Virginia Beach to Morehead City NC 11/9/2015

VAB to Portsmouth: We left Cavalier Yacht Club in Virginia Beach on Tuesday 11/3/2015. It was a little cloudy but a nice day. We said goodbye to Andrew and Sassy on Angela Dawn. We will see them again down the road. 

Michael and Judy

Michael and Judy Hechtkopf waved from their house as we passed. We waved at Jay and Sandy's house but they were at work. 

Casa Hechtkopf

Jay and Sandy Tischler's house

It was a peaceful trip out to the Bay. We passed crabbers, saw the beautiful homes then we saw the pilot boats. Matt Hechtkopf was at work but we didn't see him. 

Many of the bridges we passed, starting with the big bridge over the Lynnhaven Inlet, are under construction. It is very interesting to see how they handle construction on waterways. The equipment is on barges. They often use little boats to move equipment and people around to work areas or to move barricades. 

The Harrier Jet landing at the Naval Air Field

A Harrier Jet

Finally we see a submarine!

The Chesapeake Bay was a little bumpier than we would have liked but nothing terrible. It was sunny and warm so we didn't mind a few bumps. It takes several hours to move east around the Norfolk penninsula. Along the way we saw some cool Naval equipment including a Harrier and a Hover craft that passed us a high speed very close by our boat.

We finally saw a Submarine under way! The wake was really big. I guess they are moving very fast, faster than they look. There were escort boats in front and back to keep boats like us away but we clicked away with the camera! clos to our boat. 

Everyone who travels this way by boat has their own photos of these huge naval ships in the boat yard but it is truly awesome and awe-inspiring. 

Lots of traffic

We stayed overnight at Ocean Marine so we could be positioned to go down the river to the Intercoastal Waterway. The marina was filled with sailboats starting a rally to the Bahamas. We met some of these boats again later in the week in Morehead City when a few already broke down. The boat next to us had an electrician on board. The boat across the dock from us had an anchor on the dock. Not sure how useful it will be but they are sailboaters; hard to tell what they are thinking. 

Heading south in a big parade

As we pulled into our slip a sailboat across the dock burped a bunch of fuel from its bilge. Of course they denied the whole thing. Mysteriously a short while later they filled their boat with jerry cans of fuel. Hmmm....  We met a nice couple from Williamsburg in a 3750 cruisers. We compared notes about our boats over docktails. 

·        Portsmouth to Coinjock: We got a late start the next morning, leaving around 8am. We got to Coinjock about 3pm. This early part of the ICW has lots of bridges and one lock. It seemed to take forever. We traveled with lots of traffic – always with at least 10 boats. In fact I think we had 12 boats in the lock for the giant drop of about 3 feet. 

The water was like glass all day long. These are some of my favorite shots of wonderful, calm water just glistening under a cloudy sky. So pretty. We really enjoyed this travel. 

My new favorite photo

We met a nice fellow from Minnesota who just picked up his boat a few days earlier in Baltimore – a nice 380 Carver aft cabin named Nomad Dad. He is traveling with his brother and brother-in-law; Nice people. His brother is losing some sharpness after a stroke. We traveled with them to Belhaven then heard him on radio on the way to Morehead City. It was funny because he was learning how to boat as he traveled. We would hear him on the radio apologizing for the wake as he passed a slower boat. He will get the hang of it!

Coinjock Marina is a long wall along the east side of the river. They carefully wedge as many boats in their as they possibly can. Boats of all sizes including some huge yachts. It is a mini-boat show right on the wall. They provide all services with such positive, supportive friendliness that it is no wonder that people come back year after year. They greet you nicely, tie you up in a flash, pump you out, fill up with fuel then feed you all for a very reasonable price with a smile. We will be back!

Coinjock to Belhaven: Next morning we were up at dawn, leaving at 6:30am for a really long day. 

The water was perfect again. This part of the trip has more bridges. We started out with a crowd then started losing some of the boats as sailboats slowed down and faster boats sped ahead of us. 

We encountered a troll under one of the bridges. He came on the radio (we heard him up ahead before we encountered him) with a slow calm speech about how he was taking pictures of all boats that passed putting out a wake. He planned to turn the pictures over to the coast guard. I think most people sped up a little just to annoy him!

We were surprised by three naval jets that buzzed us as we crossed the northern part of the Albamarle Sound going towards the Alligator River. It was so cool! We got a bunch of pictures. These are some of the nicest. 

Finally we got to Behaven Waterway Marina, a quaint marina owned by locals, really nice people who live in an RV on the property. The town is tiny, two streets. We walked right past the best restaurant in 50 miles to eat at a local oyster bar. I am not sure how that happened. But we did get to experience red neck coronas! Kermit ordered a peck of oysters for $10. This turned out to be a a bowl of about a dozen oysters already shucked. Yum! Not. 

Beautiful sunset at Belhaven NC

Redneck Coronas are Pabst!!

A peck of oysters fits into a small bowl

·         Belhaven to Morehead City: We left at 6:45am to perfect water and sunshine. The Pamlico and Albermarle sound flat as glass. We saw more fishing boats than before. 

Jack is very comfortable. Now he routines joins us on the deck while we drive. I swear he has the spirit of Rusty in him!

This guy is processing fish

·         Little confusion coming in to Morehead trying to pick which way to go in the fork in the road but we arrived safe and sound in Morehead City around 3pm. 

Docking was no fun. Captains tip of the week: when sterning in to a slip don’t have the wheel turned all the way – it backs in funny with a 4mph cross current. It took us so long to get positioned and actually dock the boat that the folks on the sailboat nearby lost interest and went back to their boat! Finally we made it with no damage. That is the measure of a good docking experience, right? 

·         Saturday we had a fun day with my sister Martha who lives only about 1.5 hours away. She used to dive near here so she is very familiar with Morehead City and Beaufort right across the river. It was a gorgeous da – 80 degrees and sunny, crystal clear skies, 

Dieter enjoying Radio Island - a quiet moment

We visited Radio Island where Martha used to dive, then drove to Beaufort where we had a leisurely visit through the Maritime Museum with a great exhibit on Blackbeard's ship the Queen Anne's Revenge found just outside the Beaufort Inlet. The coolest parts of the exhibit were seeing the plate that Martha and her friends brought to the surface and a couple of items that are actually kind of gross: a leather tube that was part of Blackbeard's toilet system (the sign said this was as close as we could come to Blackbeard), a HUGE syringe to administer enemas, and a syringe used as a catheter to administer mercury to cure venereal disease. SO COOL!!

 We visited the barn where they still make wooden boats - one of Martha's favorite places to hang out, then we sat and relaxed with some ice tea and diet coke to enjoy the sun. All in all it was very relaxing. 

Martha took me to grocery store where we tapped into Harris Teeters super special buy 2 get 3 bags of lays potato chips – we are stocked now! 

As we returned from the store we ran into a new friend, Dean, Turns out he is the son of a friend we met on the Loop. Tanya completed the loop solo earlier this year. We met her in 2013 in Bald Head as she was deciding whether she wanted to do the loop. Then we met her again in Little Current in the North Channel of Lake Huron! Isn't it a small world? Dean pulled in next to us in a sailboat he just bought. We invited him to dinner with Martha. Kermit grilled chicken and steak for a feast on the back of the boat – chicken, steak, garlic bread, butternut squash ravioli in brown butter with walnuts, and salad.

It is Monday night as I write this (11/9/2015). We had solid rain Sunday and Monday so we stayed put in Morehead City. We plan to move tomorrow, rain or not. Next up: Topsail and Wrightsville Beach down the ICW. 

Keeping Busy at Virginia Beach

Cavalier is a very active club with lots of amenities so we are keeping busy. Everyone is very friendly here but it is different. We have to dress better for one thing. No t-shirts and messy jeans around here.

The Cavalier restaurants serve amazing food. We only ate in the restaurants twice. The Caesar salad with crab cake was to die for!

One time we ate lunch on the upper patio when we saw the kitchen help dumping oyster shells in the bay at the bottom of the green. This is totally legal. The oyster shells will grow new oysters eventually. The helpers seem to enjoy this task!

We attended Yappy Hour so I could get my dog fix. For two hours club members brought their dogs and had drinks on the lawn. This year they separated the big dogs from the little dogs because those little dogs can get so aggressive.

Lots of golden retrievers and a few labs ran and caught balls that occasionally dropped into the water. It was funny to see the dogs come to a screetching halt at the water’s edge.

Those pesky little dogs still managed to cause trouble because they wouldn’t stay on their own side. A small schnauzer looking dog lit into a lab, really going at it while the owners held on to their drinks and said, “no poky, no”. Our new friend Andrew leaped over tables to separate the dogs before the little kids saw any bloodshed!

Kermit launched me then had
to figure out how to launch himself.

See Marissa, we can do this!

We took out the kayaks to explore around the little inlets. This is such an unbelievably beautiful place.

This one is marked for destruction.
So pretty and right on a corner. 

There are a bunch of McMansion, many homes that look like Avondale in Canton, and a few lovely smaller homes including this beautiful mid-century home that is evidently marked for demolition to make way for another McMansion. Oh well…

The staff got dressed up all day on Halloween!

We saw three weddings, a bat mitzvah and a Halloween party. Always something going on here – it is a very active club! 

'Mon back...

One of the weddings was on our dock, on a boat docked just ahead of us, Magic; the Rear Commodore of the yacht club no less. They asked us to move our boats so the bride and groom could take pictures in the sunset at our end of the dock.

Just BilEve turning to back in
to their new dock space

Not as easy as it looks,
is it smart guy!

Actually that was the least of the preparation. They also had a power pedestal moved because it would interfere with the wedding that was held on the boat and dock behind the boat. No problem, we smiled and leaped into action! Kermit and Joe the dockmaster moved Just BilEve into a slip.

We moved from here at the
end of the long dock...

Kermit even got a lesson from Dockmaster Joe on how to lassoe the post. Maybe now that he sees how hard it is he will be less likely to yell at me when it takes me a try or two!

To right in the middle of the dock action!!
The incoming Commodore is the boat right in front of us.
You can see the back of the Lazzarra to the right.

Good Karma moved into the long floating dock right across from our new friend Andrew, the Captain of Angela Dawn, a 75’ Lazzarra. We are right in the thick of the dock action now as opposed to quietly off to the side.

The wedding on our dock - it was very pretty

The bride and groom - this is why
we had to move. I think it was
worth it!

This is the other wedding that took place at the same time!

Last time we were here in 2013 we were pretty much alone because Mike and Judy and Jay and Sandy were off doing their own things. It was natural. This time we met some really interesting people in addition to the two couples we already know. We are on nice speaking terms with the incoming Commodore who has the most beautiful golden retriever. He is docked immediately ahead of us and across from the Rear Commodore where the wedding was held.

Then there is Andrew the captain of Angela Dawn . He is opening up a whole new understanding of the yachting world, a place we will never go but enjoy having a peak. He and his little dog Sassy live on the boat full time. The owner has not been here at all while we are here; evidently they are out of town. Andrew’s wife was exiled to Australia after an unfortunate interaction with a customs agent returning to the US from the Bahamas six months ago. They are trying everything they can to arrange her return but he misses his wife very much. 

Andrew is completely responsible for everything that happens on the boat. He has a “crew car” and an expense account for his and the boat’s everyday expenses. But he doesn't have much to do. He is stuck in the middle. He can't really hang out with the deck hands or the members. We are an interesting alternative because as transients we are also stuck in the middle! Nice guy. We can't travel with him to Florida though because he travels much faster than we do. 

Lately we grill out almost every night with Andrew. The grills are located at what they call the “gazebo”, a covered building with isinglass sides and doors, carpeted that is usually used for an additional exercise place. There is also a big tv. We hang out there in the evening. Evidently no one else does. Boat owners pass by, smile and say hello but evidently no one has ever used these beautiful gas grills. We pull the grill close to the gazebo and pull a table and some chairs and just hang out chatting while we grill then eat. It is fun!

M/V Angela Dawn

Andrew’s favorite tv show is “Below Deck”, a reality series on Bravo portraying life among the crew of a luxury charter yacht. We watch it all the time in the gazebo. Evidently it is close to what actually happens on those charter yachts. Andrew has done it all! It is fascinating to listen to his stories. We got a tour of the ship he captains, Angela Dawn. There are four cabins above deck, crew quarters below deck in the garage where the toys are kept and my favorite, a full kitchen with a big home sized fridge and an OVEN! Beautiful.

Last night we had dinner on Angela Dawn. Andrew made a delicious pot roast. We brought corn bread from Trader Joes. After dinner the conversation turned to Andrew's recent physical exam. He was concerned about his blood pressure so out came the little blood pressure machine because of course every boat has a little blood pressure machine. Andrew and I clocked in at 150 / 80 or so. Kermit clocked in at a healthy 115 / 60. We make our own fun out here!

Andrew’s boss wants to (according to Andrew he needs to) change out the four Volvo Penta diesel engines with pod drives. So we tagged along when Andrew visited Volvo Penta HQ this week to meet the engineer who will supervise the upgrade. They don’t build engines here but this is American headquarters with executives, marketing, finance, HR, engineering and customer support. And we got a tour!

The best part was a tour of seeing the training facility. We saw the “glass helm” that connects the pod drives with the steering wheel, Garmin gps and autopilot and the joy stick that replaces the steering wheel. It was very cool!

The worst part was seeing the carcasses of Angela Dawn’s old engines from the last time the engines were replaced five years ago. I guess replacing engines happens a lot on these fancy yachts. It was so sad. The old engines have no value at all except to provide used parts.

This is on the Boardwalk.
See Neptune behind us? 

This is Santa's big. God knows
what he is doing in VAB but we saw
him at another store on another day. Wierd.

We did laundry several times and we go to the gym almost every day. It is a wonderful gym, almost always empty when we go. We avoid the busier times early in the morning and just before dinner. The equipment is unparalleled. We won’t see a gym like this for the rest of the trip.

I couldn't resist a plug

We rode our bikes to the beach one beautiful afternoon.

Now we have to remember to pull my bike off Just BilEve before we leave!

Katherine went back to Ohio for a week to give four speeches, meet some clients and do some networking. She will do that each month just to keep her hand in but most of her work is on the phone and via Internet.

Best booth at the conference was
Patriot Paws - training service dogs
for vets - we got to hug dogs - heaven!!

She also went to Fort Worth to give a speech – one day in and out the next day. That was fun! The speech went great with a full house and lots of business cards to follow up on. The best booth was Patriot Paws where we got to play with puppies - how nice is that!!

Next up: We will share details about the trip south which begins in a few days.