Florida at last! ( and how we got here )

Well, it's Nov. 17th and we are sitting docked at Harbortown, a marina on Merritt Island, two and a half miles from the Port of Canaveral. The sun is setting behind the palm trees ...what better time to look back at eighteen seriousmakingtimegettingourbuttssouth days, travelling through North and South Carolina and Georgia- Oct. 26-Nov. 12.
We aren't going to get long-winded here... just want to give you our impressions and a few scenes along the way.

North Carolina is all about getting across the large, shallow rivers and sounds; Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds and the Neuce River turn nasty when the wind is in the wrong direction. Short, steep waves pick up quickly.  "Go when the wind is from the north" was good advice!  Getting through South Carolina means more maneuvering in winding, narrow passages with a combination of more cuts, canals and rivers.  One day you see sandy barrier-type islands and the Atlantic, and then you are back winding through inland marshes.

 Beaufort (pronounced Boe-fort) is a convenient place for boaters who want to provision before leaving for an ocean passage.

You can sign out a courtesy car for one hour.  When you pull out, you set the pylon down to keep open the parking spot...quite a system...did I mention the big old station wagons?

The ICW goes right through Camp LeJeune.  When the Marines are on maneuvers, they close the Waterway for three hours at a time.

On this day, we put up the jib, turned off the engine, and moved at 3 knots toward the bridge. We had to wait for the opening along with a few other cruisers.

While Old Rosie rode with the current, this big cat was clawing its way up the Cape Fear River.

Another cat on another day, passing a barge in the morning mist.

Once we were past the busy stretch of ICW in the Myrtle Beach area (canal-side golf courses and a dock-side outlet mall), we were back to nature at the Osprey Marina.  There was no vacancy this night...

In Georgetown, Old Rosie was quite at  home with the fishing boats.

The Boat Shed Marina is a third generation business- this is the original boat shed, still standing and in use.

Charleston.....

Through the Elliott Cut the current can be up to 4 knots; we were down to 2.8 knots at one point.

The day after Charleston, we anchored off the ICW at daymarker 157.  I decided to check the chart book that we got from John and Kristen...looks like they anchored in the very same spot. This is a photo of their book...honest!

Georgia requires special navigating and planning skills.  There is a nine foot tide through most of Georgia and the shallow spots have roughly ten feet at high tide, so there's not a lot of room for error when many sailboats, including Old Rosie, draft about 5 feet. Timing the passage at rising or high tide through the shallow areas is the trick. We travelled with a group of experienced cruisers and learned which anchorages are just north of the trouble spots, so the next day you can get through the shallows at high tide.   Our usual speed of travel down Colpoys Bay is 6.9 knots.  Sometimes Old Rosie was going with the current at 8-9 knots; sometimes beating against it at 2.5 or 5.2 knots; this was determined by the ebb and flow of water from the inlets to the Atlantic.  Just another detail to factor in when trying to get to your anchorage before the sun sets.


St. Mary's River Inlet...the Atlantic looked very inviting this day.

Barge carrying dredging equipment - shoaling is frequent, especially near the inlets.

Low tide....

High tide....

Hard aground and waiting for the tide to rise.

 Georgia anchorages, surrounded by grassy marshes, are very different from what we are used to in Georgian Bay.

Our friends, The Cruising Sailors of St. Micheals.

Once in Florida, you still need to stay in the channel of the ICW, but it seems like you can relax a bit. The dolphins are plentiful ... but they are hard to photograph.  I never tire of seeing them.

Ben never tires of seeing tugs.

St. Augustine, the oldest city in the United States, guarded by the Castillo de San Marcos.

The Spanish Quarter

More scenes from the fort

The Bridge of Lions, as we leave St. Augustine

Continuing down the ICW,  there are an endless number of bridges.  You have to check which ones have restrictions and which ones open on request. It also helps to call on the correct VHF channel and request the correct name of the bridge in order for it to open for you.  LOL

The Christy McAuliffe Bridge is the last bridge Old Rosie went through before arriving at Harbortown Marina.

 Old Rosie is temporarily a Florida Condo while we spend a few weeks playing at Cocoa Beach.
The adventure will continue when we return to Florida in March.

The Dismal Swamp and Beyond - Oct. 23, 2011

Do you remember how we described that last anchorage in the Chesapeake? peace and quiet?  feeling like we had the whole cove to ourselves?  Well that all changed. As we waited for the first bridge south of Portsmouth to open, six other boats, laden down with dinghies, water jugs and gas cans, folding bikes and kayaks circled around with us,

everyone eager to enter the Dismal Swamp Canal; for us, the first leg of the Intracoastal Waterway would take us to Elizabeth City.

The next opening of the lock at Deep Creek wasn't until 11:00, it meant another wait so we all had to put down our anchors. When it finally was time, boats were directed into the lock, one by one.  Only one man was working that morning, and we had to throw our lines up to him so he could loop them around the bollards and back down to us.  A groovy young man (from Montreal) was asked to crawl up the ladder and help an incoming boat on the opposite side of the lock; he was also responsible for providing some music for our listening pleasure.  Soon we were all tapping our toes and dancing to the music of the Beatles.

The lock was filled to capacity.  Everyone had to wait patiently for their turn to exit.

An hour and a half and 8 feet later, we emerged like ducks in a row, motoring down "the ditch".

At 3:30 we reached the Dismal Swamp Canal Welcome Center. Built between an Interstate and the ICW, it greets both highway and waterway visitors.  There at the dock were our friends from Kingston, Ontario. Because of the damage to the Erie Canal after Hurricane Irene they had to bring their boat via the St. Lawrence and the Richelieu River and Lake Champlain route in order to get to the Hudson River.
Ben remarked, "A 400 mile detour and you still beat us here!"

We ended up rafting off to a catamaran called Sunny Skies, and later met Jim and Maggie.

Then two sailboats rafted off on our starboard side.  Some boats kept on going, but by the end of the afternoon, sixteen boats were rafted 3 or 4 deep. The Canal was pretty much blocked.

 It was a great way to get to know people, walking across one another's boats to get to the dock, and happy hour was a lot of fun!  These two gentlemen are both single-handing their way south...we wish them fair winds and calm seas!

The second day began early, it was quiet, misty and calm.

 The ICW eventually follows the Pasquotank River and meanders along the Great Dismal Swamp Wildlife Refuge.

The water of the swamp was dark, the colour of coffee. The pamphlet said, "It is unusually pure, preserved by the tannic acids from the bark of the juniper, gum and cypress trees".   So in early days, sailors liked to fill casks with this bacteria-free water for their voyages.

Some of the trees and bushes were beginning to lose their leaves and there was the odd shock of red- very  Tom Thomson!

Just a beautiful place to travel...at least once.

Out of the ditch, and through a bridge and there was Elizabeth City.
A wine and cheese reception awaited us at the end of The Mariner's Wharf. Along with a lot of helpful information, each woman received a rose bud (and a fly swatter- a hint of things to come?)  The two gentlemen who began the Rose Buddies tradition have passed away, so now the Tourism Office, as well as the former mayor, continue to host these 5:30 gatherings every Monday to Friday.

This is a view of the Mariner's Wharf as we motored away at dawn, heading off towards our next destination.

  

Currently in Georgetown, South Carolina, we now know how much the scenery is about to change.