Traveling to The Chesapeake

On Saturday, May 2 we motored the boat back down the Neuse River to our home port of Blackbeard Sailing Club.  That evening we had dinner with friends and The Floyd's generously shared a bottle of champagne and sparkling cider for the boys as a Bon Voyage for us and the The Johnson's, our traveling buddies.

Sunday morning dawned beautiful as we did last minute preparations before leaving.

Brian had a last cup of coffee with Buddies Terry and Charlie.

For breakfast, Charlie and I shared pancake duty for everyone in the clubhouse.

The day before, Brian decided to change out the aft head from electric to composting.

Several friends came down to send us off.

We met up with the Johnson's as they came our of Northwest Creek.

The first day we went down the Neuse, past Oriental and into Broad Creek.  As the boys were dropping the anchor, a few dolphins were splashing and playing nearby.  The next morning, Nathan got this great shot of the sunrise.

That days travel (Monday)  took us to Dowry Creek, near the town of Bel Haven.

We ended up staying here two days because the next morning, Andy and Sally realized they were having bilge trouble. Brian and Andy got the problem diagnosed and fixed by that afternoon. Later, the four adults checked out the marina's courtesy car and drove the 6 miles to check out Bel Haven.  The car was a Durango that was on it's last legs. Windows would not roll down, ac would not work.  It was like driving in a sauna. The boys stayed at the marina playing tennis.

The next morning Brian, Jacob, and Caleb worked at pulling up the anchor.

Sometimes it comes up clean. But on this day, parts were pretty gross with bottom sludge. So they had to use a bucket and pour water to wash off as much as they could while starting and stopping the windlass, bringing up the chain and anchor.



Wednesday morning we left to head to the Alligator River Marina. Andy and Sally stayed there, while we went up just a bit and anchored among a sea of crab pots. We always have to have a look out so as not to hit one. It can get pretty dicey dodging them.

Thursday morning we moved on towards Coinjock, NC. We left Andy and Sally at the Coinjock marina and thought we could anchor nearby.  TWO hours later, we finally found deep enough water to "drop the hook".

The next morning, (Friday) I was sitting in the cockpit having coffee and watching the sunrise, when Brian say to me," K you need to move, I have to take care of something."  That something turned out to be this.

He used the boat hook and put it back into the water. But our hitchhiker wanted a free ride, a bit later the boys saw it trying to climb back onboard from the sugar scoop! Brian bopped it on the head and it went back into the water. I'm told it was a lethal bop.


Gay and Olwen, friends back in New Bern sent the picture to a NC Wildlife expert who identified it as a NC brown banded water snake, completely harmless.  Still, I now check for visitors each morning before sitting down.

On Friday, we finally made it to the Chesapeake!

We got to go through our first lock near Big Bridge. A lock is sort of like a boat elevator. You pull in and tie off to a wall. Then the gates shut in front and behind, and they lower or raise the water level.  Here, we went up about two feet.

 Motoring along the ICW through the Naval Shipyard was amazing. The size of the ships, the security guarding them both on and off the water, barges, tugs...  Nathan got several great photos.

We wanted to anchor in Willoby Bay, but decided to come back  and anchor in a great spot in the Elizabeth River.  One one side is Norfolk and on the other is Portsmouth. Either one is just a dinghy ride away.

Saturday morning we rode over to Norfolk and parked the dinghy's near the Battleship Wisconsin. We spent some time going through the Hampton Roads Naval Museum located in the Nauticus building.  Then we had lunch at Schlotzky's and following our map, found the Mac Author Memorial Museum.

After the museums, it was back to the boats.

Yesterday, Sunday, we dinghied over to the ferry dock and then walked a couple miles to Food Lion and bought groceries. Dividing everything up among our 6 back packs, we toted it back to the boat.  That afternoon, Andy and Sally moved their boat to the nearby marina. We went over to visit and walked with them around Olde Town Portsmouth.



Back at their boat, I started to not feel well.  Sally was a sweetheart and gave me some crackers, juice, and ginger candy.  We decided to take another day before leaving, so I could get extra rest and the weather called for mostly rain.


Today, Monday, we moved the boat over to the Ferry docks, where it is free to tie up for 36 hours. Brian walked to the library to take care of some business, while the boys and I stayed on the boat to do some school.  After lunch the boys and I took our turn at the library, so I could get this mile long post written and keep the blog caught up.


If you have read this all the way through, Thank You!  Hope you enjoyed it.


More to come as we continue on our journey.