From Belhaven to River Dunes to Moorehead City Yacht Basin

A perfect sail down to River Dunes with nice winds that allowed an engine off period.

A couple of nice sailboats to see along the way.




Photos courtesy of Drew Sunstein (on Shawnee).  Blog courtesy of Deborah Twombly (at home)




 
 They followed the Pungo River to the Neuse River and tucked in at River Dunes.

    Arrived dockside, such a wonderfully protected marina, and hurricane hole, always calm. 


 



Saturday morning they ate breakfast at the River Dunes cafe and left at a reasonable hour for Moorehead City Yacht Basin, about a 5 hour motor at 6k.  When they arrived Drew's Esbar heater was waiting for him.  He actually did install it in a couple of hours.  Yea - fixed!
  They had dinner at Floyd's 1921 with a couple who have sailed from CA thru the Panama Canal and up to NC.  Reuben ran into Judith Jacobson on Touché, an IP380, who has sailed the globe.  They are headed through the Panama  Canal and down the South American coast.  See this little Youtube of them in Svalbard in 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yaWGWdYlSY
   Luckily, he's found a leak in the mast collar so there will be another project when he arrives in Fort Pierce as well as new blocks to replace that I'm sending to him Monday.  Adam arrives Sunday afternoon to add to the crew for shorter, nicer watches at the helm on the 3.5-day off-shore trip. 
  Seventy-seven degrees today in Moorehead City. Rainy all day in Exeter, NH with temps about 48. Fair winds, you guys!

Headed to Coinjock, NC to the anchorage, to Belhaven and to Oriental - River Dunes

After a night at Centerville Marina Shawnee headed east then south, across Currituck Sound back into the canal - ICW and to North Carolina to the famous
 Coinjock.  Reuben was ready for a prime rib.
 Before.                                                  and After -


 He ate the whole thing!

On down the ICW you see a lot of things.  This is 120-foot cruiser with his tender in tow just easing out!   You can see it's in front of another large yacht.


A barge.  This time of year the ICW is pretty crowded.
Some insurance policies don't cover boats for hurricanes or storms down the ICW until after Nov 1, but that doesn't seem to be stopping a ton of boats this year.


 Another Island Packet, I think, like Shawnee - no yellow Tweety on the stern.
:
 Note few are sailing. The waters show how calm it is with little wind.

 If you see whitecaps in a picture then the wind is at least 14k

 
 anchorage one night.
Always light appetizers and a drink at the end of the hard day of boating.



 On to Belhaven where they stayed at the town dock.


  

 In Belhaven, NC there is a grand restored house used for events, River Forest Manor https://riverforestmanor.com/.  Many times we've walked the grounds. For years it was under construction.  Now it's open.


 



Pretty calm this evening. Drew walking back to the cockpit.

 

The next day they sailed to Oriental and turned off the engine!!  The wind was taking them to 6.4 K! 



 

Map shows Belhaven to River Dunes Resort near Oriental.  One more leg to Moorehead City on the NC coast.


The captain
likes those calm waters.  Fair winds.
No things to fix ... at the moment.






























[The repaired Espar heater https://esparparts.com/ is being mailed to Moorehead City where Drew will install it. "Just take a couple of hours."]

Oops not so fast -- BLOCKED AT THE LOCKS

Shawnee missed the 3 o'clock opening for one lock, waited til 4 and then Per Reuben from his blog:  "So after waiting tied up in the Great Lock the gates opened at 5:45. We untied, left the lock, only to come to the Great Bridge not 100 feet downstream that remained closed 

 

 

till 6pm. More 

The great bridge finally opening

 

We milled around and finally at 6:02 we were off. Our stop was the Centerville Marina where we had a reservation.  [Just in front of another bridge to await it's opening tomorrow morning.]

 

 

 

 

 

We had talked with them several times during the day explaining our progress and finally, recognizing we wouldn’t get there till after they closed at 5 pm they told us to come into the fuel dock where they reserved a spot for us between two trawlers. 

When we got there at 6:30 we saw a very large powerboat (about 70’) pulling into what was supposed to be our spot. There were no other spots.

Much yelling ensued - from our side. Several of the folks from other boats too. One of them had been in the dock masters office during our last phone call and took our side. Finally, at 7pm, the large boat (Rambling Rose, full of “good old boys” from the south pulled out to go anchor downstream someplace. We finally pulled in, tied up, plugged into power....and had a bit of wine. No idea what we’re doing for supper, if anything (it’s now 8pm)

Coinjock tomorrow where a 32oz rib eye has my name on it."

Next: Leg 3 Hampton, VA to Moorehead City, NC

And they're off.  At any moment see where they are:  https://share.garmin.com/share/svShawnee.

Don took a 12-hour train ride back to Pt. Judith, RI where he left his car.  He's hoping to do it again with his girlfriend next time.  Drew spent 5 days going to the famous Hampton Rendezvous, http://www.hamptonrendezvous.com/. 
This is the 6th annual event for sailors heading south with amazing speakers talking fixes, routes, books, apps; all kinds of help and information.  There are group dinners, receptions, and a dinner with music at the Hampton Yacht Club.  This was the event that helped us so much our first year south in 2014 when they had their first annual event free.  Now it's hosted by the City of Hampton. 


 Hampton Public Pier.  And there' s Shawnee with her yellow dinghy hanging off the stern (lower left). I count 8 masts.

On Sunday, Oct. 20, Reuben drove down from Baltimore to join the next motoring leg to Moorehead City, NC, a five day trip down the Intercoastal Waterway (ICW.)  It's very crowded at this time of year with so many boats going south to Florida for the winter.  Canadian, Wally Moran, a colorful sailor, is leading a group of 16 boats - the Sail to the Sun Rally, down the ICW (see Sail to the Sun rally on facebook).  Drew snagged his schedule on the internet to avoid Wally's stops.  He's headed down the Dismal Swamp route rather than Drew's route down the broader ICW way.


Most boats only motor during the day because at night it's hard to see, and hitting bottom is always a potential problem.  It's not IF you'll hit, it's when.


Map shot Monday Oct. 21, 11:40am

Of course, all is subject to change.  If the weather cooperates, they keep moving about 30 miles a day, and it doesn't get too backed up at the locks, the planned approximate route is:

Oct. 21, Monday night, Chesapeake, VA  - Atlantic Yacht Basin. http://atlanticyachtbasin.com/ (a huge full-service marina that did a terrible job on our boat several years ago applying a finish to the teak - we had it totally redone this past winter.). A little walk leads to mostly fast food here.




Tuesday night - At Mile Marker 50 of the ICW there is famous Coinjock Marina where they already have a dockside reservation for the 32 oz. prime rib. http://www.coinjockmarina.com/





Wednesday night - Alligator River Marina, NC or anchorage south of the bridge, eat aboard.   They are in the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge (no internet coverage).  The website shows photos of alligators,  bears with cubs, birds, wolves, otters, and other wildlife, but we've never seen any animals here.  https://www.fws.gov/refuge/alligator_river/


Thursday night - Belle Haven, NC anchorage or marina and dinner at delicious Tavern at Jack's Neck.





Friday night - elegant River Dunes near Oriental, NC where there are beautiful homes, pool, hot tub, laundry, bikes, a free car to market, nice restaurant, store, cafe, great place. riverdunes.com

 




Saturday night - Moorehead City Yacht Basin, NC, a great restaurant near the marina.
http://www.mcyachtbasin.com/


Only a short walk to dinner to Floyd's 1921 www.floyds1921.com
Eat inside or out, excellent food.




Probably wait a few days before Leg 4 outside to Florida.

Arrived safely at Hampton Pier, VA

  Drew and Don manned their watches at the helm over 3 days Oct. 13-16.  At least the stay sil was raised sometimes.




Lee cloth, sleeping bag, and pillow are ready in the Salon for sleeping shifts in rolling seas.






With calmer seas Drew could stand on the cabin top.



Don made some great chili stew that was hearty and filling. Thanks, Don! 
They motored most of the way down to get there before a large storm hit Wednesday at 10 am.




Passing Ocean City, NJ and many fishing boats like this one with their big crane arms sticking out.  They show up on the radar.





 



They left Rhode Island Sunday around 6 pm and neared the end of their passage Wednesday around 6 am sailing between Cape Henry and Cape Charles at the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay, over the car tunnel, and finally arrived at the Hampton Pier, Wednesday, around 8 am.  

Amazing, a sail was out! He said they put it up for 20 minutes so they could say they sailed. (just kidding you.)






In the slip, stern to, that means they backed in.
 

 Both were immediately ready for deep-sleep naps. So ends the second leg of the trip to Florida.

Cool pics courtesy of  Drew and Don for the blog.
 




 

In at Point Judith Marina Oct 4th, out on Sunday October 13th

Drew and Don sailed into Point Judith, RI on Oct. 5th after a lumpy night, 20 hours out and 20 to25 k winds, high seas.  Salty sailors.  With a major named tropical storm headed up the coast they ducked in for protection and waited for a week with stormy white caps inside the marina. 

A finger pier at the marina failed to withstand these waves.

Don went back to Portland by train for a week and returned Sunday to leave his car in Pt. Judith.  He'll take a train from Hampton, VA back to RI to pick it up rather than fly from Richmond.

The Espar heater failed -another project for Drew.  We have done no upkeep on this heater.  We're suppose to run it once a week or month for 10 minutes and probably service it like a home furnace yearly. It hasn't failed at all for 5 years.  He removed the heater and left it with the marina for the repair and rebuild company to pick up or receive by mail.  They will then send the heater to Virginia or Florida when they complete the repair.  Of course, the next leg is when they could use a heater onboard.  We have 3 other ways of heating - one if we are plugged in at the slip we have a plugin ,safe, ceramic heater that works really well, the heater portion of the AC equipment, and a clay pot that radiates heat if you put it on the stove with the gas on, or, if desperate, open the gimbled gas oven, but not when underway.  He rented a car one day and explored a bit, reprovisioned, and replied to the never ending emails. That's how Drew used his week on land.

Shredded flags after the storm:

Now the calm.  Note the nine lines holding Shawnee. He was on the outer most slip.

After a week of storms Don and Drew are ready to motor on down with practically no wind.  They have a short weather window before another low is ready to descend on the Virginia coast after Wednesday with high winds and waves, lower temperatures, wind off the land.  Guess it's remnants of that blizzard in North Dakota.  They left Sunday night after Don arrived about 6pm. 

Here is the route at 1 am Monday morning south of Long Island, NY.  They are sticking closer to shore than usual. 

You can follow them too at: 

share.garmin.com/share/svShawnee 

password: Shawnee

Sailing Down Again to Florida 2019

Oct. 4:
After mucho maintenance this summer at Maine Yacht Center in Portland, as Shawnee reaches her 20th birthday, Drew and crew member friend Don Horskotte sailed out of Marblehead Harbor Friday night about 10:30 PM calculated to reach the Cape Cod Canal for the right tide and current.  It was a rough ride with the staysil and jib out, 20k wind at their back, but pretty high seas 5 to 7'.  They crossed into Buzzards Bay around 7 AM and had a nicer sail.  The plan was to go into Block Island, RI that night after 20 hours at the helm, but when they called the marina a stiff $4 per foot and nothing open - restaurants, etc. steered them instead to Point Judith on the mainland.  Here, Don has a roommate, to join for dinner and stories.
    After examining the forecast it appeared a stalled front was going to keep the rough seas and weather in that spot for several days. So there they wait.