bridges

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Two Cats in a Creek

One of the first cruising boats we met- oh we met the owners too of course- was Indigo a 42’ Chris White catamaran.  We’d ended our day early and stopped at a marina right alongside the ICW in Coinjock, NC. The place is as rustic as it sounds. Indigo ended their day early also, which for them is 5pm; typically they are in delivery mode. They gave us good tips on stops to make along the way and a few spots where jumping off the ICW would be fun.  Their journey ends in the Bahamas and they use the spurt method ; push hard for a week, leave the boat at a good marina for a month, fly in, provision, travel hard for a week and after a few spurts – voila! Bahamas.

Saw them once in Florida as they zoomed past on their get to Lake Worth spurt. We keep in touch via email from time to time. Saturday night, after a slew of emails with each of us trying to determine how far we’d get, select a decent creek and all that daily cruising fun stuff it all came together. As the first to arrive (not that we are fast, but Indigo began their day 30 miles north of Georgetown), we launched our dinghy and readied for happy hour. Yes, they looked as we remembered and we caught up while Linda’s chicken was roasting away. Good news: plenty of good sailing in the Exumas.

Dinghy service provided for Indigo

Early the next morning- earlier than usual due to the clock reset back to EDT- we spotted our first bald eagle. Much of the morning’s trip took us through the Cape Romaine Wildlife Refuge. Plenty of sights to ogle.

BALD EAGLE HANGS OUT BY THE ICW

Passed through Charleston Harbor and picked up of first large pack of boats at the Wappoo Creek Bascule Bridge.  Left them all behind and anchored for the night in another creek- well this was a river, but not a very wide one.

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Bridge adventures and boat tales

Bridges aren’t always truthful; can say they are 65 ft yet in certain conditions they are less. If a bridge is listed as 65 ft, that means it has that much clearance at high tide. We need 63 ft (plus a few inches) and cautious us, we want the bridge to have at least 64 ft. Looking up as one approaches, is so deceptive. You would swear the mast was about to hit, but no, you’ve got a few feet to spare. As I’ve said before, I hate looking. If the mast ever hit; damn that would ruin our day and then some.

We left Tidewater Yacht Marina in Portsmouth, Friday morning around 10:15. The forecast for today and the next 6 days was low winds and sun. Sounds good to me. The official start of the AICW is here and you spend your first day adjusting your speed to meet the bridge openings. The first 20 miles contains six scheduled opening bridges and one lock. Those hanging a right at mile 7 for the Dismal Swamp route contend with more locks and fewer opening bridges. The area closer to Portsmouth also has several lift bridges that are usually up.

Making friends is always a good thing to do and you never know who might help you out some time; paths cross a lot along this waterway enjoyed by so many. At the least, temper your judgments and criticisms – we clearly recall being newbies only last year!  A 44’ Hunter left the marina a short time before us; nearly smashing into a piling and another boat’s dinghy as they motored out the fairway. We caught up to them at the first opening bridge and followed them until we anchored. They managed to entertain- and I use that word loosely and only in the kindest way- us a few times with the usual monohull going aground antics- minor, very minor.

ALL TREATS AND NO TRICKS AT THIS LOCK

At the Great Bridge Lock, the lock tender warned the sailing vessels that the 65’ bridge at Pungo Ferry – gotta love these low country names -might have less than 65’ due to recent high winds and the gales that kept us in Atlantic Highlands. A few miles south of the Lock, we and the 44’ Hunter approached a 65 footer with no height board- sigh. As they inched closer, me watching with the binoculars, I thought for a moment they weren’t going under, but they did. I immediately hailed them on the radio to ask about their total height above the water. 64’2”- ouch that is way to close. See? Friends. We crawled under. I stood on the side deck, binoculars glued to the top of the mast. We cleared with what looked like 8” to spare. Oh boy, can’t wait for the Pungo Ferry bridge.

Our selected anchorage for tonight was Blackwater Creek, 2 miles south of the bridge. We knew from last year that anchoring north of the bridge was only possible just off to the side of the ICW, not in any creek or bight. All shoaled or filled with deadheads and wrecks.Ugh.  As we turn the bend we see 2 sailboats anchored off to the side just before the bridge- uh oh. The one in front was a Shannon 53- motorsailer nearly as wide as Ortolan with two masts, one taller than ours. The Hunter tested the bridge and turned around. The Shannon, Moon Tide had AIS so I hailed them, no reply. As we came up, they were heading back in their dinghy and we asked about the bridge clearance. Yep- height board on this one currently displaying 63 ½ ft. We think we are 63′ plus a couple inches.
What did we do? What would you do?

Anchored with the pack of course. The 63 ½ was a one foot improvement over yesterday; passing under tomorrow would be doable. Negligible current, light winds, no problem. I proceed on my usual boat check out with binoculars –  want to know whose around. Don’t you know I look at the other sailboat anchored behind the Shannon and guess what name I see on the stern? Think. Ok, now go back to my last post. None other than s/v Golden Eye; 40ish foot classic lines monohull with two wooden masts. One guy is fishing. We launch the dinghy to set a stern anchor and keep us out of the channel; getting hit by a barge is not on our to-do list. Now, here’s our chance to get the complete story.

Russ goes over and comes back with: yep it’s them. Left in the gale as had a schedule to keep. Sailed 50 miles offshore, tacking because they didn’t have a good angle heading due south. No VHF turned on and of course no cell 50 miles off! The owner’s son called the Coast Guard when he didn’t receive the scheduled phone call. I snuck a shot through the strataglass; no point in being too obvious.

VISITING THE INFAMOUS S/V GOLDEN EYE