Thanksgiving in Coinjock

Neil arrived while we were having Thanksgiving dinner at the Coinjock Marina restaurant.

Great Bridge to Coinjock

Wednesday, November, 25, 2020. Today we had to pass one of the significant hurdles for our trip south, the Pungo Ferry Bridge.  Water level varies by wind direction and not by a regular tide.

Here is our berth at Atlantic Yacht Basin before we left about 7:30 am.

It was so calm, I pulled away from the dock while Diane slept in.  There were some beautiful stretches of the ICW on this part of the trip.

Our first 65' bridge is visible as we get underway on the ICW.

This one should not be a problem, but it sure looks close.

The Centerville Turnpike swing bridge had been damaged by a barge a few weeks prior to our trip and was permanently open for a while.  That would have been our only bridge opening for the day.

By 10:15, we were approaching the Pungo Ferry Bridge.  The North Landing River tide station which is relatively nearby showed 0.31' (https://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=akq&gage=nlrv2).  I had notes from reading other blogs that said "A level reading near zero and we saw 65+ feet under the bridge.  When it showed 2.75 on the river gauge, we saw 64 feet of clearance."  So, I figured we should be able to fit under the bridge.  As we approached the bridge, we could not find any boards to let us know what the height of the bridge was over water and continued through slowly.  Our VHF antennae contacted the bridge supports -- not a something we like, but we realize that something we have to live with on the ICW with Owl Moon.  Coming out the other side, we see boards to the left and right, visible only to northbound boats!

East side board (interpolation says 65')

West side board (65'?)

I think it was a bridge height of 65' because we usually make contact with our VHF antenna on 65' bridges.

The rest of the day was uneventful.  We arrived at Coinjock marina at 1:15 pm.

HYC to Great Bridge

Tuesday, November 24, 2020.  Monday was a lay day in Hampton that we used to do some provisioning and visit with family in the warea.  Tuesday morning, With a short day on the water and cool temps, we departed HYC at the civil hour of 9:30 am after the sun had been up a short while to warm the air some. We were able to motor sail some on a reach with the genoa across Hampton Roads.  That was fortunate because we had close to a knot of adverse current.  By the time we reached the Elizabeth River, the wind died and we rolled in the jib.  We were also no longer in an adverse current.

Reached Intracoastal Waterway Mile 0 by 11:20

Just before noon, about 5 statute miles into the ICW, we were being hailed by a Coast Guard boat who wanted to board us for an inspection.

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We continued making our way slowly down the ICW while they did their inspection.  Soon after they departed, we arrived at our first bridge opening, the Gilmerton swing bridge.  

We arrived at the Great Bridge Lock 20 minutes before the 1:30 pm opening for southbound traffic.  Once the gates opened we were the only boat entering the lock and nobody joined us while we waited for the gates to close.

We stopped for the night at the Atlantic Yacht Basin just beyond the Great Bridge Bridge.  We were side tied to the dock right on the canal.  With very little boat traffic, it was a quiet night aboard.

Pandemic Cruise to New Bern - Chesapeake Bay Leg

November 20, 2020 With the pandemic raging, no plans for Thanksgiving, and fall sailing on the Chesapeake coming to an end, we decided to bring Owl Moon to New Bern, NC at the end of November.  We departed Annapolis a little after sunrise on Friday morning.  With a good breeze out of the SSW, we had to tack down the Bay after reaching Tolly Point.  Owl Moon sails well upwind for a cruiser with her new sails.  We had kept to the west side of the Bay, out of the adverse current and once the wind moved a little more the SW, we began motorsailing all the way to the LPG dock.  We arrived at Solomons at 3:50 pm.  After getting some additional fuel at Solomon’s Yacht Center, we anchored in Bow Cove off Mill Creek.

Departing Annapolis

November 21, 2020 John was up before sunrise, raised anchor, and got underway at 6:50 am while Diane slept in.  The sun was just coming up as we turned out towards the Patuxent River.  It was a light air day so we left the motor on and were able to motor sail much of the day.  By the time we reached the south side of the Potomac, the wind became lighter and we dropped the main, motoring the rest of the way to Fishing Bay where we off the Fishing Bay Yacht Club a little after 3 pm.

November 22, 2020 John was up again before sunrise and had us underway at 6:30 am while Diane slept in again.  Today we had wind!  We had a great sail through the morning in 15 knot east breeze until the wind died as we neared Hampton.  Making great time on a reach down the Bay, we arrived Hampton Yacht Club at 1:00 pm.

Shakedown Cruise to Broad Cr. on the Magothy R.

With the mast back on the boat and critical things repaired, we decided to do a shakedown overnight on Broad Cr.  Our friends Nancy and Ron Hames were also going there on their Island Packet Mandala.  We left Annapolis in the early afternoon on Saturday and were able to sail for a bit.  It was great to be sailng again on Owl Moon.

First sail on Owl Moon after lightning strike!

We ended up motorsailing most of the way to Broad Creek because the wind had came up from the NW after we pased under the Bay bridge and we wanted to arrive in time for cocktails and socializing.  We found Mandala anchored in the inner section of Broad Creek and rafted to her.  We kept our social distance and remained in our own cockpits for cocktails.

Thank you Ron and Nancy for sharing your anchor for the night.

As predicted, the weather changed overnight.  We had a chilly and drizzly sail back to Annapolis.  Nevertheless, it was nice to be sailing again on Owl Moon.  The rain let up in time for us to dock.