Cheesypig Bay, 8-18 June

I will do a brief write up on this stretch as time is tight and we have been making brisk(as far as weather permits) progress to move on to our respective destination...
26 June, I have added some photos

Baldhead Island -> Kiptopeke - 8-10 June - 312NM

We left Baldhead Island, after ensuring that Colin wasn't going to make our lives miserable... We left the Marina on a slack tide - as opposed to when the tides were rushing in the Cape fear river making for an interesting entry..  We had to go out approx 12 miles, just to round Cape Fear, the second most confused bit of sea I have been in.  The winds were about 5-10 kts from behind and once we rounded the cape, they picked up to close on 30, fortunately that didn't last too long and we were soon able to proceed with the rest of the trip being uneventful, till we rounded rounded Cape Hataras, going into the Bay.  This without a doubt is the most confused bit of sea I have been in, even with 5kts of wind the waves about 1m in hight are just leisurely bouncing into themselves, in no particular pattern - one can only imagine what it must be like when they get motivated....  Fortunately we didnt't experience them in an excited state, we were well past that point. actually the following day, when when a cold front that was forecast to only be with us at 2000, missed the memo and surprised us... FOrtunately it was a weak front, blowing straight down the bay, which made the ride rather uncomfortable, with waves about 1-2m just crashing into the boat...  This made for rather slow progress...  We finally made it to Norfolk, more specifically the entry to the Bay at about 1900 and anchored on the NE point.  The sunset was again quite spectacular...

Sunset on the 8 June 2016

Sunset on 9 June 2016

Kiptopeke- > Sandy PT, 11 June, 42 NM

We set off early with a forecast of an easterly which was nice for us, as we were heading NNW..  That lasted for about 2hrs, and then it dies, which meant we were motoring up river with 0.5-1.5kts of current against us....  We eventually made it up to Sandy Point, where we anchored for the night, prepared for a 30-40kts of winds and a thunderstorm..  Fortunately for us we had neither, the active weather seems to have missed us..

Sunset

Sunrise

Sandy Pt -> Soloman Island 12 June, 48NM

We left anchorage and were aiming to make some good time as some more active weather was predicted for the next two days.... No sooner we were into the main bay, the wind picked up to a healthy 15-20kts, from our Port aft quarter, which was really nice... We were making quite good progress 6-7kts and the trawlers were just about to overtake us, when we altered out course to N.  This meant we were on a beam reach, which meant we were doing 8-9 over ground, which was really nice and before long, the trawlers were just a spec in the horizon...  As we were approaching Soloman Island, on the Patuxent River, we dropped our sails  and the wind picked up, to 20-26, down the river, exactly on the nose... DOH!!! We got into dock and secured the boats for the night... We were fortunate in that we missed the bad winds, we stayed another day as the winds were still blowing 15-20, from the North, exactly the direction we were going in , so we stayed another day...

Aksun shot (I did actually do some sailing ;-)

At dock in Soloman Island

Rum flavoured rum at the Tikki bar (two o these bad boyz and one is ready for bed :*))

Had Crabe cake burker and this was the view

Soloman Island -> Annapolis, 14 June, 52NM

We left Soloman Island with a forecast of 5-10kts of wind from the NE.  We were heading North, so we weren't to bothered by that... As per the forecast weather in that part - the wind was between 15-20 and was whipping up short S%$^ty chop, we had no choice bu hug the shore and make slooooo progress on to Annapolis..  We got to Annapolis at 1800, and snugged the boats, did a quick shop and called it a night... The following day Nordic Belle was having some electronics issues sorted, I was cleaning the boat. That afternoon met up with Brian (friends of Stephanie and Brian) and he kindly took us into town and then showed me some of the watering holes in Annapolis...  The town looked quite nice, definitely worth a visit to explore a bit more...

At dock in Annapolis

Annapolis -> Worton Creek, 16 June, 27NM

We left at noon and decided to make it a short day as there was a nasty bit of weather on it's way..  The wind started at about 5 and was slowly creeping up and there were about 3 notice to mariners warning of sever thunderstorms.  We managed to tuck into Worton(expecting to find a who and some doctor Zeus character in the hood) creek and we were watching the storm all around..  Fortunately for us it missed us, all we got was round 2100 a bit of a lightning show as we were well shielded from the NE, which is where the storm was coming from.

Anchorage at Worton Creek, there was quite a major stor passing to the east of us..

Worton Creek -> Georgetown, 17 June, 20NM

I got up early as usual and decided to check my bilges (they had been dry for over a month), there was water in the bilges... Which wasn't good, I re-tightened all the keel bolts and kept an eye on the situation.  I got to Georgetown, tied up and things looked good.. I then made reservations in NY Liberty Landing Marina for Tuesday and Wed this coming week.  I re-checked, there was more water than I was expecting, I dried the bilges and monitored the situation.. I am taking on about 0.5l of water an hour and it's from the keel/hull joint, which I was warned could last 5years or not...

I have decided to continue, as I have about 400 NM to go and then I put her on the hard.

I have also decided to put her up for sale, as I am going back to Toronto and back to grown-up land...  After an awesome year and a half of meeting wonderful people and visiting wonderful places and experiencing things that will stay with me till my dying days.. I have to say has been humbling and made me appreciate how fortunate I have been.

So the next few days the itinerary will be through the CnD Canal, anchor, down the Delaware and up the Atlantic to NY. Stay there for two nights, and on to Rhode Island, through the Big Apple, long Island Sound and to Rhode Island, which should take me till Friday..  I will update the blog with Photos and the routes I have sailed the..

 Our view as we were having dinner (Torstein, Mishelle and I)

Daffy and Co..

Baldhead Island

4-5 June

Charleston -> Baldhead Island - 126NM

We left Charleston at high tide and headed off to Baldhead island.. The wind was generally from the south, so we managed to sail, but we had to slow down as  we didn't want to arrive before sunrise... At 80NM from Baldhead Island, I managed to call the Marina (on my VHF, previous record was 50 NM) to get our dock numbers, just in case we couldn't slow down and would arrive in the dark... The sea was pretty calm, but was forecast to get a bit rambunctious later on Sunday..

I decided to drop my sail at midnight as the thing was flapping... The rest of the night was pretty calm, and as we approached the Cape fear river, the sea was living up to the forecast, the wind was constantly over 20 with whitecaps all around.  Nordic Belle went in first and from a distance I saw her spin around a couple of times, as I was approaching, I got a call on the wireless, Nordic Belle was warning me of the entrance....  I was on my approach and I called the marina for help docking - I was advised to stand off so I broke off my approach..  I then decided to try again, and true to the advice given, I had to ferry glide into the entrance, with the engine at 2300 rpm (doing 6.5kts) - some plonker on hearing I was coming in (and the Marina warning of a small boat potentially leaving), decided to try and leave - wasn't going to happen, I was pretty much blocking the entrance to the marina, up till about 1/2 way in...

We docked, snugged the boats and checked the forecast... It wasn't looking good and it looked as though we would be here till Friday..  Fortunately the weather has been more benign than forecast (which is NICE), so I spent the greater part of yesterday preparing the updates to the blog, keeping an eye on the weather and later in the afternoon, I went for a 40min jog around the Island..

View from Fuel Dock

We are close to a spring tide, with a bit of the storm surge and it's quite nice to the dock almost higher than the land..

High tide

Low tide

From 2am today, the forecast was TS Colin to give us some wind... Fortunately, it seems as though it has passed us - we went for a trip to the north end of the island to look at the seas and other than at cape fear itself, it looked ok...

The plan for tomorrow, is to leave at 0700, on the slack tide and head up to Ceesecake Bay..

Charleston

 Tuesday, 30 May - 2 June

Port Canaveral to Charleston - 285NM

I was planning to leave on Monday, but Tropical Storm Bonnie, had other plans, so I delayed my departure.  On Monday night I had a few drinks Keith and his cousin, they were waiting on their boats documentation to head back to Grenada...

With bed made for the trip - I sleep in the main cabin as I can hear any alarms and can get up quickly..

I set off on 31 May, at 1020 with the undocking being a lot smoother than I was expecting. The forecast called for 10-15kts of winds from generally the South.. I had a send off from a couple of seadogs as I was leaving port Canaveral area. I then headed east to get on the Gulfstream, which would add 2-3kts to ground speed, which would be great.. The winds were pretty much as forecast with a really calm sea, which made for *REALLY* nice sailing.. That night I had steak and grilled  chicken for dinner.

Steak and chikin Braai.

 Once again, I was treated to an awesome sunset..

In the distance to the south and west, I could see the lightning, and fortunately for me the rest of the night went pretty well with sleeping 50 minutes and waking for 10 from 2200 till 0500, the following morning and I was rewarded to another nice sunrise..

 Later in the day, the wind died down and the the sea became even calmer - it really looked like the med, so I had to resort to using the slave again.. If you have wondered what it't like - here are some shots of looking around the boat..

Looking East

Looking Northwest

Looking West

 Note new flag..

Looking South

You can see how calm the ocean was - by how far back once can see the wake of the boat.. That night was also quite pleasant and uneventful. Later it got even calmer..

 You can see ripples from the tiny flying fyse..  With yet another stunning sunset...

I decided to leave the Gulf stream a bit early as it would cut down on the distance... It wouldn't have been a bad idea had I known that instead of having 2-3kts of current with me, I was going to have 0.5-1.5 kts current against me!  So my estimated time of arrival went from 0900 - to 1500 DOH!!!!!

As the sun was getting out of bed I managed to snap these pictures...

 Almost there..

Another nice sunrise.

The ever present seadogs, coming to check up that everything is ok..

On top of having the current the boat wasn't going as well as I was used to.. I was convinced I was dragging something..  Then I noticed something sticking out the transom... So I stopped the boat, tied myself to the boat and went for a dive... The bottom of the boat looked pretty grim - hence my lack of performance (after all it had been close to 2 months since I last had the hull cleaned). I also saw a long shark-like fyshe - I guess it was a ramora or pilot fyhse, he was hiding close to the keel.. I climbed back on the boat set off with my hitchhiker...

Sneaky hitchhiker

 As soon as I entered the tidal water my hitchhiker jumped ship and was gone, so back to talking to myself ;-), missed the little guy he had quite some tales to tell .

Charleston Ahoy!

One good thing to come out of the later than expected arrival was that I was coming in as the tide was flooding, which at some points meant 3.5kts of current...  After docking went to the Marina office to pay and plan the next days... On the todo list was to explore the boats in the background...

I met up with Torstein and Michelle from Nordic Belle and we went out for dinner, planned the next leg of the trip and  off to bed... Was wiered having uninterrupted sleep.. So the next day, armed with my camera I went exploring the boats...

3 June

First stop was the 2nd world war destroyer, Laffey (first ship to be named after an enlisted man, shudder).. This old lady survived a hit from 5 Kamikazees and another 22 that were trying to transform her into a sub, she wasn't having any of it...

Odd looking stearing wheel..

Next was the Yorkton - a 2nd world war Aircraft carrier - despite it's age she is one *BIG* old lady... In the hanger below, they had all the AC types that operated from her, quite impressive. She saw action from 2nd World war to Korea and last use was for the apollo space project to recover the crew..

 Enlisted men's bunks..

 The briefing room for the pilots

 The deck, looking back

 From the stern, looking across the bay

 The deck was littered with cool toys..

 Looking from the Captain's seat on the bridge

  

Then, I was called away as I had requested that Wobblyolly get sxfoliated (she had picked up lot's o critters and I was loosing 1kt of speed) Then I went back and had a look at the 2nd world war sub... She was finished at the end of 2nd world war, so didn't get to see any action there..

Best the Canadian MOD not see this, or they will probably buy this too and with a bit o spit and polish a minor re-fit, will put her into service, with out other 4 subs ;-) - we'll have a fleet to fend off those invaders after the maple syrup and polar bear.s..

 The forward section hosed a torpedo bay,, with crew berths 18 people occupied this section..

 The Captain's cabin - no luxury spared..

 The officer's mess and hangout room, with the enlisted men's one below

 The engines of the sub..

 In all her glory (a bit of paint and a clean up and she will be good to go_...

After a great sightseeing day we went to a party and prepared to depart the following day to Bald Eagle head, near Cape fear and wait out some Tropical strom - these things are quite the nuisance! 

View from the docks on the departure day