Desperately Seeking Warm Weather

16 January 2014, Thursday

Awoke early in Coinjock, North Carolina, to depart for a 54 mile journey to our anchorage for the night.  But I would be remiss if I do not include a little tidbit from last night.  At the Coinjock Marina, the dock goon had placed a set of stairs up next to the boat to assist us in getting on and off, as it was about four feet from the deck to the dock. Well, one member of the crew, who will remain unnamed till you see his picture later in this section, slipped and fell off of the stairs onto the dock, narrowly avoiding slipping between the dock and boat and into the chilly drink.  (P.S. he was mostly uninjured, except for his pride)


Our First Bald Headed Eagle Sighting of This Year!



Our Second Bald Headed Eagle Sighting of This Year!

The First Dolphin (Porpoise) Sighting of This Year!

Joe, napping again
 



We needed to stop and get fuel during this segment and we wanted to stop at the Alligator River Marina, where we had stopped on the way north last June.  The wind was blowing 30 mph, waves were 2-3 feet, and temperature was mid 30s.  We pulled into the marina, which is also a gas station for land vehicles, and Joe noted that it looked closed.  We tied up to the dock and I called on the radio and telephone, but no answer.  Joe walked up to the building and reported that it had a "Closed" sign on the door.  Vastly irritated, (Me), we untied and headed back out into the river, when Cruella de Ville (not her real name, but you get the drift) called me on the radio and asked if we needed anything.  I told her I wanted fuel and she said to come back.  We got fuel, but it was not fun.

 



During this phase of the journey, Beth was determined to make new curtains for the aft cabin.  She had brought material from home and she had procured a "free" sewing machine from Ocean Marine Marina in Portsmouth.  It was labeled "free, needs work".  She worked a couple of hours on the machine and got it working fine.

Beth's Bargain



Beth's materials all laid out

We arrived at the anchorage and were successful in getting our spare anchor to dig in. Our primary anchor did not want to work, so we will have to practice with it some more.  It was a very calm and clear night, full moon and all.  I set an anchor drift alarm and prepared myself for a sleepless night.  But, when I awoke, it was morning and we had not drifted.

 

17 January 2014, Friday

 

We set out for our 36 mile trip to Belhaven, North Carolina.  The reason for such a short distance today, is that 22 miles of this section is through the Alligator River-Pungo River Canal, which is very narrow and lined with cypress stumps and submerged trees. Luckily, we did not encounter any tows that we needed to pass.  Stay tuned, more later.

A Return To The Journey

13 January 2014

We returned to Portsmouth on Monday 13 January to renew our journey.  We spent Tuesday grocery shopping and getting last minute maintenance items procured and adding to our to do list.

The Norfolk Waterfront on our last night there



A Navy Destroyer Being Herded Out to Sea

A Navy Destroyer Being Herded Out to Sea

We departed the Marina about 0730 on Wednesday, 15 January, headed to Coinjock, North Carolina.  We had stopped there on the way up the east coast in June and there were many mega-yachts docked there for the night, this time there were two small sailboats. 
Here is Joe, hard at work at the only lock we will go through till we get to middle Florida.


About halfway to Coinjock, the water settled down and was mirror like.  Beth's photos, truly awesome.

Which Way is Up?



Sunset at Coinjock



Sunset at Coinjock

Sunset at Coinjock

A Losing Toss of The Dice!

3 January 2014

Well, we left Maggie Mae at Ocean Marine Marina in Portsmouth, Virginia on the 19th of December, with the intention to return on or about 13 January to resume the journey.  Weather conditions were predicted to be above 32 degrees between 19 December and our return on 13 January.  I lost my bet to not winterize the boat and 13-14 degree nights were predicted for the Portsmouth area on 6-8 January.  So, I bought a high dollar airline ticket to fly back to Portsmouth and winterize the critical systems on the boat prior to freezing weather getting there.  Arrived on the afternoon of 3 January with two bags of parts and spent the next day and a half winterizing and modernizing the boat.  Returned home on the 5th.  It was a trip well worth the time as the temperatures really did go to 14 degrees for a lengthy period of time.

Beginning To Catch You All Up

Monday, 9 December 2013

We departed Kansas City, headed for Grasonville, Maryland to begin the process of moving Maggie Mae to warmer waters.  We arrived at Baltimore Washington Airport and my son, Jason, picked us up and took us to the marina.  The first thing we did was to turn on the heaters as it was cold, cold, cold.  On Tuesday, we began to make the changes/additions to Maggie Mae that would allow her to make the long cruise, i.e. addition of state of the art electronics, fixing a bunch of minor glitches and cleaning.  We continued on Wednesday to fix and update and clean.  Now, for the disclaimer.  We had not, up to this point, driven this boat, and I was relying on the highly paid Surveyors report to determine the seaworthiness of this boat.  For example, he reported that the engines had excessive crankcase blow-by and was leaving a minor oil slick out one of the exhausts.  Thursday, we finalized preparations to move on down the Chesapeake to Portsmouth, Virginia. (across the Elizabeth River from Norfolk).  Friday morning, we fired up the engines and headed across the narrows to fuel up and pump out.  Finishing that project, we headed on down the bay, using just one engine, to minimize fuel use and stop our oil slick.

Preparing to Leave, It is COLD.

Nice Sunny Day For A Cruise



Container Ship coming from Baltimore

We did not go far on this day as we got a late start and the daylight hours are short, we stopped at Mear's Marina in Annapolis, Maryland for the night. Performing our maintenance, we discovered that in running the port engine for three hours, we had disappeared 3 quarts of oil.  Worrisome!

Nice Photo

On Saturday, we departed early and arrived later in the day at Herrington Harbor Marina, a very nice place, but what we would discover, all the other boaters were already in Florida, and most of the marinas that we would stop at were partially shut down for the winter.

Note the ice on deck!

Sunday, 15 December, we continued on down the Bay, stopping for the night at Ingram Bay Marina, once again, nearly deserted.

Light House in Chesapeake Bay

Monday, 16 December, we arrive at Ocean Marine, in Portsmouth, Virginia.  Now began the thinking about our maintenance issues regarding the port engine and its oil usage. 

Arriving at and passing Norfolk Navy Base



Tanker trying to delay us, It did not work.

We decided that maybe the motor was sucking oil through the valve guides, and all we needed to do was have a valve job done on the heads.  So off to my favorite store, Harbor Freight.  We bought a compression tester kit and all of the heavy duty tools needed to pull the heads for a valve job.  Alas, the compression test indicated that we had no leakage past the piston rings or past the valve lips.  Also, the spark plugs had no indication of oil burning, which would have shown up base on the amount of oil we were using.  After much research, we discovered that the engine oil cooler was leaking oil into the raw water stream.  So after a $90.00 oil cooler replacement, we have an engine that uses no oil and the EPA would approve our emissions.
Now, it was back home to Kansas to do some work, enjoy the holidays and buy more stuff.  But wait, the marina where we had bought Maggie Mae called me and said that we had to return two of the fenders that we left the marina with, so, my plan was to deflate the fenders and put them in our large suitcase to take home and reship to Maryland.  We also needed to overhaul the carburetors from the boat so I removed them, drained them and put them in the suticase with the fenders.  On Thursday, 19 December we left for the Norfolk airport with our suitcase.  We checked in and were just past the security screening when I heard Beths' name being paged to report to a airline counter, as there was a problem with her luggage.  (I had cleverly checked the big suitcase under her name)  I checked at the counter and they said we could not have carburetors in our luggage. what to do, what to do? At first they said they would hold the bag till we got back in three weeks, then changed their mind and said they did not have space and we would have to have someone come pick it up.  I explained that there was no one in Norfolk that we knew.  I could see that the bag would soon be in some dumpster.  So, I called out taxi company who provides service to the area marinas and asked if they could come back to the airport, pick up the bag, and take it back to the marina.  They said they would be delighted to accomodate us for a fee.  Well, problem solved, and I chastised Beth for trying such a stunt.


JULI-IV's Final Cruise

So we departed Quantico Marine Corps Base Marina on Wednesday morning at 0700.  This was the final view of the marina.

The Potomac River was pretty rough because of wind, but fortunately (not) the temperature was 34 degrees.  As the day wore on the waves subsided and on the enclosed bridge, with the sun shining through the isinglass, the temperature at times soared to 84 degrees.  We stopped at Point Lookout Marina, where we had stayed on the way up river in August.  We added just enough fuel to get us to our final destination. No point in giving the next owners any freebies.  The on-site restaurant was closed (winter hours) so we dined in.  We got under way at 0645 this morning.  The course was 7 miles out the Potomac River, then 60 miles up the Chesapeake Bay.  Once we entered the Chesapeake we were heading into 2-3 foot waves and were taking quite a pounding.  Temperature by 0900 had risen to 38 degrees and no sun. Around 1100, the waves settled down and it was a balmy 46 degrees.  We arrived at the Mears Point Marina at 1500 and the broker had us circle around in front of his position so he could take pictures of JULI for the sales brochure.  We then were directed into the tiniest hard to get into slip that we have encountered on this whole journey.  Once in the slip, I checked out the electrical connections and discovered that there was only one outlet and we needed two.  I called the broker and told him, and he said that we only needed one since the boat was just going to sit there for sale and there was no need for two power inputs.  I reminded him that we were still going to be on the boat for several more days and needed the second power supply to run the heaters.  He moaned and groaned and said we could move several slips over to get more electricity. So we fired JULI up and I maneuvered out of the slip. About halfway through all this maneuvering, I lost the use of the port engine, engine was still running, I just had no propeller output.  We got into the nearest vacant slip without incident and tied up. I determined that in the shallow water of the first slip, someone had left a crab trap complete with line, and that as we were pulling out the line snagged on the prop and wound up bringing the metal trap into contact with the propeller, keeping it from turning. Ultimately, I got down on the swim platform with a boat hook and started poking around the propeller and rudder. Sure enough, there was a crab trap hanging there and it would not budge. So, pulling harder and harder against it, the boat hook slipped loose and I did a slow roll off the swim platform into the 56 degree water. Quite shocking. It is hard to tell, but here Joe is laughing at my misfortune as I am completely soaked.  Quite amazing, after cruising JULI over 5000 miles, that in the last 100 feet of our partnership this happens.  We have a diver coming in the morning for only $100 to undo the mess.

Soaking Wet

 Into the hot shower to warm up, then over to the new boat to make a plan.  We had a fine dinner and went back to JULI for Thursday Nite Football and sleep.  We start switching stuff over to Maggie Mae in the morning.

Tuesday, 19 November 2013 - BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!

Today, Beth, Joe and I flew to Baltimore and completed the purchase of our new Loop Boat!  She is a 1988 Carver 3807 Aft Cabin Motor Yacht.

"Maggie Mae"

Her name is "Maggie Mae" and we will keep the name.  After completing the purchase, we traveled by car down to Quantico, VA where JULI-IV is currently berthed.  Tomorrow morning we will depart down the Potomac River and up the Chesapeake Bay to a marina in the vicinity of Annapolis, MD to begin the change over of our stuff from JULI-IV to Maggie Mae.  This is quite an upgrade for our cruising style.  More later

Sunday 25 August 2013

We arose around 8 and made preparations for departure back down the Potomac.  Jason and Jonathan were joining us for the trip down river and would take a taxi back home at the end of the day.  Jonathan showed up with enough food for the four of us for a week.  Much appreciated.  Our first stop was at a nearby marina to top off with fuel.  As Jonathan was lacking in nautical experience, we started him off with dock chores. 

Once under way, Jason declared that he was only going to bask in the sun and relax, no boat chores for him. 

 One of the stops we made going down the Potomac was at Mount Vernon, home of the late George Washington.  The dock facility was a little rough, both wave wise and price wise.  A lot of large tour boats come into this dock to disgorge tourists (I guess we are tourists also) and they create very rough water and the dock we were tied to offered no protection from bouncing around.  It was only $64.00 for two hours, plus the price of the tour.  

However, it included a golf cart ride to the top of the Mount.  We toured the property, which was very pretty, and  then paused to rest.  

  Once rested, we went back down the hill to the dock and departed.

Since Jonathan now had 1 hour of cruising under his belt, I began training him for advanced duties. 

   Here he is studying the electronics to determine his course, I told him it was not "brain surgery". 
We arrived back at the Quantico Marina, had lunch and Jason and Jonathan departed back to Maryland in their taxi.  A most enjoyable day.  Beth and I prepped the boat for a several month unattended stay over.  Now stay tuned for a BIG announcement next week.