Thursday May 17, 2018 - Layover at Bowleys, Middle River

Is it good to be home?  You bet it is.  It wasn't a great homecoming - it rained for the last 8 hours I motored from Solomons to my marina.  But, it's good to be at my destination. I have some boat work to do and Joan will drive down to pick me up this evening.  It's raining lightly all day today so it's kinda hard to do much on the outside of the boat. 

In the next week, I'll try to give some kind of trip summary, some statistics, some highlights, and some lessons learned.

I have appreciated the dedicated followers who have endured my bad grammar, bad spelling, and lack of proof reading.  Thank you for your patience. 

Wednesday May 16, 2018 - Solomons to Middle River (home)

With rain in the forecast (for the next 3 days), my plan was to go about 40 miles to Annapolis and anchor out until tomorrow.  I figured I would be able to time my return home to miss most of any storms/rain.  The wind was south at about 15 going out of the Patuxent River but died to about 10 once I got into the Bay.  That was good because there is lots of fetch with a south wind and the seas can get pretty big and rolley.  I really don't like sailing downwind so I had decided to leave the cover on the main and sail with the genoa only.  That way, if I did get any bad weather, I only had one sail to deal with.  I ran the engine the entire day.  I made fairly good time until about 11am when it started raining.  I furled the genoa and then it was motoring the remainder of the day. 

I've come to realize that when you are going from the mouth to the head of a river or tributary like the Chesapeake Bay, the tides and current are delayed as you progress.  So, if you stayed in one place and maximum ebb was at noon, you would expect maximum flood to be about 6 hours later.  But as you move up the bay, maximum ebb moves back in time so that maximum ebb might be at 2pm further north.  Well, for the 11 hours I was heading north, the current was in some state of ebb the entire time.  That meant I had between .2 and 2 knots against me all day.  I was off Poplar Island at about 2pm and considered going into the Rhode River for the night since the current would be favorable in the morning.  But, as I've said before, when you get close to home, home is like a magnet - it's pull keeps getting stronger the closer you get.  I want through the Bay Bridge at around 3pm and at that point, I was committed to getting back to the marina before dark.  There had been very little wind all day but at about 4pm, it began building from the East and made the last 10 miles one of the roughest parts of my entire trip.  And, of course, it was still raining.  I came through the cut below Hart Miller Island and was in my slip just before 7pm. 

Tuesday May 15, 2018 - Reedville to Solomons

Last night was exiting.  A thunderstorm came through and True Blue was rocking, rolling, and heeling.  But it only lasted 20 minutes and then it was just a nice steady rain for part of the night.  About an hour after I had anchored last night, a 35' sailboat came into the anchorage.  But, unlike me (close to shore and as much protection as possible), he stayed out in the middle of the fairly large bay.  In the morning, they were gone.  I suspect they drug their anchor in the storm and decided to move to another location (or left before 5am in the morning).

I left the anchorage at 6am and raised the main.  They were calling for SW 10-15 in the morning, increasing in the afternoon.  I didn't have that far to go to Solomons so I figured I'd be in ahead of the wind.  With that in mind, no reefs in the sails.  I had a nice sail out the Great Wicomoco and into the Bay.  I was about half way across the mouth of the Potomac and the wind died.  I ran the engine for about 2 hours and then it started back up - same direction.  I was near my favorite lighthouse - Point No Point.  I love the name but I'm not sure if there is a story on how it got that name.  As I approached the Patuxent River, the wind increased.  When I turned to go west into Solomons, I was reaching with 20 to 25 knot winds (no reefs).  I dropped the main half way up Mill Creek and anchored at my favorite location - just east of Pancake Point.

At about 10pm, I was texting with my new friend Doug. He said he had been reading on Facebook about lots of bad storms up my way.  It was dead calm but I checked the radar and saw weather very close by.  Before I turned on my inside chart plotter to set a track and anchor alarm, the wind went from zero to 30 (direction unknown, at that moment).  As soon as the chart plotter came up, it showed True Blue tracking straight from where I had been anchored to the shore about 300 feet away.   I ran up the steps, got my bearings (in the dark), started the engine, and was able to get the boat to move out of the mud and into the wind.   Then I began the exercise of running back and forth from the bow to the wheel, trying to bring in the anchor.  The wind would give me about 20 seconds before blowing the bow back off toward the shore.  Several times, I had to turn back into the wind with full throttle before locking the wheel.  Finally, after about 10 minutes, I had the anchor up and I was in deeper water.  I was VERY lucky I had grounded before hitting another boat or a dock.  It was pretty scary with a couple gusts easily over 40 or 50.  I decided to relocate to a spot further up Mill Creek where there is more protection from the (then) east winds.  By the time I got there (took 5 minutes), the wind was down to 10 to 15.  Fortunately, through all this, there was no rain at all.  But once I was anchored again, it began raining and rained for some time. 

Monday May 14, 2018 - Hampton to Reedille

I guess I'm a bit of a pessimist when it comes to planning for my next day's progress. I usually have a destination A and a destination B (the latter being a little stretch).  I almost always make destination and sometimes go on to destination C.  That's what happened today. I left Hampton at 6am.  I was sure I'd make it to Fishing Bay on the Piankatank River. But I was hoping to make it to Dymer Creek (above the Rappahannock). But I was happy to make it another 10 miles to Reedville on the Great Wicomico River. Not only that, I was at my anchorage (Sandy Point) and all settled by 4pm.  My plan was to be in Solomons tomorrow so I'll have to re-think that.  After tomorrow, we are supposed to have 3 days of rainy weather.

I left early this morning because I knew the current would be flooding for several hours. That made it hard getting out of the James River but that only takes an hour or so.  But then it was 6 to 7 knots going north for the next 7 hours.  I had both sails out all the way for the NE to E, 5 to 10 knot wind that helped with my speed.  Unfortunately, at around 7am, a big and thick fog bank rolled into the Bay and made the visibility between 200 300 yards until about noon. When it finally started lifting, it was kind of an odd feeling because I was not able to see land in any direction.  I almost felt more secure when I was encased in my little fog cocoon. 

As I approached the Great Wicomoco, it became sunny and turned into a really nice afternoon.  I anchored in Sandy Point Bay.  Ed and Joan had been there before. 

Sunday May 13, 2018 - Portsmouth to Hampton

I've been to Hampton before and I really like the town and waterfront but every time I go, I sail past Fort Monroe on New Point Comfort and have always wanted to check it out (if possible).  What I didn't know was that until 2011, it was an Army base and not a place civilians like me could visit.  In 2011, it was closed down as a federal installation and was turned over to the State of Virginia.  Shortly after that, the National Parks Service took on a role.  There is a lot of very large and nice military housing that is owned by members of the public.  There is a very large hospital looking building at the south end that is a fairly high end (and popular) retirement home.  There is a light house near the south end, and, of course there is the Fort.  There is also a fairly large white sand beach on the East side (facing the Chesapeake) that is open to the public. 

Fort Monroe is the largest fort of it's kind in the US. It is HUGE!  It is in the shape of a pentagon and has a very large moat around the perimeter.  It too has a lot of very well built, brick buildings and also has some beautiful housing.  A very nice museum has been created in one of the buildings on the SW side of the grounds that tells the story of the fort.  I would highly encourage anyone who has not been there to go and spend an entire day. 

I stayed at the Old Point Comfort Marina.  It was built for use by military personnel but is now run by some municipal authority. It is a little run down but I really liked it and the wifi worked great.  The bath house was a little odd but very clean and functional.  I docked on a T head and the owner of a Watkins 33 had driven up from Atlanta to take his boat "Finally" to a yard where he was going to re-do the bottom.  His name was Paul and he had lots of very interesting stories about his time in the Air Force.

Saturday May 12, 2018 - Layover in Portsmouth

I think today has been one of the most fun days of my entire trip. I was tied up to the free (south) dock at the High Street Landing in Portsmouth.  It is a really nice park type setting.  I did some boat work early and then went to the really nice Visitor's center about 2 blocks to the north (at the north free docking area).  Then I walked over to the only place to get basic groceries in a 2 mile radius - Dollar General.  It's about 3 blocks up High Street from the boat.  I got most of what I needed (lots of snacks and milk).  I took that back to the boat and then set out to the Skipjack nautical store.  It's is about 8 blocks west on High Street.  As I told the husband and wife owners, it was 10 times better than the next best store of it's kind - and I've been looking for many years.  I'm usually lucky if I can find a good size antique store with one brass lamp.  They must have had 200 to 300.  I was like a kid in a candy store.  I'll have to return.

Then I paid the senior rate of $2.25 to take the ferry from Portsmouth to Norfolk.  The ferry landing is about 200' from where I had True Blue tied up.  For some reason, I never thought I'd like Norfolk - but I really liked it.  They have a real nice waterfront with lots of open parks.  Then I walked north to the huge facility where they have the battleship USS Wisconsin on display.  It is a pretty big deal but I passed on touring the battleship - I just have to go back here. One of the dosents suggested that I go to a little hole in the wall a couple blocks away for Pizza (Benny's).  It was fantastic and inexpensive.  Then I rode the "light rail" for about an hour - over the entire route.  I got to see the town and was getting free wifi to boot.  Did I mention that the train was included in my $2.25 (all day) fare.  I walked to the huge indoor shopping mall they have right in the center of the downtown district.  It was ALL very cool.

As a side note, it's now 8pm and the Navy (somewhere around here) plays some song like Taps (on a bugle or trumpet) every night at 8pm.  And they also play a recording of the Star Spangle Banner every morning at 8am.  I felt compelled to stand at attention this morning (but didn't).

So, I walked back to the waterfront, and caught the ferry just as it was leaving (it runs every half hour).  I left the dock and stopped at Tidewater Marina for my last refueling of the trip. It is only about 1/4 mile north.  I had planned on anchoring in Hampton tonight but decided to anchor next to Tidewater instead and it was a good choice. 

Friday May 11, 2018 -  Dismal Swamp Welcome Center to Portsmouth free dock

There was just the other sailboat (a C&C 35) and me at the Welcome Center overnight. The C&C left somewhat early and I waited till about 10am to depart. I wanted to make the 1:30pm opening of the north, Deep Creek, lock.  I was only going to Portsmouth for the night and that was only another 2 hours away.  I left the Dismal Swamp around 2:30pm and made the easiest pass through the Glimerton Bridge that I've ever made.  After that, it was an easy motor to Portsmouth.  When I arrived in the small (south) docking area, there were no other boats there. And there was a sign at the entrance stating "No docking from midnight till 6am".  I radioed the captain of the ferry that was tied up at the entrance and he told me that rule is not enforced and the have  signs on several of the pilings stating rules for overnight docking.  After I docked, two other boats came in and docked also. 

I walked to the south side of the "High Street Landing" and found a craft beer restaurant - Legends.  I went in and had one of their Porters while I looked out the wind at True Blue (which I had left unlocked). 

Thursday May 10, 2018 -  Alligator River North to Dismal Swamp Welcome Center

I was in a pretty isolated anchorage on the Little Alligator River last night.  But I was up at 5am for an early start. The wind had shifted overnight from NNE to SW.  The forecast was for SW around 10 till noon and then SW at 15 to 20 in the afternoon.  Sounded great for crossing the Albemarle.  I wanted to be in the Pasquotank river by noon when it was supposed to pick up.  It was a beautiful clear morning - at least for the first hour.  At 7:30am, a big fog bank rolled in from the west.  I was already past the tricky part of entering the Albemarle from the south so it was an easy decision to just keep going - in the fog.  It only lasted for about an hour and then it slowly began clearing.  I had a real nice broad reach across the Sound and into the Pasquotank. 

My plan was to spend the night at the free docks that Elizabeth City is known for.  But when I got there, I found only one slip filled (by a small trawler), docks that you had to back into, and a south wind that made docking very tricky.  I was in perfect position after my first try backing in but I wasn't able to be at the bow and the stern at the same time and as soon as I stopped, the bow got blown off into the next slip to the north.  It wasn't a pretty sight, I'm sure. I was able go get back out with no damage (almost lost my horse shoe buoy and it's rack, however).  On my second try, I was just starting to back in and noticed the draw bridge was opening for a south bound boat.  I quickly shifted into forward and was on my way through the bridge and northward to the Dismal Swamp.  I rushed but made the last (3:30pm) opening with time to spare.  When I got to the South Mills Lock opening, there was another sailboat waiting. They had passed me crossing the Albemarle (motoring all the way) and had been there for an hour. We got through the lock and then motored the additional 10, or so, miles to the Dismal Swamp Welcome Center. 

The Welcome Center is a great place.  It is very clean with really nice landscaping and bathrooms.  And, they had wifi.  Unfortunately, the wifi would not extend to the boat and soon after I arrived a big thunderstorm came through that kept me in the boat the rest of the evening.

Wednesday May 9, 2018 - Alligator River South to Alligator River North

It's interesting how things that seem so stressful at first can become routine - and less stressful.  The last three days have been very rough.  I've had 15 to 25 knots of wind on the nose all three days.  After watching a 38' sloop leave the anchorage this morning and then return a half hour later, I questioned whether going up the 18 mile Alligator River was a prudent thing to do.  I radioed the boat (who anchored next to me) and asked why he had returned. His response was that he didn't need to get to Norfolk until the weekend and pounding into the waves and 22+ knot winds - on the nose didn't make much sense.  I had gotten up at 5am hoping the wind had died some overnight but I could tell it hadn't.  Also, I wanted to wait around to see if TowBoat US would come for my new friend Doug.  They had said they would be there between 8 and 9am and they were there at 8:55 (from 30 miles away).  But then I watched other boats leave the anchorage - and not return.  Finally, I had had all I could take of indecision.  I listened to the NOAA weather forecast one more time.  They were calling for SW at 10 to 15 on Thursday - picking up to 15 to 25 in the afternoon.  I decided that I wanted to be able to cross the (dreaded) Albemarle Sound in 10 to 15 and not 15 to 25.  The only way to do that was to be ready to cross in the morning - which meant getting to the top of the Alligator River (where it meets the Sound). 

I decided about half way through my motor sail that I was getting used to sailing again.  Gone were the days of mezmorizing motors up the ICW rivers and canals. By the way, the Alligator River is a huge body of water - about 5 miles wide by 19 miles long.  I've been on it 5 times now and only once was it not a challenge.  I still have some canals to go (Dismal Swamp Friday and Saturday) and then it is all Chesapeake Bay sailing. 

Tuesday May 8, 2018 - Goose Creek to Alligator River (South end)

I was expecting today to be a little easier than yesterday.  Well, that didn't happen.  I left the anchorage at 6:30am and was in the Pamlico River within about 45 minutes.  I sailed for about 2 hours and then motor sailed most of the way into and up the Pungo River.  The Pungo is a long and winding river.  At least I was at a good angle for the mainsail to have a good effect (I was doing 5.5 knots motor sailing).   I had established criteria that if I was at the entrance of the Pungo/Alligator River Canal by noon, I would keep going.  I got there at 11:50am.   With my criteria met, I entered the 20 mile long canal.  This canal is two very straight sections that are 10 miles each with a 10 degree bend in the middle.  It is normally a pretty section of the ICW but today was very dreary, cold, windy, and misting.  Not much fun.  I exited the canal at 3:30 to North winds at 25.  I anchored just north of Deep Point.  There was one other boat already there but within an hour, there were 5. 

Two days ago, just before leaving Oriental, I met a young man Doug.  His boat was on the free dock just across from The Bean (coffee shop).  He had purchased his new (to him) boat off ebay and had come down a week earlier to take it home to Havre de Grace MD.  Part of my interest was that his boat was an Islander 28 - a smaller version of the Islander 30 I had for several  years.  It had been grounded for a week and the water had just come up enough that he was able to get underway.  I felt bad watching him disappear behind me as I sailed up the Neuse River.  It was pretty rough out and I had both main and jib reefed.  After a couple hours, it got even rougher and I was pretty sure he would have turned back. 

What a shock when I looked through my binoculars at the boat at the entrance to the Alligator River - it was "Original" - the Islander 28.  I called him on the radio and was happy that he responded.  However, his news was not good.  His shaft packing was leaking and he had water over the floor boards inside the boat.  His bilge pump was working and the boat was not sinking but he was not able to get to the packing to tighten it.  He had a number of other issues - only a handheld VHF (couldn't call for a tow), a dead cell phone, no lights inside the boat, etc.  He had contacted his wife (just before his phone died) to contact Tow Boat US but didn't know if they were coming.  I called Boat US on the radio and they (Ocracoke) called the unit in Bell Haven.  They will be coming 30 miles tomorrow morning to tow him back to Bell Haven.  I also texted his wife to let her know he was OK.  I wish there were more I could do but I think he has a number of issues he will need to sort out before he continues his trip north.  What's really ironic is that Doug's last name is Bell - and he is being towed back to Bell Haven.

Monday May7, 2018 - Oriental to Goose Creek

It's interesting how you can get closer to home and yet feel further away from home.  Once you leave the coast and go inland (at least in North Carolina), you begin feeling more remote and isolated.  Phones don't work, no data, etc.  And you can travel several miles without seeing a house or even another boat.  I'm anchored in a little creek off Goose Creek which is just south of the Pamlico River.  In the morning, I'll motor about 4 miles north to enter the Pamlico.  I'll cross that and enter the Pungo River.  It is a long and windy river that leads to a long canal that joins the Pungo and the Alligator River. 

I got a slow start today.  I was up early but I changed the engine oil and tightened the shaft packing again.  In the middle of that, I moved the boat from the free dock to the fuel dock -  about a 70 foot move. Then I moved back to the free dock and finished my engine work.  I met a guy from Havre de Grace while I was getting fuel.  He had just purchased an Islander 28 a week before in Oriental.  I felt bad for him - he has a long trip home and had told his wife he would be there in a little over a week.  Unfortunately, the boat was sitting in 3 feet of water with a 5 foot keel.  Today was the first time he was able to move.  And I felt really bad later because he was motoring and it was ROUGH. 

I left Oriental at around 10am and expected 10 to 15 knot winds - from the north.  The direction was correct but the speed was more like 15 to 25.  It didn't take long to realize I needed at least one reef in the main.  I ended up sailing 14 miles from Oriental to Bay River and taking 4 hours to do it.  The wind was right on the nose the entire time.  It's been a while since I sailed in conditions like this and I obviously did not have things stowed properly below - you could barely walk forward below with all the "stuff" that had relocated to the sole (floor).

I only hope that the guy with the Islander turned back to wait for another day. 

Sunday May 6, 2018 - Swansboro to Oriental NC

What would you do?  What would you do if you woke up at midnight and found the depth finder reading 5'?  AND - it was high tide in an area where the tides are just over 2' - AND your keel was 4' deep - AND it was raining.  Well, here's what I do.  First, I think about how this could happen.  I circled around the anchorage before anchoring.  I anchored at low tide.  The depth was nothing less than 7'.  Then I check to see if I've dragged the anchor.  I consider whether the depth sounder is reading properly.  The next thing I do is change into my bathing suit, put on my rain jacket, start the engine, haul up the anchor and move 100'.  Which is not as easy as it sounds in a small anchorage with tidal current flowing and in the dark.  So, when it was all said and done, the depth was 6.4 - a whopping 1.5' improvement.

I'm starting to wonder if I'm being a less diligent seaman.  First, I misread the weather and was surprised that it rained ALL night (starting at about 8pm).  Yes, the rain came from an odd direction but was something I had seen 2 or 3 days ago and thought had moved further off the coast.  Second, running aground yesterday morning.  And now, anchoring in a less than favorable spot.  In any event, I'm going to try and do better - starting NOW.

I left the anchorage at around 6:30am. It had stopped raining but started back up within an hour.   It is nice at times like this to have a dodger, a bimini and a connector to connect the two.  At least when it's not windy, you are able to stay fairly dry.  But canvas can only tolerate so much and then it begins to leak.  And, after 4 hours of straight rain, that's what it did.  It seems kind of odd wearing a rain coat to keep you dry under your bimini etc.  Fortunately, it stopped right around the time when I got to Morehead City and Beaufort.  It was a good feeling to turn that corner in Morehead and be heading inland (and not up the coast).  I got into Oriental about 3pm and was surprised at how full the harbor was with anchored boats.  It was a bad sign because that meant the 4 free docks were likely full. But when I motored in to check.  It was a very pleasant surprise to fine one of the 4 open - and I snapped it right up.

Saturday May 5, 2018 - Wrightsville Beach to Bogue Inlet (Swansboro NC).

I got off to a bad start today but I recovered.  The bad start was a grounding within 10 minutes of leaving my anchorage.  I needed to make a right turn to go through a channel that returned to the ICW.  I have several poor excuses for my mistake:

1.       I was used to being in the ICW where you keep red on your left (when traveling north)

2.      I didn't see any green day marker - the bright green squares were in line with my line of sight so that they were basically invisible from my viewing position.

3.      The green day mark on the chart plotter was in a shoally area and not easy to see (well, I didn't notice it until after I had hit bottom).

4.      And, most significant was that it appeared from my Garmin chart that I was right in the middle of the channel.  The point where I reversed my direction is where I hit bottom.  I then spun around and went back to go around red "14" (the PROPER way).

So, once I was got off and went back, I realized that the red 14 was NOT an ICW marker.  That means Red Right Returning.  And, I noticed the Green 15 - both in the channel and on the chart plotter.  Well, fortunatly, it was an easy fix and I, as far as I know, I had no audience.  So my pride wasn't hurt too bad. I was glad I corrected things fairly quickly since I was in somewhat of a hurry to make the 8am bridge opening about a mile away. 

The rest of the day went pretty well.  It was a 50 mile day which is pretty good.  There were 3 timed bridges and one delayed me by about 45 minutes.   As I arrived in the Bouge Inlet area, it was low tide which, in the past 2 weeks has been a no no for traveling.  But I'm now north of most of the big problem areas.  That means less effort to time my travels and hopefully no more groundings (due to tides).

Friday May 4, 2018 - Little River Inlet to Wrightsville Beach, NC

That's right, only two more states to go (VA and MD).  Well, I still have a lot to do in NC.    My plan was to get to Southport today.  I left a little early (dead low tide at Little River) and made fairly good time (using the genoa to squeeze every ounce possible out of the wind).  That put me in Southport 10 minutes before noon.  I had thought that I might just keep going if I got there before noon because shortly after that, the Cape Fear River would start ebbing and it has lots of bad current.  But when I rechecked, I found it wasn't scheduled to begin ebbing until 1pm.  So I kept going.  As soon as I got into the Cape Fear River, my speed went from almost 6 knots to 7.5 knots.  I averaged 7 knots over the entire 8 miles.  Then, the current through Snows Cut (just 1.5 miles) had just started flooding.  And that meant doing 7 to over 8 knots (a lttle scary).  With all this speed, I figured I'd just keep going.  It was another 10 miles to Wrightsville Beach and I averaged 7 knots over that stretch.  So, I ended up going an additional 20 miles and was anchored at 3:30pm. Overall, it was a 57 mile day. 

I plan on slowing down a little.  Beaufort is almost 70 miles north - too much for one day.  So I'll stop about half way tomorrow (in an anchorage called Miles Hammaker).  Also, there may be some bad weather tomorrow and there is supposed to be some on Sunday. 

The wind today was SSW at about 5 to 10 - until I got to about 5 miles south of Wrightsville Beach.  Then, it picked up to SSE at 20 - which is making for a very bumpy anchorage (sure reminds me of those days in the Exumas). 

Thursday May 3, 2018 - Osprey Marina to Calabash Creek (Little River Inlet)

When I was heading south, early last November, I probably swore I'd never anchor in Calabash Creek again.  And now, 6 months later, here I am - anchored in Calabash Creek.  My dislike for this anchorage is twofold. First, it's an inlet with lots of wicked current, lots of shoals, and lots of boat traffic.  Second, this is where I picked up my only crab pot ever.  I drug it for almost a mile (doing 2 knots max) before diving down and cutting it loose.  And why am I here again?  I left Osprey Marina at 9am.  I wanted to go through the "Rock Pile" at high tide and take advantage of some of the favorable current.  I didn't want to keep going (to the Southport area) because it would have been almost 8pm, at best.  That would have been cutting things a little close.   No, I don't like this anchorage.  But it's about all there is and it will give me plenty of time to plan for tomorrow. 

I had a good ride north - through Myrtle Beach.  Unfortunately, places like this tend to harbor power boaters who are clueless about "slow passes" to keep from rocking the boats around them.  I had a few of them but I'm getting used to it.

When I got to Osprey, I met a fellow cruiser (Bruce) who has a C&C 34.  I like C&Cs.  Anyway, he is currently dealing with a fuel issue.  Somehow, after several years of no problems, his diesel has lots of grime in it.  In the last 2 weeks, he has changed fuel filters 2 or 3 times. He was planning on replacing the fuel tank but a mechanic at the marina talked him out of it and suggested some modifications that would add more filtration.  He got 4 new filters and left the dock about 30 minutes before me this morning - but came right back because he was not able to get his engine to rev over 2,200 rpm (it should go to 3,600).  I think he is going to replace the tank.  I did learn several things from his misfortune that I'll try to remember - for example, keeping a spare bottle of fuel to fill the fuel filter when changing filters.  He also has a Yanmar engine and was telling me that he had starting issues that ended up being the slave solenoid.  His symptoms were very similar to the one's I've had (and continue to have).

I got a call, later in the day, from Wayne Campbell.  He was happy to report that he was safe in Georgetown SC.  He was happy because 5 minutes before he got to the anchorage, he got an engine overheating alarm that ended up being failed bearings in the engine cooling water pump.  He had already identified a local (Georgetown) company that would be able to order a new pump. 

Wednesday May 2, 2018 - Butler Island to Osprey Marina

As usual, I woke up early and couldn't go back to sleep so got up around 6am.  I wasn't planning on leaving the anchorage till 7:30 (slack current that would be pushing me from behind).  I made the mistake of leaving at 7 and fought the current for 3 of the 4 hours it took to get to the marina.  I did, however, want to get there as early as possible.  I think leaving an hour early probably got me there 15 minutes earlier. 

I sure do like the Osprey Marina. I think it's my favorite anywhere.  It's very inexpensive and has really nice floating docks, really nice bathrooms, a really nice staff, free donuts and coffee in the morning, and on and on. 

When I got here, I checked in and sat in the (really nice) lounge to update all my devices using their wifi.  Then I came back and did some boat cleanup.  My anchor locker has been in need of a major cleaning and organizing - so that was first.  Cleaning the topsides was next.  Tomorrow morning, the whole boat will get a good fresh water hose down. 

The weather today was fantastic.  Another day of perfect weather.  How much longer can this last??

Tuesday May 1, 2018 - Cape Island to Butler Island

My plan was to stop at or before Georgetown SC.  I stopped at Georgetown going south and Joan and I visited there when she came down.  I really liked it but I wasn't sure I wanted to revisit it - it is 1.5 miles off the ICW and I would need to re-deploy my dinghy (now snuggled up on the foredeck).  I ended up making good time so I decided to go on past Georgetown to an anchorage on the west side of Butler Island. It is about 10 miles north of Georgetown and about 20 miles south of Osprey Marina where I planned on staying tomorrow.  It seemed like a fairly long day but I only travelled 38 nautical miles.  I had planned on the wind helping me but it didn't pick up till right when I dropped anchor.

I spend the remainder of the afternoon doing boat work.  I needed to adjust the shaft packing and do some other routine engine checks etc.  Butler Island is a big anchorage and two large trollers and two large sailboats came in later in the afternoon.  It was a very nice and peaceful evening and overnight.