Where in the hell is Coinjock?

I must confess, I do not know the answer to this question.  Last night it was FREEZING and, once Rob finally turned on the Wallas stove/heater, I didn't want to get out of bed.  All I can tell you is we left Elizabeth City around 8am and the next thing I knew, we had anchored and rafted for a little morning "brunch".  David ("Alma's Only") loves to cook, and the limited galley and storage apparently only provides a challenge to him.  Here is a picture of the "spread" I woke up to:

Then we motored for another hour or so, following our fearless leader Steve ("Osprey"), but I only raised my head from the pillow to catch a few pictures.  The next thing I knew, we were in Coinjock.  What is in Coinjock?  Well, my brother-in-law looked it up on Google Maps and wrote to tell us that "there is no there there"... I do see a few homes.  There is a nice marina here with some awesome boats and an amazingly great restaurant.  We passed a house where the grandmother had sewn the wings for the Wright Brothers.

 After my several naps today, I was ready for a great meal, with our new friends.  Its our last night of the official cruise.  They are talking about a James River Cruise-out in July and if we are in the area, we definitely want to participate.  We are having so much fun.  C-Brats are the best (and they feed you well too!) 

North Carolina Loop Dismal Swamp to Elizabeth City

This morning on the dismal swamp looked to be clear and crisp.  Dave, who apparently loves to cook, surprised us by making breakfast for the 7 of us.  Then we took a walk, across the pedestrian bridge, and over a boardwalk "loop" to see the swamp.  It is sure hard to imagine working in that swamp to hand dig a canal!  I heard lots of wildlife but, sadly, the only sighting was of a bunny and a little green "garden" snake.  I guess alligators aren't a big problem here!  There are supposed to be bears and wildcats... glad I didn't see them!

While underway, though, we did see a large water snake, lots of turtles and, we think, a beaver (could have been a muskrat).

Movin' on up... as we go south

Almost immediately after the visitors center is the second lock which we handled like pros.  It was still a thrill even if we didn't grin from ear to ear, thinking..." look at us, we're negotiating through a lock!"  I wonder if this will get "old" or if it will always be a bit nervewracking and exciting.

We stopped midway in a side creek and rafted up to enjoy a leisurely lunch.  Rob went out with Bruce ("River Horse") in his dinghy to take pictures, then Bruce decided to explore the cut while the rest of us napped and read... it was so peaceful and the day stayed slightly cool but very sunny.  It was a lovely run.

Anchoring out for lunch and a nap

Our stop at the end of the day was Lamb's Marina in Elizabeth City.  This marina is out of town but had a courtesy car and gas (which the marina in town doesn't).  And we didn't get berths in town because this weekend is the very famous "Potato Festival" which is a big deal here.  We saw potato fixed many different ways, along with all the usual festival fare.  Not good for my low carb diet!  There was even a potato peeling contest earlier today, and once again, we ran into a corn hole tournament.  I guess we've been missing out on a tradition in the Carolinas as this is our second sighting of corn hole tournaments?

We had dinner at a nice little restaurant which was excellent and avoided the food booths.  I still, however, could not resist the french fries.  It was the principle of the thing!

Elizabeth City has many lovely old homes, some run down, some that are being beautifully maintained.  It is the main city in these parts and has the federal and county court houses, and old churches established in the early 1700's.  It is known for its hospitality to boaters... particularly the "Rose Buddies", volunteers who meet and greet boaters visiting the area.  Overall we weren't that impressed with either Elizabeth City or Lamb's Marina... but we loved the Dismal Swamp.

Gorgeousness in Elizabeth City

Gingerbread House

Elizabeth City Potato Festival.. Music!

Dismal Swamp

Elizabeth City, NC

C-Brats Gathering.. North Carolina Loop, Day 1

We launched at the Portsmouth City Marina, which is a lovely city park with free launch ramp.  We're told you can leave your car and trailer here for several days but we were fortunate in that we were invited to dock at the home of a fellow C-Brat who lives on a creek off the Elizabeth River, here in Portsmouth VA  What a setup he has!  A slice of heaven for a person who loves boating (he's retired Coast Guard engineer... and boy does he have stories!).  He also has 9 boats of his own counting the kayaks and a 50 ft dock, large enough to accommodate several visiting C-Dories.

We enjoyed two days at his dock, provisioned at the local Harris Teeter, and a special pre-cruise dinner at their home.  Several local C-Brats were unable to schedule the cruise, but they came to the dinner to share stories and fun.  Also in attendence were owners of a Cutwater 28 (which is an object of our lustful wishful thinking) and a 28 1/2 ft home made "C-Dory-ish" boat which was aptly named River Horse (see early post about that book).

That evening and the next morning we had torrential rains.  If the dewpoint gets just right, moisture will condensate in our boat and it actually started to "rain" in our v-berth this morning.  So everything feels wet and we'll be utilizing the clothesline as we cruise (we look a bit like derelects when we do, but, ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

We left his dock about 11:30 and arrived at the Dismal Swamp Locks for the 1:30 opening.  We were a bit nervous as this is our first locks.  We've read about how to do it, watched You Tube video "how to's" and it was a piece of cake.  The dockmaster reached down with a boat hook asking us to loop our line around it... then he looped our line around a post and gave the end back to us.  We held it tight until all the boats were in the lock.. and then he raised us up to the canal level.

In our lock with us is a Roseborough 246; one of the C-Dory-ish boats which we considered.  It was fun to really check one out as we cruised alongside.  Our entourage of C-Brats consists of 1-25ft, 2-22 ft, and our 23ft Venture and the home-made 28 1/2ft River Horse.

The Dismal Swamp was surveyed in 1728 by Colonel William Byrd II who pronounced it 'dismal".  Much of the land was owned by George Washington, who, along with Patrick Henry, encouraged other investors to create the Dismal Swamp Canal Company.  The goal was to create a "spiderweb" of canals to float timber out of the swampy area and into Virginia.  The main Dismal Canal is about 22 miles long, and was dug, BY SHOVEL, by slaves over the course of 12 years.  The slaves came to know the swamp well and it became a haven for runaways.  It is featured in the novel "Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp" by Harriet Beecher Stowe.  Edgar Allen Poe is said to have written the Raven here.  And the play/movie "Showboat" is a story about one of many showboats that sailed this canal.

Freedom at Steve's dock, I mean, Steve's Marina

At the bottom of the lock

The Dockmaster gives instructions and a brief history of the Dismal Swamp

Rising to the top of the lock

C-Brats on the Dismal Swamp

River Horse, a 28.5 ft home made C-Dory like boat

As we approached the Dismal Swamp Visitor's center, the dock was full, with several trawlers and larger sailboats.  Capt'n Steve used his most authoritative Coast Guard voice to request that they move apart to allow our little pod of Brats to raft in between them.  Then it was "happy hour"

Dismal Swamp

Do's and Don'ts

To do or not to do.... sorry I couldn't resist.  This blog entry is going to be tidbits of wisdom of "stuff" we've learned... actually most is common sense and this blog is more of a "true confessions" entry.  If we have future mishaps, we'll be sure to post them here.  Hopefully these are lessons we've learned now and won't repeat!

It's been a few days since I've posted because we've been mostly just on the road.  We rented a car in Beaufort NC (pronounced "BOWFURT") to drive to Charleston to retrieve our car and trailer.  It should have been about a 5 1/2 hour drive however, we had a glitch.  In the interest of "full disclosure", Rob wanted me to tell you not to put your car keys (and in our case the storage unit keys) in some "safe, out of the way place".  Yes, he forgot them until after we had already driven about 3/4 of the way to Charleston.  So, we actually have seen the area between Beaufort and Charleston now 5 times, once by water, and 4 times (well 3 1/2 times) by car.  Seeing Myrtle Beach by car was more interesting than by ICW and I wish we had time to stop.  Our boating neighbors called it a bit "Las Vegasy" for them, but it looked like fun to me... lots of shows, restaurants, shops and family attractions.  We won't miss it next time we are here.

So:

#1 Don't leave your keys behind!

#2 Make sure you pull your boat fenders all the way in while you are underway.  Normally we do, and we can't remember not doing this, but, somewhere along the way we lost a fender.

#3, If Internet Wifi and/or a pool is important to you, don't believe the website for the marina... call ahead to make sure the pool is open and the wifi is operational.

#4 Don't believe the marina's website with regard to "walking distance" to town.  Use Google Earth and make sure its walkable for YOU!

#5 Have a backup GPS system.  Our Raymarine GPS system is acting flaky.  Luckily we also have a Google Nexus tablet (built in GPS) which has both the Navionics app AND Nav App which interfaces with Active Captain (gives reviews for marinas, launch ramps, hazards etc).  We're not sure if our "real" GPS is fixable but we're surfing Ebay for a replacement today just in case.  If we can't fix or replace it with a used unit, the whole radar system will need to be upgraded which will be a major, unplanned expense... wish us luck!  (I also have these apps on my smartphone)

#6 Don't forget sunscreen for your feet if you spend a day in sandals.  I now have styling polka dot feet!

#7 Use bug spray even if you "don't see um".  I haven't seen a single mosquito, only some "harmless" gnats... but apparently they are the cause of about 52 bites I have so far..  We also have been using these butane powered ThermaCELL mosquito repellent devices (which you can wear or just have in the boat)..To me, these just seem like citronella candles without the flame... the butane heats up the citronella smell.. I am also testing some nifty wrist bands from West Marine that smell like Lemon Pledge.  If you are "extra sweet", like me, none of this works all that well... so pack some salve and remedies to combat the itching!  I really think the cosmetic companies have to invent a combination sunscreen/bugspray/moisturizer!  If there is such a thing, email me, so I can buy some!

#8 Bring long enough line if you are going through the locks.  We have a couple 25ft lines and it was OK, but longer would have been better.  Rob, the sailor, tied a few together... which works, but they also catch on themselves as you try to loop them.  We'll bring more from home on the next leg.

#9 Have some of your boat fenders pre-tied to hang horizontally off your cleats, rather than vertically.  This seems to work better on the locks, when you have to tie to poles on fixed docks, rather than floating docks, and when you are rafted next to other boats.

#10  I know you'll make lots of lists of things to remember to bring home or back to the boat, but make a habit of looking for your lists before you leave town!  And bring your lists with you so you have them at the other end.  (Before we left the boat to come home, we measured for some things we needed to make, and things we needed to buy... and of course, proceeded to come home without the list)

Today we are in Portsmouth VA meeting up with several other C-Dories for a cruise out.  More on that in my next posts.

Beaufort NC

We spent two nights here at the Boathouse Marina off Taylor Creek in Beaufort, and are leaving the boat here while we go pick up the trailer and car in Charleston tomorrow.  The marina is quite a ways from the historic town center...had a great setup for us, since there is a boat launch next door, a courtesy car and a trolley into town across the street on the weekends.  It is brand new and we can tell they are still ironing out the wrinkles in their systems.  They have a great staff who bend over backwards to help you out.  For example, the wifi didn't work, so they lent us the owners personal hot spot to use for the weekend.  When completed, this marina will be part of a resort with condos/townhouses, restaurant, inn, etc.  At this point there is mostly just the dry storage boat house, a few nice docks, a pool (that wasn't open yet) and an event center where they had a wedding last night.

Another example of their bending over backwards was when we watched in amazement as they did a "trial lift" of a 42ft Hatteras with their forklift.  The owner requested that they try but you could just tell there was no way it would work... the boat was just too long and heavy.  But they tried just the same.  We couldn't figure out why he wanted to try it...why risk a beautiful boat like that?

Last night we biked into town for the afternoon/evening's music entertainment which was very fun. It seems like everyone is young and pregnant or has children under 5.  The kids were cute dancing to the music, playing and just being kids.

We missed having our chairs, though, so today we carried them to the trolley and took that to the music festival venue which was much better suited to crowds.  We started early but bugged out before the headline events as we'd had enough of sun and WIND.  The music ranged from heavy metal to country, but the surprise guests were the Marine Corps New Orleans style jazz band.  They weren't on the billing and only played for 30 minutes but they brought down the house.

So tomorrow we drive to Charleston, spend the night, then drive our own truck and trailer back to Beaufort.  I'm so excited to be staying in a motel...we're going back to the place with the whirlpool tub.  This has been a record 10 nights in a row on the boat and I'm ready for a little luxury.. but I'll miss the views!

Beaufort NC

Southport NC and Swansboro NC

You know how, when you are on a good vacation, you forget what day it is?  Well, I can barely remember what month it is, much less where we've been.  All I can say is that we're having a great time and we love traveling the ICW.  I have come up with a new plan: we need two boats, one for each coast and that way we won't have to drive across the country to do this again.  Either that or we buy one of those gorgeous homes along the ICW... um well, dreaming is part of boating, isn't it?

Deep Point Marina, Cape Fear River, Southport NC

Deep Point Marina

We traveled 48 miles from Little River SC to Deep Point Marina in Southport NC.   This took most of the day as there are several "no wake" zones, especially in the Myrtle Beach area. The landscape in NC seems different... much more beachy feeling.  Deep Point Marina was both a pleasure and a disappointment.  They had a great swimming pool, but it was FREEZING cold; and free laundry but we had already done laundry the day before... and the "short walk" to the historic town was, in fact, too far to walk.  The dockmaster was really nice, though, when we said we were going to bike to the grocery store.  He said not to because it was very trafficy (is that a word?), then gave us his car key with directions to the local Walmart.


The marina itself was lovely, surrounded by pretty landscaping (are my flowers at home blooming, are they getting enough water?) with great docks and good wifi.  The night was a little "bumpy", though as we were across from a ferry to Bald Island that came and went about every 45 minutes until about 9pm or so.  On the plus side, the view from our cockpit was wonderful and I almost took a picture for you... but you'll have to use your imagination.  A large catamaran sailboat (about 50ft) with 3 strapping and tan young men without shirts were preparing their boat for a major voyage.  I had to supervise all their preparations most closely.

Today we decided to travel farther than originally planned.  We started early because the mouth of the Cape Fear river seemed very open and possibly treacherous to us.  It turned out to be easy peasy. We went about 78 miles from Southport to Swansboro NC and are docked at Casper's Marina in the tiny, historic district of Swansboro.  We were able to average about 25 miles/hour as the ICW was not so crowded with "no wake" zones.  We kept hearing radio transmissions about a bridge that was non functioning... when, at the end of our cruise, we came to that same bridge with all these gorgeous trawlers and sailboats stuck anchoring or circling the area.  We smiled and waved and proceeded under the bridge with no issue.  Our C-Dory can go faster than most boats and is not inhibited by water depths or most low bridges.  On the other hand...

The first sailboats we've seen actually sailing

Shrimp Boats are a fixture of the local economy

Well, most of them anyway

We enjoyed Swansboro very much...especially eating someone else's cooking at the Ice House Restaurant!  Caspers is a more "basic" marina, with stationary docks (only a few other transients are joining us this evening)... by the way, I hate being called a "transient"... why can't they just call us "visitors"?  Swansboro is a small town with picturesque homes and shops.

Casper's Marina, Swansboro 

Casper's launching from dry storage... so fun to watch!

Residents of Swansboro... not sure if these are ducks or some kind of swan?

We are headed to Beaufort NC tomorrow where we will be for about 3 nights and where we will eventually pull the boat.  We had originally planned to go as far as New Bern NC but discovered that Beaufort has a 2 day music festival this weekend.

Southport NC

Swansboro NC