The Journey

Crossing our Wake and Completing our Journey!

Sat, 3/28, Portsmouth to Burgess, VA

Tues. 5/14/19 Deltaville, VA to Sat, 3/28/20, Burgess, VA

Days underway=130; Hour put on the engine= 552; We traveled and average of 4.25 hours and 48.7 miles on the days we were moving. Days living on the boat=206; Miles travelled=6,327; Fuel burned=2984 gallons; and everyone’s favorite (NOT!) 122 locks! Finally, we have 131 boat cards of friends we’ve met on “The Journey” and there were even more – we just didn’t get their card!

I just started writing “Our final day wasn’t amazing” in that it was overcast, a bit bumpy and we saw more of the same.

Hmmm…. what we saw was military ships (15 at least – 2 were carriers), 2 more submarines, more police boats – one pointed right at us after it saw me taking my picture with my long lens camera (LOL!). More beautiful homes, the opening covering the tunnel part of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. Jim even thinks he saw a dolphin??? How can this not be amazing????

I wasn’t going to include any other pictures than those below that truly made my heart pause, but this was a raucous send off out of our marina by no less than laughing gulls and you get to see the remnants of a pretty sunrise and the white sentinels in the background.

Below is the real reason, the above didn’t seem amazing. To see this ship just warmed my heart! Knowing that COMFORT (in every sense of the word ) is heading today to those besieged by Coronavirus 19 in New York City is just so very special…

I end “The Journey” thanking the Lord for the amazing country we live in and thanking Him for allowing Jim and me to experience it so personally by traveling on a slow boat through so much of it (and Canada).

I also pray that each of you have or find COMFORT in this terrible troubling time and that you and your loved ones stay well. I thank each of you putting yourself at risk by working among others to heal, comfort, deliver to, feed, supply, protect, etc. and I send up even more prayers that you stay healthy and experience God’s comforting grace.

Please take care! Julie and Jim from The Journey.

White T-shirt Sentinels!

Fri, 3/27, Coinjock, NC – Portsmith, VA

Our Coinjock marina. We had an awesome take out delivered to our boat from this restaurant Thursday night. They were highly rated and they didn’t disappoint. Jim had tasty, plentiful prime rib and I had hand breaded clam strips and crab cake. Yummy!

Aside from an eagle and birds, this was the first sign of life. He was working hard to follow one of our wake furrows into the center of our wake. We had slowed way down, but our wake hitting the shore can still be rather bumpy!

This guy was less concerned. No idea what his gear was for.
We did come to a small community within the mile. I was wondering where they could possibly be from…

Not looking like a lot of room left for us. See all the tree snags to the right. We didn’t want to hit any that might be hiding under the water. We passed these guys with just 15’ between us.

Our last lock!!! It didn’t disappoint due to this cute couple – awwww!

This goose was VERY upset that we were so close to his “egg mama”! He tried to bite the rope and kept honking at Jim as he tried to tie us to the cleat. He’s calmer now, but you get the drift. The lock master tried to dissuade them from nesting right there but to no avail! We’ve only seen geese in the last week or so. Only pairs, no bigger groups.

It got really industrial as we approached Norfolk. Then we got to one of maybe five military areas. Each with their own patrol boat.

Beautiful mini roses in bloom!
We walked to downtown and historic Portsmouth around 3:30 and it was closed up except for a few restaurants offering take out. There was only a group of two congregating. There was practically no traffic. We ate dinner in.

Spoiler alert. It is Saturday and we have already technically “crossed our wake” around 9:30 am (i.e. completed our Great Loop) at the mouth of the York River. We are now headed to Burgess, VA. Lauren will pick us up around noon tomorrow and we will be home tomorrow evening!

Corolla and Wild Ponies – So Near and Yet So Far

Thur, 3/26, Belhaven – Coinjock, NC

Yep, we’re probably just 8 miles to the dunes and wild ponies. Sadly, our route tomorrow actually takes us through inland small rivers, a canal, and more rivers all the way to Norfolk. No big water or ocean view at all tomorrow.

Today we could barely make out the outer banks or other land while in the Albemarle Sound. It was a cool 50 most the day, but sunny and calm. We got lucky!

All the duck blinds. They were spaced this far apart all along this shore.
I saw an eagle early on while we were in a canal and then land was too far away.

This sport fisher was coming in hot! This picture doesn’t do it justice, but he looked really close and he was moving and making a really big wake. Jim saw him coming and requested a slow starboard pass. Compare his wake to ours!There were others he passed without warning who railed on him on the radio. He had a smart alecky reply. Very rude!

Found this on our walk after we docked.
Nope, I couldn’t take it for yard art!
Doesn’t it look like a snake!

Like I said, we head all inland to Norfolk area on Friday. If weather is good for a Chesapeake crossing, we’ll get to Burgess, VA late Saturday afternoon. It is at the juncture of the Potomac River and the bay.

Stay safe!

In and Out of Big Water, but Minimal Civilization!

Tues-Wed, 3/24-25, Morehead City – Belhaven, NC

Tuesday we weaved our way inland through ICW waterways as that is a charted route and we can be more confident of depth. Also, the coast to the outer bank islands makes for big open water. As it was, we were out of sight of land in at least one direction various times during the day. We elected to not move on today given forecasted high winds and small craft warnings as well as a bridge that we had to go through that closes during high wind warnings. They mean business!

While it started out rainy and gloomy, it ended up a pretty day!
No land in sight!

Near the big rivers and sounds we’re seeing large fishing boats!

Interesting duck blind?
Given everything else is forest, do the ducks really not know this is a trap?!?!?

We passed this house/complex. I looked it up on Google Earth and it is listed for sale as a 3 bed/3bath house with attached single story wings on both sides and then shows pictures of the pool, rec room, office, etc. There were matching outbuildings on either side. It must be a resort. It’s got a beautiful location and is across the water from our dock but still in the same town of Belhaven.

Went through this break water (it had a matching length on our right as well) to get to the downtown and our marina. This suggests there are lots of waves coming in at times. In fact we have 20 mph winds as I write this.

We walked the town and was surprised to see at least 50% of the houses with wooden steps had a cut out design in them. Some were just boxes, some we scallops of one size or multiple sizes but quite a few were more interesting like this one.

We’re going to paint the boat in preparation for selling it.
Should we go with the all grey shark look!?!?!
Also, this is the smallest marina we’ve been in yet. Just this one dock.

Got to get a bird picture in. See the mama duck sitting on her eggs? This was the next pole up from the one we’re tied to.

So we just have 3 more days of travel. Lauren will pick us up at our final marina in Burgess, VA (Enterprise has closed due to virus). We think it will be Sunday or Monday.

We’re headed out for a walk now. Stay inside and safe everyone!

Ready, Aim, Fire! at Us???

This gives you pause….

It says “STOP DO NOT PROCEED LIVE FIRING IN PROCESS WHEN FLASHING”
Glad it wasn’t flashing!

The blobs in the picture, were maybe old tanks/missile launchers that we assumed were targets for practice. There were maybe 7 of them and they appeared to be bullet hole ridden.
This was all part of Camp Legune Marine Corp Base.
Prior to this we had seen a campground and recreation area on the ocean beach.
You can see this opened to the ocean here.

These were serious rotating radar transmitters???

This didn’t look fun! It was in the low 50s and this guy is in the water raking oysters into his boat!

Not sure what he was netting. Another fisherman was tossing things back in the water from a net.

It took about 4 minutes based on the time stamp on my pictures to get the bag/net fully heaved up into the boat.
I was afraid the guy would fall in!
I liked this narrow spit of sand connecting two small islands.

We were quite close to the ocean a couple times.
The waves were large and in charge.

There was also a lot of shoaling. See how close our marker is to the sand!
This was an ocean inlet as well.

As we entered our channel at Morehead City it was a really industrial area with a deep water shipping inlet.
This was a monstrous barge and tanker loading facility.
Along the channel going out to sea there were maybe 8 dredging set ups.
Shoaling must be a continuous problem there!

We enjoyed walking the entire Beaufort town. Many of the houses had plaques stating their name and year build.
This was one of the oldest I saw from 1786.

I remember this poor little girl’s grave from that original visit. She begged her father to take her to Europe. He did promising his wife he would bring her back. She died on the voyage back and rather than bury her at sea, he put her in a full whisky barrel and brought her home to his wife. They buried her here. Ever since visitors have left her gifts. So sad!

I recalled visiting here long ago (kids probably in grade school) on a camping vacation from Myrtle Beach up through the entire Outer Banks island chain. We saw ponies on this island back then but none today.
There are still separate herds of uniquely different ponies on this island preserve as well on the barrier Island Shackleford.

For those of you trying to follow us on the map. The orange indicates our route and probably stops while in NC.

Tuesday we will back up slightly and take the North River (ICW) inland and cross the wide mouth of Neuse River take an then take the orange inland channel before crossing the narrow part of the Pamlico River and heading to Belhaven, NC.

We are hoping to be back to/near Yorktown by Sunday. Wednesday may be a bad weather day; however, it is all an inland, narrow ICW channel prior to the Albemarle Sound. We’d like to get to Coinjock, but that would be a really long day and weather may force us to anchor near Frying Pan Landing. After Coinjock, our next stop will probably be Norfolk or Hampton and then to whatever home port we decide to do. Jim’s waiting on quotes to paint the boat and that will decide where we end “the Journey.”

Stay safe and heathy everyone!!!!

Crashing Waves!

Sun, 3/22, Southport to Hampstead, NC

First off, Happy 85th Birthday to Dad and 2nd Birthday to his great granddaughter Marin in MN!

Second, I’m using some of Courtney’s pictures. They are marked by C:

Yesterday’s correction. Little River was in SC not NC.

After we docked for the night, this guy swam by. Then a dolphin came right behind him. This wasn’t even telephoto!
Sadly, Courtney was taking a shower – what poor luck!!

C: Jim and Courtney sat upstairs while I finished blogging then showered.
Then she showered while I got the above picture. We both stood at the end of our/this dock trying to see the gator. No luck. I had bugs in my nose, eyes, and hair so we didn’t watch for long!

This video gives you a feel for how rough the ride first thing in the morning was going crossing the very large Cape Fear River Inlet. Jim had to go up top to secure the crane since it was flopping around a bit and making a lot of noise. He said the entire upper helm was drenched by the wave splashes.

C: Without windshield wipers, it would have been a tough go!

C: I can’t recall seeing a tug pulling a barge. Hope the chains don’t snap.
Also, interesting is the loading platforms behind the barge. They had really long piers connecting them to shore and were well out into the water.

A google earth screen shot showed this. Each of those fingers (looks like veins on a leaf) had a set of tracks in it and bunkers? Along/at the end. However, you can’t see any finger piers or crane decks off the shore in the picture.

LOL, the reminder for today’s birthdays at the top!

All the houses. Hard to get good ocean, beach shots given the weather. It was too chilly (50s) to be up top.

Now for the yard art….

Most unique yard art. Sara – a stunning centerpiece in the mulch bed between you and the golf course?

Not to be outdone, the house next door had this?
The tin woman/mermaid – Goddess of the beach!

My favorite!
This is in Courtney’s back yard that is so nicely done. Her house was wonderful too. She definitely has an eye for decorating. Wish I did!
We had a great time looking at her albums. So neat to see Courtney, Brandon, and Sara in there much younger days. Dinner was awesome too.
Thanks Courtney for being a great visitor and a gracious hostess!

While still strange – it isn’t evil looking up close!

No worries about office contamination! However, the walk from your car is a bit daunting on a really hot, cold, or wet day (OK, really any day)!!! Recall, there are marshes everywhere to get past!

Warning: Courtney knows birds and got great pictures!

C: These have the silhouette of a flying heron, but aren’t!
Courtney, what were they?

C: All the various birds were on these two docks. Then a couple docks later there was one poor solitary guy – he was the only one heeding “social distancing” warning!

It looks like the top osprey is looking over it’s back at us.
That’s some flexibility!

Tomorrow (ok today we are) we will head to Beaufort (like BOW-Fort, not BUUU-fert that was in SC.)

All About the Beaches and Breakers!

Sat, 3/21, Little River, NC – Southport, NC

Harry or Sara took this picture as we cruised through Sunset Beach on the ICW. Jim’s driving from up top, with Courtney beside him and I’m waiving.

Harry and Sara on the dock under the Sunset Beach bridge!

By that time, we’d already seen 3 eagles. Courtney got great pictures and was happy! We also saw 3-4 dolphins, but none were very close. She was happy though!

My best eagle shot – shhhh, she’s napping!

She’s awake now! Courtney’s best shot of the same!
Her camera’s itty bitty compared to mine and has much better zoom!

So close to the ocean through here. There weren’t markers showing the way out to sea, so we just stayed in our channel. Lots of people enjoying the beach and watching the surf.

Arrived around noon as thunderstorms were forecast in the afternoon today and tomorrow. Hopefully, we can travel tomorrow. States issuing orders to shelter in place give us pause. We’d much rather get home and shelter there then here on the boat somewhere!

Had a yummy take out lunch.

We hope to get to Hampstead Sunday otherwise we will be here another day.

Beautiful Sunrise Over the Fog!

Thur-Fri, 3/19-20, Georgetown, SC – Little River, NC

Bye, Bye Marsh, Hello Timber!

The water is a mirror. I love the reflections and the tree in the water. Also, there’s an osprey nest in the top of this tree. In fact most the trees have wet feet, but this guy is way out there.

How to they get all the twigs to stay and why such a BIG nest?

These were LONG walk ways through the “tree” marsh (vs the grassy marsh we had been seeing). Guessing there is a house in there somewhere!

They stole our company name!
There was a nice walking path all along the shore.

One of two fairly permanent looking camp sites – doubtful they were supposed to be here??

Then we got into Myrtle Beach area and were right along the town. We saw theaters, restaurants, escape room, etc. Very unusual for our waterway. Then there were all the new, narrow 3 story homes in subdivisions.

This Grand Dunes had it’s own heli pad, condos, marina, golf course, above housing development and bridge!
They closed the marina to transients due to the virus!

I wondered how these two home liked being across from each other?

I like this one. Very easy to describe which house is yours!

A picture from Harry and Sara’s living room.
Too bad I didn’t have the good camera! You could have seen him smile!
No, it is not a log, it is the resident alligator out sunning!

As you guessed we made it to Little River and enjoyed two great dinners with Harry, Sara, and Brandon.

Courtney joined us Friday night for dinner and then boarded the boat for her jaunt with us. We will spend Saturday night in Southport (we planned Bald Head Island, but they closed the marina – so sad) and then drop her off in Hampstead, NC on Sunday or Monday depending on the weather.

Alarming Alarms to Historic Charms!

Wed, 3/18, Charleston – Georgetown

These two were checking out our marina in Charleston! They weren’t too synchronized. You see one’s nose and the other’s fin!

We walked this shoreline on our 2nd walk (the first was straight in to the downtown and historic districts).

Crazy, one big anchor chain holds this huge ship!

A conundrum. Based on Google Earth this must be Shutes Folly Island which is supposed to fly a French Flag. Why the Italian flag? Coronavirus solidarity???

Loved passing by Sullivan’s Island where we previously spent time at Fort Moultrie and Isle of Palms where we stayed with the girls and three of Lauren’s friends one summer. Riding bikes, eating out, pool and beeches were wonderful!

The connector bridge between the two islands looking out to the ocean. I remember seeing a shark swimming near it when we were walking the ocean beach nearby.

Tide was out! This sailboat had to be sitting on the ground!

Our depth alarm went off maybe 4 times. It’s set for 9’ while we need 5’. We got darn close to 5’ a few times but Jim was going slow and watching carefully. There were also warnings on the Navionics’ crowd source app. He added notes so that the next people through knew the latest information.

Not a great picture – this is looking to the ocean and all you can see is low green marshes. Then there were tall grass marshes and the regular grass marshes we’d seen before. Wonder what causes the changes in vegetation across 60 miles? Salinity??

We were following low tide most the morning. Much of the time was big open water inland with white caps at times where wide rivers – flowing between acres of marshes – converged and diverged. We had fewer inlets out to the ocean than we had been seeing.

The change was night and day between the muddied ICW and this river we’re approaching.

Something new! A “floating bridge” that closes on demand to ferry traffic.

Loved old, historic Georgetown!
Indigo was their first industry, then rice, then lumber and paper. Industry was still going strong off to the right of this picture. It woke Jim up at 6am.
We’ll definitely come back on our camping trip!

Boardwalk access to all the eateries along the river.
A number of restaurants had adopted carry out and delivery.

George Washington stayed here on his “southern tour.”

Even better azaleas under a gracious live oak. We got fresh, delicious shrimp for dinner in a fish market down this road.

Tomorrow (today as I’m writing) we arrive/stay in Little River for 3 nights assuming Harry and Sara still want the risk of interacting with us. It definitely gives you pause.

Beautiful, But Quiet, Charleston!

Tues, 3/17, Charleston

We took two multi-mile walks. Lots of shops and restaurants were shut down. Charleston University was on spring break and then 2 weeks of distance learning. There seemed to be high school kids and parents touring a bit, but otherwise the place was dead! Totally good with us!

We walked the historic area but have no good pictures to show for it – dah!!

Many of the large houses were turned into apartments.

Many long, narrow homes facing sideways. This one had the drive, but many had very intricate gardens. Most had two full balconies. Sadly no picture – silly me!

This was a pretty park. Lots of runners and dog walkers.

Well we’ve eaten out for the last time. Good news it was excellent Southern Comfort food! Enough leftovers for a meal – always good! The second night we ate in and learned from another American Tug owners that it was the last night you could “eat in” in SC. NC has done the same.

This couple were on a brand new built to order 39’ American Tug – crazy expensive!!! She grew up sailing and they were from RI. They are used to ocean cruising and plan to do the down east loop which is up the St. Lawrence and then out around Nova Scotia and down along Maine. That’s a lot of foggy, rough water!

He is a big blogger and had gone on a rant about no TP. We decided to stop by and leave them a TP gift. We put our card and a funny note on it. They were actually there and filmed our TP gift and it is on their closed FB blog. They gave us a homemade bottle of limoncello – we definitely got the better end of that exchange!!! We got a tour and they got one of our boat.

Fort Pierce Marina which we stayed at (and a few others we didn’t stay at) have closed to new boats arriving. We find that strange as there is very little contact aside from maybe help with ropes getting in and out of the slip. Granted some boaters rely on the bath/shower house, but many like us don’t. Cross your fingers this won’t impact us. We only have 9 travel days left. Thus, we could be at our house as early as 4/1.