Passing under the Bay Bridge - - - YAY!! (8:15 am Saturday)

Friday morning James Taylor the service manager and Tim the mechanic gave us the green light and we were off!  We made the 9 am opening of Great Bridge bridge and slipped right into the lock with five other boats.  We were out by 9:25.

The next twelve miles only had a few slow downs as we waited for bridges to open and at the RR bridge they were doing a safety inspection - - - that took about 20 minutes.

We were very excited to see buoy R 36  as that is the closest mark to MM "0".  The beginning of the ICW.  We passed it around 11:30 am and were able to put the main up just as we passed the mark. We rolled the jib out a little later.

Buoy 36, aka Mile Marker "0" of the ICW

The trip through the Norfolk/ Portsmouth area is always interesting... here are just a few of the sights.

We were surprised as we rounded Old Port Comfort and turned up the bay to find the wind was from the NE!  Every weather station we had checked talked of SW winds 10-15 knots.  We rolled in the jib and slogged into it all the way to Wolf Trap.  Right about then the wind did come in from the SW and we were able to sail and motor-sail through the rest of the afternoon and evening.

The next turn in our course rendered the jib useless, so we went under main and engine through the night and on up the bay.  Some traffic, but all easily detected by either AIS (Automatic Identification System) or radar which both overlay nicely on our chart plotter.  

I got a kick out of this tug/tow as he was headed for Quonset Point, RI with what looked like a quonset hut on the barge!

As we approached to Bay Bridge this big guy made us move over a bit. 

You can see the bridge in the background.

Unfortunately the day dawned with so many clouds we couldn't see the sun, so no last great sunrise picture.  We hope to be tied up in our new slip at Haven Harbour Marina in Rock Hall by noon!

GREAT TRIP!!    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_/)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~M&D

Work day

The three and half hours between 8 (when the mechanic was due) and 11:30 when he finally showed was VERY long.  I thought Dan would combust.  Tim, the mechanic, showed up at 11:30 checked out what he was going to do and broke for lunch!

After lunch he returned and just as he was taking the head off, the service manager arrived and delivered our parts!  Dan and Tim worked all afternoon and had the head with it's new gasket back on before 5.  Tim headed home and Dan proceeded to put the rest of the engine back together. We are hoping Tim will check back first thing tomorrow and give it his seal of approval so we can head north.

I'd say a picture is worth a thousand words, plus I really couldn't describe all they did.

Manana! ~~~_/)~~~M&D

This is the year for historical ships!

Dan spent the morning doing more dis-assembly on the engine while I walked up town to visit Hancock Fabrics (without Dan grumbling at me to hurry up!) and then on to the Fresh Market for some fresh food.  I was glad the dockmaster Damian saw me as I was lugging provisions back and gave me a golfcart ride back to Brunelle.

We had just finished lunch in the cockpit when I looked back and saw two ships a-coming.  They passed by slowly as they were waiting for the bridge to open, so I had time to get some pictures and to see their names.  The Pinta  and the Nina.  ...but where is the Santa Maria?!  I love google - I found out they are (sans Santa Maria) floating museums that are based out of Wilmington, DE and are on their way to St. Michael's.  They will be there this weekend.

The Pinta  was in the lead as they came by, Pinta on the left, Nina on the right and off they go toward the bridge.

The rest of the day was taken up with Dan doing some more tinkering, including taking the steering housing down and checking out a "clunk" we kept hearing when we used the port helm, and I did some laundry.  We enjoyed watching the crew activity again tonight during cocktails.  

We are getting a visit from the mechanic tomorrow at 8 am.  He will see if there is more for him to do before he goes to pick up the parts which were delivered to Portsmouth instead of here!  ~~~_/)~~~M&D

Atlantic Yacht Basin, Great Bridge, VA

Eddy, our TowBoat US driver, picked us back up at 7 am Monday morning and we headed out against a strong north wind and an accompanying contrary current... we were glad we weren't trying to make with the 9.9.



As we headed through the swing bridge at Pungo Ferry, we passed  a Coast Guard ATN that looked like it was ready to to replace some missing day markers.


By 1 pm  we made it to the face dock at Atlantic Yacht Basin.  The red diamond is right above our mast.  They put us at the end of the dock to make it easy to land.  All well and good, but it's like a quarter mile hike to get to the bathroom!  The trip was easy and in spite of the wind and cool temps, it was sunny and pleasant.

We checked in and made sure they knew we were looking for a mechanic and possibly some engine parts.  The service manager checked us out and said he'd order a gasket set and have someone available to work on the engine Wednesday.  This yard in well known for doing good work, so we're optimistic.  As we headed back down the dock we spied this beauty heading out. Don't know what they had done, but it looked beautiful, but what a lot of varnish work!

We started checking out what we'd need to do to get ready for them and then hunkered down as it started to rain.  We were below when we heard a lot of chatter right near us.  I looked out as a group of shells headed out into the rain!   An 8, several 4's, pairs and singles.  By the time they came back the rain had stopped and there was more chatter as they returned.

My first reaction seeing the two girls was that they were texting!
...but I think they were comparing blisters!

We witnessed the same routine this afternoon, but with the good weather, we were on deck watching.  It's the Great Bridge Crew Club.  It seems to be a really active club. AYB gives them free storage space and a place to launch.

The rain returned during the evening with a vengeance, including thunder and lightning,  and after we went to bed we even had some hail, but by morning all was clear.

The rocker cover and thermostat are removed.

Dan spent today taking the engine apart to be ready for the mechanic tomorrow.  We put the motor back on the dinghy and re-assembled the ladder.  I worked on cleaning the ladder and that lead to lots of other cleaning - - - we did take a break to walk up town and had lunch, but the day flew by.

~~~_/)~~~M&D

We just may make it to Great Bridge...thanks to TowBoat US!...but not until tomorrow

As I mentioned last night, Dan has the Mercury 9.9 outboard rigged to our swim ladder.  He removed the top half of the ladder (that is "top" when it is in the up position creating part of our stern rails), removed the top step ("top" when it is in the down position) and installed the outboard bracket that usually resides on the stern rail and all of a sudden we felt like we were on Anda Calma  again!  She was our Catalina 250 that had a 9.9 on her stern.

Left hand picture was taken with my Lytro camera, I need to work with it more, it had a depth of field that lets you refocus your picture after you take, it shows the engine at half throttle pushing us at 4+ knots.  Of course Dan had to do some more tweaking....he's Dan.

Of course the wind wasn't what was predicted, but it was still OK for us to sail across the Albemarle Sound.  We pulled the anchor a little after 6 am and used the outboard to get us headed in the right direction.  We rolled the jib out part way and had the main all the way up.  We were across the Sound by 9 am and started up the North River.  We couldn't keep the jib full, so rolled it in and used the main and outboard to head up the river.  We realized the wind was not going to cooperate and decided to call TowBoat US to get us to the Atlantic Yacht Basin just this side of the Great Bridge Lock where there is a mechanic.  We hope he'll be able to diagnose and cure our engine ills.

Triple A for the waterways.  We're glad we have unlimited towing.
~~~~~_/)~~~~~M&D

WELL!    I had this written while TowBoat US was towing us along and was ready to push the "publish" button when our driver, Eddy called Dan and asked if we could divide the tow into two days!  So, we're tied up at Coinjock Marina (at mile marker 50) and will make the rest of the trip starting at 7 am tomorrow!  We watched two of our River Dunes buddies pass by and were just joined with another here at Coinjock and will try out the restaurant here with them.   ....later

Top of the Alligator River, bottom of the barrel with the engine!

The "new" system didn't work.  We left the anchorage three different times (returning to re-tweak the gas escape system).  We finally got things back the way they were yesterday with the coolant overflowing into the new tank, after having to replace the raw water impeller.  That had been the first thing Dan checked - - - days ago, but sometime this morning it gave out.  We thought all was well and headed into the 27 mile canal between the Pungo River and the Alligator River.

Everything was hunky dory for the first three hours and we enjoyed the scenery, including a deer coming down to the water's edge

...and then the temp suddenly spiked.  We did the drain routine and started up again (we drifted with the jib rolled out and no wind while the engine was shut down).  We didn't get more than 15 minutes when the engine shut down of it's own accord, no temp issues showing and no overflowing coolant.  I "sailed" again while Dan rigged the dinghy to be a push boat.

It's hard to see, but he rigged a very long tiller extension using the boat hook so we could control it from the stern.

It pushed us along nicely at 4 knots or so and we anxiously waited to get out of the canal and get a chance to sail up the very wide Alligator River.  No such luck.  The forecast had been for 5-10 from the SW,  it was all over the place and mostly non-existent.  We finally got enough breeze to fill the sails when we were about 5 miles from the swing bridge at the top of the river, but rolled it in to "dinghy" through.  When we called the bridge tender to ask for an opening, we explained our situation and he opened early and waited patiently for us to come through.  He hailed us as we passed through "That's ingenuity!"  We decided to anchor just past the bridge on the west side of the river as the wind was forecast to be 5-10 from the west.  Well it ain't!  It's blowing hard from the SE and the fetch all the way up the river is giving us quite a bumpy time!

Dan has rigged the outboard engine right on the transom.  A bit more ingenuity.  It wasn't finished until almost dusk, so I'll try to get a good picture of it tomorrow.  ~~_/)~~M&D 

We left River Dunes behind, but not the engine troubles

Dan was up early and captured River Dunes at sunrise, the Club House  and Brunelle in her slip - ready to go.

Hopes were high as we set out at 6:30 this morning that we (or Dan) had solved the engine problem.  All the work he had done was to keep the engine from overheating- - - new antifreeze, clean heat exchanger, raw water system checked, thermostat removed, expansion tank expanded and moved on deck.  After a frustrating day having to run the engine at low RPMs and cutting the engine every half hour or so to let the coolant flow back into the heat exchanger, Dan has concluded the problem isn't overheating, but gases escaping from the cylinder causing the coolant to bubble out and into the expansion tank, most likely caused by a bad head gasket.

Here is Dan's expansion system sitting on the bridge deck.  The top picture shows the hose system that allows the gases and liquid to bubble up into the tank. The bottom picture shows the tape showing the level when the engine is off and the liquid has drained back into the system.  We added a top piece of tape later to indicate when we should shut down and let the coolant drop back down.
Luckily the wind helped us a good bit of the time and we only anchored once to perform the "reset".  The rest of the time we were sailing.  Sometimes really moving along, but often just drifting as the wind was light to non exixtent and all over the place all day!

All our new friends from River Dunes passed us and offered advice and offers of help.  We ended up anchoring with most of them in the creek at the head of the Pungo River just before the entrance to the Alligator Pungo Canal.  The day was cool with occasional sun and the last hour of our sail it started to rain, but by the time we were anchored and beginning to make supper, the sun came our for a spectacular sunset.

The creek where we anchored made us homesick for the Chesapeake, the setting was very like so many of the wonderful anchorages we enjoy.  

Dan's contact at Westerbeke had a suggestion to streamline his expansion tank system, so he tweaked it after we anchored and we hope it works well tomorrow....

~~_/)~~(not quite as much water moving under the keel as we'd like) M&D