John Goncalves & Ellen Justice of Salud! tied up ahead of us at the Town Dock at Pantego Creek.
The fee here is $1 per foot + $5 for a 30amp shore power connection per night. Fixed dock / on pilings.
The shore power is a bit unreliable, (some of the outlets do not work at all.)
Pump out machine. Behind the pump out sign, is the breaker panel. The spring-loaded clasp on the bottom can be pushed up to gain access and troubleshoot tripped breakers.
The Belhaven Marina folks (next door) take the dockage fees and might offer some assistance. The town may dispatch an on-call employee to help (Ryan was very nice). But we were able to get our shore power outlet working by taking things into our own hands. There is no “dockmaster” per se. It is a first-come first-serve dock that is not staffed. (No reservations). Pay by going next store at the privately owned and operated Belhaven Marina.
Belhaven Marina does take reservations, and they offer laundry, showers, etc. Grand Manor Marina is another excellent marina in this port. Both have golf carts which one can use to re-provision.
The “facilities” at the $1 docks! LOLIt was a 22 mile cruising day for us today. The “triangle” route up the Pamlico River was to put our bow on a better angle on the weather, for a more pleasant ride, vs. taking it on the beam the whole way across.
Tonight we are trying out a new anchorage for us, Eastham Creek NC
Leave Goose Creek easterly at G-17 mm 153.7
We made R-4 then took a right in behind the second “point of land” (hard marsh), out of the marked channel.
Pros: The wind kept the horseflies under control (kinda). There was no wake from the ICW, and no fetch. There were NO local boats waking us. All the ATONs kinda made me think there might be a lot of local boat traffic. THERE HAS BEEN NONE! The depth was great for anchoring +/- 8 ft. No tide.
Cons: Crab pots, if you don’t like them, might be a negative here. We are from Maine, so, crab pots are not a problem!
This anchorage is a great spot to stop if you want to split the distance between Oriental NC and Belhaven or the Alligator River.
We may scoot in a bit deeper in this cove next time.
The two “ON” buttons that one presses to turn on the bow thruster had gotten “soft”. Sometimes we had to hit them 3 or 4 times before the LED indicator light came on.
Pictured above: Ten+ year old joystick controls for the bow thruster.
Because the thruster is a critical tool for maneuvering and dock landings, we could not afford to have this switch continue to progress to failure.
The new replacement cost about $350 plus tax & ship. These are in-stock at Imtra in MA, and our local dealer had them drop ship to friends near our transient location.
Sleipner – Model # 8960 G (2-year warranty for pleasure boats / 1-year commercial)
The electrical connection is an easy plug’n’play!Square hole for the old joystick. But the new model is Round! (Ø = 2”)“Round peg in a square hole!”
…And the bezel holes do not match up! In fact, the 4 bolt holes are just inside the corners of the square hole!
So the mounting part of this job was going to require some creativity.
I went to the Inland Waterway Provision Company here in Oriental NC (walking distance from the docks) to see if they had some hardware for me to “McIver” a solution.
Two plastic mixing paddles (for fiberglass resin) and some longer wood screws, the correct diameter (#6), were acquired for under $4.
Cutting the paddles in half made them the perfect length to be backing “nuts” after pre-drilling holes to accept the screws from above that hold the new joystick in place.
4x Half-length mixing paddles.Longer screws centered the new joystick in the square hole. Screw cover “corners” added.
I had a choice to simply fill the old mounting holes with caulk, OR to screw the old bezel which coincidentally fit around the face of the new joystick.
The old bezel is screwed in-place and caulk seals the whole new appliance.
The solid “feel” of both the buttons and the joystick itself is superior to the old one! We are very happy with the outcome of this project.
Many Mainship’s original thruster controls were the push buttons for LEFT and RIGHT. The original owner of this boat left correspondence that shows that he replaced the button version over ten years ago. The buttons had become unreliable. His vendor recommended the joystick replacement as an upgrade.
Personally, I would recommend replacing any button controls with the joystick. One can operate the joystick by “feel” and it is very intuitive. You don’t have to constantly look down at the controls to make sure you are about to press the right button!
Digital Selective Calling (DSC) feature of all “mounted” Marine VHF radios can be a life saver in case you need assistance.
A “panic button” was pressed near us on Saturday morning.
This alert popped up on the chart plotter. Type of problem and boat name was not disclosed. But the Lat-Long position was given.
Our chart plotter gave us the option of setting a waypoint at the point of origin, which we did. It was right on-line with our planned route for today!
So, we told the Coast Guard we would report what we could see from the position of the electronic MAYDAY call on DSC.
On AIS, we saw that SeaGem was the first boat on scene.
Capt. Darin Rodenbaugh of SeaGem, next to Shellerina at Oriental Inn & Marina later that Saturday. Herkee a sail catamaran was the mayday vessel. Their forestay gave way, so they experienced a dismasting.
In the background, SeaGem can be seen above. Once SeaGem was told by the captain of Herkee that no assistance was needed, she steamed off. We simply let Herkee know we’d give them a slow pass.
They were anchored, and TowBoatUS was en route, as was a local USCG patrol boat.
..
We continued on our way. The crew of Herkee was no longer “in distress” and were a bit jovial about the start of their day.
Evidently they are in final preparations for their Great Loop adventure. So, taking the mast down was “on the list!”
Good Luck to the crew of Herkee! We will certainly be staying in touch!
Capt Gene and Patty of Galene, Capt Ray of Shellerina, Deb and Capt Mac Rubel of Janthena, and Shellerina herself shown here after dinner on BO-fort’s waterfront restaurant, Finz Grill.
So, Ray, why the description of a “powerhouse meeting”? Why the hyperbole?
Cruisers and Loopers rely upon information resources like Active Captain and Waterway Guide to make decisions on where to anchor OR which marina should we buy our dockage from.
The most important thing both of these resources offer are REVIEWS.
Reviews are an example of “crowdsourced” information contributed by mere mortals like you and me.
Many of us not only consume this information, but many take time to “donate” their observations to the Cruising & Looping communities… to you and me!
Tonight, Shelly and I succeeded at bringing this small group of six together for the first time:
Capt Mac Rubel and Captain Gene of Galene are two of the most generous REVIEWERS, the most generous contributors to Active Captain and Waterway guide.
I cannot name anyone who has appeared MORE OFTEN over the past years / decade than these two gentlemen.
What is amazing:
Mac and Gene had never met each other! (until tonight!)
What a great evening it was!
Shelly, Tabatha, Deb, and Patty (the Admirals) also had a great time talking about how much they have in common.
Tabatha was actually our server tonight. She did a fantastic job. Thank you Tabatha! This establishment was very busy; it was a Friday night after all.
Captains like Gene, Mac, and Ray display a huge volume of appreciation for our “Admirals” … there is not a lot of women around who embrace life on a boat. Thank you ladies for sharing this lifestyle with us. We could not do it without you!
For everyone else out there, two bits of advice:
1 – Seek out REVIEWS authored by Mac and Gene.
2 – Aspire to become a contributor like them!!! We all want YOUR observations, good and bad. Become a part of crowdsourcing. Facilitate a smarter community of Cruisers & Loopers.
Today returned to one of our favorite anchorages at ICW mm 210.5
This pic shows where we are anchored this time. Galene’s Admiral, Patty, waves to us from their selected spot in a little deeper in the anchorage. A new buoy in this anchorage indicates that a 7-day limit to anchoring here.
The marina in this small harbor does not have any transient slips. But they do have pump-out ($0), ice, fuel, etc. So for us, it is a great well protected, anchorage with amenities.
There is a dinghy dock in the NW corner that is not 100% well maintained. But it is walking distance to a super Walmart, and there is a West Marine across the highway. Uber may make it safe, as I could not see any pedestrian crosswalks across this main highway.
I was able to ask a fellow WM customer for a ride back to the dinghy dock < 1/4 mile away. No problem!
Galene led the way today. Click on the video below to see them crossing our bow on their way out of the marina at Carolina Beach State Park.
Galene: same make & model as Shellerina.
However,
We are trying to not do these long runs!
Carolina Beach State Park (mm297) to Mile Hammock Bay (mm244.5)
A 52.4 actual-mile travelled day taking over 6-1/2 hours making way underway is about twice our typical “comfort” target distance during retirement.
A large dredging operation at mm 293 was passed. Good thing it was high tide! There was some skinny water getting around the dredge.
But, we are pressing to Beaufort NC to help our buddy boat get to BOCK Marine for service, and to get re-connected with friends there. A longer day today makes for a better weekend!
Today’s successful passage to a favorite anchorage is Mile Hammock Bay ICW mm 244.3
There are 17 boats anchored in here tonight at last count!
Some of the 17 boats can be seen in this pic.
Not all, but many of these 17 boats have AIS capability. This enables other vessels to see the position, name, and movements of other vessels in your vicinity.
Answer: because that’s the replacement for the one I dropped overboard today!
Fortunately, I had a new/spare aboard, that was close at hand (NOT buried deep in storage.)
I knew this was going to happen *someday* … $20.
The waste cap is the one most likely to drop overboard cuz the retainer “chain” isn’t used on Waste caps … no chain enables a good seal with the ‘honey pot’s’ business end.
We were introduced to this great anchorage by Capt Gene of Galene. 4/18/2024
Heading north, we made it through the skinny waters of McClellanville. With 3 feet of tide above MLLW, the skinniest water we saw was 7.0 feet of water on the line we were on.
Galene – Sunrise Awendaw CreekAwendaw Creek, several other boats joined us.
The strong “loud” blue paint that made Ladys Island Marina stick out on this Factory Creek waterway has been toned down. We like the new look! The staff here has always been great.
The NEW dockmaster, Kimberly, is very friendly and helpful. She sent us this highlighted dock map so we knew precisely which slip was assigned to us.
We arrived at mid-tide when there is some detectible current here. However both Galene and Shellerina didn’t think it was a factor. I would estimate < 1 knot.
The Admirals of Galene and Shellerina standing by their yachts rafted up along side the municipal landing in the village of Bluffton. For a town I have NEVER heard of, this place is impressive!
Gene thanks Captain Pat Howard of Spartina whom he met dockside a few days ago for the tip about this great waterfront town in SC.
Gene and Ray found most businesses closed on this Sunday morning. Gene’s wife Patty confirmed that the local churches were open, as she was welcomed to their Eucharistic table as a late comer.
I guess we lucked out timing our arrival at slack tide AND just in time for Communion!
The Church of the Cross. Established 1767, Built 1854. One of several churches very close to the town landing.
We observed: Great sounds will come from both their steeples and their congregations IF your timing is right!
(There were several places open for Sunday Brunch. But our Admirals had fed us already.)
Thoughts On ART…
If you like art galleries, this town has them every 50 steps as one walks around the village, and the quality of the paintings that I could see, strongly suggested a return visit when I both
1) have more time
AND
2) have a home with walls to hang the art in!!!
FYI: One of the disadvantages of full time living aboard a boat is the lack of wall space to hang favorite pieces we have produced or found in places like Bluffton SC. (Though Patty has several of her small creations hanging up on Galene!)
(Side Note: We did enjoy gifting many pieces of our art “collection” from our ‘dirt’ home as we transitioned to a full-time live-aboard lifestyle in 2021. I did not have the heart to have art wrapped up and sitting in storage! Art belongs on-display where it can be loved.)
Municipal Dock-Bluffton village. Download these pis to zoom in and read the details..
Ketch crossing our bow this hour. Click on the video below.
No wake coming from this beautiful ketch this afternoon! We can’t say the same for some others in this popular river off the ICW. Pic by Patty aboard Galene.
These anchorages are just a bit up-river from ICW mm 560. After a wonderful visit to see the town Bluffton SC from the municipal landing in the village, we came back out of May River to set up for a trip to Beaufort SC on Monday.
We learned first-hand the either east or west passage to the village of Bluffton works perfectly well. (The charts don’t make that decision clear. IMO)
Sat & Sun wakers can be annoying during the daylight hours anchored here. But otherwise it is a decent set anchorages if it isn’t blowing too hard.
Twice this week Gene helped me solve “tight spot” electrical problems. This time it was the aft bilge pump system.
Capt Gene RutkowskiGene also did a thorough USCG Vessel Safety Inspection for us. The main boat passed. The dinghy failed because we have not yet affixed our registration numbers. But, we’ll fix that in short order!
There is a sail CAT (unknown boat name) and three Mainship 390-s in this anchorage this hour: Loose Moose (Kathe & Bonnie), Galene (Patty & Gene), Shellerina (Shelly & Ray).
Sunset at StSimons Island, Frederica River GA (ICW mm 674). The wind settled down to make for a perfect 24 mile passage from Brickhill Creek (North Cumberland Is GA) across St Andrews Sound to this great anchorage. We love the church bells ever 30 minutes here!
Mainship 34 with “new” main engine (single with bow thruster), “new” genset, new AC and DC wiring, and excellent documentation of everything done. If I was in the market, this boat would be under contract by now!Shelly & I do not usually “advertise” but this Looper boat seems to us to be to special not to put out there. (We have no financial interests in this BTW. Its just a sweet boat!).Scott & Starlet Johnson
Noworriesloop DOT gmail
Very reasonable asking price IMO, includes dinghy & outboard.
..
Finishing their Loop in NJ soon (in Georgia now). Great people.
This shows the typical charging profile of our Solar/Lithium DC power system on sunny days at anchor.
The loads discharge the system at night and usually by early afternoon the LiFePO4 (Lithium Oxide) batteries are back up to 100% SOC (state of charge).
The orange line shows the amperage “in” and “out” of the system.
The blue line is SOC.
It is noteworthy that the recharge rate with this type of battery chemistry is so fast. The other advantage is that it is OK to discharge these down to, say, 10% or so without shortening their longevity. Both are features that are advantageous over lead acid chemistry.
It is 12:42pm and I am a little surprised that we have not popped up to 100% SOC yet, on this sunny day. But, we have been running the microwave a bit more than usual.
.
This shows a snapshot of the solar controller status of the 3 aft PV (photo voltaic solar) panels. The “network total power” is the combined watts including a 4th PV panel that is up forward on its own solar controller.It looks like our LiFePO4 bank “popped” to 100% SOC around 3:30pm today. The forward PV panel has been in a shadow for a while now.
Last Laugh and Galene anchored with us, Brickhill River (north), Cumberland Island GA. .A nice flat area of good holding!We FINALLY got to see some of the wild horses that Cumberland Island is famous for! A pair was (were?!) feeding on grasses at the shoreline of this Brickhill River as we were navigating in. (Unfortunately, I did not have my long lens D-SLR camera close at hand).
((Triva: Evidently the noun pair can be followed by a singular OR plural verb! ref. American Heritage Dictionary))
I never knew that! Learn somethin’ new every day!
This app shows our swing on anchor with wind and current changes. It also wakes me up if there is any dragging off station.
We have 70 feet of chain in the water here, and the snubber has been deployed, as it was blowin’ hard yesterday and this morning.
It is where the ICW (north) meets the St Johns River.
We took refuge here with Galene because of high wind advisory and small craft warnings for today (4/3/2024)
There is a free dock here with city water, and flush toilet facilities. There is no shore power, but “Whadaya want fer nothin, your money back?!
Finally, the stormy day comes to an end. Gene and Patty’s Galene is directly in front of us. Noontime today, we were in the thick of it. On the right are several boats heading north on the ICW. On the left is the “free overnight dock” running perpendicular to the ICW.
About a dozen cruisers can stay here on the north face of the dock. There is also room on the inside / shore side of this dock for 2 (possibly more) boats out on the end.
...The “Facilities” at Sisters Creek, Jum King Park.Sunrise!
On our first day underway Monday April 1, we observed the alternator was not contributing to our boat’s system voltage underway.
With the alternator down, can also charge our main starting bank (3x G31 AGM) both from the generator OR from the sun / lithium bank. So I knew this alternator was something we had to fix, but it was not something that would hold us up… not imminently critical.
Monday night, on anchor at Blout Point, we were charging both battery banks with our generator. The dishes needed to be done, so I figured I’d turn on the water heater too. These are all on separate circuits and each have their own circuit breakers. There is also a main breaker on our distribution panel, and our experience is these breakers will operate as they should when an over-current condition exists.
Well, Monday night the generator failed. The symptoms were the GENERATOR’s own 70 amp circuit breaker tripped. Turning it back on did NOT work! So the preliminary diagnosis was, “The genset’s own breaker has failed.”
I determined that the accessibility (close quarters / confined space) made this project one that I could not handle. Dozens of calls were made to find someone who would service our 24 year old Kohler 6.5 kw generator that is obviously on our boat. No luck until I found Hinkley Yacht Services in Savannah GA. They said, “No problem! Bring it in next week.”
I explained to them that the diesel engine side of this system has been well maintained, and continues to work well. This electrical problem is simply something I needed their help with.
Then Gene asked me if he could have a look.
He has the same vintage Mainship 390 (m/v Galene) with the same generator. He also has more hands-on experience getting inside the electrical controls box atop these generators.
With some Sweat and Blood and Prayers, Gene found a wiringconductor failure right at the AC Breaker. The breaker itself tested fine.
Corrosion of the #6 or #8 copper wire made it unable to carry its full current capacity, so the wire overheated and failed right at the breaker.
The breaker did properly open to prevent a more disastrous end result. But the wire was toast, and resetting the breaker would not fix that problem.
Connector to the generator’s AC circuit breaker clearly show overheating. Another angle of the same connector shows some “green” copper due to corrosion after 24 years. Clearly corrosion reduces the conductor’s current carrying capacity.
So, with a replacement crimp connector from Galene’s ship’s store for this gauge wire, we were soon back in business, generating 120vac as needed.
Our battery banks were in good shape because of all the sun on Monday and Tuesday.
But, before this fix, being down to ONLY sunshine as a way to keep batteries up (BOTH the alternator + generator were down) made us feel VERY vulnerable.
In this way, Gene really came through for us right here at the free dock at Sister’s Creek ICW mm740!
Thank’s Gene! Next dinner out is certainly on us… but that’s not all.
Evidently the prayerful “deal” Gene made with The Almighty during this ordeal was that, God said to Gene, “If I help you make this work for Ray, he and Shelly have go worship at church with you and Patty at least once.”
Gene and Ray accepted the Good Lord’s terms, so “We truly have a deal to fulfill now!”
