Up the intercoastalwe go

[darmoose]

Tonite Mystic Rose lies in Adams Creek awaiting an opportunity to cross the Neuse River hopefully early in the morning, we are aiming for Oriental,NC and would like to spend the day there and tomorrow night.

Today we logged about 56 miles leaving Mile Hammock Bay anchorage, where Camp Lejune is located and traversed alonf the ICW up to Bouge Sound in 12 to 15 knots of wind. At times we were speeding along at 7.5 to 8 knots and arrived here in Adams Creek at 4:30pm. The winds around here are relentless and will stay 9 or 10 mph all tonight they say.

We ar a little tired as this is our 22nd day overall, 16 days actually traveling and 6 layover days so far. Hope for a little R&R tomorrow in Oriental.

Well, I need a cool one and some reading to relax me before hopefully a nice nights sleep. Mystic Rose continues to perform well and attract comments as we go along.

Good night all you lucky Cape Dory owners

Darrell

[MarcMcCarron]

I hope I bump into you in the northern bay. I'm the owner of
Cleona - CD30K at Whorton Creek. The eastern shore is a wonderful
destination - you'll fall in love with stillpond.......
Good luck on your trip - I purchased my CD from a great guy in NC
and came up the ICW. I have great memories of the dismal swamp
after spending two days battened up due to a strong gale
at the mouth of the pungo.

[darmoose]

I will keep an eye out for you out on the bay, We plan to do alot of sailing this spring, summer and fall, I actually have property in Rock Hall that we are hoping to build on someday and a boat slip there as well. We will be visiting the eastern shore frequently, I am sure.

I am aware of a CD outing in early May (around the 11th if I remember correctly) that I was hoping to make, but it doesn't look like we will arrive in the Magothy now until the 10th or so. and I don't think I will be ready to take off again that soon.

This morning we crossed the Neuse River to Oriental, tonite we are in a slip ar Whitaker Point where the wind is blowing probably 15 to 20 kts, it is good to be tied up as we are rocking pretty good. We are hoping the wind will die down enough tonite to give us a window to shoot up the Neuse and cross the Pamlico sound and get into Belhaven. I am told that even tho the winds are a little brisk, at least they are behind us and won't bother us too much. Lets hope thats true.

I did get get to speak to Andy Denmark today ( he was gracious enough to call us and share his knowledge of the area even tho he is out of town celebrating his birthday) Thank you Andy.

We enjoyed Oriental today. Ate brunch at M&M's downtown, they had a Sunday brunch that was fabulous and we ate alot. Then we toured the town, visited a great little marine consignment store that I wish I had alot more time to explore, also a provisioning store and a grocery store and an ice cream shop before we headed back to Mystic Rose.

Well, lets see if this rocking will put me to sleep?

Sweet dreams

Darrell

[MarcMcCarron]

Check out the PDF from the chesapeake group - the late spring sail is in
our neighborhood and visits the best of the upper bay. Mid June.

We qualify for the "good old boat race" in early october.
I missed last year but had a great time in 08 - the race is
around the markers outside of Annapolis and takes place over a weekend. Very laid back group with a pretty anchorage
in front of the hosts home.

[darmoose]

Well the wind just kept on blowin all day Saturday and thru the nite and then all day Sunday so we spent some more time in Oriental. Those were two very rocky rolly nites but I did eventually get to sleep.
Monday it did calm down and we were off to tranverse the Nuese river the Pamlico sound and the Pungo river. great conditions, and well worth the wait.

Tonite we are anchored up with a dozen other boats at mile marker 127 in a beautiful spot, no wind. Had a great chicken dinner, some wine and am now enjoying a good cigar a cold beer and typing this log/ Ahhhhh.....whar a life.

Only 127 miles to the Chesapeake, wow.

Wifr says theres mosquitos. put up ther screens fast, so gppd nitr.

Darrell

[Russell]

Are you going to do the dismal swamp? or the virginia cut? You cant miss the dismal swamp, but if you are going southbound in the fall then I recommend doing in the fall (if you want to try both routes, personally I would do the dismal both rounds, only time to opt for virginia cut is if draft constrained, which you are not).

[MarcMcCarron]

As government funding gets tighter and tighter there's always the possibility that the Dismal Swamp could be considered a luxury.
If you have the chance take the swamp north to Norfolk -
someday it may be closed due to budget restraints. It's a thing
of beauty ...... I'll never forget it.

[darmoose]

Well we got going again at seven and traversed up the alligator river today and stopped at the alligator river marina. This is a Shell gas station that sells fuel at a 500 ft long dock and a couple of gals cook up a storm in the little grill (great food) and there are about 14 transient slips with nice showers and restrooms, all for $1.00 per foot. Great place for traveling boats.

Left there thursday early and crossed the Abermarle sound in light winds pretty easily and up the river to Elizabeth City and on past into the lock to the Dismal swamp canal. This is very beautiful as Marc and Russell have said, a quiet calm place to tie up at the visitors center, and with some weather coming in we decided to stay another night. We will depart on Saturday and see what happens weatherwise as we get up to the bay. Did I say "bay". Yes, I did , Mystic Rose is about to enter her new home . the Chesapeake Bay, woweee!!

Only about 150 miles to go after tomorrow.
We are gettin sooo excited.

More later

Darrell

[chase]

Darrell, enjoyed your posts, you've covered a bunch of miles. It is going to be cool in the mountains tonight, bet is is fresh down there at the visitors dock. I came through there this summer returning from Chesapeake. You are close! I made it to the dock there from Gloucester point on the York River in one long day. The guy at the northern lock knows a lot about the canal, I enjoyed talking with him.

Enjoy the rest of your trip, hope you get some great sailing on the bay-

Chase

[darmoose]

After staying two nights in the canal at the visitors center, what a wonderful spot to linger. Saturday morning we set off to Norfolk, and with reports of winds building to 35 mph late Saturday, we made the decision to hole up in Norfolk at the Waterside marina and wait and see as they say before we go further.

Sooo, tonite we sit in the Waterside, had 911 hot wings at the Hooters adjacent to the marina, they were very good.

The next move Mystic Rose makes will put her squarly in the Chesapeake Bay, I just don't know if that will be Sunday or Monday.

I plan to raise all her sails upon reaching the Bay and sail up to the Annapolis area (albeit with a few stops along the way)

This has been quite an experience, a myriad of conditions and experiences to test boat and sailor. Diligence in watching depths of water, attention to detail in maintaining the boat shipshape, and alertness even in simple docking maneuvers due to tricky currents and winds are all in order at all times.

A very rewarding experience to say the least, to have traveled over a thousand miles at 5-6 mph and met dozens of other sailors along the way (who easily become close friends, maybe for a long time)

Now.... its on to the Bay

Darrell

[The Patriot]

... The next move Mystic Rose makes will put her squarly in the Chesapeake Bay, I just don't know if that will be Sunday or Monday ...

I just downloaded the most recent Grib file for the Chesapeake Bay region (Sunday 0730 EDT). It looks like you will be seeing winds out of the northern quadrant through Monday, turning fair Tuesday and holding fair for a few days. A strong low should develop offshore around Thursday kicking your winds back into the north, but Tuesday and Wednesday should be good travel days.

Unless you have a compelling reason to hurry, you might consider laying over until Tuesday AM, at which time you can scoot out of the Elizabeth River and perhaps catch a fair wind and flood tide up the Bay. That could be a boat ride and introduction to the Chesapeake you will remember. If you get tired of Waterside and all the commotion you can perhaps move over to Portside where the ferry docks and tie for free (ignore the signs and enjoy the nearby museums), anchor over near the hospital, move up to Hampton (an interesting stop), visit or re-visit Nauticus, etc.

I have sailed the extreme Lower Bay in windy and contrary conditions a few times, and it can be bone-jarring. Stay safe.

[darmoose]

Well, it was Monday when we finally got going again. Sunday we spent walking and seeing Norfolk a bit and we visited the USS Wisconsin battleship. That was a great tour of a great ship, first time I've ever been on a battleship, what big guns you have!

Anyway, I must say that our introduction to the Chesapeake was a little "rude". After us coming all this way to visit, she decided to throw some rather foul weather at us to welcome us. On Monday the winds were around 20 with gusts of 25 or more and we saw mostly 4-6 ft seas as we slogged up to Deltavile. The anchorage up Jackson creek however provided a good shelter and we got a good nights sleep looking forward to the better conditions coming on Tuesday.

Ha!! Tuesday brought some more of the same. Crossing the Potomac proved to be a bit of a task. We saw mostly 4-6 ft seas in the morning, but luckily the afternoon brought a slight calming and we crossed the Potomac in 3ft seas and scooted up to Solomans to Calverts Marina.

Today we decided to wait another day to head up to Annapolis and to the Magothy. We are gonna clean the boat up and reorganize a little (we are also probably trying to extend our trip subconsciensly) only one more day to go!

I will think about this experience a bit and then recount some of the pertinent details after the proper reflection. For now, we just wnt to plan and enjoy the moment when the boat rounds the corner into the marina in the Magothy and the grandkids get a first look at "sailor grandma" and" pirate grandpa" and Mystic Rose in full bloom.

That'le be just hunky dory (cape dory, that is)

Thanks for all the comments and encouragement, and advice along the way everbody.

Darrell