now we were surfing the waves back, and although we were still rocking and rolling like crazy, it wasn't nearly so scary and out of control feeling. Before too long, it got a bit less choppy, and my heart rate eased back to something resembling normal as I realized that no, we were not going to die at sea today, most likely. :-)
When analyzing what went wrong later, we realized that we headed out to sea with wind on our nose but the tide flowing out to sea. We had wanted to go on an ebbing tide to avoid fighting current and losing massive amounts of speed, but when wind and current are in direct opposition, the seas get very confused, and this is what happened, as there is strong current in the cut. The waves were in the 4-6 foot range (our best estimate), which is certainly doable if they have a longer period, but it was something crazy like 4 seconds, meaning that one wave has barely gone under you when the next one is there, staring you in the face. We would never have even attempted to head out had the forecast of been correct, but they had lowered the original prediction of 5-7 foot waves to 2-3 foot. Perhaps they were closer the first time.
Fortunately, we weren't far from Beaufort and were able to backtrack and anchor near Town Creek Marina. There are two anchorages here, and we briefly touched bottom while checking out the first one, which was just too crowded, so we ended up in the newer one, which is less protected, closer to the channel, and noisier. Small power boats zip by frequently, and the sound of cars clattering over the nearby Beaufort bridge is annoying, but it is safe and convenient to the marina and town. After being at sea, I can't complain at all about this anchorage!
Dolphins!
Leaving Morehead City -- and the ocean -- behind
Town Creek Marina, Beaufort
Barry has fun in the dinghy
Paisley and Emily after a challenging day
To top off the day with something fun, which we really needed by this point, we were treated to a fireworks display in the evening from the Morehead City Seafood Festival going on this weekend (which explains why there were so many powerboaters around). It was great watching from our boat -- front-row seats!
Sunday, October 4 -- at anchor in Beaufort, NC
Logos in Town Creek Anchorage
Today was a much-needed rest day, and finally a chance to have some fun. We needed this. We brought our new Avon inflatable dinghy and outboard motor down for this trip and finally got to try out our cruising "car". What fun it is! It gives us the mobility that we need when we're at anchor, and it enables us to get Paisley to shore to do her business. She loves riding in it since she knows it will take her somewhere fun!
We started today with a short dinghy ride to a public dock at the Airport Marina (right next to the Town Creek Marina) with a one-hour mooring limit. There was great grass all around for Paisley to use, and rest rooms for us. We had seen a sign for a Hardee's nearby, so walked with Paisley there and treated ourselves to some breakfast sandwiches, cinnamon-raisin biscuits, and a large coffee for me, to save cooking on the boat.
We did small boat chores in the morning, then spent the afternoon taking the dinghy into Beaufort. The first trip was just Barry and me, to walk around and re-experience this charming coastal town that we'd visited in April 2004 for my birthday. We found a public dinghy dock, tied up, then got out and walked up and down the main street. This is what cruising is about -- visiting interesting places!
Beaufort drawbridge
Beaufort waterfront
Beaufort waterfront a bit later - clearing skies!
We also checked out the beach on the Rachel Carson Nature Preserve right across from the Beaufort historic district and decided to bring Paisley back for a nice walk. She loved it! We beached the dinghy and walked on the beach and then the nature trails a ways, though we couldn't go too far in our water shoes.
On the way back to the boat, we saw many dolphins swimming very close to us. We've seen quite a few dolphins already on this trip, but this was the most and closest they had been. Families were pointing and exclaming from their fishing boats as the dophins swam by. It is always a joy to see them swimming amongst us!
Tonight we'll plan our itinerary for the next couple of days. We are not going to try to get to Cape Lookout again (at least on this trip) because we'll run out of time to make it to Okracoke, which we really wanted to do on this trip. We want to talk to some more experienced sailors about when the best (i.e., calmest) time to attempt Cape Lookout is and what wind and current conditions would be most benign before we try again.
Monday, October 5 -- Beaufort to Oriental
Today dawned completely overcast and gloomy, but when we first arose, the rain had not yet started, so we were able to dinghy over to the Airport Marina dock and get Paisley onshore for a nice morning walk. After returning to
Logos, light rain began. We decided not to rush to get going, and Barry took advantage of the situation to give
Logos' deck a much-needed washdown. Using his new washdown pump made the job simpler to do. It looks like we are in for on and off rain and cool temps for the next 24 hours at least.
We headed out of Beaufort and north on the ICW a little after 11 am. Light rain off and on, not too bad, and much less boat traffic than during our trip south. Still a few large power yachts creating huge wakes. We were pretty bundled up in layers and foul-weather gear to keep the chill away. Even though it was only in the 60s, it felt cooler with light rain and breeze.
We made it to Oriental a little after 3 pm for a one-night stay in the harbor anchorage. We were surprised to find that we were the only boat in the small anchorage, which only accommodates about six boats. We had been prepared to head up to Broad Creek (near our home marina in Whortonsville) for the night if Oriental was full, but we were hoping for Oriental since there is a nice town dinghy dock to take Paisley to shore, wi-fi, and good walking.
After anchoring and doing a few boat chores, we launched the dinghy and headed to shore for a nice walk with Paisley between light rain showers. We were planning on a simple dinner of soup and salad on Logos as it looked as if it would rain through dinner time, but we had an unhappy revelation today that we were down to only one battery for our digital camera (the other had already given out), and it was running low. We have no way to recharge the batteries as our charger runs on A/C, and unless we're plugged into shore power, we only have D/C power from our batteries. Since there is no place to buy a new, much less new charged, battery within walking distance of the dinghy dock, we came up with a scheme to go to a nearby restaurant for dinner in exchange (we hoped) for asking them to let us plug our little battery charger into an A/C outlet for an hour or so. We expect they'll go for it as what we'll spend on dinner is far more than the small amount of electricity the charger would use.
Barry. Paisley, and Little Boat at Oriental's dinghy dock
Update: Our scheme went even better than expected. We had a lovely dinner (crab quesadillas for me, shrimp quesadillas for Barry) at M & M's Cafe, a popular Oriental restaurant very close to the dinghy dock. The restaurant is in an attractive, traditional older house, and there are standard wall outlets everywhere; one under just about every table. So, we just plugged in the charger and enjoyed our food. On a side note, this place obviously hasn't suffered too much in a down economy. Mid-way through our meal, we noticed that every single table and all places at two separate bars were taken. And on a Monday night! This place has the reputation of being the best in town, and apparently everyone knows it.
Tuesday, October 6 -- Oriental to Campbell Creek (off Goose Creek, ICW)
We woke up early in a very rolly v-berth as the wind had picked up overnight, and it had continued to rain off and on. It was another gray morning with low-hanging clouds as far as the eye could see. We launched the dinghy and docked to walk Paisley, and to look for restrooms for us. I thought I remembered public restrooms from a previous visit to Oriental but could not find any, so we headed into "The Bean" for coffee for me and a bagel for Barry, and took advantage of their restroom. After getting back to the boat, we weighed anchor and got going at 9 am as we had a long day ahead if we were to make it to Ocracoke, approximately 7 hours away (motoring).
Despite high hopes, it quickly became apparent that Ocracoke, like Cape Lookout, was not to be on this trip. We seem to have a knack of heading to places that are absolutely upwind of wherever we start. We needed to go northeast, the winds were from the northeast, and although they never topped 15 knots, this particular wind direction causes short, steep waves in the Neuse River as the waves have time to build up a lot of fetch. Despite being inland, the Neuse is known for being a challenging place to boat under certain weather conditions, and today was certainly one of them. The waves we were at least 3-4' with about a 2-3 second period. Not as tall as in the ocean on Saturday, but very uncomfortable.
Logos was bucking through them like a hobby horse, taking much spray over her bow and even over the dodger into the cockpit at times. Every time we hit one of the larger waves, her progress would slow from her usual 5+ knots to 2-3 knots, and we knew that getting to Ocracoke would be a miserable journey and much slower than we'd predicted. No matter where we went, we'd have some hours of discomfort, but if we headed inland towards Belhaven and Bath, we'd eventually be in more protected cruising grounds and out of the bashing waves, so we made the decision to do that instead. Fortunately, we'd prepared for any eventuality ahead of time and had good information on all possible anchorages we might land, so this was not a huge change in plans, just one of many alternatives.
We slogged north on the Neuse for several hours, and the entire way we were singing the praises of our new autopilot we call Otto. We would have gotten completely worn out if we'd had to hand-steer through the chop, so he saved us hours of work.
With all the rocking and rolling, Barry started feeling the early warning signs of
mal de mer, but eventually we got to the Bay River, where we were able to turn to the west. That was an easier direction to handle the waves, and as we got closer and closer to land, the waves diminished to 2', then 1'. Before we knew it, we were on the flat-water ICW once again and very relieved. Barry's queasiness passed, I made us some much-needed lunch, and our spirits improved dramatically.
We were too tired from the tough conditions to attempt to get all the way to Bath or Belhaven that day, so ducked into a very quiet, secluded anchorage in Campbell Creek off the ICW and anchored at around 2:20 pm. So far, we are the only boat here. Barry noticed a tiny sandy beach to take Paisley along one shore (most of the shore is woods or marsh), so we put down the hook fairly close to that, and she knew exactly what to do, and quickly, when we took her there. She is wonderfully adaptable and accepting of our crazy adventures, I guess because we introduced her to boat life when she was only a young puppy.
Bird life here is plentiful. A large flock of red-winged blackbirds chatters noisily from the pine woods along the shore, and a belted kingfisher hunted for fish. The most exciting discovery was hearing an unusual call, and with the help of binoculars and our bird book, identifying an osprey along the shore -- this is a new bird for our life lists!
Planning tomorrow's route
Tomorrow we are planning to head to Belhaven, less than 4 hours north. Getting there early will give us plenty of time to sightsee and check out the fuel dock (we need to purchase some diesel before too long). We're disappointed not to get to Ocracoke on this trip, but there will be other opportunities with better weather, and in the meantime, we'll get to see some interesting waterfront towns we've never seen before.
Wednesday, October 7 -- Campbell Creek to Tooley's Creek (Belhaven, NC)
Logos at anchor in Campbell Creek
Barry and Paisley in the Little Boat
The winds really kicked up overnight and clocked to the southwest. Wind predictions today were for 15-25 knots. I didn't sleep well once
Logos started rocking as I was hearing the dinghy (tied up to
Logos' starboard side) banging against the hull, and I was worried about the stronger winds causing us to drag anchor, but of course we didn't.
It was another overcast morning, 65 degrees, and with the wind felt chillier than that. We took Paisley to shore in the dinghy for her morning business, and then we got about our own business of weighing anchor and getting going. One other, larger, sailboat was anchored near the creek's entry, and the captain standing on the bow didn't look like he was going anywhere in this weather. Maybe he knew something we didn't, but we soldiered on.
There were a few spritzes of rain off and on amidst the wind gusts. Oddly, when we checked the seven-day forecast prior to this trip, there was almost no rain or completely overcast days predicted, and now we couldn't seem to escape them. We were bundled up in many layers and had deep doubts about the predicted high of 80 with partly cloudy skies coming to fruition.
When we began crossing the Pamlico River, once again, it got choppy. At first the waves were in the 1-2 foot range, but over time built to 2-4 foot, and once again, it was very uncomfortable since the waves were very close together, resulting in
Logos rocking and rolling once again. We only saw one or two other boats for miles. We motored on as quickly as we could to reach the mouth of the Pungo River, which would provide some shelter from the west and southwest and should result in less menacing waves. It took awhile, but eventually the wave action diminished, but it was still very windy, with low-lying clouds and deep gloom. At least there were very few other boats' wakes to dodge.
Not a moment too soon, we saw the entrance to our planned anchorage in tiny Tooley's Creek. Once again, there was not another boat here. We carefully navigated the shallow creek and anchored in six feet of water. The protection to the west (which the winds have now clocked to, and will eventually shift to NW) is excellent, so although there is a nice breeze, it is not blustery nor choppy, thank goodness. As if on cue, right after we put the hook down, the clouds cleared, the sun came out, and it got significantly warmer -- 83 degrees as I write this. Wonderful!
We launched the dinghy and took Paisley to a small spit of beach near where we anchored to do her business, then attempted to dinghy around a huge breakwater to town, but it was just too rough as we had the wind at our nose, and making headway in such a small boat was slow and wet. We gave up and planned to try again in the morning in lighter winds from a more favorable direction. In the meantime, we took the dinghy around on the creek just to see if there was anywhere we might tie up and walk into town.
Just as we were about to give up, we saw a man on his dock motioning us to come over, so we motored over to him. "Welcome to Tooley's Creek!" was his friendly greeting. He invited us to tie up on his dock and said he'd be happy to take us to the grocery store, along with giving us the "20 minute tour" of Belhaven. His home, yard, and boat were very attractive and tidy, so we felt comfortable with this unexpected offer, despite the fact that we never like to put anyone out. He told us that we were the first boat to anchor in the creek for two years, which was quite surprising to us as the anchorage is mentioned in Claiborne Young's
Cruising Guide to North Carolina, which we assumed most who cruise through this area have.
We left Paisley in their garage with some water, and Bud drove Barry and me to the Food Lion. On the way, he took us by the beautiful historic homes of Belhaven and the little downtown, which unfortunately does not seem to be prospering in this economy; there were quite a few empty storefronts. We bought a few groceries and had a nice chat with Bud about our adventures as well as his days sailing in Virginia. We've often read about the generosity that complete strangers offer to cruisers, and now we were the lucky recipients. Bud and his wife Helen have a lovely home along the creek, and we were so grateful for their kindness.
Bud - a good buddy indeed!
Bud did tell us that the one marina in town that used to sell fuel only had it occasionally now, but he gave us a recommendation for another place not far upstream, that we could definitely get diesel. We are down to half a tank so plan to head there tomorrow morning and then on to Bath. It appears that the next couple of days should be sunny and nice all day long.
Enjoying late afternoon in Tooley's Creek
Thursday, October 8 -- Tooley's Creek to Bath
Finally, a beautiful, clear morning! Kinda chilly, though. Our outside thermometer registered 52 (inside the boat was 62), but it warmed up quickly. After taking Paisley to the little sandy beach nearby in the dinghy and eating breakfast, we got going quickly, as this was to be a long day. We had to go ten miles round trip to get diesel fuel, adding an extra 2 hours to our day, but it couldn't be helped. The seas were a bit choppy starting out, and a fresh north breeze made me worry that we would be in for another uncomfortable slog once we got to the Pamlico River, but it was nice weather for sailing, so after getting fuel, we actually raised the sails for the first time on this cruise and sailed for a bit.
But before I go too much further, I should recount our less-than-stellar experience at the fuel dock. We've never actually pulled alongside a fuel dock before as we normally bring fuel from home in our jerry-jug or, earlier this week, took the dinghy to a dock and brought back a jerry-jug full. Barry had a great approach to the dock, but once we handed the attendant our mid-ship line, things kind of went downhill from there, as the stern started blowing away from the dock, and the attendant was none too pleased at having to pull us back over. He gave us a bit of a hard time at first, and we apologetically admitted that it was our first time to a fuel dock; plus we really haven't had to bring
Logos alongside a long dock before, though we have finally mastered (for the most part) getting her into our slip with pilings and a short finger dock only.
Fortunately, Paisley saved the day. She heard us talking to the grumpy attendant and managed to climb up the companionway steps and into the cockpit, where I quickly clipped her into her tether. The attendant softened immediately when he saw her and from then on was much nicer to us, even giving us tips on how to do things better the next time. However, in Paisley's enthusiasm to greet him, she climbed out of the cockpit and fell overboard for the first time ever! Thank goodness for the tether...we were able to pull her back up lickety-split, before she even knew what hit her. Whew!
So, glad to have that over with, we did get to do some sailing, but the wind lessened to the point that before too long, we had to roll up the genny, crank up the motor, and motor sail in order to reach our destination of Bath, NC, which would be our longest day ever. When we turned from the Pungo River to head west on the Pamlico River, the wind was on our nose once again, so we dropped the main and motored the rest of the way in glassy waters. We had the wide river to ourselves! We only saw a couple of fishing boats and one ferry in hours. The sun was shining, and we were very relaxed, especially with Otto doing the driving.
Bath Creek
We arrived at Bath Creek at 4 pm. What an idyllic little place, with cute homes and docks dotting the shoreline, one small marina full of sailboats, and a wonderful (free!) state dock, where we got to practice docking for the second time in one day. Again, not a stellar performance, but we learned from it for the next time. One thing we learned is that we need to practice docking a lot more!
Logos at State Dock
Paisley and Emily
Once we got all the lines squared away, we went on a nice long walk around historic Bath. This is the oldest town in North Carolina, and is absolutely charming! Paisley thoroughly enjoyed the walk and exploring the soft grass in the park adjacent to the docks. We found a cute restaurant no more than a block away, Blackbeard's, and decided to take Paisley back to the boat, then go back for a pizza. We had a delicious meal there of pizza, draft beer, and complementary cannolis for dessert, which we took back to
Logos to eat. After such a long day, it would be great to stay here another day, but we need two days to get back to our marina without doing an incredibly long and tiring day, and Saturday night into Sunday looks rainy and cool, so we're currently planning to pull into our home dock on Saturday. It's hard to believe that this trip is almost over.
Blackbeard's had excellent pizza and very friendly service!
Friday, October 9 -- Bath to Campbell Creek
We awoke to a beautiful, clear morning after an excellent night of sleep. Since I was running seriously low on ground coffee and had forgotten to get more at the grocery store in Belhaven, we walked with Paisley up to the Bath General Store (really more of a convenience store), about 1/2 mile down the main road, where I bought a cup of coffee to take back to the boat.
Coffee Run!
After breakfast, we were greeted with a friendly hello from the couple on the only other sailboat on the state dock. They live in Washington (NC) and have owned their Pearson 33 for seventeen years. We talked about Bath, Washington, boats, Cape Lookout, and Ocracoke, where they have been many times. They offered some good information, and it was very enjoyable to speak with another sailing couple.
Leaving the dock was a breeze, as the south wind was blowing us off it. Wish it could always be this easy! Once out of Bath Creek, we raised the sails and had a rolicking sail down the Pamlico River. We don't have a wind meter on Logos, but the NOAA forecast today was for 10 to 15 knot winds in the morning increasing to 15 to 20 in the afternoon, and I believe it. We were really flying at times (up to 7 knots!), and got to do some fun "surfing" on waves. We really probably should have rolled in the genoa a bit to slow ourselves down, but Barry was having fun, so I grinned and beared it during the faster times. I am not crazy about too much heeling, so I prefer sailing in lighter air. Still, the temperature was great (low 80s!), it was sunny, and it was hard to feel grumpy under such conditions, and with so few other boats around -- we pretty much had a huge river to ourselves.
6.5 showing on the knotmeter - but we saw 7.0 a couple of times!
The wind was really blowing!
When we got to the ICW turn at Goose Creek, we fired up the engine and motored down to Campbell Creek, where we'd anchored earlier in this cruise. Once again we were the only boat anchoring down in the creek a ways (a couple others are anchored closer to the creek mouth), and the anchorage is quiet and idyllic. We took a long dinghy ride exploring the creek and were surprised to see so many sailboats at docks even quite a bit farther down into the creek than we were anchored. The warm breeze provided an excellent close to a lovely day - possibly the last day of autumn that will top 80 degrees and allow us to wear shorts. We're due for one more warm day tomorrow, then a front coming in bringing rain and much cooler temperatures for Sunday through the following week.
Saturday, October 10 -- Campbell Creek to Point Marina
What a beautiful morning! It was hard to believe it would be the last of this cruise. It was unusually warm, already 75 degrees as we ate breakfast in the cockpit; the last warm day before a cold front was to bring much cooler temperatures to NC. We knew that strong winds from the southwest were in the forecast, and of course we had to head southwest, but fortunately, not for long before we reached our home marina in Whortonsville. We only had about a four hour journey to get back safely into our slip.
Early on, we motored south down the ICW, protected from the worst of the winds by trees close by. As we passed the Hobucken commercial docks, a man on a slightly smaller sailboat hailed us on the VHF, asking where we were heading. When we told him Whortonsville, he said that he had just come from the Neuse River, and that the waves and wind were pretty bad and he could make no headway against them. We thanked him for his concern but were determined to at least check out the situation. We could always duck into a creek and drop the hook if needed, but we'd weathered some pretty bad wind and waves this week and thought we could probably handle them with our 23-horsepower diesel engine.
We were right. Conditions were actually better than a few of the days we'd already soldiered through, and the warm temperatures and sunshine made conditions, while not quite benign, tolerable. It was much windier than usual down Broad Creek, though, and docking proved challenging. After tying up
Logos' lines, we saw at least part of the reason -- we had hooked a crab pot from the channel by our slip on our wing keel! We were able to get it off and drop it back down outside the channel from our dinghy, later.
Emily getting an outboard lesson back "home" in Coffee Creek
We've been doing boat chores and cleaning ever since getting back into the slip and will pack up and leave tomorrow morning. Sigh. We just heard on the weather that today's high temperature of 89 in New Bern broke the previous record! Tomorrow's high is to be 70 degrees since the front came through. Back to fall, back to work, back to our day-to-day lives. What a wonderful trip it's been, though. We have learned so much and even though there were some definite low points, there have been many happy times, simple pleasures, and unexpected delights.
Last night, for instance, we took a sunset ride in the dinghy all over Campbell Creek. It was so peaceful, warm, with beautiful nature all around us and no one else in sight. Barry told me I looked radiant. I guess this cruising thing is really starting to get under my skin.
Several of the recent improvements Barry made to
Logos made this trip much better than it would have been otherwise. He added a shower sump pump so that we could take showers in our diminuitive head, which was nice for the cooler weather we had some evenings on this trip (and avoiding mosquitos in the cockpit). The washdown pump he added in the anchor locker provided a simple way to clean the ground tackle as we pulled up the hook in the morning. The autopilot I've already mentioned saved us steering fatigue. The dinghy kept us from feeling trapped on the boat, allowed us to take Paisley to shore several times on most days to do her business, and was a blast to tool around and explore on. And last but not least, his $8 homemade HDTV antenna strung up the mast in the evenings pulled in all the major networks on our little TV and kept me from falling hopelessly behind on my favorite shows! What more could we ask for?
