June 24, 2012 Great Bridge, VA

We left Oriental, N.C. on the 18th  and took the run on the intercoastal to Belhaven, N.C. where we anchored outside of the River Forest Marina. It was a hazy day with several sail boats heading north. As you can see hardly a ripple on the waterway. No wind to hoist the sail so motor, motor, motor we did on a 12 hour run to Coinjock, N.C.

 

Along the way we saw many fishing boats either headed out to sea or docked on the canals.  Below is a trawler at dock with its nets drifting in the water.

Below is a great looking fishing trawler with a bird head and ? mythical fish tail ? painted on the bow. Perhaps a good-luck emblem for smooth sailing and good catching!

We left our anchorage at Belhaven just as the summer solstice  sun was rising.

The morning sun glimmers on some of the trees and saw-grass which line the shores of the water-way.

Captain Gordon at the helm with the morning sun heralding another warm calm day.

We had company most of the way. Below we are approaching the Alligator River Bridge. In the center is the draw bridge which opens for the traffic on the river.

A light breeze on Albermarle Sound
 gave some true blue sailors an opportunity to hoist the sails and shut down the engine. Jabberwocky does not do well with light winds so we continued with the engine running, but a nice breeze cooling us off.

Company on the waterway. A barge passed us on its way to a work site.

The saw-grass and tall trees provide beautiful scenery and many places for the birds to light. There were many butterflies that flew around our mast as well as dragon flies of neon colors of blue indigo and bright orange. I tried to get some pictures but they were very shy and too quick for my camera! 

Below, we slowed down for a ferry on the Northlanding River.

Below, a day marker with an Osprey family, mom and dad with the chicks. We saw countless nests with chicks.

Just before we arrived at Great Bridge we had to pass through the Center Highway Draw Bridge. Below you can see one of the sail boats ahead of us passing through the bridge.

Below, is a picture of us approaching the bridge.

As we passed through the bridge I turned around and captured the bridge as it started to close.

We arrived at Great Bridge, V.A. around 2 in the afternoon. It was hot, hot, hot. Great Bridge is about 10 south of Norfolk, V.A. Our plan is to keep the boat at the Atlantic Yacht Basin while we visit with family and then sail the Chesapeake Bay area.

June 21, 2012 Coinjock, NC

We left Oriental, N.C on June 20th-the summer solstice, with the morning sunrise we made a 93.3 sm trip in 12 hours. The skies were hazy because of a uncontrolled burn in a nearby forest. However as we went through the Alligator-Pungo River Canal the skies cleared up. There was no wind and it was hot-hot-hot but the scenery was beautiful as usual. We caught up with two other north bound sail boats and followed them almost to Coinjock. A cold beer was greatly needed when we pulled into the Coinjock, Marina. Today we have 40 miles to Great Bridge, V.A. where I am looking forward to a soft ice cream at the DQ not far from the docks. We will update pictures when we get to Great Bridge. 

June 18, 2012 Oriental, NC

We left Beaufort, N.C. this morning after catching the 9 a.m. lift bridge out of the Town Creek Marina. See the lift bridge below. Always a very friendly bridge tender every time we have gone through this bridge. Always complementing the Captain and saying a kind word about what a nice sail boat we have!

We passed by these bright red fishing trawlers. It is always fun to see them at sea with their nets down trawling for fish. 

We passed by this freighter which was a docked not far from the Phosphate plant.

Below are the huge chuts that carry the phosphate from the storage tanks to the docked freighter.

Finally we are on the intercoastal waterway. Below is a day marker keeping us centered in the channel.

While in Adams Creek Canal we slowed down to let this fishing trawler pass under the bridge. You can see  the cranes that hold his nets are angled out so the boat can fit under the bridge suspension.

Below is a sad tale of a sail boat adrift on land, there must have been some storm that lifted the boat out of the water onto the bank.

It was not a long sail to Oriental, N.C. We arrived around 1:30 p.m. It is a pretty town, but many of the stores and restaurants were closed today ( Monday). However, we did find one restaurant open for dinner so our bellies are full of goodies again!

Below you can see Jabberwocky safely in one of the Docks at the Oriental Marina.

We are docked not far way of this large fishing trawler.

When we were walking around town today, we saw these signs which cautioned us regarding the wildlife nesting area for dragons.

See the dragon below. Almost all of the streets  have a dragon nesting area!



We just loved the colorful painted dragons!

Below was a large home on the waterfront which had a huge wrap-around porch and lovely gardens.

How about some beautiful flowers for your garden!



June17, 2012 Beaufort, NC

Hopefully we can sail out of Beaufort tomorrow morning and head to Oriental, N.C. on the intercoastal waterway a trip of about 30 miles. We have been here at Beaufort for a week, waiting for the north winds to decrease and clock around to the south. Over the past few days we have been walking around the historic district. Below, is my salute to Blackbeard.  The maritime museum is a great place to look at some of the "treasures" that have been pulled up from Blackbeard's boat, Queen Ann Revenge.

How about the whale skeleton hanging in the rafters of the maritime museum!  At one time Beaufort was a big whaling center with the whales a few miles off shore.

On our way back to our boat, we walked around the town docks close to some of the condo's.

Many of the houses in the historic district have these lovely picket fences.

Below is the top winning prize of a slightly less then 500 lb blue marlin that was captured in the Big Rock Fishing Tournament.



The winner of the tournament (picture from http://www.thebigrock.com/) for $440,000.  The boat next to us in the Town Creek Marina, Can Do Too from NJ won the Dolphin class so we had a lot of excitement on our dock.



Here are some of the boats that participated in the Big Rock tied up at the Beaufort Town Dock.  As you can see these folks are serious about their fishing.

 

How about a horse drawn carriage? Want to ride? Even the horses are into the pirate scene as you can see.

June 9, 2012 Georgetown & June 12 Beaufort, NC

Lots of fishing tournaments! While we were waiting for a weather window to sail from Georgetown , S. C. to Beaufort, N. C.we watched many happy fishermen bring in their prize catches. The fish for the day was dolphin. Below is  a sample of the fish we saw coming onto the Georgetown docks to be weighed in.

Below crowds hovered around the weigh in to see who got the prize catch!

Jabberwocky tied up to the almost empty docks as the fishermen had already headed off shore to test their luck for catching the prize winning dolphin! See the alligator warning sign in the foreground, thank goodness we didn't see any around the docks!

On Sunday, June 10th, we had a bumpy 26 hour sail from Georgetown to Beaufort. After catching up on our sleep we had a pleasant walk on the boardwalk along Beaufort city docks. See the empty docks! Another fishing tournament going on-this time off-shore of Beaufort-for blue marlin. That evening we heard that there was a 499.3 pound blue marlin caught off shore The fishermen were a hair off of the Division prize of $250,000 for a 500 lb marlin.They still have a chance to hit a big winner prize during the week long tournament with a total purse of over $1,000,000. This is serious fishing.

Below is a boat building museum with volunteers making these beautiful wooden boats. It is a pleasure watching the skills these volunteers have in cutting, bending and putting these lovely boats together piece by piece. 

A memorial to Captain Smith, born in Beaufort,  a NASA astronaut who piloted the ill-fated Challenger in 1986.

Always a pleasure to walk around the town of Beaufort along the streets of Ginger-Bread houses.

On Tuesday, the 12th,  spent the day browsing through the tourist shops, had lunch on the boardwalk, and picked up some fresh bakery goodies for breakfast.

Currently, we are staying in The Town Creek Marina. Below in front of our docks we watched  a day-sailing race . The kids seemed be be having a great time as they skirted around the sailing mark. 

Time to go aboard with bakery goodies in hand! It is always a challenge with small finger floating docks. Good thing those wooden steps are there for me to get up and onto the boat!



June 11, 2012 - Off Shore heading for Beufort, NC

We left Georgetown, SC yesterday morning around 7 AM and are currently about 30 miles SW of the Beaufort Inlet. We should be at dock around mid day. We got our new automatic pilot equipment installed and operational and are giving it the big test.

June 2 and 3rd, 2012 Charleston, SC

We spent Saturday, June 2nd, touring the naval museum on Patriot's Point across the harbor from us. Below is the water taxi which took us across the harbor.

The naval museum consists of the aircraft carrier, Yorktown 10, a destroyer and a submarine. We spent several hours touring the aircraft carrier. The carrier has a display of  the Medal of Honor recipients, airplanes, historical pictures of WWII, the Koren War, Vietnam, and the Iraq War.

Below is a recipe for 10,000 chocolate chip cookies, just in case you need it for an upcoming event!

The flight deck of the carrier. The carrier not only had adult tourists but scores and scores of boy scouts having a great time walking through all of the nooks and crannies of the carrier. 

Gordon Lee looks like he wants to fly.

Want to ride on this Tomcat?

Pilot briefing room.

Let's go up to the bridge.

View of flight deck from the captain's bridge.

The ship's knot meter just like on our boat!

This is a automated course plotting table that is driven by ships speed log and gyro compass. 

Container vessel coming into port to pickup a load.

How about this loggerhead turtle. He was poking up his head for a breadth of fresh air while we were riding the water taxi back to Charleston.

We finally got a weather window to head north to Beaufort, North Carolina. On Sunday, June 3rd we headed out of Charleston harbor.

Captain Gordon Lee, was holding a steady course as we headed back out to sea at 7::30 a.m.

Unfortunately, we didn't get to Beaufort, N.C. Around 3 in the afternoon our autopilot stopped working and  the wind and seas picked up . We were not looking forward to hand steering the boat in following seas for 24 hours.  Since we were fairly close to Georgetown, S.C. we changed course and headed west to Georgetown harbor. The entrance to the harbor was as wild as ever, but the tide was with us so we had a fairly quick ride up Winyah Bay to Georgetown. Below is a bright yellow freighter which was anchored about 10 miles out side of Charleston harbor.



It is a picturesque ride up the Winyah river to the entrance to Georgetown.  We tide up the the dock of Georgetown Landing around 8 pm. On Monday the 4th, Gordon did some diagnostics on the autopilot and determined we needed to get a new one  ( can't get replacement parts for the 20 year old computer) so we will be here for a few days while we wait for a new autopilot.