Day 279

On Wednesday morning, 06/16/21, we gingerly left our very narrow slip at Spring Cove Marina on Solomons Island at 7:45 am. The waters on the Patuxent River were smooth as we headed back out into the Chesapeake Bay. The weather could not have been better – low humidity, bright sunshine, and light breezes. Heavenly! As we cruised along, Steve received a random message on Nebo from the captain of a boat back at Spring Cove Marina saying they really admired our boat. How cool is that?

As we headed northeast up the Chesapeake, we passed Chesapeake Ranch Estates Drum Point, and then Calvert Cliffs State Park, both to our west. Soon, Taylor’s Island was to our east, as the bay narrows considerably through this area, but widens out again to the north. At that point, we were riding 1-2 foot waves and Steve announced that the winds were already higher than forecast, at 12-15 knots. Oh, JOY…

We passed the Cove Point Lighthouse, on the northern end of Solomons Island, and soon passed the large and quite ugly Dominion Cove Point LNG terminal off of Cove Point Hollow, near Lusby, MD. The scenery around us went from beautiful to industrial, as we encountered more and more LNG refinery buildings and equipment to our east, near Calvert Beach, Long Beach, St. Leonard, and Governor Run, MD.

Due to shallow depths closer to shore, we had to cruise way out in the bay again, which put us too far out for decent pictures. So instead, I entertained myself by attempting to maneuver around the flybridge without falling down; bouncing, stumbling, and grabbing for handholds the entire time, trying to stay upright. 🙂 (Have I mentioned that its basically impossible for a girl to maintain any sense of dignity when trying to get around on a boat that’s underway?)

We actually crossed the Chesapeake Bay that morning, from the west coast to the east coast, in our quest for St. Michael’s, MD. Luckily, we were cruising right into the wind during this time, so the occasional 3-foot rollers we encountered didn’t jar us too much. We could see Tilghman Island, Sherwood, and Poplar Island to our northeast as we crossed the bay. Our course would carry us north of those places and eastward, past Whitman, McDaniel, and Claiborne, MD, into Eastern Bay, before we headed back south a short ways into St. Michael’s.

Around 11 am, the winds calmed and waters smoothed-out to waves of less than 1 foot, which made for more pleasant cruising. Far up in the distance northward, we could see a teensy bridge and some tiny buildings that Steve said were the skyline of Annapolis, MD, where we were headed the day after tomorrow. After rounding Tilghman Point, we left Eastern Bay and headed south into the Miles River, toward St. Michael’s Harbour Inn and Marina. We encountered many pleasure boats in the bay and now in the Miles River, and figured they most likely belonged to people playing hooky from work on that incredibly gorgeous weather day! 🙂

We arrived at St. Michael’s Marina at 1:45 pm, where they tied us up on a transient wall with our stern facing the harbor. We were positioned on the very end of the wall, with an unobstructed view. 🙂 Although I’m sure the gorgeous weather had much to do with it, at first glance, we fell in love with St. Michael’s, MD!

After settling in and showering off, we walked up the hill into historic downtown St. Michael’s to a highly-reviewed restaurant called Awful Arthur’s Seafood Company for an early dinner. It was a lovely restaurant on the first floor of a renovated old St. Michael’s house that had originally been constructed in 1850. We dined outside, since the weather was so wonderful and talked about what a pretty place St. Michael’s is, and how glad we were that Steve had designated it as one of our stops.

Position: N 38° 47.141, W 76° 13.211

Distance traveled:  56 SM

Total distance traveled: 3919 SM

Total marina nights: 255

Total nights at anchor: 23

Locks today: 0

Locks Total:  28

Day 278

After a less than peaceful night in our Deltaville anchorage (reports of this anchorage being protected and still were not entirely true for us), with some overnight rocking and rolling, we pulled anchor at 6:50 am on Tuesday morning, 06/15/21, bound for tonight’s destination of Spring Cove Marina in Johnstown, MD, on Solomons Island. We had to leave with a muddy anchor in the bowsprit, as the boat’s wash-down pump had apparently called it quits..(?). Steve tried to investigate but found repairing it would require a professional. (Shocker! :() So we added the wash-down pump to our growing list of needed repairs, which also included a broken water-maker (that’s right, it stopped working again), a broken ice-maker (needs to be replaced), and a broken port stabilizer pin. The hits just kept on coming! On a positive note, at least the waters in the Chesapeake Bay were very smooth and the breeze was light, which made for pleasant cruising!

Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before the winds began to increase, as we continued northward on the Chesapeake. The wave heights were less than 1-foot, but we were quartering the wind, so our ride felt like we were riding a low-energy bucking bronco. At 8 am, as we passed the mouth of the Rappahannock River where it empties into the Chesapeake Bay, the wave heights rose to 2-feet with some white-capping now visible. Our ride was still not too bad, with our one working stabilizer activated. Again, we were both in total awe of the incredible massiveness of the Chesapeake!

As we continued out into the big waters of the Chesapeake Bay, we passed Westland, Foxwells, Fleets Bay, and Byrdton, VA, to our west. Unfortunately, we were way too far out into the bay for me to get any decent pictures. 🙁 We passed Ditchley and Sandy Point to our west, and Tangier Island was to our east. Once we reached Smith Island to our east, we were on the same latitude as the mouth of the Potomac River, where it dumps into the bay. We passed Reedville, and Ophelia, VA, where the southern edge of the mouth of the Potomac actually begins. We had originally planned to cruise up the Potomac River for a short distance, just to say we had, but we’re still making up time, so will hopefully catch it on the way back down in the fall. (The list of places we’re going to catch on the way back down is growing!)

As we started crossing the actual mouth of the Potomac River, we passed from Virginia into Maryland, as the Potomac River marks the boundary between the two. As we had anticipated, the wave heights grew to 3-feet in height and the winds were now up to 14 knots. Exciting, but manageable. Something we’d never actually known, until we were right there in it, the Potomac River is huge at its mouth – 30 miles wide, in fact! It narrows considerably farther inland, but we could see for ourselves why it has such a dramatic effect on the waters in the Chesapeake, where the two formidable waterways meet.

After a time, we reached the northern side of the Potomac River, but not without riding some 4-foot high waves, which is plenty for us! We both thanked our lucky stars that we’d not encountered this intersection in higher winds, or God forbid – stormy conditions! 😐 Again, it was Steve’s expert weather-planning that ensured our crossing was made in such calm conditions. The farther north we progressed from the mouth of the Potomac, the calmer the waters became, as we passed Scotland, Ridge, and St. James, MD, to our east.

Heading toward today’s destination, we began following the Patuxent River northwest off of the Chesapeake Bay toward Solomons Island, into Johnstown, MD, where we had reservations to stay at Spring Cove Marina.

We arrived at Spring Cove Marina at 2:30 pm, where we learned our slip was on brand new docks, but was one of the narrowest we’d encountered so far. Still, with some direction from me, Steve reversed Legacy right into that slip like a professional! Just as I was throwing our lines to the dock-hands, I heard someone calling my name, and looked up to see Scott and Ruby Stevens (and Bitsy), on Nautical Dreamer, where it was tied at the end of an adjacent T-dock! They were there to have their boat hauled-out for the rest of the summer, while they headed back to their home in Washington state until next winter, when they’ll return to Spring Cove Marina, have Dreamer splashed again, and head down the east coat to Stock Island Village Marina in Key West again for the winter. We should see them there!

After settling in and showering, on the Stevens’ recommendation, we walked six tenths of a mile into historic Solomons Island for dinner at the CD Cafe. (We’d asked the Stevens to join us, but they were in the middle of offloading their belongings from their boat into their rental car for their drive back home.) Both of our entrees at CD were exquisite, and we even shared a dessert, which was Bailey’s Irish Cream Creme Brulee. YUM!!

As we strolled back to the marina, we both commented that we found Solomons Island very pretty and would probably plan to stop there again on our way south and stay for more than one night.

Position: N 38° 20.068, W 76° 27.688

Distance traveled:  65 SM

Total distance traveled: 3863 SM

Total marina nights: 254

Total nights at anchor: 23

Locks today: 0

Locks Total:  28

Day 277

We left our slip at Waterside Marina on Monday morning, 06/14/21, and motored over to the dock outside the marina office for a pump-out before we headed up river. We idled out front until the office opened for the morning. Bless the dock-master’s heart, nothing is worse than arriving at work first thing on a Monday morning and having customers waiting for you before you’ve even poured your first cup of coffee! 🙁 I apologized profusely to the young man, as I remember from my working years of just how much I hated that very thing. Steve tipped him extra for his help, as we left Waterside Marina at 8:00 am.

We cruised northward on up the Elizabeth River, out of Norfolk, past the Virginia Port Authority and the Norfolk International Terminals, where overseas shipments are received and processed, and on toward the Norfolk Naval Station. There were a myriad of shipping and port buildings with their respective loading and unloading equipment to our east, but I couldn’t get any good pictures, due to the early morning’s sun angle. As we progressed, I realized I’d only THOUGHT that Mobile, AL, was a large port city, because it is dwarfed by the Virginia Port Authority between Norfolk and Hampton, VA!

Interstate 64 actually passes UNDERNEATH the water for half its expanse on the Hampton side, via a loooong tunnel called the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel, until it surfaces and then spans the other half of the waterway via a looong, low bridge on the Norfolk side. For a short period of our cruise, we were actually floating ABOVE I-64! I tried to imagine how it would feel to be driving through that tunnel, deep underneath all that water, and for the tunnel to suddenly implode before my car could get to the other side… 😐 (Steve is always saying I’m pessimistic by nature. Wonder where he gets that idea..?) As we crossed I-64, we traveled just south of the Fort Monroe National Monument to our port, but I was so enthralled as Legacy crossed over the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel, that I completely failed to get a picture of that monument! D’OH!

Just north of I-64, the Elizabeth River becomes the Chesapeake Bay. For the very first time, we were officially cruising on the CHESAPEAKE BAY! 🙂 The water was smooth, with less than 1-foot waves, so we experienced minimal bumping or rocking as we “raced” along at our whopping speed of 10 mph… The Chesapeake is so vast, it looked as if we were heading straight out into the Atlantic Ocean, as there was no land whatsoever visible in front of us, only behind us. We’d heard some scary crossing stories about this huge body of water; how rough and dangerous it can be on windier days. Luckily (and thanks to Steve’s impeccable weather-planning skills), our wind that morning was 5 knots or less, which is what we wanted! We crossed our fingers that wind speed didn’t increase as the day wore on.

As we passed Hampton proper to our port, there was no land visible off of our starboard bow, as far as the eye could see. Only water, water, and more water. Steve purposely cruised Legacy quite a distance out from the land on our port side, to avoid charted shoaling areas that might become dangerously shallow. We passed Buckroe Beach, VA, and Grandview Nature Reserve, both to our west, as the Atlantic Ocean loomed to our east. A bit further up the coast, Newport News, VA, was inland and directly to our west.

As we moved closer to the the ship-channel, some HUGE ships headed toward us. Rather than cross paths within close proximity of each other, Skipper wisely chose to slow Legacy way down and let a mammoth war ship cross well in front of us. Even though we were easily several miles away from the ship, we still had ‘fun’ dealing with its incredible wake, once it eventually reached us. (Shades of our earlier, less than ideal experience with the US Coast Guard’s wake down on the east coast of Florida…! 😐 ) The shipping channel that day proved to be very busy. We were passed by huge barges, freighters, and container ships as we continued slowly northward. Even miles away from us, they were intimidating, but at least their presence helped us to feel less lonely out in that immense body of water.

We soon passed east of Poquoson, Seaford, and Achilles, VA, before reaching the mouth of the Mobjack Bay. As is maritime law, we always have our radio turned on and tuned to hailing channel 16, any time Legacy is underway. About 12:30 pm, we heard a distress call to the US Coast Guard from a boater who had just witnessed a PLANE crash into the Chesepeake Bay, about 100 yards in front of him! Wait…WHAT?! The boat’s captain proceeded to the crash site, where he and his crew climbed aboard the downed plane before it sank, and rescued the two survivors! HOLY CRAP! Were we on a reality TV show?? The Coast Guard responded they were enroute to the positional coordinates given them by the captain of the boat. They also obtained the captain’s cell phone number so that they could call and talk with him privately and directly. We could not see this boat or plane anywhere, but we did see a helicopter cruising rapidly through the air to our south, heading toward the west, but we had no idea if it was in connection with the incident we’d just overheard on the radio or not. (Had we been about twenty years younger, we probably would’ve noted those coordinates given by the boater, and pointed Legacy toward them to go see what we could see. But we are no longer those people… LOL!)

We passed by Bavon, New Point, and Winter Harbor Haven, VA, on one side of the bay, at the same time we passed Port Haywood, Mathews, and Hudgins, VA, on the other side. Eventually we passed Gwynn Island, where we turned westward and headed back in behind and south of Deltaville, VA, where that night’s anchorage was located. An area reputed to be well-protected and peaceful. We noticed some very large homes along the east coast of Gwynn Island, but were cruising too far out to get any good pictures.

As we approached our anchorage, we found ourselves cruising on the Piankatank River toward Deltaville, which is a very scenic area, surrounded by small marinas just outside of tiny, coastal villages. We were close enough to the shores now that I got some great pictures of several lovely waterfront homes. We dropped our anchor around 2 pm within sight of some other boats that were already anchored there, but were careful to keep a safe (and respectable) distance between us and those boats. Once we were settled, I took advantage of the bright sun and cooler temperatures, by spreading some cushions out on Legacy’s bow to do some sun-bathing. Ah…. what a life! (Of course, after lying there for almost an hour, I thought I might have to call Steve to come and help me get back up! Sun-bathing in my early sixties is a bit harder than sun-bathing in my late teens and early twenties…)

After enjoying evening cocktails up in the flybridge, we cooked dinner onboard. As with every evening, once the sun sets, we close our curtains, as Legacy’s salon becomes a veritable fish-bowl when all opened and lit up after dark. We continued binge-watching our current Amazon Prime series online, as Verizon provided us with just barely enough cellular signal to successfully do so.

Position: N 37° 32.745, W 76° 19.810

Distance traveled:  57 SM

Total distance traveled: 3798 SM

Total marina nights: 253

Total nights at anchor: 23

Locks today: 0

Locks Total:  28

Day 274 – 276

After our big day yesterday, we lazed around on Friday morning, 06/12/21, and didn’t leave the boat until lunch time. We had more cloudy, dreary-looking weather in Norfolk, which sure does drain the color out of the surrounding scenery. 🙁 We walked into downtown Norfolk, to lunch at Hell’s Kitchen, upon the McKinleys’ recommendation. It was an interesting place with good food. (One of the best flatbread pizzas I’d eaten in awhile!)

After lunch, we walked over to the Nauticus Museum, which is also the home of the massive USS Wisconsin Battleship. The clouds parted, the sun came out, and promptly turned downtown Norfolk into a sauna! We had a super hot and humid tour of the battleship, and took cover from the heat inside the Nauticus Museum.

After our tour, we stopped in at the bar in the Norfolk Waterside District for some afternoon libations, and then headed back to Legacy. That evening, we walked up to the Blue Moon TapHouse, directly adjacent to our boat, for dinner. On our way, we ran into Pam and Mike Sammons, aboard Sea C Rider, who we’d met down on Marathon Key at Marlin Bay Resort and Marina. We invited them to join us for dinner, but they had already eaten and were out exploring on their bicycles. I hoped we might all get together for dinner that Saturday night, but they weren’t planning to stay in Norfolk as long as we were.

Despite the continuing rain on Saturday, 06/12/21, Cathy and Scott McKinley graciously drove me to the grocery store and back, which was extremely helpful of them. When we returned, Steve met us out on the street with our little blue cart so we could carry all my groceries back to the boat in one trip. Later that evening, my hopes were realized when Pam and Mike Sammons decided to stay another day in Norfolk, so the four of us walked to the fancy Saltine restaurant for drinks and dinner. We had a great time trading boat-stories and joking about the never-ending adventures of full-time living on the water. It felt good to laugh so much! Hanging out with fellow boat people always provides plenty of levity.

On Sunday, 06/13/21, I finally got my wish and the glorious SUN came out! A front passed through overnight and left us with bright blue, sunny skies and low humidity, and we discovered that Norfolk is beautiful bathed in gleaming sunlight. 🙂 Steve and I walked into town to the Brick Anchor Brewhouse to meet the McKinleys for a farewell brunch, which was delicious. We thanked them profusely for the wonderful hospitality they showed us there in Norfolk during our stay. They could be AGLCA Harbor Hosts! 🙂 Since the weather was so spectacular, they recommended we walk to the Pagoda and through its surrounding gardens on our way back to the marina, so I could get a plant fix. We followed their advice and found the prettiest little park, right there in downtown Norfolk, and adjacent to the looming USS Wisconsin. Steve headed back to the boat while I lingered, taking advantage of the sunshine, and walking around downtown snapping picture after picture.

Position: N 36° 50.640, W 76° 17.517

Distance traveled:  48 SM

Total distance traveled: 3741 SM

Total marina nights: 253

Total nights at anchor: 22

Day 273

Legacy got an early start on Thursday morning, 06/10/21, when we left our tie-up on the transient wall at Coinjock Marina, in Coinjock, NC, at 6:45 am. We continued northward, up the narrow North Carolina Cut, on our way to Waterside Marina in Norfolk, VA, where we planned to spend the next several days. The weather was cloudy and comfortable, with a strong chance of rain for this afternoon. Leaving so early was our attempt to reach our destination before those storms materialized.

As we first cruised along, the waters started out glassy smooth, and the sun just coming up over the river was splendid, even if mostly shrouded in clouds. As our waterway widened, it became less protected, which meant we could feel the wind picking up, and roughening the waters to a light chop. We were back on the North River, and where it widens is called Coinjock Bay. We headed northeast into the Currituck Sound, which is in the Currituck National Wildlife Refuge. We passed Barco, Maple, and Currituck, NC, before passing Bell Island, NC, to our west.

As we traveled the North Landing River, and crossed the state line between North Carolina and Virginia, it dawned on us that this was Steve’s very first time ever in Virginia, and my first time in approximately 49 years. 🙂 We discovered that this portion of southern Virginia is appears sparsely populated, as we continued along the North Landing River. As we entered into the North Landing River Natural Area Preserve, we passed underneath the Pungo Ferry Road Bridge, and into Princess Anne Wildlife Refuge to our east.

Even though we’ve seen marshlands continuously all the way up from northern Florida, we both thought the marshlands through this area were especially scenic. Cypress trees and Spartina grass abound! We passed osprey nest after osprey nest sitting atop channel marker pilings, all along the river. Every nest had at least one adult osprey perched on it. It amazed me how closely we could cruise by them without spooking them.

Midway through the morning, Legacy was buzzed by multiple antique-looking planes that we think were WWII era fighter jets. Some of them were performing aerobatics as they flew above us. When I checked Google Maps, I saw that the Military Aviation Museum is just northeast of where we were cruising, which explained the presence of those planes. We arrived at the North Landing swing-bridge just in time for its scheduled opening time of 10 AM. The bridge-master operating that swing-bridge sounded grumpy when we checked-in with him on the radio; like he’d not gotten enough coffee that morning!

We headed westward on the man-made canal that connects the North Landing River to the Elizabeth River, southeast of Chesepeake, Virginia, and waited again at the Centerville Turnpike swing-bridge, scheduled to open at 10:30 am. Next came the Great Bridge Lock, which boasts a whopping 2-foot drop in water level. Going through this lock, we had to wrap a line at Legacy’s bow, and another line at her stern, while traversing this lock. This lock’s tie-cleats were located on top of the lock wall, which put them about 10-feet away from the side of our boat. I got to lasso both cleats, which was quite the feat indeed. The cleat next to our stern was fairly easy to loop, but the one up by the bow was a different story, taking me about 8 different tries to finally execute. UGH!

Through the Great Bridge lock and afterward, we cruised for a time with famed delivery captain, Randy Register, with whom Steve is friends on social media. He was also traveling northward, making a delivery of a trawler named Aperture, and had the boat’s owner onboard with him. Steve and Randy checked-in with each other on the radio and Randy even got some pics of Legacy underway, that he posted on The Great Loop Facebook page later that day.

As with pretty much everywhere, we saw lots of large waterfront homes on the Elizabeth River, as we approached the city of Chesepeake, VA. Just up from those houses, we passed underneath the US Highway 64 bridge and entered into a very industrial part of Chesepeake. The shores here were lined with barges, container ships, and related equipment. No more houses for awhile! What started out a pretty, scenic cruise, turned a bit ugly (in my opinion) with all the commercial shipping structures and vessels everywhere.

We cruised through Chesapeake, Portsmouth, and then into Norfolk, VA. As we approached the famous Norfolk Southern Railway Bridge, on the Elizabeth River, at the southern end of Norfolk, we saw that it was closed at its clearance of no more than 10-feet above the water. We’d heard previous boats ahead of us calling on the radio for the bridge-master to please raise the bridge for waterway pass-through, but the bridge-master stated loudly that a train was on its way, so the bridge would have to remain closed until after the train had come through. After several minutes, a group of northbound boats had accumulated there on the south side of the railroad bridge, waiting for the train (which was nowhere to be seen or heard) to cross over the river. Steve already knew, but it took awhile for it to dawn on me that this bridge-master was not physically housed right there at the bridge, as with most bridge-masters. This bridge is operated remotely by someone in an entirely different location. All of our boats idled in place for more than 20 minutes watching the railroad bridge for what turned out to be a ghost train, as we never saw one the entire time. We were all becoming frustrated, until Randy Register hailed the bridge-operator on the radio again, requesting status. He did not receive response, but after about 10 more minutes, a loud, automated announcement blasted-out, and the bridge slowly began to open. HALLELUJAH! As we were all cheering, Steve reminded me that this bridge was famous for doing this very thing – regularly, delaying the passage of countless Elizabeth River water vessels. Legacy could now go into the record books as being one of those delayed vessels! We never did figure out what the problem was (perhaps these delays are just for sport), but its a good thing we all got through the opening rapidly, because just as soon as we did, there was another loud announcement that the bridge was closing, and that’s exactly what it did! I’m sure there were cameras mounted strategically to assist the remote operation of this bridge, but it seemed to me that no one was actually watching those cameras…(?!) 😐

The closer we got to Norfolk, the more immense and intimidating the military ships surrounding us became; right there in the Elizabeth River, along with monstrous tankers and container ships. Right in the middle of all these, Waterside Marina is located where all the action is in downtown Norfolk, which we found to be an ideal location. We actually arrived Waterside at 1 PM. The further north we’d come up the river, the prettier it got as we came into downtown Norfolk, VA. We were assigned a primo slip in one of the best parts of the marina. (One that we were later told goes for $500/night during city festivals and on holiday weekends. We’ll take it!) Legacy was tied right in front of the Blue Moon TapHouse, where a band plays live music on Friday nights.

Some of our friends we’d met down at Stock Island Marina Village, Cathy and Scott McKinley (aboard Andante), reside right there in Norfolk, very close to Waterside Marina. As instructed, I texted Cathy when we arrived, and she and Scott rode their bicycles from their condo over to our slip to welcome us to Norfolk. It was great to see them again, Scott helped us tie-up, and Cathy gifted us with a bag of delicious, gourmet cookies. 🙂

At 5:30 pm, the McKinleys returned to the marina in their car to chauffeur us to Omar’s Carriage House for dinner. The original plan had been to walk to the restaurant, but of course a heavy downpour hit the downtown area exactly at 5:30, so we were glad they’d decided to drive their car at the last minute. We all enjoyed a fun evening of drinks and dinner, funny boat stories and companionship. After dinner, we visited the McKinleys’ lovely condo we’d heard so much about, where it’s located right beside the private marina that houses their trawler, Andante, when she’s in home port.

Thursday, 06/10/21, turned out to be long and action-packed, so we both slept really well that night.

Position: N 36° 50.640, W 76° 17.517

Distance traveled:  48 SM

Total distance traveled: 3741 SM

Total marina nights: 250

Total nights at anchor: 22

Locks today: 1

Locks Total:  28

Day 272

Since Wednesday, 06/09/21, would be a shorter travel day, Legacy didn’t leave the transient wall at Alligator River Marina until 8:00 am, heading northward toward the famous Albemarle Sound, that opens directly into the Atlantic Ocean. The Albemarle Sound is large enough to become dicey, if crossing in windy or stormy weather. Thanks to the amazing weather-watching efforts of Captain Steve, our conditions that day were perfect. No wind was great for a smooth crossing, but also meant heat and humidity, with the promise of storms that afternoon. Our full intent was to make it across that humongous sound and into protected waters before those storms started popping up.

When crossing a sound as large as the Albemarle, the water is so big and wide, you can barely see any kind of shoreline, which always gives me that “lost at sea” feeling. Following the channel correctly, we would travel 20 miles in what felt like the absolute middle of the ocean. The only thing that kept us knowing we were not far out to sea, was the presence of many crab-pots for Steve to “cheerfully” dodge for most of the way. UGH! About halfway across, the wind increased enough that our ride went from smooth to rolly, since we had only one working stabilizer. (Long periods of rolling is hard on someone who is prone to seasickness…) The waters increased to 1 to 2-foot waves with some white-capping. Fortunately, we were cruising mostly with the wind, instead of against it or broadside to it, which kept bouncing to a minimum.

We left the Albemarle Sound when we entered into the North River. Passing Powell’s Point, Jarvisburg, Grandy, and Poplar Branch, NC, to our east as we headed into North River Game Land Dedicated Nature Preserve. Throughout the morning, we went from mostly clear and sunny skies to partly cloudy to completely overcast. While not ideal for picture-taking, the clouds did make for cooler cruising temperatures, which we welcomed. Traveling up the North River, it begins to narrow considerably, which means it’s protected from any winds, stopping most of Legacy’s rolling, for which I was ready! No houses populate the river banks along this stretch of the North River – only cypress and pine trees, fronted by lots of Spartina grass.

We continued along another man-made section of the AICW, passing underneath the NC Highway 158/Caratoke Highway bridge, just before reaching the marina in Coinjock, proper. We tied-up to the long transient wall at Coinjock Marina early, at 11:45 am. This really was a short travel day! Three efficient and welcoming dock-hands helped us tie Legacy up on her starboard side and get our power cord connected. We learned that the narrow, man-made portion of the AICW, where Coinjock Marina is located, is called the North Carolina Cut.

The Coinjock Marina Restaurant is well-known for it’s prime-rib steaks. In fact, we called ahead that morning to “reserve” Steve’s steak for dinner that night. The restaurant doesn’t take seating reservations, only meat reservations. 🙂 Steve got overly zealous and had me reserve a 32 oz steak for him, but wound up changing it to a 16 oz, once we got to our table. My captain ate his entire steak and said he thought it was good, but not “all that”, which didn’t surprise me, as he is rarely happy with the way any restaurant cooks his steaks. (He misses his Big Green Egg! 😉 ) While dining that evening, we ran into our friends, Scott and Ruby Johnson (aboard their sailboat, Nautical Dreamer) who we’d met down at Stock Island Marina Village in Key West this past winter. Naturally, their precious little dog, Bitsy, was with them. We all wished we’d known ahead of time that our two boats would be at Coinjock simultaneously, so we could’ve planned to enjoy dinner together. We never seem to have enough time to spend with the Stevens’, even though we really like them.

Position: N 36° 21.013, W 75° 56.870

Distance traveled:  37 SM

Total distance traveled: 3694 SM

Total marina nights: 249

Total nights at anchor: 22

Locks today: 0

Locks Total:  27

Day 271

2021 Linn Family Beach Trip in Navarre, FL (05/28/21 – 06/07/21)

Legacy was patiently awaiting our return to her from the Navarre Beach, FL family vacation on the late afternoon of Sunday, 06/07/21. After returning our rental car to Enterprise, in Washington, NC, we walked over to The Tavern at Jack’s Neck in downtown Belhaven, NC, for after-road trip drinks and appetizers, before starting preparations to leave Belhaven the following morning.

On Monday morning, 06/08/21, Legacy left Belhaven Marina a little after 8:00 am, in super-cloudy, muggy weather, headed for that day’s destination of Alligator River Marina in Columbia, NC. Due to the deep haze and lack of any kind of visible colors, my picture-taking opportunities were limited. Occasional showers were predicted to fall on us intermittently throughout the day. OH JOY. Steve turned on the radar so we’d have it handy (since our visibility was reduced) and we knew we’d be scrambling throughout our journey to zip and unzip the flybridge as necessary, trying to stay dry.

We traveled easterly along the Pungo River, headed for the man-made Pungo River/Alligator River Canal, which is a LONG, narrow cut that connects the Pungo and Alligator Rivers; it’s name being pretty self-explanatory. We cruised underneath the NC US Highway 264 bridge, as we entered the canal, which appeared very isolated, with little to no civilization to be seen. In fact, we found this canal gave us flashbacks of our travels along the TennTomBigbee, in its most remote and narrow sections.

We kept our eyes peeled for gators basking on the shores along this stretch, as there MUST’VE been a reason for naming this the Alligator River! 🙂 (Sadly, we never spotted any reptiles…) We did see lots of deer and wild turkeys along the banks of the Pungo River/Alligator River Canal, as the area was very lush and green when we came through. Invasive vines covered the trees and shrubs; it wasn’t kudzu, but appeared to be massive quantities of honeysuckle. Passing under the NC Highway 94 bridge, north of Fairfield, NC, and Lake Mattamuskeet, more prolific Spartina grass was on full display.

We were victims of an unwelcome horsefly ambush in the flybridge along this canal, though not nearly as bad as we’d experienced moving through South Carolina. Happily, Steve had become quite proficient with our hand-held bug zapper. So far that day he was 3 for 3! The horseflies were moving in because we had all the windows unzipped in the flybridge, to enjoy all the warm, humid, fly-laden air circulating around us. When we glanced down at the water, we saw the high level of tannins here were turning it a dark-roasted coffee color. (Not the most aesthetically pleasing…)

After traveling what seemed like 100 long miles, we left the canal where it opens into the natural Alligator River, which is very wide and shallower than the canal; we only saw an average depth of 5-10 feet beneath Legacy’s keel. We went through the Emily and Richardson Pryor Buckridge Coastal Reserve (try saying that fast three times!) in this part of NC, before we entered into an even wider part of the Alligator River, which runs directly west of the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. The temperatures might not have been ideal, but our cruising conditions were wonderfully calm on this day, with waves easily less than 1-foot and almost NO wind.

We arrived at the Alligator River Marina at 2 pm, to find a very small and basic marina with a gas station/diner for an office. The place might be small, but the diner is reputed to serve some tasty hamburgers. We’d find out later that evening. As we tied-up and got connected to power, we noticed that thunderstorms were starting to pop-up all around us. A rather strong storm finally did dump on us at 4:15 pm, and cooled the air down considerably, which was definitely a plus!

After showers and fresh clothes, we walked up to the diner for our burgers. Turns out we got there right before they closed, so we were the only diners in the place, but we enjoyed our meals, regardless. Just as we left, the diner closed down for the day and we headed back to our boat for the night. It felt good to be traveling on the water again, after all that driving in our rental car to and from Navarre.

Position: N 35° 54.329, W 76° 01.714

Distance traveled:  54 SM

Total distance traveled: 3657 SM

Total marina nights: 248

Total nights at anchor: 22

Locks today: 0

Locks Total:  27

Day 258 – 270

We both slept in on Wednesday morning, 05/26/21, relishing the fact that we weren’t up early and throwing off our lines for the 7th day in a row. 🙂 The weather in Belhaven proved to be hot and humid while we were there. We explored the marina and found the two restrooms to be clean and amusingly decorated, with all kinds of nautical decor and humorous signs. Belhaven Marina even provides its guests with shampoo, soap, and fresh towels next to the showers in the restrooms, as well as free laundry facilities and products. The dock-masters at Belhaven Marina are some of the nicest and helpful we’ve met on this trip, offering to drive us anywhere we needed to go, since the marina doesn’t provide a courtesy car. I felt very comfortable leaving Legacy in their care for a week’s time.

The small town of Belhaven is right next to the marina, so we could walk around it easily. There are several restaurants in town, but most are only open the latter part of each week, being closed Monday through Wednesday. We heard wonderful things about a farm-to-table restaurant called Spoon River that we definitely wanted to try, so our dock-master courteously called and secured us a reservation for dinner there on Thursday night, 05/27/21. Score!

Most of Wednesday morning was spent doing boat chores and laundry, then we walked directly across the street to a rather sketchy-looking restaurant called Farm Boys to eat a couple of decent-tasting cheese burgers for lunch. I strolled through a couple of downtown shops while Steve waited outside for me, but it was so very hot and humid out – highs in the mid-90s – that we soon opted to stay onboard the boat and inside the salon, being cooled by Legacy’s awesome air-conditioners. That evening we consumed another lack-luster meal at Fish Hooks Cafe, since it was still the only place open in town.

On Thursday morning, 05/27/21, we walked up to Gingerbread Bakery and O’Neal’s Shack Bar for a small-town, southern-style breakfast. That afternoon, a representative from Enterprise drove all the way to Belhaven to pick us up and take us back to their office in neighboring Washington, NC, so we could acquire the rental car Steve had reserved earlier. We drove our little Hyundai Kona to Walmart to do some last minute provisioning before we left early the next morning for the Florida panhandle. While we were out, I was finally able to mail-off a whole box full of newly-crocheted sections to Warm Up America’s headquarters, from the USPS office in teensy, Pantego, NC.

Thursday night, we took advantage of our dinner reservations at Belhaven’s famous Spoon River restaurant for simply a delightful meal and evening. The service was impeccable, food scrumptious, and the atmosphere light, airy and welcoming. Perfect 5-star experience! I enjoyed myself so much, that I posted a shining review of Spoon River restaurant on The Great Loop Facebook page, suggesting that all Loopers not miss that hidden gem, when stopping there in Belhaven, NC. 🙂

NOTE: Unfortunately, the remaining pictures I took during our time in Belhaven somehow got deleted from my phone, so I cannot add them to this blog entry. SORRY! 🙁

Position: N 35° 32.187, W 76° 37.317

Total marina nights: 236

Total nights at anchor: 22

Locks today: 0

Locks Total:  27

Day 257

Tuesday morning, 05/25/21, was hot and sticky when Legacy left her tie-up at Town Creek Marina, in Beaufort, NC, at 7:00 am. At least there was a breeze as we headed back out Gallant Channel to the AICW, toward our next destination of Belhaven Marina, in Belhaven, NC. Steve had arranged with that marina for Legacy to spend the following week there, while we drove a rental car over to Navarre, FL, for our annual beach vacation with the girls and all the grand-kids.

The morning skies turned cloudy and dark with a threat of rain in the forecast for later in the day. We hoped to be safely tied-up to a wall in Belhaven Marina before those showers began.

We headed north back into Harlowe Creek to Core Creek, to the NC Highway 101 bridge, where Core Creek becomes Adams Creek. Adams Creek is roughly an eighth of a mile wide for quite a distance, which made it seem more like a river than a creek, until we reached Merrimon, NC, where the “creek” began to resemble the proverbial lake. We had our beloved dolphins surfing our wake again through here! 🙂 Very soon, Adams Creek spills into the much larger Neuse River, south of Oriental, NC. We had heard several good things about the little town of Oriental, but were unable to stop there this time, due to timing. (Hopefully we can stop there on our way back down this fall.)

The Neuse River is humongous! It almost appeared we were cruising on one of the Great Lakes! As we passed south of Oriental, we were heading northeast towards Whortonville and the massive Pamlico Sound. I could tell that the scenery was dramatic, but it was way too cloudy and hazy to get any kind of decent pictures. 🙁 Plus, the Neuse River is so incredibly wide, the waterfront homes are much too far away to photograph, anyway. They looked like tiny dots on the far shores to us.The Pamlico Sound is bordered by the mainland to the west, and by the NC Outer Banks to the east. It is an intimidating expanse of water that can get dangerously rough in bad weather – just like it can out in the ocean. On this particular day, the wind had increased, so the air was blustery and the waters in the sound were choppy, creating 2-3 foot waves, which rocked Legacy like a roller-coaster ride! It was actually COLD up in the flybridge, so that I had to go down (wearing my life jacket and holding onto the rail, of course) to retrieve a light jacket and a blanket to sit under until the sun reappeared to warm things back up.

Finally – after at least an hour of rolling – we left the Pamlico Sound and cruised into the Bay River (which was calmer), and then eventually into the Pamlico River, past Hobucken, NC, once we’d passed Upper Spring Creek and Goose Creek. The Pamlico River was completely different from the Pamlico Sound, thankfully!

The familiar waterfront homes began to reappear through this area, although very widely-spaced apart. Prior to these homes, we’d seen mostly wilderness all morning long. The sun FINALLY made its appearance, which let me shed my jacket and blanket. Once we left the Pamlico River, we traveled north on the Pungo River, toward Belhaven, NC.

We arrived at Belhaven Marina about 2:30 that afternoon. Belhaven is a unique little marina, with just two long fixed walls for tying boats. Since Legacy was arriving for an extended stay, the dock-master instructed us to move her all the way to the very front of the wall, where she’d be safe and wouldn’t prevent other boats from coming and going, while we were away from her. I liked that position – right there in front of the marina office. 🙂

After showers, we walked down the street in tiny Belhaven, for dinner at the only restaurant in town open on a Tuesday evening, Fish Hooks Cafe, where the food and atmosphere were mediocre at best, but at least filling. We were both exhausted after six long, hard days in a row of traveling, and looked forward to relaxing in place for the next several days before we picked-up the rental car and hightailed it to meet the family in Navarre Beach for a week.

Position: N 35° 32.187, W 76° 37.317

Distance traveled:  68 SM

Total distance traveled: 3603 SM

Total marina nights: 234

Total nights at anchor: 22

Locks today: 0

Locks Total:  27

Day 256

On Monday morning, 05/24/21, Legacy left Harbor Village Marina at 7:00 am in yet more stellar weather and cruising conditions. The tide was up this morning, so the AICW looked ‘lake-ish’, with mirror-smooth waters. It was forecast to be another hot one that day, with high temps in the lower 90s again, which were the warmest temps we’d experienced since last summer. We cruised underneath the bridge to Surf City, NC, still moving up the west side of Topsail Beach, which is a looong beach. As we passed through Stump Sound in Everett Bay, I decided we’d finally progressed far enough north to no longer see Spanish moss in the trees along the banks.

As we crossed underneath the Highway 210/Island Drive/Goose Bay Bridge, which connects North Topsail Beach with the mainland, we headed into Alligator Bay. As with the Spanish moss, seeing wild palm trees on the banks also seemed to be a thing of the past. (Only palm trees we saw at this point were planted by man, in landscaped areas around homes and buildings.) We followed the AICW from Alligator Bay into Chadwick Bay, then on to the New River into Howard Bay. As we approached Craig’s Point, going into Sallier’s Bay, we realized the depths beneath our keel had suddenly gotten extremely skinny, which slowed us down and raised our pucker factors!

We idled in place for close to 20 minutes waiting for the Onslow Beach swing-bridge’s opening time and saw no signs of civilization; only marshy wilderness as far ahead as we could see. Once we got through the swing-bridge, we cruised north of Hurst Beach and Banks Channel, which opens directly into the Atlantic Ocean. We then cruised south of Willis Landing and Bear Creek, NC, into Hammocks Beach State Park, passing the very small community of Onwasa. Other than that community, we encountered no other signs of human life for awhile.

The wilderness and isolation ended, however, when we began to see an eclectic mix of waterfront homes. We saw everything from campers to very large, multi-story, Cape Cod style houses with their own swimming pools, where the AICW again begins to widen noticeably and become shallow. Depths averaged between 10 and 14 feet beneath our keel through this area.

We continued north of Hawkins Bay and south of Swansboro, NC, into the White Oak River where it opens into Bogue Sound, just south of Cedar Point, NC. As we passed through Swansboro and progressed closer to the Atlantic coast, we began to see honest to goodness North Carolina sand dunes rising up out of the water! We cruised south of Cape Cateret and Bogue, NC, and north of Emerald Isle, before passing underneath the Emerald Isle Causeway/NC Highway 58 bridge. There is a lot of high-dollar construction out on Emerald Isle – obviously another ‘place to be’.

We moved north of Indian Beach and Atlantic Beach, into Morehead City, NC, as we also passed north of Fort Macon State Park before making the northward turn into Beaufort, NC. Before cruising underneath the NC Highway 70 bridge, we crossed Harlowe Creek into Gallant Channel into Town Creek Marina there in Beaufort. We arrived Town Creek Marina at 2:10 pm that afternoon, for a smooth wall tie-up and power connection.

After a boat wash-down and showers for ourselves, we took a cab into historic Beaufort, NC, for a fun dinner at Moonrakers restaurant, at 5:30 that evening. Moonrakers is a nice place with a relaxing and fun atmosphere. I ordered the Chicken Bienville and Steve had the grilled Mahi special. Both were delicious! We treated ourselves to a dessert to share, and ordered “flourless dark chocolate cake”, which we discovered is basically FUDGE with scoops of ice cream on top of it. A bit different, but still CHOCOLATE, which is all that matters.

Position: N 34° 43.520, W 76° 39.933

Distance traveled:  66 SM

Total distance traveled: 3535 SM

Total marina nights: 233

Total nights at anchor: 22

Locks today: 0

Locks Total:  27