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| This boat came within inches of hitting us! |
The wind rises on the Alligator River.
Inside the Alligator River Marina all is calm.
Outside the marina, a sailboat, with the help of the Coast Guard, struggles to find safe refuge.
"Rumba" at dockside after it was brought into the marina.
Interior of "Rumba"
We
awoke to overcast skies with winds that were not as high as those that were originally
forecast. It was great, however, to have a day to relax without moving the
boat. We took advantage of the fact that
we could have breakfast at “Miss Wanda’s” version of a combined Dock Master’s
office, gas station, and “7 Eleven”- type fast food store/ restaurant, complete
with booths and tables, and enjoyed a delicious home-made southern
breakfast. It also gave us a chance to
chat with “Miss Wanda”, the proprietor of Alligator River Marina, which has
been a stop for us many times on our trips both north and south each year
between New Jersey and Florida. We got a
warm welcome from her, and though on occasions she has been known to be feisty
with some boaters, we know from experience that she also has a “heart of gold”,
as we witnessed a few years ago when she invited us as well our boat guests to
her beautiful home on the marina premises to watch “Dancing with the Stars”
with her, because another boater was “hogging” the TV in the Boaters’ Lounge,
and refused to change the channel. After breakfast we met and chatted with two
couples from Michigan who currently are in the process of “Looping” aboard their
own boats, and then we walked back to “Reflection” for what we expected to be a
quiet day. It was only a short time
later that all the real action began! Since our boat was facing the Alligator River,
we noticed that three boats appeared to be quickly heading for the marina
entrance. The first was a very old motor
yacht about 55’ in length that looked not to be in great condition besides
having a smoking port engine. Its captain almost missed the entrance markers,
and was headed for the marsh next to the marina. When he finally realized his
mistake, he then gunned the boat, and charged into the center of the marina’s
turning basin at high speed. This young
man who, we found out later, had recently purchased this “gem”, was not only by
himself, but was obviously a novice boater in a panic, and when he had to turn
the boat around, didn’t account for the wind that was now pushing him rapidly
toward the side of our boat! Pat started
screaming, and when he passed along-side “Reflection”, he passed us by a mere
three inches! Afterwards, when George confronted
him about his near-miss, the young man was completely oblivious! Next, a few minutes later, a sailing catamaran
being followed by a sailboat entered.
Once inside, the sailboat tried to pass on the port side of the
catamaran who was making a right turn into a slip, narrowly missed hitting us
as well as the catamaran, and was rapidly being pushed into the alongside dock
sideways by the wind, when he yelled out that he had lost his steering! George
yelled for him to let it go, and then George caught his boat before it crashed into
the dock. What a scene! Unfortunately,
the next boat in this “parade” was a 22’ C Dory which was also single-handed,
whose limped in with his whole Bimini top ripped up and in shreds. We couldn’t
believe that he was even out in those wind and sea conditions today! From our vantage point in the marina, we now noted
that the waters above the Alligator River Bridge had really kicked up with
winds in the 20+ mph range gusting up around 30 mph, and that’s when we also
noticed that a sailboat right outside the marina entrance channel was REALLY
struggling. It appeared that there was a
solo sailor aboard, his boat’s sails were down, and a Coast Guard vessel was
circling him in the rough waves to try to get him under tow. It was a heart-wrenching scene, but the Coast
Guardsmen eventually skillfully maneuvered their boat and tied onto his side,
and were able to escort him into the marina.
It turned out that the sailboat’s hydraulic steering had failed, and oil
had leaked all over the cockpit, making the deck slick. George took pictures of the whole event,
including close-ups of the inside of the sailboat, which, needless to say, was
a wreck, as also was the outside, but at least the skipper was safe. Surprisingly, the final vessel of the day to
enter the marina was a Pilot Boat who was forced to pull in because the
Alligator River Bridge will not open for boat traffic once the winds exceed 34
mph. Obviously, we had made a good decision
to “stay put” today!
May 2, 2015
"Boat of the Day"
Coinjock, North Carolina
Virginia Cut south of Norfolk
Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal
Great Bridge Lock
Having
witnessed yesterday’s boating fiascos, early this morning we had to make our
own decision as to whether conditions were safe enough for us to move on, so we
called the Alligator River Bridge-Tender to see what he was reading for wind
speeds. He said that his instruments
were reading 22 mph, but from what we could observe from the marina, the waves
had really relaxed from yesterday, and the marsh grasses were hardly even moving. We then went ahead and readied the boat for
departure, but just to verify the conditions, we called him again, and he said,
“Yes, it’s down to 18 mph now, and it looks like it’s dying down.” So, at 6:40 a.m. we decided to leave on today’s
75 mile trip to Top Rack Marina in Chesapeake, VA. Our route would take us across the famous (or
sometimes infamous) Albemarle Sound, through Coinjock, NC, into various
waterways around Currituck Sound, and finally through a variety of bridges, and
our first lock of this adventure, the Great Bridge Lock. Things
started out well, but as we proceeded along, the wind and the waves started to
hit us on our forward port quarter. We
were operating from our lower helm, and the windshield wipers had a hard time
keeping up with the amount of splash from the waves as the boat pounded through
them. George was at the wheel, while Pat
sat holding onto our main salon counter as well as our computers, while
silently praying all the while. At one point, George asked Pat if she wanted to
turn back, but she answered, “NO, I’m just NEVER going to do this Albemarle
crossing again!” (Actually thinking: “I will, but only in winds less than 10
mph!”). Eventually we made it safely to the other
side, and after everything had calmed down somewhat, we moved to the upper helm
in breezy and cool conditions. George
then timed our scheduled bridge openings perfectly, and at the Great Bridge
Lock, the Lock-Tender told Pat that she really
looked like she knew what she was doing in handling the line. Little did
he know how many times we had done this before!
We arrived at Top Rack Marina at 2:40 p.m., having gone a distance of 63
miles. We then got “fueled up” right in “our”
slip, where the owner of the marina always puts us, and at 6 p.m. we welcomed
our Norfolk, VA friends, Jeff and Gail Dunham aboard for cocktails. They are “Loopers” who we met last year when
they needed assistance in bringing their boat, “YOLO”, up from Atlantic City on
the NJICW. George and our friend and
neighbor, Lou Ianniello, went down to meet them and helped them move the boat
north to a nearby marina in our home-town of Brick, NJ. Eventually Jeff and Gail left their boat in
Brewerton, NY for the winter, and will return to continue their “Loop” journey
in late May/ early June. We were also
expecting another future “Looper”, Alan Cecil, who also lives in Norfolk, to
join us aboard, but unfortunately he called to say that he could not join us that
evening due to the health issues of his long-time companion, Betty. The four of us went to the “Amber Lantern”
restaurant on the marina’s premises for dinner, and had a great time trading
boat stories of all kinds. They are a
terrific couple, and we hope to see them later this year on the “Loop”.
May 3, 2015
Railroad Bridge in foreground and Gilmerton Bridge in background on the way into Norfolk.
USS Dwight D. Eisenhower
Waterside Marina in downtown Norfolk
Nauticus - maritime-themed science center and museum
Hospital Point - Northern terminus of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway
USS George H. W. Bush
Old Point Comfort Light - Hampton Roads
Dozier's Regatta Pointe Marina - Deltaville, VA
“Reflection”
left the dock at 7:40 a.m. for a 63 mile trip through Norfolk and finally up
Chesapeake Bay to Dozier’s Regatta Pointe Marina in Deltaville, VA. The weather was a little warmer and the
breezes were also lighter on this sunny Spring day, and we had an uneventful
trip to our destination where we arrived at 2:40 p.m. We were met by the Dock Master, Mickey, who
told us that our reputation preceded us!
What could that mean? Little did
we know that our Marathon Yacht Club friends, Jann and Bill Mellman, who are
also in the process of “Looping”, had filled him in on us (they’re only nasty
rumors)! Jann and Bill had left their
boat in a covered shed here for the winter, but they had left this morning for
points north because of family commitments – and unfortunately we had just
missed them! We also hope to meet them
and their long-time friends, Willy and Caryn Bain, who are also “Looping” with
the Mellmans, aboard their own boat, somewhere along the way. Our “Big Bang Theory” DVDs provided our
entertainment for the evening with a small Pot Roast dinner on the menu.
May 4, 2015
The Somerville residence on the Great Wicomico River, VA
Reflection at the Somerville dock
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| Paul, Colleen, Pat, and George
Today
is the birthday of our next door neighbor at home, Ernie Giordano, so we phoned
him our good wishes at 8:30 a.m. We will
be really happy to see our dear neighborhood friends, as well as family when we
return to Seawood Harbor next week!
Today we were scheduled to see Jani Parker, the Managing Editor of “Waterway
Guide”, a prominent series of boating guide books that are up-dated each year
with different editions that cover various areas of the U.S. and Canada. We were Cruising Editors for their Northern
Editions in 1986, 1987, and 1988 when we were sail boaters, and we are happy to
be returning now to be Cruising Editors this year for their Great Lakes/ Great
Loop 2016 edition. These wonderful
guides have grown in size over these many years and include tons of information
in book form, additional on-line up-dates, newsletters, and magazines. We looked forward to meeting their staff
today, as well as to seeing how this production is all put together. Right before we left for their offices, however,
we also received an interesting phone call from our friend and agent, Ray
Barton, about another exciting opportunity that may be coming up for us, but it
is a little premature to share that news with everyone just yet! We went on to our meeting, and found the “Waterway
Guide” staff to be friendly and delightful, and also very eager to show us how
they put these great publications together, so we’re sure that it will be great
working with them! We were also given
shirts, hats, and even a “Chesapeake Bay” edition, and we also autographed one
of our books, which they already had, for them.
Afterwards, we returned to our boat, and headed out at 12:40 p.m. for a
25 mile trip up the Chesapeake Bay to Ingram Bay on the Great Wicomico River to
visit our Banana Bay Marina friends, Paul and Colleen Somerville, who have a
lovely home on the water, complete with dock space for “Reflection”. We arrived at 3:15 p.m., and Paul and Colleen
directed us in, and were on the dock to take our lines. We then walked up the lawn to their house,
and we ended up talking for hours about our respective boat trips north, and
up-dated each other on news about our boating community at Banana Bay. They
prepared a delicious dinner for us, and we were also joined by their delightful
neighbor, Peter, a real Southern gentleman. We truly enjoyed a wonderful time
with these warm, hospitable people, and anticipate seeing them again this
winter in Marathon, FL.
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