PICTURES!
I've created a flickr.com site to put pictures. They should be in order by when they were taken and each has a short description (click on "Show info" to see the captions). I have not posted all that I've taken, because frankly most are not all that good! Here's the link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22029008@N02/sets/72157626851401244/show/.
May 31, 2011
May 27, 2011
The first sailing leg is over and I'm all set up in my beach house for two weeks. The sail over to Manteo from Elizabeth City ranged from peaceful to wild and wooly! I reached speeds of almost 9 knots which probably seems pretty tame, but I almost never go that fast - at least on purpose! But it was wonderful after two days of motoring everywhere at 4-5 knots. I arrived in Manteo about 3pm and had plenty of time to get all settled in at the marina and to get help docking (which was worrisome because of how windy it was.)
This morning I got the boat all squared away, and thanks to the loan of a van by a friend who lives down here, packed most of my stuff up the the beach house after running a few errands and having lunch. Once I got somewhat settled into the Duck house, I did something that I've not been able to do in a week: I took an air-conditioned nap in a king-sized bed!!
I hope to spend some time over the next few days getting all my pictures organized and posted, either here or some other site, so keep an eye out for that.
This morning I got the boat all squared away, and thanks to the loan of a van by a friend who lives down here, packed most of my stuff up the the beach house after running a few errands and having lunch. Once I got somewhat settled into the Duck house, I did something that I've not been able to do in a week: I took an air-conditioned nap in a king-sized bed!!
I hope to spend some time over the next few days getting all my pictures organized and posted, either here or some other site, so keep an eye out for that.
May 26, 2011
May 25, 2011
Quick Day Five Report
Today marks the first anniversary of Patsy's death so my day began on rather a somber note as I recalled the events that occurred a year ago while continuing my motoring through the Dismal Swamp Canal. Pretty soon, however, it was time to go through another canal lock and the business of that took my mind off more serious matters for a bit.
I'm now in the visitors' center in Elizabeth City (in the air conditioning!!) doing a little correspondence and paying a bill or two. I need to get out of here fairly quickly because they do a wine & cheese party for boaters here every evening and I need to get a shower first.
My day today was very nice with no trauma which I think might be a first on this trip! I arrived at the EC town dock shortly after 1:00 after motoring through beautiful countryside, including the upper reaches of the Pasquoatank River. I was surprised to find my high school classmate Anne (Thompson) Cotter and her husband Doug docked a few slips from me!
So, there's my somewhat boring post for today. Manteo tomorrow!
Today marks the first anniversary of Patsy's death so my day began on rather a somber note as I recalled the events that occurred a year ago while continuing my motoring through the Dismal Swamp Canal. Pretty soon, however, it was time to go through another canal lock and the business of that took my mind off more serious matters for a bit.
I'm now in the visitors' center in Elizabeth City (in the air conditioning!!) doing a little correspondence and paying a bill or two. I need to get out of here fairly quickly because they do a wine & cheese party for boaters here every evening and I need to get a shower first.
My day today was very nice with no trauma which I think might be a first on this trip! I arrived at the EC town dock shortly after 1:00 after motoring through beautiful countryside, including the upper reaches of the Pasquoatank River. I was surprised to find my high school classmate Anne (Thompson) Cotter and her husband Doug docked a few slips from me!
So, there's my somewhat boring post for today. Manteo tomorrow!
May 24, 2011
I arrived at the North Carolina Dismal Swamp Visitors' Center about 3:00 this afternoon. The trip down was both beautiful and boring.
It began with more channel motoring through mostly industrial Norfolk & Portsmouth which was interesting but not exactly scenic. I had to wait at two bridges but that was interesting in a way. One highlight on this stretch was going under the "highrise" bridge on the Elizabeth River. I've driven over that thing hundreds of times going to the beach, but never had this perspective.
Right after that bridge I took a hard right and motored up to the Deep Creek lock at the northern end of the Dismal Swamp canal. Taking my boat through a lock for the first time was a huge thrill and I took lots of pictures, but not with my phone, so I'll have to post them later.
The canal trip was gorgeous, but as I said above, after awhile two rows of trees with water in the middle sort of looks like an interstate as far as variety goes! But it still looks a whole lot better than industrial downtown Norfolk!
The trip was uneventful with two exceptions, both related to the boredom. Because I was motoring, I didn't hear much and was surprised by a motor boat that came up behind me. No harm done, but it scared me to death. The other was getting myself lulled under a tree and having all manner of branches, gum balls, and berries rain down on me, and worse having my wind vane damaged.
I have paused in the middle of this post for two reasons; first a storm appeared to be brewing so we all stopped what we were doing and got our boats in order. The second was being invited by the French Canadians with whom I'm rafted to have desert with them.
That's all for today. Off to Elizabeth City tomorrow.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
It began with more channel motoring through mostly industrial Norfolk & Portsmouth which was interesting but not exactly scenic. I had to wait at two bridges but that was interesting in a way. One highlight on this stretch was going under the "highrise" bridge on the Elizabeth River. I've driven over that thing hundreds of times going to the beach, but never had this perspective.
Right after that bridge I took a hard right and motored up to the Deep Creek lock at the northern end of the Dismal Swamp canal. Taking my boat through a lock for the first time was a huge thrill and I took lots of pictures, but not with my phone, so I'll have to post them later.
The canal trip was gorgeous, but as I said above, after awhile two rows of trees with water in the middle sort of looks like an interstate as far as variety goes! But it still looks a whole lot better than industrial downtown Norfolk!
The trip was uneventful with two exceptions, both related to the boredom. Because I was motoring, I didn't hear much and was surprised by a motor boat that came up behind me. No harm done, but it scared me to death. The other was getting myself lulled under a tree and having all manner of branches, gum balls, and berries rain down on me, and worse having my wind vane damaged.
I have paused in the middle of this post for two reasons; first a storm appeared to be brewing so we all stopped what we were doing and got our boats in order. The second was being invited by the French Canadians with whom I'm rafted to have desert with them.
That's all for today. Off to Elizabeth City tomorrow.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
Chesapeake-20110524-00001.jpg
Through the Deep Creek lock at about 11:00.
And now into THIS! (The Dismal Swamp Canal)
I'll dock at the visitors' center in NC tonight.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
The last post from my phone was a disaster, but at least I got it to make a post! While I'm at a Marina (in Portsmouth) and have wifi, I thought I'd post a few pictures and briefly catch up with the days I've missed.
May 20th I sailed from Urbanna to what I hoped would be the Horn Harbor marina just off Wolf Trap light pictured below. Unfortunately, I hit the entrance to HH right at low tide and was not able to get in. After grounding a couple of times and thankfully getting free, I decided to try to make Yorktown.
Day 3, yesterday, I took what I hoped would be a leisurely sail down to Portsmouth. Unfortunately, I faced the same problem that I'd had the day before: strong winds right in my face. I had to motor the whole way. Fortunately, there is so much to see on the reach through Norfolk that it wasn't as boring as it might have been. Here's a nice shot of Waterside in downtown Norfolk.
For those of you who've been watching this for updates, I'm sorry to be late getting started, but now that I have the phone posting working, I hope to post at least a little something every day, assuming I have cell service in "the ditch"!
May 23, 2011
May 17, 2011
The bottom line though is that I did get a good bit done and think the boat is about ready for the trip. Now all I have to do is get home ready!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
May 09, 2011
I went to the boat last weekend, got a good bit of work done, and even managed to get in a jib-only sail on Sunday. I'd seen the storm devastation in Deltaville and have been thankful that Urbanna didn't sustain nearly that much damage, but that's not to say it went untouched! Pictured below are a couple of boats that slipped their moorings during the storm and washed up on the far bank of Urbanna Creek.
May 01, 2011
Change of plans:
The Kingsmill portion of my trip (Leg 2 below) is unfortunately not going to happen, so I'll be leaving a week later, probably sailing from Urbanna on May 21st. I'll still be going on the UCYC shakedown cruise May 14-15, but instead of heading south from Deltaville, I'll return to Urbanna and leave from there on May 21 for Tidewater and then the Outer Banks.
The Kingsmill portion of my trip (Leg 2 below) is unfortunately not going to happen, so I'll be leaving a week later, probably sailing from Urbanna on May 21st. I'll still be going on the UCYC shakedown cruise May 14-15, but instead of heading south from Deltaville, I'll return to Urbanna and leave from there on May 21 for Tidewater and then the Outer Banks.
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