Where is Spring??

It has been some time since my last blog update where we were in Charleston, SC.  After a pleasant visit to that beautiful city, we headed north up the Intercoastal Waterway for a Looper Rendezvous in Norfolk, VA.   Since we had been in Charleston, with a brief trip back to Austin by air, for 11 days, we were hoping against hope that spring had arrived in the South.

There was plenty of evidence that it was trying.

Swamp Dogwood in full Spring bloom along the Waccamaw River

A Mother Osprey sitting on her eggs

But Mother Nature has other plans this April/May.  From late snowstorms in Minnesota and Colorado, to cool temperatures in Austin, it is an unusual weather pattern we are experiencing this year.  On the east coast, the weather pattern has been cold damp weather, with lots of wind.   Serious wind.   We do not mind the rain on Rock Chalk.   We can comfortably move the boat on rainy days inside our protected pilot house.  What has hit us right in the teeth is the high winds.

What, you ask yourself do we have to worry about when we are inside the Intercoastal?   That is partly true as much of the Atlantic Intercoastal follows rivers, like the Waccamaw above, or along coastal estuaries.  No problems there.   But once we got to Cape Lookout, North Carolina, we turn north into the two big sounds behind Cape Hatteras.  The Neuse River is a big open river as it flows into Pamlico Sound.   We traversed the first part of the Neuse on a cool but relatively calm day.  After a two night stay at a marina, we came back out into the Neuse to some real ugly winds and waves.  Winds were clocking above 25 mph, right on the nose.   Pamlico Sound is only 12-15 ft. deep in most places, so when the wind kicks up you get 4-5 or 5-6 steep waves, very close together.   Even with a 44' boat, a 6 ft. wave sends the bow way up into the air to only crash down into the next one.  The entire boat shakes as you crash into the next wave, and tons of brackish water crashes over the bow.   Yikes.

Shelley had the boat prepared with everything off the counters and sitting in sinks, and everything off the walls.  Nevertheless, there are always casualties to this kind of banging and shaking.  I lost the bedside lamp to a crash on the floor.   My computer bag, with the computer zipped into it,  slipped from the couch to the floor.  Thankfully, no damage.   We fought 7 miles of this that took over an hour, before our heading changed 120 degrees where we could run with the waves.  So far so good.

Then the next day we left Bellhaven, NC at dawn to try to fight our way up the 22 mile Alligator River and across Abermarle Sound before the winds picked up.  Nice try.  The wind God's had other ideas.   The Alligator runs pretty much north and south, and the wind was blowing over 25 mph out of the NE.  There is one low swing bridge we needed to get under for us to get out of the Alligator.  After cruising for 4 hours that morning to reach the bridge, it closed a half hour before we got there due to gusts in excess of 35 mph.  The bridge has an air clearance of 14 ft. and Rock Chalk needs 15 ft.   Add to the 3-4 ft. waves flowing under the bridge and we were essentially trapped behind the bridge in the river with no place to go and the winds and waves increasing.

Shelley quickly checked the guide book and found a small creek on the west side of the Alligator that maybe had just enough depth at its mouth that we could sneak into it and anchor.  The creek had a nice couple of snake turns, which provided a good break from the now 4-5 footers crashing the shoreline.  We made it over the shoal and into a back creek off Catfish Point and anchored in 12 ft of water.  We had no internet, and one bar on the cell phone.  There were about 20 other boats trapped as well below the bridge, all anchored in various spots to try to hide from the winds and waves.  The only real communication going on was by VHF radio.  Just like the old days.

We sat there the rest of that morning, and all that afternoon and night, and most of the next day.  Reported wind gusts were now at 56 mph out on the river and we felt it at our anchorage as Rock Chalk just zoomed back and forth on its anchor.  But it held, and I gained a ton of confidence in my anchoring system that it can hold me in gale force winds.   Finally at 2:00 the next day, the winds fell below 25 and the bridge tender called out that he was going to do a quick opening to let us all out.  So off go 20 boats weighing anchors, and fighting their way north to the bridge.   Back into the river and its big waves, we motored our way up to the bridge, and thankfully through the bridge.  Whew!!

Decision time:   We could immediately tuck into a marina and sit for another day or two until winds subsided, or head across Abermarle Sound right now.  We were behind schedule now and feeling pinched because we were supposed to be in Norfolk to attend the Looper Rendezvous.   Those of you that know Shelley and I, know what we did.  It is hard to sit.  Full Steam Ahead!!

So in a last second decision, I turn for the outer markers of the Alligator and out we go into the sound.   I had figured that it was 12 miles across the Sound to get to the north shore where the waves would not have the big fetch.  And my thinking was that the winds had died down to a reasonable 25-30 mph.    Wow!!   We thought the Neuse River the day before was bad.....This was bad.   These were the biggest waves, closest together, that we have seen in 3.5 years and 7000 miles of cruising.   They were easily 5-6 with some 8 in there.   All big and all close together.   There is only one way for Rock Chalk to cross that kind of water, and that is to get up on plane.  So I did.  I pushed the throttles forward and she responded by getting her nose up and getting to about 13 mph.

Boom, boom, boom.   We crashed into and over one after another sending major jolts through the boat and massive water over the bow, over the pilot house and over the top of the boat.  We had a 1 ft glob of mud still stuck on the anchor from our overnight anchorage, and all that mud was getting thrown into the windshield and smeared onto our roof.   There was nothing to do but gut it out and trust our boat.   She did well.  I can't say that Shelley and I had our doubts, but it was scary.  Nothing failed and after almost two hours of pounding, we finally started to see the big waves get smaller as we approached the north shore of the Abermarle.  We made it!

Shelley was finally able to get downstairs and assess for any damage.   Again, everything was off the walls and onto the floor, and one picture had lost its frame, but there was no major damage.  It was quite the adventure.  

Sorry for no photos of all the high waves and high winds, but we were occupied elsewhere.  You will just have to take my word for it.  We made it to Norfolk and made the Rendezvous.  Now we are making our way further north through the Chesapeake Bay.  That is an even bigger body of water, so we want to be careful and not fight anymore waves.  You can see that things have settled down.

USS George Bush and the USS Truman Super Carriers in Norfolk

Wolf Trap Lighthouse on the Chesapeake Bay

We are making our way north.   Our next deadline (always bad to do on a boat) is to be in New York City June 7 to meet our two grandsons, Max (age 13) and Leo (age 10) who are flying into JFK.   We plan on having them both for most of their summer break. It is Mother's Day, May 12th, so we have 3 weeks to get to New York.  Let's hope the weather God's are kinder to us this spring.   Please!!!!!   Happy Mother's Day to all you Mother's out there.    Marc