Heading South

Well we met Mike, Jo and Alaina for dinner in Reston, VA on Tues. to say goodbye and the next day met John W. and Haley for lunch in DC.  We sold the car at Car-max in Laurel, Md. and John W. followed us back to Md. to deliver the car and then drove us back to Spunky. We are now carless. The weather report said snow on Thurs so in the morning we took the dinghy into Annapolis and walked to the Harbormaster's office to get a final Amazon shipment and then hightailed it back to Spunky to take off a day before we had planned. We motored to the fuel dock where we filled our fuel and water tanks and headed out at 1 p.m. We stopped 2 rivers south where we knew there was a post office and we hoped to get to mail our license plate back to FL but by the time we arrived the post office had just closed and the mistress said she could not help us. That left us anchored out in an unprotected anchorage as a Nor"easter came through. We were up most of the night checking our anchor and we dragged anchor twice in the high wind. Once we raised the anchor and reset it and the second time we let out more chain. It finally caught and held tight. Fortunately no one else was there in the anchorage area and we were in no danger of hitting anyone but it made for a sleepless and stressful night. The next morning at o'dark 30 we took Moose into land in high winds in lifejackets and with a flashlight to find our way so he could do his business and we then left for Solomon's Island at daybreak. When we arrived at Solomon's we took a mooring ball rather than anchoring out so we could be assured of some uninterrupted sleep. The weather was awful. Cold wind and rain. The front that brought snow to the east coast was moving through.


The next day was so rough that we only took Moose ashore one time as we felt it was too dangerous to go out in the dinghy. We left Solomon's the next morning and headed for Deltaville. We had planned to have an engine tech look over our engine. The trip down was uneventful but the winds were directly behind us so we did not put the sails up and just motored. We were concerned we would not make it into Jackson Creek by dark and had decided reluctantly to anchor outside of the entrance in an unprotected anchorage but the wind came around and we raised the sails and sailed into the creek just before dark. The entrance is somewhat tricky and when we saw a power boat approaching behind us we circled around to follow them in thinking that they knew more than we did but it turned out they were from Canada and did not know any more than we did. They went aground and we found the path in. The following morning we took the dinghy into the marina to see if the Perkins (our engine ) guy could take a look at our engine as we were not confident that the fellow who installed our engine knew what he was doing. As it turned out he was not available so we made a quick decision to leave at 10 a.m. and try to make Portsmouth. Big mistake. The winds were high and the waves as well and we had a very uncomfortable run down the bay. About lunch time John went below and discovered the salon floor was awash in water. We later determined a hose under the forward head sink had come loose bringing water into the boat and our bilge pumps were not working (they were newly installed). He began to hand pump water bucket by bucket while Moose and I stayed up top and kept Spunky on course. After a long day of very uncomfortable conditions (Moose trembling the entire time) we approached Hampton Roads in high winds. We tacked to go across the channel and the genoa tore. We think it may have caught on the radar but are not sure. We pulled it in as we tossed about in the winds. It was not easy to control Spunky and John had to go forward in very rough waters to untangle the jib sheets while I tried to hold Spunky into the wind. It was very scary. Once that was done I, trying to be positive, said that the good news was that our engine was still working well and literally at that moment the engine died. It was about 2:30 in the afternoon. We were just outside a major shipping lane where very large ships move in and out of the Newport shipyards and we were without any engine power or sails. We called for a tow and were told it would be an hour(as it turned out more) for someone to reach us. It was not our best moment. We were drifting into the shipping lane. We were both exhausted and demoralized but we waited for the tow and reached the marina at 9 p.m. John decided that the mangled jib needed to come down before we went to bed so it would not bother others as it was torn badly and blowing in the winds and hitting against the furler. It was tangled and wrapped in pieces around the furler and took some time to get it down. By the time we finished there was still the cabin to clean up. It was wet and in total disarray as John had tossed things out of cabinets and hatches looking for where the water was entering the boat. There were soggy books and papers and towels everywhere. We finally gave up and had some Ramon and wine and fell into bed. The next day was spent measuring the torn jib in order to find a new one, replacing the fuel filter which was clogged with dirt from the tossing in the wind and churning up the sediment in the fuel tank and using the hair dryer to dry lots of wet canned goods before putting them back into storage. By the following day John had the engine running and we had decided to purchase a new $$$ sail rather than a used one. We will order it and have it shipped to us along the way. We left Portsmouth at 8 a.m.( a little less than 36 hours after we arrived) for the Dismal Swamp with more lessons learned.


The Dismal Swamp and the weather were beautiful The trees hang over the water and the leaves are turning to red and gold. We entered the first lock at about 11:30. There were 9 boats that moved into the first lock where we were all raised 8 feet up to the swamp. We got some photos which will follow. The lock master allowed all the dogs to get off the boats and run in his yard. There were 5 including the dock master's lab. They all got along and had a wonderful time. Our boat is a bit slow so we decided not to try to make the secong lock opening in 22 miles and to stay the night at the Visitors Center. By the time we arrived there it was full and we rafted up next to an already docked powerboat. By the time night came there were 3 boats on our raft and a total of 8 boats in all rafted up on a 150' dock. We leave tomorrow morning at 7 a.m.for the next lock which will lower us back down and we will continue on to Elizabeth City, NC. The weather is supposed to be rainy and cold.

More later. Hope this finds you all well and warm. 

Elyse