Underway Again...Finally!

After being stalled in Norfolk for four (long) days, we finally left again on our southern journey on Sunday morning. We spent our days in Norfolk exploring the city…didn’t take long…going to the grocery store, the movies and the mall. We saw Amelia (the story of Amelia Ehrhart) while there, which was very inspirational. But, I would have been fine if they had decided to change the ending…who cares about historical accuracy. We definitely ate well as there was plenty of time to cook. I have been trying to perfect peanut butter candy and we have been overdosing on sugar while taste testing. But, I think I finally have it down. We toured the USS Wisconsin, which was very cool. The evenings were occupied with a dominoes tournament with numerous made-up rules. So far KC is in the lead, but we are planning the grudge match tonight. I may just have to change the rules again.

There are two possible ICW routes out of Norfolk…the Virginia Cut and the Dismal Swamp cut (much prettier than the name would indicate). The former is more traveled and the latter is less so because it is shallow with a controlling depth of only 6 feet. Both were closed after the storm because of malfunctioning locks and fallen trees. The Dismal Swamp was the first to reopen, so we took it! We moved slowly through the shallow waters and bumped underwater logs at least 20 times. It felt a lot like African Queen, especially when the logs we hit sounded like torpedoes. I thought Lynn might have to pull a Humphrey Bogart and start dragging us through the water. We did hit an overhead low hanging tree with our mast and were showered with small limbs and leaves. We faired much better than one of the boats we saw on the way who were caught in the current while waiting for the lock bridge to open. They were swept into the trees which tore the mizzen mast right off. Our timing was perfect though and we made both locks just in time for their scheduled openings. After leaving the second lock we decided to anchor overnight in an unused barge channel tied up to the old, overgrown bulkhead. It turned out to be a perfectly peaceful setting. Along the way we joined up with another sailboat called Plan B and have been traveling with them ever since.

The next morning we left for Elizabeth City, which was only about 20 miles further south but we had heard so much about their hospitality to mariners that we wanted to see it for ourselves. Besides, they offer free dockage for 48 hours, hard to pass up. Before arriving we spotted a metal silhouette of a man across the canal from a few houses. It was riddled with bullets apparently from their target practice…a little disconcerting. KC figured it was much more effective than a plain old No Wake sign. “We’re not in Kansas anymore Toto.”

We were not disappointed when we reached our destination where we were greeted by Sam, who is in his eighties and has been the local dockhand for the last 7 years. He expertly helped us tie up and then told us about all that Elizabeth City has to offer…he even told me I had a beautiful name! That evening they had a party for all the boaters with wine and cheese and roses for the women. The greeters are called Rose Buddies and are carrying on the tradition of a local resident (think his name was Fred??) who for many years greeted the incoming boaters in this way and gave the ladies a rose from his garden. He died in 2007 in his nineties…I wish I could have met him. We have already met lots of other cruisers, including a group from Montreal with whom I was able to practice my French. I am definitely rusty, but managed to make them all laugh so I guess I wasn’t doing too badly. All in all we thoroughly enjoyed our stay there.

We were back underway this morning at 6:30 AM and have crossed the Albemarle sound without incident, albeit a little rocky and rolly, and are now traversing the Alligator canal, a 20-mile long, straight and narrow passage. At the end we will anchor in the Pungo River. It is a beautiful day. We are all smiling and feeling good. Right now Lynn is at the helm while I write this and KC is doing some exercises on the foredeck…I may have to get him to swab them next! That’s all for now, I think it may be nap time.

Hmmm…nap never happened as we anchored soon after in a lovely cove off the Pungo River. We then discovered our water pump was not working…so no hot shower either. But, Lynn and KC have managed to fix it just now so we can finally relax and enjoy the evening. It’s great having someone else to help out around here!

A Soggy Start

Off we go again…well, sort of. As our friends and family know, Lynn and I have been preparing for this second journey for the last few months…with the more intense provisioning and last minute work happening these past few weeks. We finally set off at 12:30 PM on Monday, November 9th. Unlike the last time when we left in the middle of a snow storm, the conditions in the Chesapeake Bay were ideal with flat calm water and relatively warm temperature. Although we could not sail (wind was too low and on the nose), motoring was very comfortable. We decided to continue overnight and get to Norfolk, which seemed prudent as there was a predicted Nor’easter for Tuesday night so we wanted to get safely tucked in before it arrived. More on that later…

Back to getting ready. Lynn spent last winter installing a new ceiling in the salon and galley. In his words…he outdid himself! It is absolutely beautiful with gleaming white panels and custom teak trim. We installed solar panels and a new autopilot, which operated perfectly throughout the first leg down the Bay. But most importantly, Lynn has a brand new ice maker that makes perfect little cubes to keep him in ice heaven. So, we are finally getting close to having the boat fully outfitted, at which point we will have to start replacing some of the things we started with…it really is never ending. But, we are definitely very happy with the condition of our vessel for this cruise.

The last month or so has also been filled with send offs by our friends and family. I was starting to worry that people were getting tired of saying goodbye! My work girlfriends treated me to a lovely dinner and some of my workmates took me out for lunch. We had dinner with several of our friends, including Joe, Carol, Chris and Lu from Havre de Grace, Butch and Rosemary, Peg and John and George and Delores from the dock. Lynn’s kids and grandkids came out for a brunch again and we had a great time eating and hanging out on the boat. I love to see Lynn with his family, it makes him so happy. Thank you to everyone for such nice farewells…

Now for the soggy part. While we knew that we would be affected by the remnants of hurricane Ida, the weather forecasts were predicting up to 30 knot winds and about one day of rain. Based on that information (or misinformation as it turns out), we decided to head down the bay and wait it out in Norfolk. Lynn’s nephew KC met us here (in Norfolk) on Tuesday night and will be traveling with us until he has to go back to work or gets tired of us, whichever happens first. It may be the latter since we have now been stuck on the boat for three days waiting out Ida. Had the weather predictions been more accurate, we would have definitely made different plans.

OK, the previous paragraph was written yesterday. At that point we decided to go for a walk in the rain to get some air and “blow the stink off” as Lynn would say. When we ventured out from the boat we discovered that the Norfolk flood gates were closed and the headlines read “Nor’easter Packs a Punch”. Yes, we are in fact in the middle of an historic storm that is wreaking havoc along the south east coast, causing record tidal flooding and beach erosion. We spent the afternoon on a blustery walk and roaming the mall. Later I did a little sewing project to make a seat for my tush at the helm and the boys did something else while giving me helpful hints.

Around 5 PM, KC took a peak outside and discovered that the floating docks were actually about to float right off the pilings! By about 6:30 PM they did…which needless to say caused us some stress. The storm was at its worst with heavy rain and winds gusting over 50 knots. Apparently the resultant tidal surge is equal to that of hurricane Isabel. After much consternation and discussion between Lynn and the dock hands (one of whom broke two fingers in the process), they tied the dock to some pilings and we made it through the night. As an aside, the people on the boats on either side of us poked their heads out of their cabins a few times but didn’t seem the least bit concerned that we all were about to float away en masse! Today we woke to more of the same, although the wind and rain has died down somewhat and we seem to be holding on to the dock. KC says we have been having a three day slumber party! We plan to make some peanut butter candy (a Hershfeld family tradition I just recently discovered) and maybe play some games. We are hoping that we will be able to recommence our travels by tomorrow.

I had wondered what I would have to write about this time around but it turns out that we started our trip in the middle of the storm of the decade! Definitely good fodder for story telling. But, all is well now and other than dealing with an annoying leak in the master cabin and feeling soggy and a little frustrated, we are doing just fine. I don’t think I would have said so last night, but I still love cruising…you never know what it will bring. Stay tuned for the next blog when I will hopefully have more to tell you about than being stuck in Norfolk!

Welcome to our Seafaring Tale

This is the blog of Lynn and Beth, who traveled from Baltimore MD to the Bahamas and back in our 50-foot Gulfstar, Coyote. We made the journey from December 2007 to April 2008 and attempted to record most of the adventure here. I hope you enjoy reading…for those who are particularly interested, you should start at the beginning of the saga by going to the archived blogs.

The journey ends...but the adventure is just beginning...

Well, hello again…is anyone out there? I can’t believe it’s been almost a year since I last wrote a blog about the grand Coyote Adventure. I suppose I have been unwilling to face that the journey came to an end, but I have decided it is just a new beginning to the adventure.

When I last left off we had stopped in Cumberland Is., Georgia. We spent a lovely few days wandering through the live oak and strolling on the immense beach along with the wild horses. We also saw naval ships accompany inland what appeared to be a foreign submarine. As planned, we departed at dusk to head north in the ocean…arriving in Beaufort SC late the following afternoon. We resumed our shifts at the helm and, as I recall, the trip was reasonably comfortable with fairly big rollers off the stern quarter. Unfortunately our autopilot continued to misbehave and we decided that we were not going to continue ocean cruising without it working.

Beaufort was great…we docked at the Beaufort City Marina and had a nice visit with David and Gini (our crew on the voyage to the Bahamas) and explored the town. We also hoisted Cindy in a Bosons chair to the top of our 65-foot mast to retrieve our radar reflector which had again cut itself loose…she is such a brave girl! We left a few days later and continued north, this time in the ICW. We stopped in Charleston SC, where we stayed just one night, but it was fun. We took the Marina shuttle into the center of town and wandered around and then had dinner in a fabulous little Italian restaurant of, you guessed, Lynn’s choosing. It really is a cool place where one could spend much more time exploring.

We had to pay very close attention to the depths while we traveled in the ICW as there were many areas with rather severe shoaling. I used Skipper Bob’s site on the Internet to get the latest information on shallow spots, which proved to be very useful in at least alerting us to be extra diligent in certain areas. Not sure how often we hit bottom, but Lynn had to power us off a number of times. I do remember one spot where we got stuck on the bottom three times on a single turn…but, we never needed assistance getting off again.

We stopped at several Marinas on the way because it is tricky finding good anchorages for a boat our size and timing stops between bridge openings and nightfall. One stands out where Lynn had to make a sharp turn and slide the boat in with only a few inches to spare below us and rocky outcrops on both sides of the very narrow entrance. We chose the spot because they had cheap gas, but somewhat regretted that decision when we realized how difficult it was going to be to get back out. As usual, Lynn handled the situation expertly and our worry was unfounded.

The other town that stands out for me was Oriental NC. We made an unplanned stop there when we arrived in the Neuse River and were greeted by very high winds and waves. When we realized how uncomfortable the trip north would be, we decided to turn east and stop over in Oriental for the night…which became three nights. But, it is a fabulous small fishing town where we had so much fun exploring, attending the dog parade and photographing the picturesque fishing boats. It is definitely a cruiser-friendly place. Sadly though, this was where Cindy decided to leave us and head back to Cleveland. Despite coming very close to begging her to stay, she was determined that this was the best time for her to reenter reality. Anyone who knows Cindy understands how futile trying to change her mind would be. I was amazed that we could spend a full month in such close quarters and really, honestly, not want her to leave. It was very sad and quiet for a little while without her happy giggles.

Lynn and I then completed the last leg of our journey as a twosome, which I feel was right. We did have a few more misadventures before arriving home, including a scary morning when we couldn’t raise our anchor in 40-knot wind as it kept overpowering the windless. We finally manage to lift the anchor and made the prudent decision to wait out the weather yet again in Coinjock NC. There we rested and did some laundry. We also met John, a person we will likely never forget…he was such a trip! We had just tied up when he came zooming in on his approximately 30-foot sailboat. He put our feelings of bravery in perspective as an 80-year-old who had just single handed the journey to the Bahamas and back! We had dinner with him that evening, and thoroughly enjoyed his tales of traveling through life. We all left the next morning heading for Norfolk VA, where Lynn and I planned to spend the night and John, I expect characteristically, was going to continue up the Chesapeake Bay.

The next morning, we started the last long trek up the Bay, anchoring near Deltaville and in Annapolis MD. Our final day was a cold, wavy one. We were very happy to finally arrive in Baltimore where most of Lynn’s kids and grand kids were waiting on the dock…such a perfect welcome home.

So, we have come full circle. The adventure proved to be everything we hoped it would be…and we can’t wait to do it all over again…who knows what will be in store for us next time. We learned so much on our shakedown cruise, but, there is still so much more to learn. We have spent the winter living in our condo. Yes, it does feel like a bit of a live-aboard cop out, but winter on a boat in the Bahamas is quite a different thing than winter on a boat in Baltimore! We (OK, mostly Lynn) are now working on improving and outfitting the boat for the next trip. We will be finishing the interior and adding additional power sources, like wind and solar power. Lynn’s wish is to install a watermaker and paint the deck, but we will need to see whether all of it can be accomplished within time and budget! I have been spending my time working and developing skills that I hope will translate into work I can do when not cruising. Our plan right now is to start south in early November and we’ll just see where it takes us…

Back in the U.S.A.

I think that might be a good title for a song…Hmmm, maybe Born in the U.S.A would be Better?! Anyway, yes, we are back on the US Coast, anchored off the Shore of Cumberland Island, which is on the border of Florida and Georgia. Our arrival here was definitely bittersweet…sadness about leaving the Bahamas, but happiness about being home again and seeing our loved ones. We felt the difference immediately upon reaching the home shore. Traffic and dirty water were the first impressions. We stayed a few days in Vero Beach to relax a bit and check back in with customs. Here we hung out with Carol and Bill on Interim (the fourth boat in the flotilla). They saw us off after hosting a yummy chocolate chip pancake breakie.

We have since been enjoying the trip north and continue to see interesting and sometimes beautiful places. Amidst anchoring and passing through lovely, serene marshland, we have stopped at several great towns. We first stopped unexpectedly at New Smyrna Beach. We had intended to anchor out that night, but we were concerned about crossing a particularly shallow spot at low tide. That and the high wind convinced us that we should seek shelter at the marina. This turned out to be a good choice when we discovered that it was St. Patty’s day and the town was celebrating. We started out at Maloney’s where, you guessed it, they were Irish! We sidled up to the bar, ordered a Guinness (Cindy and me that is…Lynn had a coke) and listened to the Irish duo playing folk (or were they drinking) songs. All the elements for a good time were there, including “Hurling” on TV and the boot of Guinness passed around the bar for the patrons to drink. I found out it is bad luck to put the boot down after I placed it down on the bar. We also partook of the awesome seafood chowder, made to order by Jim, the owner, in unique steam kettles (only 8 of their kind in the US). The fun was topped off by the band playing “Alice”…with the refrain “Alice, Alice, who the f*%& is Alice?” shouted loudly by everyone in the bar. We had a blast…it was one of those spontaneous perfect occasions that you could not repeat with a year of planning.

We left the next day and headed north to St. Augustine, Florida, which is the oldest city in the nation. They obviously have a lot of history, including the fact that Martin Luther King organized one of his first peaceful demonstrations there. Although it has become rather touristy, there is still great old charm. We even saw an anti-war demonstration, so not much has changed I guess. It was discovered by Ponce de Leon, so there is a strong Spanish influence. We all really liked it and even had fun viewing the city in the cheesy red tour train. We spent a little time carefully picking out a cowboy hat for me in a cute store in the walking district. We finished the day sipping sangria on a balcony overlooking the busy main street…another gastronomic success!

We departed the next day and picked our way north to Georgia. We are waiting out the day with a plan to leave late afternoon to traverse in the ocean to Beaufort SC to stop off for a short visit with David and Gini. It appears that the stars have aligned. The wind and sea predictions are good, it’s a full moon so we will have lots of light, and the tides are favorable. We will leave around 5 PM and should get to Beaufort by around noon tomorrow. Although it means another nighttime cruise, we will happily avoid the ICW shallows in Georgia. So, next stop South Carolina!

Homeward Bound

The return trip from the Bahamas was very successful and full of fun and laughs. We stayed in Green Turtle Cay for five days, where we luckily met Chris and Deke aboard their 37-ft Catalina sailboat, aptly named Chris Deke. Not only were they a great couple to hang out with, they were also experienced and proved to be a big help in planning the crossing. Each morning we would listen to the weather forecast by Chris Parker on channel 4045 of our single sideband radio. Then we would gather to confer on the situation and reevaluate our plan, which changed regularly. Remember, patience and flexibility are the most important elements for safe cruising. While we waited we continued to explore and spotted a few more rays during our travels. Cindy gave me another blog-worthy quote when she declared “You don’t really know how strange you are until you are around normal people!”

We finally left for Allens-Pensacola Cay, which was to be the first stop on our return itinerary. It was a beautiful day and we sailed all the way there. I was so pleased that we had great conditions so that Cindy could experience sailing in the Bahamas. We arrived late afternoon with enough time to meet some of our anchorage neighbors (Mike and Linda on Yemanja) and explore the windward beach. There was a great path through the brush to the other side of the island where we discovered a “signing tree”. It was a big tree on which passers by left an amazing variety of mementos, like boat bumpers, driftwood and even rope swings. Of course Cindy and I had to take a turn on the swing and nearly toppled off the back. On the way back to the boat we caught a glimpse of several sea turtles, and I mean a glimpse as they move incredibly quickly in the water. The evening was topped off by one of the most spectacular sunsets I have ever seen; it appeared as though the sun actually melted into the horizon. A perfect time for blowing the traditional conch horn! Not that we really need a reason to do that.

The following morning we left for Great Sale Cay, which was to be our last stop before starting the crossing. Our plan was to leave at dusk, travel across the Little Bahama Bank throughout the night, arrive at the edge just before dawn and finally cross the gulf stream during the daylight hours. This proved to work out perfectly, except we opted to wait one extra day for better conditions based on the advice of Deke and other boaters waiting to cross. In the meantime we spent the days preparing the boat (I am pleased to say I learned a few things after the first crossing and there was a lot less crashing of stuff below decks). Cindy and I played a trivia game and laughed hysterically at very little. She was going to dismiss us as being trivia losers and consoling ourselves by remembering that the definition of trivia is “unimportant things”. However, I insisted on tallying our points and found out, to our delight, that we are actually card-carrying trivia geniuses!

Our second day at Great Sale was much more entertaining as we observed several boating dramas unfold. The first started in the morning when the wind picked up significantly around 5 AM. All three of us awoke when the sound of the wind and the feel of the water abruptly changed. We were in the cockpit checking that our anchor wasn’t dragging when I noticed that a boat that was anchored well off shore when we went to bed was now much closer. They were definitely dragging. We started hailing them on the radio but were unfortunately not able to rouse any of the occupants. Sadly, they did not wake up until they reached the shore. The other event unfolded over the SSB radio. I was listening to the morning weather report as usual when a boat called in distress. Fast Annie said they were broken down on the Little Bahama Bank and unable to reach Tow Boat US. I happened to be the only transmission they could receive, so started to relay messages for them. Between the two events, I spent most of the day on the radio calling for assistance and transmitting messages. You can imagine that my companions found this pretty amusing and teased me mercilessly. However, I was apparently in my element. I think I have found a new calling. We were all relieved when both boats finally got the help they needed prior to us starting for home. It was an eye opener though; don’t expect help to get there fast in the Bahamas!

Our crossing went like clockwork. All our planning paid off and we enjoyed a relatively calm voyage. The three of us worked a 2-hour shift rotation from helm, to rest, to sleep. While awake we chatted and even resorted to a game of 20 questions over the radio with the other boats in our flotilla (four boats total). We must have been pretty tired because it took us more than 20 questions to come up with the word “star”. We finally arrived in Fort Pierce Inlet at about 2:30 PM where we entered the ICW and continued to travel north to Vero Beach. We were safely on a mooring at about 4 PM. All in all it was a perfect passage. We later learned that the days before and after were not pleasant so were pleased with our decisions. The only sadness was that we parted ways with Chris Deke. We thoroughly enjoyed their company and very much appreciated their insights. I find that although cruising acquaintances are sometimes short, they are more intense as you are often dealing with critical situations, so it is hard when you have to say good bye too soon.. We feel that way about many of the wonderful people we met while in the Bahamas and we hope that we will be lucky enough to see some of them again…

Back Home

Lynn, Cindy and I arrived in Fort Pierce, Florida on Friday afternoon, March 14th. We had an uneventful crossing of the gulf stream, which made us very happy. We had reports from other criusers that the days before and after were not good, so we got lucky! Anyway, there's much more to report, but we are busy wathching Pirates of the Caribbean and baking chocolate chip cookies. We just wanted everyone to know we are safe and sound. I'll post again soon!!