Below is the newest major bridge to cross the Hudson River.
“New” Tappan Zee Bridge
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Reportedly “The only 360 degree protected anchorage on the Hudson River.” Arguable though, as there are a number of “creeks” one can anchor in.
This particular anchorage is just south of the Safe Harbor – Haverstraw Marina, west side of the river. We will stay here again!Our bathymetry coming in today with 1ft above MLLW. (Add 2 ft for transducer offset).Looking out to the Hudson from the inside.
Water is warm enough for a swim!
We’ve been paying for dockage for the past 10 nights. So, it was time to exercise the anchor again!
Radar & AIS blips all around us. NY Harbor.We first dropped anchor in behind Ellis Island, expecting to be in the lee of the southerly winds and sea we saw all day.Ellis Island Anchorage
But the wind shifted east and this famous island offered no protection.
SO, we came in around the corner and picked up a slip at Liberty Landing Marina.
Long Day – 46 miles today from Merrick NY – but now that we are up and “inside” the Hudson River, weather windows will be easier to negotiate. No big open water until Lake Ontario!
Weather / sea state was best today… so we had to take advantage!
No blog post of this harbor would be complete without a pic of Lady Liberty!The tide helped push us most of this day‘s route. 5 hours.
We have been watching reports of NYS Canal System O1 Lock being closed for the past week. O1 is Oswego Canal #1 in Phoenix NY.
Lock O1
The bridge and/or lock has been closed to all boat htraffic for a week or more. But the latest word is, “We are open to traffic.”
SO, our Plan A to head up the Hudson River to the Erie Canal, then take the right to go up the Oswego Canal to Lake Ontario is a “GO”. We leave Wednesday June 5 after celebrating our son’s 31st birthday on June 4.
Ultimate destination for Summer 2024 is the Trent Severn Waterway in Canada.
First, we have to thank Hal Goldschlag of Gemini who suggested a fantastic, safe, and easy route from our anchorage near East Rockaway NY to Blue Water YC in Merrick NY.
The charts offered many different route choices. However, there was *something* wrong with each of them. Hal used to run a commercial Towing service in these waters. So I asked him for his advice on, “Which choice was the best?”
Hal responded, “I’m going to suggest an altogether different route that avoids several of the pitfalls that you are trying to avoid!”
The very creative “hump” shown on our track above gets us around a very troublesome “Loop Parkway Bridge” with very narrow horizontal clearance and a current that makes the bridge structure come by and “smack” into you… unless you time it at slack tide. The problem with that is one needs to time other parts of the relatively short day’s route at high tide. (Both are very different times in the cycle).
This route also avoids the challenges of crossing by the head of “Jones Inlet” which is rarely docile.
This route enabled us to ignore the slack tide challenge and simply chose a time that worked for incoming WEATHER and some incoming high tide where we needed it!
Masterful HAL! Thanks.
Here is where we ended up.
… and where we’ll stay till the day after Nick’s 31st birthday on June 4.
Two restaurants are on the same property very close to our dock. .Shelly waves from the cockpit before she hoses things down.
Happy Memorial Day! Our ensign is a bit faded. Each year, I usually change our American flag and the US Union Jack for July 4.
Since I’ve already purchased and received the new flags, this annual task may make it on the to-do list today, or at least sooner than the 4th of July.
Shelly arranged for a slip close to civilization, (so she doesn’t have to walk far.)Nick & Dez enjoyed dinner aboard Shellerina with us Monday night!
It was SOOooo good to be hangin’ with these two young people again after months away.
Addendum
Here are the actual turns taken.
Bannister Creek (South)
Reynolds Channel (East)
… becomes Hempstead Bay / State Channel (East)
Under “Wreck Lead RR Bridge” 14ft vertical x 85ft VHF 13 opens on demand, (avoid weekday rush hours). LIRR
Under bascule bridge 20 vertical x 100 horizontal
LEFT on Sea Dog Creek – North- Green “SD3” ((Do not go straight under Loop Parkway Bridge w/narrow horizontal clearance. In current, this bridge will come by and whack you!))
Sea Dog Creek curves from North to the EAST.
Go straight across Long Creek (the North-South creek from Jones Inlet.)
“SD_” ATONs become “FB_” ATONs. (Sea Dog to Fundy Bay)
RIGHT (South) onto Swift Creek at Red-Green “FB”
Under bridge 20 vertical x 50 horizontal
Back to State Channel: go EAST around Green “SW1”
Under M3 Meadowbrook State Parkway 21vertical x 50horizontal aka Sloop Channel on the charts.
LEFT (North) Haunts Creek around Green “R1” this becomes Broad Creek Channel to the north.
Finally, take a LEFT at RED-GREEN “W” to Blue Water Yacht Club on Nick’s Point.
We have a short passage tomorrow from our Bannister Bay (Lawrence NY) anchorage to our Blue Water Marina (Merrick NY) slip for a week to see our son Nick and celebrate his 31st birthday.
Rain and fog are on their way.
But we see a window between systems where we can move the boat safely in a couple hours in-between starting at. 7:30 or 8:30am.
The high tides will also be favorable for the “skinny” parts of the move during this window.
Many thanks to Capt Hal of Gemini for giving us a very creative route thru Great South Bay’s crazy labyrinth of creeks for the safest, easiest track to follow when we start in a few hours. More to follow on that!!!
This is a compressor cycling on and off in the middle of the night. 120vac mode, using our inverter.
About 4 minutes of the compressor running to keep our food cold. About 4 more Amps draw on the Lithium battery system.
This 2nd fridge also runs on 12vdc; I just need to wire it up. We’ll see which is more efficient. Dometic tech support says it’ll be more efficient in 12 volt mode.
Stay tuned for more details!
12vdc OR 120vac
Addendum 6/4/2024:
As of Tuesday 5:15pm, this unit is now on DC power!
We’ll soon have some comparative power consumption details. New 12vdc and USB outlets at lower helm. AWG 10 wire and 10amp fuse circuit. Our son Nick helped fish the wire back to the Solar / Lithium bank.
Diesel at Capt Bills Landing is $3.73999999 IF you are a Boat US member (10 cents off the posted amount shown in the picture above). It *may* be the best price in the northeast, on the dock.
Dockage at Captain Bills Landing? New strong fixed docks / between pilings, with a 4.0 to 4.5 foot tide, no shore power or fresh water, with lots of man-made wake, and lots of mother nature’s currents. Bills is an ‘OK’ place to come into late and leave early. Single throne room was rough, not good enough for the Admiral aboard, (and only available during business hours.). Staff was very helpful and friendly.
Bottom Line:
In a harbor with few options to anchor, Bill’s might be the bargain better than nothin’.
Alternatively, go south a bit through the Point Pleasant Canal. A friend, Capt Troy from my home town near Boothbay Harbor, reported the Metedeconk River anchorage just south and west of the south end of the Point Pleasant Canal was a very nice anchorage for their northbound route on the inside this week from Atlantic City.
Metedeconk River is #5 on the WWG map below. (Very bottom of this image.)
Anchorage #5 got good reviews from Skipper Bob years ago, and from Capt Troy of Melody more recently (May 2024).
Troy skippers Melody. He and Linda & Brian aboard Destination all reported success taking the NJ ICW inside route to Manasquam Inlet from Atlantic City this past week (May 2024) so long as they timed it with the tides. Both boats have drafts of 3.5 to 4 feet.
As reported yesterday, we chose the outside from Atlantic City with a dozen or more PCs Friday.
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Of course, to get north from Manasquam, the outside is the only route. Below was our passage of choice, as our son and his GF live on Great South Bay GSB in Long Island. We love Bannister Bay in Lawrence as our next hop to and from GSB to head north or south.
Today 40 mi, 5-hour passage across Ambrose Channel with a view of Pilot transfers and the distant NYC skyline. Our sea state was excellent except for the final hour… taking white caps on the beam. It’s a good thing the rolling at Captain Bills Landing, in that busy port made “sleeping in” impossible. LOL So we got an early start!
Also, as reported yesterday, The on-site restaurant, Red’s Lobster Pot, is great. But make reservations!
We (and over a dozen other pleasure boats) picked the perfect weather window / day for the long outside passage along the NJ coast today.
Key points: two friends chose the inside route yesterday, from Atlantic City NJ to the Manasquan River, Both reported they succeeded without incident. One reported that they left Atlantic City 1 hour before high tide and they never saw less than 5 ft the whole way. Harmony & Destination were boats choosing the inside.
But several of us held out for what turned out to be a near perfect day on the outside.
“Days like this on the outside are few and often far between.”
The full moon sets in Rum Point Basin (Atlantic City) near time of sunrise. Shellerina followed Blue Barnicle most of the day today. Great sea state conditions.
We took on fuel and ice at Captain Bills Landing; we decided to stay here for the night after a cruise that started at 5:50am and went for 7.5 hours. The longest day this season for us. ((NJ doesn’t offer lots of good choices for transient cruisers.))
We met up with long time friends, and professional colleague Rich Holst and fam at this local establishment, Red’s Lobster Pot.Ray, Richard Holst the son, Rich the dad, Shelly and Stacy Holst (the moms / wives) enjoyed a fantastic meal on the Manasquan River. Sincerest thanks Rich & Stacy!
Special thanks to Katie for taking this pic for us all. She was a master of composition to have the M/V Shellerina in the background and worked to have radiant smiles on everyone’s face!
Shelly’s love for Soft Shell / long neck New England “steamers” was the primary culinary “entertainment”. Shelly has simply has not seen them on any menu in a couple years as we travel… and they are her fave!!! The menu indicated these clams were from Ipswich MA, very close to where she grew up.
Great food and great service. Thanks to servers Allison and Beth (and bus team) …for a job well done.
Linda & Brian of Destination dinghy’d by for a visit this morning. They are seasoned cruisers and Gold Loopers and offered some good advice for Shelly and I.
They are going to brave the inside NJ ICW right from here in Atlantic City … probably tomorrow morning at high tide. We are *thinking* of following them, but if not we will certainly be calling them later in the day to see how they faired.
Their vessel is larger than ours but draws near the same 3.5 feet.
They are yet another example of the great people we meet in our cruising and Looping… and they came prepared to exchange boater cards. We have our second 1000 waiting for us when we get to Long Island NY in a few days. (Vistaprint.com $50 for 1000 cards… lasted us about 3 years).
They have explored some places we are expected to get to ourselves. So, it was good to pay their fee for free advice! LOL
To the left is the large Farley State Marina at the Golden Nugget hotel and casino. To the right is Rum Point Basin anchorage. The wide Absecon Inlet is close-by towards the bottom of this image.
This basin does not look “inviting” on some chart sources showing 2.9 feet. But friends (Mac & Gene) told us that this Rum Point Basin to the right IS doable. Troy of Melody also said it was being dredged Fall 2022 so they could not try it out. Stay to the LEFT (grassy side) going in.
We came in 1 hour after low tide, (so nearly 12” of water above MLLW) we saw no less than 6.9 feet of water today around 2:30pm.
We dropped the hook in about 6.5 feet. We’ll certainly stay here again.
The red arrow is our position. Sunset in Rum Point Basin… the lights of Atlantic City NJ!.
Long day down the Delaware, yesterday, Saturday. (7+ hours underway). The actual NOAA buoy data for this Sunday afternoon looked a lot better than the forecast had predicted.
We use Windy and Predict Wind to augment “civilian” weather forecasts. But keeping an eye on REAL actual buoy observations can also shed some light on what is going on out there.
The chart above is from NOAA buoy # 44065 which is out to sea near the Ambrose Channel [entrance to NYC]. It is a valuable resource when setting up to head north from Cape May.
If I knew these conditions were the case for this Sunday afternoon, our “No Go” call may have been a “Go!” for the 43 mile trek to Atlantic City.
This shows the effects of tide and wind on our position anchored off the USCG Training Facility here in Cape May NJ for the past 24 hours. I find it odd that some mariners anchor too close off our bow from time to time. There are 20+ boats anchored here, yet there is room for many more. “Why anchor so close?!”
I sleep well trusting MY ground tackle. But please do not expect me to trust YOUR ground tackle anchoring right on top of where my anchor has been set! If I have to move, the situation is not safe if I have to come up close to your boat to weigh my anchor… especially in wind and CURRENT!
Sometimes I think it is Shellerina’s ‘magnetic personality’ that makes folks anchor so close to us! <wink>
New lighted mounting looks great!AGLCA Harbor Hosts and FRIENDS: Foster, Susan pictured here with me and Shellerina at Crabby Dicks restaurant in Delaware City. Really good food and service.We also met Diane and John at the ice cream stop next to Crabby Dicks.
I caught the tail end of Tim’s 4:00pm “briefing” about the Delaware River and Bay. The customers attending were VERY appreciative of Tim’s advice on a challenging passage that is different every time from Del City to points south. Weather and tides combine for this being different on any given day.
I’m not certain on what the charges were. But Gene definitely did not put up a fight. Perhaps they mistook Galene for OUR boat getting too close to the FS Key Bridge in Baltimore a few days ago ?!?!
Gene is very active as a USCG Auxiliary volunteer. So they let him park next to one of their assets.
“See ya in the fall, Patty and Gene!”
Have fun up north! It was great buddy boating with you for most of April.
..Middle River MD. This is a huge marina. The main fuel dock is almost 1/4 mile long. Its certainly that far to walk to the office etc. Shower / Bath house is very clean. The code for the men’s room is 123. They know women are smarter, so they get a more complex code than that. Wind picked up in the afternoon. It was good to get an early start.
Francis Scott Key Bridge – Baltimore – May 13, 2024...I guess we were “right on the line” at about 1.1 miles from the accident site. So we were intercepted by these fine gentlemen. They were professional and friendly to get their job done. Shelly smoozed them, like only she can do.CNN reports that they may be using explosives on the damaged bridge structure to free up the freighter this afternoon.
Below: Controlled use of explosives to clear the bridge from the bow of m/v DALI container ship.
Locals: Brendan, Thomas, and Ariel enhance this downtown pic of the City Docks in Annapolis Maryland.
FYI:
There is a difference between the “Annapolis City Docks” (black piling covers) as shown above. Then there are the “Annapolis Town Docks” (white piling covers). Both are great, and right in the downtown “village”.
The city docks are managed by the city. The town docks are managed by a private entity. So where and how you make reservations determines where you end up. Both are great and “close to the action.”
I caught a romantic couple smoochin’ by the Town Dock [white] pilings astern of us. They are Aurelie & Alain from Bordeaux France. But, they have lived in Maryland for about four years. ((Note the yellow rose; nice touch Alain!))
Both also had umbrellas in-hand for today’s topsy-turvy weather.
So, get good directions when making your reservations, so you don’t have to move your boat after you’ve secured (and have had a cocktail or two).
(Rates are identical as of this writing.)
Cannot get much closer to town than this!One of my favorite “touchable” interactive monuments is this one with Alex Haley of ROOTS fame. Shellerina in the background. Girl feeding the mallards. Shellerina is in the background..Choptank restaurant – reservations for two – 2-1/2 hour wait!? But it was worth the wait. (We didn’t have far to drive once our table was ready.)
Fortunately, much to my surprise, dockage was a lot easier to secure a reservation for down here in the village. Notice the dockage vacancies on this Sunday in May in all the pics above.
It is common to see cadets from the US Naval Academy in full dress uniform walking around Annapolis village. None were seen today… perhaps they are all visiting their moms for Mother’s Day!
Quite a town to visit to be sure!
AN D: Washington DC is only 10 minutes away!!! But, UBER & LYFT appear to be gouging customers for over $50 each way. SO, we will have to ask an AGLCA Harbor Host for some advice!!! (Next visit).
Click on the video above to see the approach and surroundings of this small but protected anchorage in Chesapeake Beach MD. .
There really is only room for one in this anchorage marked on both Navionics and Aquamap.
There was 8+ feet of water all the way in, (mid tide coming.)
Only 10ft of vertical clearance for this fixed span nearby up-river from this anchorage. USS Devil Ray (88ft) home port. Its primary mission is to retrieve torpedoes and other ordinance used in US Navy training exercises in these waters.
The channel is well marked with both day markers and illuminated beacons.
In addition to the USS Devil Ray, there are plenty of good sized boats housed in here.
It has been years since Shelly and I have been this impressed with a culinary composition as we were served this evening.
It was SOOooo good!
We highly recommend CD Cafe in Solomons for your dining in this part of the Chesapeake. Our choices:
Thai Duck Curry Soup. Bangkok Scallops. Shrimp stir fried vegetables, fire roasted fuji apple, coconut pannang curry sauce, jasmine rice. Pan Seared Beef Tenderloin Fillet. Sun-dried cranberry pancetta, red wine bordelaise, smoked white cheddar mashed potatoes, blue cheese mouse, pickled fennel and shallots.
We also split a crabcake… we are on the Chesapeake in Maryland, afterall!
Everything was excellent.
Our server was “Holly”. The CD Cafe name was named after the founders’ initials of this local establishment. Today, the new owner and executive chef is Claarissa Meinhardt, who was the chef working for the founders who first opened this restaurant in 1996.
Masterful. But not “stuffy”.
e.g. Loopers & Cruisers can show up in their typical garb and not feel out of place.
Shelly and I are confident you will totally enjoy your meal.
We had no problem getting in on a Thursday night in May. Reservations may be a good idea during peak season, or weekends.
$116 before taxes and tip including a bottle of the house red wine. Total under $150. Not out of line for a special night of fine dining, once in a while. Buy your diesel fuel at AYB so you can treat yourselves to this special place. <wink>
Smith Creek at 7:20am, just as we were preparing to weigh anchor..Sea state was flat dead calm!Sea state and WX pic from the stern CAM.Solomons Island – a very popular stop for cruisers transiting Chesapeake Bay. It is off the lower Patuxent River. Bottom to top: Albermarle Sound, Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay, Cape May in southern New Jersey. We are making progress to visit our son, Nick, and is GF Desire on the south shore of Long Island NY!!!
Most moderately sized cruisers use the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays (and the C&D Canal that joins them to the north because there are not many good ports and anchorages on the outside route. Larger, faster cruisers will often opt for the more direct outside route.
Our passage today crossed the VA – MD state line (above in black). We also passed west of the famous Tangier Island in the approximate middle of Chesapeake Sound.
The island is famous for a unique dialect spoken by the locals, and the island’s geology is causing it to gradually sink. Some parts of the island are no longer inhabitable. Sea level rise isn’t helping matters.
Where is Smith Creek? Off lower Potomac River. A well-located stop.
West side of entrance to Indian Creek, Kilmarnock.
Took on fuel, water, and ice at Chesapeake Boat Basin near this favorite anchorage of ours on the west side of the Chesapeake. Ray *almost* went for a swim as the seawater was close to 70°F and it was muggy. The afternoon rain predicted never materialized, and the WX Radar is clear at this hour, as seen below.
This morning *leaving* Horn Harbor was a lot more relaxing, as our chart plotter had its own bathymetry from yesterday, plus we had an extra 12” of water beneath us, having timed the exit at high tide.
The sea state on the Chesapeake was flat dead calm today! A bit of fog/haze, but nothing alarming. Cloud cover varied for the whole passage from thin to full overcast and back to thin again. Temps were comfortable all day. Perhaps too muggy once secured in the anchorage. Blue skies came thru for 50% of the sky late in the afternoon.
We tried out two new places this week, north of Norfolk. The mission was to fit in some ‘short hops between rain drops!‘
Mill Creek anchorage on the way out of Norfolk VA.
Mill Creek is a handy stop to get out of the busy port of Norfolk, setting one up for a clean exit to the north when the time is right. We will stay there again… there several other cruisers who selected that anchorage with us last night. Even with the marked cable areas in this anchorage there is room for a dozen or more. The large marina there looked like their docks were aging. But there is a breakwater to reduce the roll. We found it to be 100% acceptable out in the anchorage. We saw two couples dinghy-ing into town, but didn’t try that out.
Red triangle is our position tonight at HORN HARBOR, where we landed after Mill Creek near Norfolk.
Mobjack Bay is on the SE end of Chesapeake Bay. Horn Harbor is just north of that.
The Zig-Zag entrance to Horn Harbor from west side of the Chesapeake is well marked.Lots of ATONs mark the zig zag channel into Horn Harbor.
This lesser-known (or lesser heralded) stop called “Horn Harbor” is a convenient 31 sm from Mill Creek. And it is right on our way north! NOT a long side trip from the ICW, which we like.
We arrived with about half tide going out (0.9 to 1 ft above MLLW). “Can’t be scared!” … was our thinking.
We read all the mixed reviews and decided we had to evaluate this one first hand.
The shallowest depth that Shelly read off to me was 5.6 ft. Most of the entrance was 6-7 feet. The channel was well marked, and the popular e-charts gave an accurate picture of what we signed up for to make this harbor.
Several residences line the harbor.
We dropped the hook between R 18 and G 19 not too far from the marina. We were glad to see a variety of boats in that marina that probably had a similar draft to us, or even more, as there were a few “rag hangers” in there.
I have not dinghy-ed in to make myself known to the marina yet. But I may. It’s only 2:00pm as I write this.
All in all, Horn Harbor absolutely makes our “will return” list because it is right on the way and well protected. We’ll probably choose an arrival and departure closer to high tide though “just because!”
A submarine doing about 20.5 mph overtook us outside of the harbor in Norfolk VA. .Here is another noteworthy vessel that was in Norfolk with us this past week. Reportedly, because of the FS Key Bridge mishap, this cruise ship had to re-route thru Norfolk.
First we saw Kenny and Rhonda of Nine Lives at Atlantic Yacht Basin (AYB) in Great Bridge VA. ($3.50 gallon diesel!)
We were all out of film. So no pics of Nine Lives crew, sorry to say. Their boat in on the hard for a few months as they RV north to Montana etc! I suspect they’ll be back before the snow flies…
Troy and Sandi Hersom of Edgecomb Maine (AGLCA Harbor Hosts!) passed thru the Great Bridge Lock with us aboard Melody. They stayed at Tidewater Marina in Portsmouth / Norfolk Harbor VA. SO, we had dinner together last evening. Their vessel was built on the Pacific west coast. Very nice. Trip to Europe (by air) is part of their summer plans. Troy helped Shelly with her lines upon our departure today. THANKS TROY!
I chin-wagged with Brian Shultz of Tiger Paw for 30 minutes or so. He is attending his first AGLCA Rendezvous this week at Waterside in Norfolk. Those are great Looper networking events. We have a busy summer float plan, so we will not be attending the AGLCA festivities.
Tiger Paw’s home marina is Wacca Wache, hailing port Awendaw SC. His boat (another MS390 like ours) is impeccable! Very well cared for.
Last but not least, Ray got to see Mimi and Mike of Islena at Tidewater. This blog post details how they came to our rescue a couple years ago. https://shellerina.com/2021/09/12/log-a-diles/
The night before the log-anchor incident we accepted their hospitality aboard Islena with Mac & Deb of Janthina.
Lots of open water today, about 40+ miles! Flat dead calm!!! Gotta love that!
We decided to keep going to Coinjock ICW mm 50.0.
It was a 55.5 mile day for us.
This marina is known for the restaurant on-site and its prime rib. However, other cuts are also expertly prepared, such as the filet mignon, as shown below.
M/V Melody friends from Edgecomb Maine anchored nearby. I wish I could take credit for my anchoring spot, at just the right angle for these sunset pics! ...Quite an amazing next morning too!...
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.