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We stayed another day in Belhaven. There was a storm Monday night. Thankfully, the most severe of it skirted us but we were still wide awake in the middle of the night with a bouncy boat and an eye on the radar. There was a tornado watch as well.  Just a bit scary!

We were able to catch some sleep but woke to strong winds on Tuesday. After a little talk on the docks with the harbormaster and fellow boaters, we determined it was too late to start a 50 mile trip to Oriental, NC.  We still needed to stop for fuel and that usually chews up a bit of time.  The day ended up to be beautiful, windy, but sunny and 70. We took Coconut for a long walk around the waterfront enjoying more beautiful homes and water views. You can see lots of damage left by Florence. There are piles of construction debris, some boarded up homes, construction and closed businesses. We had lunch outside the local hot spot, Farm Boys — we only saw girls running it. 😏   The onion rings were to die for…..

We had an early night with dinner on the boat and catching up on the series Ray Donovan.

Woke up to a cold boat!  We didn’t think we needed the heater when we went to bed but it was 49 outside when I got up.  About 55 in the boat.  Brrrr.  Sending sandals and tank tops home…..

We are kind of shaking out heads about installng a $1,000 windlass and not anchoring out over night yet. We have stayed where electricity is available so we can run our heater. I know, last night we were just dumb.

So, its now  Wednesday and we are heading to Oriental. Some of you may remember Cori & Dale from Bayfield. They moved away from MN and were live aboards near Oriental in Morehead City for about 10 years.  They have cut the lines and the boat is now in Trinidad.  Their blog is called Hiflite.

We filled with fuel and again pointed South. Thankfully, this should be the last cold day for awhile. We did get a slip for tonight right in the center of town–should be a fun stop.  We need to reprovision soon.

Trumpy Yachts continue to be part of our adventure. A fabulous speciman just cruised by us.  We think she is a 103 footer named Freedom built in 1926.  Such a small world, we recently received a note on our blog from Bobbi who we met last Spring in Deltaville on their Trumpy, Madison Grace. A 57 Footer she and her husband Donovan are continuing to restore. We enjoyed a few cocktail hours on their boat and hope to see them again.  An hour or so later, another large wooden boat came by but it was not a Trumpy.  Her name is Olympus and she was built by the Launch and Engine Company in 1929.  These boats are so spectacular when you see them on the water.

We are now on the Pamlico Sound. Another large body of water. Luck is with us again; the wind is behind us.  We continue to be amazed at how shallow the waters are here. Maybe averaging 12′ – no wonder there are choppy waves.  On the other hand, there is so much water here in the Bay’s, rivers and backwaters, it is hard to imagine the water raising 3-4 feet during the hurricane.

At this time, we own a Searay boat.  Right now the really big Searays and Sports Fishing boats are getting bashed on the Loopers website emails we get daily.  They are THE Boats causing ALL big wakes and ANY trouble. Kind of funny but kind of been true on our short trip.  Our Searay friends are troublemakers for sure!!!!

Our SR boat is an 80’s model built during a time when they didn’t have the greatest reputation. We fixed some leaking windows last spring but now see a wetspot on the ceiling in the v-berth in strong wind with rain. Its not dripping or anything, just water migrating on the ceiling fabric. We thought either a stantion post was leaking or a cleat where it attaches to the deck. Joe was able to get some silicone underneath and was tightening the nuts while I held the screws on top. But, when we really looked at it from the inside, we saw that the interior fabric was sandwiched right into the seam of the fiberglass! Yikes! great quality control SR. So, we cut away the fabric and sealed it all up with silicone. Ahh, the joys of boat ownership!!!  I have learned that a weak mixture of water and vinegar and a damp towel removes the water stains.  Amazingly simple.

Update:

I jinxed our peaceful ride!  Our luck ran out!   Once further out on the Pamlico Sound, a Nor’easter kicked up.  Worst possible place as there is little protection from the Atlantic Ocean.  Quite Unpleasant and not in the forecast!  We are now safe and sound in a very nice Marina, with a pool and Tiki bar! Not likely getting much use today!!  There also is a restaurant and bar – we will check it out.  Looks like we’ll be here a few days.

Windy!

Our arrival in Belhaven went smoothly and we docked at the Belhaven Town Dock at Gwynne Cut. This is a very nice solid dock with new decking and pilings to tie to. We were the third boat in and one of the other boaters helped us tie up. We were getting things tidied up when another boat came in.

This boat arrived in class! It glided in like something in a Hollywood movie. A 43′ wooden boat built in 2003 by the owner in New Jersey. Named “Bad Donato V” it is headed for Islamorada, FL.

See: https://www.woodenboat.com/register-wooden-boats/bad-donato-v

As we have been making our way south, our starboard engine has been leaking oil and now is the time to deal with it. I had to add oil underway on Sunday and at that time saw oil bubbling out at the back of the intake manifold. I suspected the manifold gasket and was convinced of  that overnight. We requested a mechanic to come look at it on Monday but Belhaven Time is the same as Island Time. We finally heard that he was supposed to show up at 5:15 PM. Well, by that time I had made a few calls back to Scandia, MN, the center of all mechanical knowledge in my world, and discussed the issue with Scott and Spazz. (Yeah, that’s his nickname). We decided that a oil sending unit in the vicinity of the leak could be the culprit so I pulled it out and found that the threads show no evidence of any sealant. So, I got out the trusty fold up bike and did the wicked witch thing to the auto parts store for more oil and sealant. While there, the counter man told me that it was a good thing that I was in a “Chevy” town because right across the street at the boat repair shop was guy named Tony who could share some more knowledge on the matter. In fact, Tony campaigns a couple of 10 second drag cars when he’s not fixing boats. He confirmed our suspicions and inquired about where the motor was and that I had ridden my bike to his shop. He told me about a product that I could use to spot a leak and that I just had to spray it on the area in powder form and any oil present would be very evident. He realized that I didn’t need a whole can of the product so he lent me his can. He told me to not ride the bike back to return it but to drop it off at “Farm Boys” restaurant where he eats lunch and he would pick it up there. I LOVE small town ‘Merica!!!

I think our work paid off, I put it back together and didn’t see any leaking. So far….

Belhaven, when it was first settled was refered to as Jack’s Neck where the Pungo River makes a sharp bend to the south. We had dinner last night at The Tavern at Jack’s Neck. Featured in the dining room is the transom of a old local boat.

This must have been a beauty and it brings back an era of water born activity that this areas knew in the 19th Century.

The town of Belhaven itself is a very nice town but has seen better days. The last hurricane caused a number of vibrant main street businesses to close. There are a lot of vacant storefronts right now but the town will come back. There is apparently an impending grant that will help local businesses reopen and get back on their feet. We will probably see a lot more of this as we head south.

Right now we are waiting for a forecasted Small Craft Advisory to move through and then we will head south through the Pamlico Sound to Oriental NC.

Here are some classic Southern Homes we saw on our walk-about with Coconut.

Alligator River to Bellhaven. Not a lot to report.  It was a nice sunny day about 55 degrees.  Basically drove the boat down the center of a ditch! Photos are front and back view from the boat.

Passed this large tow along the channel. Yikes……

We do have an Issue: RJ’s starboard engine has been using oil. We (meaning Joe) have been trying to determine where the oil is coming from and today we have the answer. Seal at the rear of the intake manifold is leaking oil onto the rear of the engine. The former owner of the boat indicated the same problem just before we bought the boat. It was allegedly repaired, less than 50 hours ago.  Huh. The boat does have two newer motors that now have just over 320 hours on them.  At least we know what the problem is and are heading toward a larger town with mechanics. Stay tuned!

Update: we landed in Bell Haven.  Its a nice little town that was devestated by Florence. However, we already have the name of the mechanic. There are restaurants, groceries, a bar, a hardware store, some shops, a bar ; ) and two auto parts stores. I think we will survive!!! Joe says if worse comes to worse, he could fix it himself….. gotta love it. Taking the good with the bad!

One thing I notice about cruising–everyone looks at your ass….. of your Boat!!! To those non–boaters, the name of your boat and where you are from are usually on the back of your boat or the stern ; )

We stayed in Hampton Thursday night.  We saw small craft warnings so we thought better of moving our small craft.  If only we had a sailboat, it would have been easy 😏

Hampton is an easy walking town and except for the wind, it is sunny and relatively warm.  60 degrees.  We are getting pics of snow from family and friends back home so we are not complaining about 60.

There is a NASA air and Space Center right at the end of our pier.  They are showing an IMAX film so that may be our entertainment this afternoon.

Due to all of our weather delays, we have changed our route.  Joe really wanted to go through the dismal swamp–sounded dismal to me!  Everyone says it is one of the best parts of the Atlantic ICW but it would take us 30 miles out of our way.  With all of our delays, we decided to save the 30 miles.  Also, the entire waterway is no wake meaning we could only cruise at about 6. Instead we will go to Coinjock–apparently there is an excellent prime rib at the restaurant.  See BT we do listen to you!!  You sailors will be amused we are finding 6 mph too slow 😉

Early Friday morning, the decision was made to leave even though the winds were not ideal and rain was forecast.  We need to cross the James River and head down the Elizabeth River to Coinjock.

Crossing the James was a bit dicey. The wind was still blowing about 15 but it was bearable. There was a bit of light rain in the air but we were warm and dry in the flybridge/skylounge.  Sadly, we have not been able to really be up there lounging yet!

As usual, freighters and ocean going ships were out in front of us but as we turned toward the Elizabeth river, we began seeing huge Navy ships. Neither one of knows anything about these Ships but we could identify one air craft carrier and some destroyers–the rest were just big. Maybe 15 of them!  We were not able to get photos due to light rain and wet windows but it was a sight. My brother Terry might have been some help — Navy man (a very long time ago ; )

The next area we passed was container ships, cranes and containers. Miles of them. We figure its all Chinese stuff going to the dollar stores and Walmart. 😙

We passed mile marker one for the ICW in Norfolk.  This marker system will help us along the way and we may refer to it in future blogs.

A short time later, we came up to a bridge, around a curve, where a bunch of sailboats and one big trawler were waiting.  We knew we could pass under the bridge; then we saw that there was a railroad bridge as well and it was open. We jockeyed around for a good 20 minutes with the other boats for one train engine to go by then the boat parade of backed up boats passed through.

The second interesting stop was for the great Bridge lock.  Joe had read up on the lock so we were somewhat prepared.  Again, another delay about 30 minutes this time.  You can’t tie up any place to wait so you just sit trying to keep your boat in place with wind, current and the same boats that were waiting at the train bridge.  You monitor channel 13 on your radio so we did know what was happening–a very large barge was coming through but that also means other boats cannot hail you as you normally are on channel 16 of your marine radio.  I guess we should keep our handheld radio in the flybridge as well.

Once in the lock, we handed our lines to a gentleman on land who gave further instructions.  Then you wait and talk to your neighbors.  We had conferred with Margarie Ann, a huge trawler when we asked to pass them previously.  We ended up behind them in the lock from the delays.  They were very friendly and are heading to most of the same destinations as us.  She suggested calling Coinjock for a reservation.  Since we hadn’t seen much boat travel, and we have a small boat, we didn’t think it was an issue.  It was!   They were full but we did get into the marina across the river.

So, the lock drained down about 2 feet–you could barely feel it–and off we were again.  Not the most beautiful cruise and we did get some rain here and there but we were moving South!!

Rainbows!!!

After a few more times treading water for bridges to open, we pulled onto a public dock to give Coconut a break and get our bearings. As we pulled away from the dock, I was on the bow retrieving some lines, when I turned around there was Coconut standing on the very narrow side deck of the boat almost to the bow. OMG. Instant heart attack.  She looked quite pleased with herself.  She turned around in that very narrow space and went back to the cockpit. Lesson learned: lock dog in cabin while getting off docks!

So we pulled into Coinjock which is basically 2 marinas.  One on one side and one on the other.  Side ties along long piers.  The marina we couldn’t get into was filled with huge trawlers, sport fishing boats and other large yachts.   Hmmm, our side didn’t look so great…..and it wasn’t.  Restaurant was closed and the place is for sale.  Very run down and the owner was a story himself.  Said he couldn’t run the place anymore because he couldn’t get help but then he also told us a few years ago he fired all the restaurant workers and Marina staff as they weren’t doing their jobs!  We decided his restaurant “Crabbies” was probably his namesake.  So, with nothing else nearby so we cooked on the boat and ended the day early.

It was a day of firsts for us, including the first time we heard “rj” being hailed on the radio.

We woke Wednesday to a beautiful morning and went for our last meal at By the Bay Cafe in Deltaville.  We are so ready to leave Deltaville!  Not that it’s a bad place but we were already here for a week last Spring and now many days longer than we intended.  We prepared the boat for travel and headed out about 8:00 a.m.  Our destination was a marina about 4 miles away as gas was $.70 cheaper per gallon.  When your buying 120 gallons, it’s worth going out of the way a bit!

Back out onto the Cheasepeake we went heading South to the James River at Hampton.  A pretty uneventful trip.  Sunny skies, warm temps and low wind made it very comfortable compared to our last journey South from the Solomons.  We drove the boat at high speed, about 20 mph, for about 45 minutes and then maintained a steady speed of about 10.

We did see a strange sight we have never seen on Lake Superior, freighters all in a row like ducks.  I counted 9.  They appeared to be anchored.

We did not encounter a lot of other boats.  A few barges being towed, 3 sailboats and some fishing boats.  Just as we approached the entrance of  the James River, a new, very ugly, big pleasure craft thought going by us at full throttle causing a huge wake would be fun!

We saw this large ocean going vessel very close up just past the lighthouse.

There were a few more of the lighthouses that are surrounded by water, this one had a fishing boat anchored very close.  It was old and weathered.  Really quite fascinating.

We arrived in Hampton around 2:00 and refilled our gas tanks–never said this was going to be economical!   Then motored to our slip.  A bit of confusion as the dock hand was signaling us in, the 40′ sailboat next to us decided to pull out!  Like he couldn’t see us!   All was well, Captain Joe spun the boat out and around just like he can with Moonlight!

We are staying at the City Dock Marina, right on the waterfront of the town.  Low and behold, 20 feet from our stern is the Bull Island Brewing Company.  What luck.  We sampled the craft beers outside on the patio with Miss Coconut getting her usual amount of attention.

Then onto Brown Chicken Brown Cow for a great dinner.  This restaurant, only a few blocks away, was suggested by our harbor master.  There were 5 or 6 places along a quaint old town street that would have all drawn us in.

So, the weather is continuing to plague us.  As I said, we got one nice day to cross the Cheasepeake yesterday.  Now we need to cross the James River.  Today, it is quite windy.  Rain is forecast for Friday and Saturday.  Sunday looks good.  So (Jean) here is your cliffhanger: do we cross today with high winds that will be behind us or do we wait it out here …….

Apparently, the dictionary here uses a different definition for what we came here to do. Here, the word “boating” is frequently interchanged with the word “raining”. At least, that is our experience.

We had hoped to launch r j on Monday but…… It was raining. Even though the “over night” rain was supposed to clear off in the AM, it didn’t. So we are able to do a few more boat projects, stare out at all the boats in the boatyard, stare at the sleeping dog, stare at each other…. At least we are not staring at snow…

We now have some time to plan our route south. When we leave, we will try to head into Hampton, VA and take advantage of the City Pier for a night. This will give us a chance to dock the boat in a town, stretch our legs and do any last minute shopping before we head into the Dismal Swamp. Actually, this means that we we transit a canal running along side of the Dismal Swamp that was created years ago to provide a north south route from the Chesapeake to the Albemale Sound through Elizabeth City. This run will involve traveling through two rivers and the canal itself. Most of this mileage will be at “no wake” speed, around 6 miles per hour.

Halfway through the Dismal Swamp Canal is a Visitor Center that doubles as a wayside rest for North Carolina Highway 17. There is a small dock there which we hope to share with other boats heading south.

Ok that’s enough planning for now. The news of the day is that we FINALLY launched the boat at 10:00 this morning and are bobbing at the dock at Fishing Bay Marina.

We will spend one night here and then after a quick “splash and go” for fuel at Deltaville Marina we will head south for Hampton, VA. The weather forecast is for Sunny and light wind. Let’s see about that.

Between weather, installation of the windlass and the marina’s schedule, we are delayed in “splashing” rj.  Since she is a powerboat, we hope to make up the time by just cruising an hour or so more a couple of our travel days.  We determined “safety first” so we really wanted that windlass.  The thoughts are if we need to stop and anchor due to weather or whatever, we want to be able to just push a button and not have one of us on the flybridge and one on the bow.    The storm we were watching mostly went North and it looks like there was some snow for the New England States.

We were hoping to launch today but right now it is raining and blowing.  We might get a break in the weather this afternoon…. Fingers crossed.   Wednesday looks like the day for us to run to Hampton so hopefully we will get to launch.  We will still get almost 4 weeks of cruising time even with this holdup.  Staying positive!

We are making the best of it but a bit tired of living on the hard.  Coconut wants to be home in front of the fireplace!!!  Such is boating!!!