Our Adventures with Seaquel

Saturday 9/17/16 After a relaxing day off it was cast off at zero dark early, 0615, for our big push  to make as many miles as possible towards our remaining 145nm. The fabulous harvest moon was still prominent in the sky untl well past daybreak and a humbling sunrise arrives in the east. It was a lumpy ride oncewe were out in the channel, We had 1-2' waves from the NE on our Starboard forward quarter for first few hours but began to settle down as we began to put a little "dirt" between us and the wind, meaning the Eastern Shore of the Bay. By 1000 we were experiencing less than 1' waves along with some chop and before noon it was Lake Chesapeake, almost like glass for hours. Earlier that day I was warned by Capt Ron about the large ships traveling at 22 knots that we, traveling at under 8 knots, needed to avoid,  look out the pilot house doors and behind every 10 minutes. Heeding that advice I was annoyed that we were going to need to change course to go behin...

Friday 9/16/16 Today is an off day due to wave conditions in the Chesapeake Bay. Calling for 3-4' waves from the East which would put them on our Starboard beam (middle of right side in case you haven't been studying your boating terminology) meaning lots of rolling that the boat could handle but crew would be beyond miserable. Slept in til 0730, had coffee, which was brewing when I got up every morning and if you recall I had been banished from coffee duty early on in the trip, and did some fluid checks in the engine room. Reviewed the weather and Capt says we stay put. It was actually nice to get a day off to relax. We took a mile or so walk to Full Throttle marine consignment store, lots of cool used boating supplies. Spent $14 on a gallon of 40 weight oil, a bargain, a cool bungee and some velcro straps which we left there til after we walked to Vancostas Restaurand down the road. I tried one of the house specialties, the Western breakfast casserole, think Western omele...

Thursday 9/16/16 Today we will have the honor of a guest blogger, our own Capt Ron. Enjoy We left Coinjock this morning at 0655.  We crossed ICW mile marker “0” at 1340.  The wind started building and Small Craft Warning were to be posted for our area effective 1700.  We made reservations at the Hampton Public Docks in, you guessed it, Hampton, Virginia.  100% cloud cover but no rain.  I backed our 40,000 pound ride into our slip with a cross breeze blowing about 12 knots.  If it were my boat I’d ask Santa for a Side Power Bow Thruster. The forecast  tomorrow  is for more of the same (East wind 15 – 20 knots with two to four foot seas out of the East – we’re headed North!) with the Small Craft advisory ending  Friday  evening.  If the forecast remains the same, we’ll be underway  Saturday  morning and arrive at Eddie’s home slip  Sunday  evening. The question always arises, “Ron, please tell me about...

Wednesday 9/14/16 Pulled anchor, well the electric windlass did, at 0620, MM 127.5. Breathtaking sunrise and into the Pungo Canal. Saw eagle circling and then land on tree with his partner. Three very large barges passed us in opposite direction, they must have been what folks were complaining about yesterday,  stuck 3 hours behind a group of barges at the Great Bridge Virginia Lock. We will go north through there tomorrow. Ended day at Coinjock Marina in Coinjock, pop 3800, MM50. Received invitation to Captains table at the Marina Restaurant, his treat. Great dinner! Started with home made potato chips and a dipping sauce, no no no please don't bring another basket. Ordered fresh, local stuffed flounder and stuffing along lines of MD crabcake. Finished off with lemon pie, thank you Capt Ron, good food, good company. As always on this trip can't keep my eyes open past 9:30pm. Sunrise Pungo Canal Bald Eagles Big Ass Barge 3 in a row MM 50 Yahoo ...

Tuesday 9/13/16 Pulled up anchor at 0700 at Cedar creek, MM 187. Because we would not have that long of a cruise before our next anchorage we decided to take a little tourist detour to Oriental, NC the sailing capital of North Carolina, also cause it has a free dock. Only took about an hour to arrive and I was looking forward to working on my docking skills. I know I have a ways to go as this boat is a challenge due to its size, low horse power motors and slow response to steering and power input. Most boats of this type have bow thrusters which allows pilot to move the bow left and right independent of the motors. We walked around Oriental for 30 minutes before we found out the breakfast restaurant was closed for the week. We then thought about visiting the marine supply but it was also closed. It was decided that the town of oriental was closed so we got back on the boat within 30 minutes of arriving and cast off for our next destination. Arrived Dowry Creek Marina near Bellhaven...

Monday 9/12/16 Up early with the no-see-ums to catch the 0700 opening of the Wrightsville Beach Bascule Bridge at MM 285. An overcast morning after days of sunny 90 degree days. We had a true ICW moment when we were passing the Mason Inlet, we were in the right place but the bottom of the ICW was not. At Green 121 sands had shifted, called shoaling, and I could feel us bump the bottom and slow to a near stop. I pulled back throttles but we could see we were still moving at 1 knot of speed while dragging along bottom hunting for deeper water. We need 4'4" under the keel so were pleased to see a reading of 5' and we soon began moving without the feeling of dragging through the sand. Our next bit of excitement was a swing bridge that only showed 20' of clearance and we need 22'. It only opens on the half hour so it was worth creeping up to the depth board which showed over 24' due to the lowering tide. Great, lets go,  like we were getting away with not needin...

Sunday 9/11/16 Off day from cruising, still at Bridge Tender Marina as Gail has evening flight from Wilmington Airport. We got up and out early and called an Uber driver for a 7:30am trip accross the bridge to Wrightsville beach. Uber Jeffrey an interesting character. He told us he and his wife moved to Florida after he retired bit made her ankles swell and he hir frizz so they moved to Utah where, after tiring of the outdoord sctivitied, came to North Carolina.   Got carryout coffees and walked 3 miles on the beach, soft powdery sand, went swimming. We then cmae back to meet mechanic at marina. We believe he has helped us solve the final chapter in our AC waterpump mystery. The older unit in salon wasn't activating pump but would work if one of the other 2 AC units where working. He spent an hour doing diagnostics and recommend we use it the way it is until  ready to swap out the whole system when we are back home. He didn't want money but I insisted he take som...

Saturday 9/10/16 Cast off from Enterprise Oxbow anchorage MM 376 at 0630. Gail and I a great team at the anchor windlass, she stepped on the switch to raise it and I squirted the mus off the chain. Morning was very still and almost chilly until sun was warming us. A good deal of the day the tide was with us do it added from 1 to 3 knots of speed to our normal 7.5 knots, we even saw over 10 knots. While cruising the Cape Fear River a good size Sedan Bridge boat coming from opposite direction hailed us on channel 16. He warned us to stay close to the red #82 marker at the Shallotte Inlet as he got too close to the green #81 marker and as happens in the ICW shoaling sands caused him to become grounded. We hugged the red#82 marker as close as possible. Excited to be passing Bald Head Island where our daughter Kayla vacationed recently. We even have photo of the Eagle Ferry that takes you to Bald Head Island where no cars are allowed.   Insane amount of small boat traffic tod...