Day Three – Swing Bridges and the Rock Pile

Current Position: 33° 39' 56" N 79° 4' 14" W

What a wonderful day!  Last night was calm and quiet and we slept very well.  I felt so much better even though it was a COLD 39 degrees when we woke up.   Bob started the generator so it would warm up a bit for me (he gets up in the cold and showers – brrrr).  The hot water is generated either from the engine running, or the generator.  After a day of motoring down the waterway, the water is scalding but it cools down to lukewarm for Bob’s shower in the morning.  When I took my shower, the generator had heated it back up to a nice, steamy heat but even after a QUICK shower (can’t use too much of our precious water), it was nearly scalding and I discovered our cold water does not work in the shower!!  One more item for the fix-it list!! 

Just before pulling up anchor

We pulled up the anchor at 8:30 – low tide – and headed back down the ICW – (do you remember what that stands for?)  See notes below if you forgot J. Our new to us experience was a swing bridge.  Bob called on the VHF radio – channel 9 – to the bridge operator:

Bob: “Little River Swing Bridge, Little River Swing Bridge, Little River Swing Bridge, this is Trawler ‘The Good Life’, ‘The Good Life’ southbound, requesting bridge opening.”  

Bridge operator responded: “May we have your home port?”

Bob: “Olympia, WA”. 

Bridge: “We will open when you get closer”.

Bob: “Roger, thanks.”  

As we approached we could hear the bridge alarm and see the gate to stop traffic go down and then the bridge swung open and through we went!

Later we went through another one with the same procedure.  I was so worried – and it was a breeze!

Our second little adventure was “The Rock Pile”.  This is a stretch of the ICW that was carved out of rock and there are piles of rocks that you DON’T want to hit with your boat.  Again, this worry wort was very fretful.  I was picturing a wall of rock on both sides and piles of rocks jutting up around us.  In reality, there are small rock ledges along the sides.  Nothing scary (still wouldn’t want to get the boat close to them).  It is recommended that you go through at low tide so you can see the rocks – which we did. 

"The Rock Pile"

After that, I could breathe freely and enjoy the ride.  Bob does most of the steering but I can take over when he goes below.  It’s a big boat when you are up on the bridge.

The rest of today’s journey was very picturesque with big, medium and small houses along the route.  Nearly all the homes have their own boat dock and many have pools.  

I call these two "Waterway Upper Class"

These I have dubbed "Waterway Middle Class" - notice the slide on the boat dock :)

This is the "lower class" - still a lot of these have their own boat dock.  We probably couldn't afford even one of these :).  Love having our own "waterfront property" that moves with us!

We are anchored tonight in a quiet oxbow – the old course of the river before it cut a new path.  There is only one other boat sharing it with us.  The birds were so noisy settling down for the night.  I sat outside on the deck for a while this afternoon reading and stitching. It was so sunny and warm. Won’t see many days this pretty at this time of year so I really enjoyed it.

No internet here so this will be posted on Day Four.  I hope your evening was as peaceful as ours!

Anchorage just south of Enterprise Landing, Myrtle Beach, SC.

Notes:  ICW – Intracoastal Waterway

More pictures from our day:

Passing under a 29' bridge.  Our air draft is  20'.

Sorry this one is so dark.  It looked good on FB and in PhotoShop.

Our last night at Little River anchorage - beautiful sunset. Notice the pelican on the daymark on the left.

Day Two - Problems and Recuperation

Current Position: 33° 52' 26" N 78° 34' 12" W

As I look out over the sun sparkling off the water I wish I felt well enough to go out and enjoy it. Day two started extra early – try 1:00AM.  We set the anchor yesterday and felt that we got a good set.  We have two anchor alarms and set both of them.  We had a fair bit of wind but got to sleep without too much difficult despite the noises of the night – waves slapping the bow, wind generator spinning in the wind, wind noises in general (you’d be surprised how many noises a boat can make). AND THEN! First one alarm and then the other go off at 1 AM.  Bob heads to the deck to check our position. I get dressed ready to go out and reset the anchor.  Everything looks fine!  Our neighbor boats don’t seem to be any closer, we are still a safe distance from the shore…hmmm.  We reset the alarms to a larger radius and go back to bed.  Just as we start to drift off, the alarms go off again!  Again, everything looks fine.  Bob is content and goes back to bed, I’m a worry wort and fret about it, walk around the boat, study the charts.  The alarms go off again!  Bob turns off the one alarm but I leave my phone app alarm on.  Back to bed he goes while I search the internet for answers.  Finally, at 3:00 I find the answer – I don’t understand it but our radius needed to be much larger – it’s a geometry problem that is more complex than one would suspect.  I set my alarm for the larger radius and go back to bed but still keeping an eye on the alarm, which true to form went off AGAIN around 4.  We checked our position and again were assured we were fine.  I finally dropped off to sleep around 5.  Bob was up at 7 to shower and, blessing that he is, turned on the generator to warm up the boat for me to get dressed.  Quick breakfast and ready the boat for the next segment – more about that later – start the engines – oops!  No starboard (right) engine! Nothing! Nada!  Out come the manuals for Bob to scour and my phone to send a message to our mechanic, Jason. Before Jason got back to us, Bob found a loose post on the Solenoid.  He had the dickens of a time reaching it as it is on the far side of the engine against the bulkhead but he did it!  The engine kicked right over.  So proud of him.  By this time it was 11:30 and we had a long day ahead of us to get to our next anchorage so the First Mate (me) made the request that we stay over one more day.  I’m used to the swing of the boat now and the “boat” noises, I trust our anchor, and feel that I will be much better after a good night’s sleep. 

We spent a quiet afternoon.  Reading, stitching, looking out at the birds, napping, planning, and writing. 

We have done so much reading to prepare for this adventure but that doesn’t prevent all the lessons the come only from actual experience. The words of many that have gone before us ring in our ears – it will get better and it IS worth it J.

Blessings on all my readers as you too look for the rewards in your struggles.

 It was a beautiful day even if was cold and windy.  Here is our only neighbor tonight.

The sunset was disappointing but it cast a glow on the trees making it look like a fall day.

Day One - Little River

Current Position: 33° 52' 26" N  78° 34' 12" 


Begin time: 10:00

End time 2:30
27.1 nautical miles
Average speed 7.2 knots
Weather : cloudy, winds 15 knots, and chilly 56°.
We went under 7 bridges (I think)

For our first day out I think we did fairly well beautiful scenery lots of homes most with their own dock.

We saw numerous pelicans, cormorants and other sea birds, only one dolphin. We saw 3 sad boat wrecks. They looked like hurricane casualties, before Matthew though.

Anchorage was shallower than we expected from the descriptions. The boat found the soft bottom and the captain did a great job in reversing the engines very quickly and got us out of the dangerous mud. We found another anchorage nearby closer to our needs. We have three neighbors, all sail boats and a wonderful view of the boats going up and down the ICW.

I wonder how this one got through the shallow areas?

All in all a good day and a beautiful spot to spend the night even if a little bit chilly to sit outside and enjoy it!

Day two is coming.....

Excited? Scared Spitless?

Current Position: 33° 55' 18" N  78° 3' 40" 

This should be the last day at this "current position".  

• New water pump  - check
• Washer/dryer installed - check
• New manifold - check
• New dinghy and davit system- check
• New heads - check
• New wash down system for anchor - check
• Anchor marked with 25' increments - check
• New alternators - check
• Steering leak fixed - check
• Water accumulator tank installed - check
• Hydraulic leak fixed - check
• Rudder post leak fixed - check
• Outlets in heads and galley replace with GFCI outlets - check
• Navigation lights fixed - check
• Anchor light replaced with low power LED light - check 
• Generator serviced and ready - check
• Batteries replaced and topped off - check

I think we are ready!!! So nervous as we are used to the open waters of Puget Sound.  Learning to read the rivers will be interesting.  We have gleaned as much local knowledge as possible from everyone willing to share.  The winds are good - temperature is coming back up finally, water tank is topped off.  We will fill up the fuel tank in the morning before leaving.  My blogs will be more frequent now as we are actually moving :)

As we say goodbye to our home of the last 3 months - here is the view of the ICW (Intra Coastal Waterway) from the marina.  This is the waterway we will be traveling on for the next several months.

Facts you may not know....

Current Position: 33° 55' 18" N  78° 3' 40" 

One of the final repairs that had to be made to our boat required it to be hauled out of the water for a couple of days.  We had to relocate back to the hotel while this happened so we decided to take one last sightseeing trip from Southport.  (We will be leaving soon - stay tuned!)  We chose to go to New Bern and learned so much about history (and sundry other things) I hadn't known before.  We visited the "Palace" which was the home of the British colonial governor, built in 1770.

 Let me share with you a few tidbits of information!

Did you know:

• New Bern was the capital of North Carolina before Raleigh?
• Turpentine is distilled from the sap of "longleaf" pines (among other trees - mostly pines), obtained very similarly to maple syrup sap.
• The distilleries used to make turpentine were required to be in the woods away from homes because of the flammability.  A secondary use for these distilleries was quickly found much to the displeasure of the constabulary.
• New Bern's British appointed governor was the first colonial governor to flee his post at the beginning of the war.
• A governor's position was often "bought" by paying the King a fee.
• Being a royal governor was extremely difficult balancing the orders of the King and unhappy colonists.
• Women's pockets were on worn under their skirts on a ribbon around their waist, unconnected to the skirt. They were accessed through slits in the skirt.
• Coffin pastry was a thick, inedible pastry used as a casserole dish to bake stews.  They had no baking dishes!
  
• Beds used to be custom made for your size
• Shoes had no right or left - you had to break them in to fit your feet.
• They had special irons to iron the many ruffles they wore.  The irons were, of course heated in the fire place.

I hope you learned a few new things as well :)

Leaving date is coming up soon - not nailed down yet, but soon!

Sea Trial

Current Position: 33° 55' 18" N  78° 3' 40" 

Milestone!  We finally had a successful sea trial!  Between our mechanic battling kidney problems and multiplying issues with the engines, our departure date has been moved back further and further.  The light at the end of the tunnel is finally in sight! (And it's not a train!)  

Yesterday started with hope that the sea trial would happen, moved to doubt and then acceptance that it wouldn't happen, and finally - SURPRISE - lets go :).  Bob and I prepared in the morning by practicing our docking scenarios, working with our head phones, practiced line handling, and watched docking videos AGAIN. By noon we were doubting the sea trial would take place, then we found out Jason couldn't make it to the boat until 2:00 so we gave up on the sea trial.  Jason came out, completed some final tasks, started the engines for the first time in over a month, tested a few things, and said "Let's go!"  Wow!

We started by insuring all cupboard doors were closed and large or fragile items stowed. We then untied all the lines but one.  When Jason gave the go ahead we let go the final line and out of the slip we went.  It went great for a few feet until we got mired in the mud!  The marina is due to be dredged in a week or two and it was low tide.  Thanks to Jason's piloting skills, he got us out of the harbor.  The water outside the marina was fairly smooth and he turned the wheel over to Bob so Jason could go check the engines.  

Once we got out into the river however, the water was much rougher and our speed immediately dropped 2 knots as we entered a river and were traveling upstream.  It was so different steering the trawler than it was a sailboat in Washington.  It felt SO big! Bob did a great job getting the feel of her and learned quickly. We traveled up the river a few miles before turning her around.  Jason helped us learn how to watch for shallow water to steer clear of and other navigation hints.  He was raised on the water and can teach us so much.

This is an app I have on my phone that tracks our boat.  Here is the path we took yesterday. For some reason it didn't start tracking us until we were out of the marina.

This is a short clip of our trip.

Jason took back the controls to get us back in the slip and as the tide was even lower we got stuck in the muck.  He was tenacious and got us back to our slip where the marina manager met us to help with the lines. We brought her in bow first this time so we can do some work on the anchor today.  

The surprise of the day - -other than actually having the sea trial - was how rough the water was and how much shifted on the boat.  We were used to sailboats heeling over but the trawler seemed so much more stable.  Between the rough water in the river and the wakes from other boats, we really did some rocking and rolling.  We had several cupboard doors pop open.  We'll have to find better ways to secure them.  All in all a very successful and exciting day!

The adventure continues.....

The Fixer-Upper

Current Position: 33° 55' 18" N  78° 3' 40" W

For those of who watch Chip and Joanna on "The Fixer-Upper", you have a clue as to my Title today.  Every time Jason (our mechanic) says "Oh no!", or "oh my", or just groans, a few more dollars fly out of our pockets.  He really is marvelous though and we keep telling ourselves - if we fix it now, it won't break out on the water.  But we really would like to get out on the water SOMETIME!!  The latest problem is some "elbows" that needed to be replaced (note from Bob: "elbows" are where the heated water from the heat exchanger -- like a car's radiator -- is shot into the stream of very hot exhaust gases -- a very hot, corrosive environment, so the elbows are high grade metals).  Jason ordered the new ones only to find out that ours were custom made and it will take about two weeks to get them.  

Update on the work:  Jason has the engine torn apart and has most of the "little" stuff done -- many hoses replaced, oil and filters replaced, heat exchangers replaced, new alternators and belt tensioners installed etc. etc. etc. Ron has removed the first "head" in preparation for replacements and installed a salt wash down system for the anchor.  We will have to leave the boat for a few days when the new heads are ready to be installed as the smell is supposedly unbearable.  Luckily our anniversary is the 9th so that will be a good time to have a mini adventure.  I'm in the process of researching interesting places to visit.  The parts for the davit system to lift the new dingy are here waiting to be installed.  The cabinet for our washer/dryer is nearly done.  Much more expensive than planned but beautiful. Prayers appreciated for getting the washer/dryer on board as it weighs 150 lbs and needs to come up over the side of the boat through a narrow door.  I'll have to video that one! Bob has replaced the "anchor light" which is on top of the mast.  We pulled it down together - HEAVY!!  He discovered that the wood on top was rotted so he cut it off and replaced it with PVC then installed the new LED light.  Jason tried to help him raise the mast this morning only to find a weld was failing. We have a call into a welder now.  What is the next shoe that will fall??

The good news is we are meeting all kinds of wonderful people here in the marina.  Last night we had a wonderful visit with some future liveaboards on their gorgeous boat.  They have an awesome grey African Parrot that talks.  He was shy when we arrived but had quite a bit to say when we all left the room for a tour of the boat.  He didn't like to be left out. They said that they didn't get to their boat until 11:30 the night before and the bird was very put out as his bed time is 9:00.  He insisted "go - to - bed"! He told us "bye" when we left.  

We have so much to be thankful for as our dream unfolds.  We miss our friends and family dreadfully but look forward to the future as the adventure continues....