Elizabeth City, NC

So now we find ourselves in Elizabeth City, NC. It has been almost three weeks since leaving Warren, RI and it has been a crazy three weeks at that. Our first day out, we had some high winds and around 3-5 foot waves going through Block Island Sound. This was not the best way to start a trip and things didn't calm down until almost midnight when we were in Long Island Sound. Brenda was then able to take over for a while so I could get some sleep. We ended up stopping in West Haven, CT to refuel and then spent a relaxing day in LI Sound and arrived at the East River around sunset. We made our way through New York City and New York Harbor without incident. Everything looked beautiful lit up at night and we got to see the Statue of Liberty up close, which was really cool. We made our way out of the harbor a little after midnight and started down Chapel Hill Channel. When we got to Sandy Hook Channel, Brenda said she would be willing to take over for a bit, since she would just be following the channel markers. I went below, lay down and about 15 minutes later felt the boat shake and the heard the engine stop. Apparently, you can see the markers over the top of the beach at Sandy Hook and our GPS had it as being slightly shallower water on the chart. This is apparently a land mass that has been growing every year for several years, so it was right at the time that the GPS chart was made and we were now in the sand at the edge of the beach. We tried to reverse and of course ended up getting the towing bridle of our inflatable caught in the propeller, disabling us and setting the inflatable adrift. We ended up waiting for low tide, when we were resting on sand at a 45 degree angle and cut the prop free, then waited for high tide when we were able to float ourselves back out and get away from shore. We have since heard from Sandy Hook Coast Guard that they found the inflatable, so at least we won't have to buy a new one. We need to see if they can get it sent to another Coast Guard station so we can retrieve it.

After getting back underway, we started down the coast of New Jersey and it was fairly calm for a while, so at around 1:30am, I went to get rest while Brenda took over. At 3:30am, she called me up as we had just entered a sizable fog bank. I got us through the fog without issue and got some more rest, then when the waves started to pick up, I took over again. We had at least 5 foot waves going down the coast of NJ the whole way and had no place we could have pulled in to get out of it. About 2 hours north of Atlantic City, we noticed massive clouds over the shore, so I had Brenda go below and seal everything up tight. The system moved right over us withing 15 minutes and had not only high winds, but driving, freezing rain coming down sideways in sheets. Waves crashed up over us and some water got between my collar and my neck, going down and soaking everything I was wearing. It took about an hour to get through the system and then the waves settled down a little as we made it to Atlantic City. Unfortunately, we were unable to contact anyone on the VHF in Atlantic City, so we couldn't pull in to stop there and the sun was going down. We went a little further south and put out a general call to see if anyone could suggest a place to stop, so I wouldn't end up with hypothermia and we were advised to head into Great Egg Harbor and Ocean City. We got in there, found everything was closed for the season, so we tied up at a Yacht Club and waited out some of the worst of the winds. We still had some issues with big waves going down to Delaware Bay, but once we were in the Bay, we had the waves coming behind us and pushing us along.

We entered the C & D Canal and made our way to an Anchorage Basin there, which ended up being a great place to stop since there was a lot of severe weather and thunderstorms moving through the area at the time. We were there for a few days and heard the tornado sirens go about three or four times.

Chesapeake Bay ended up being some of the worst waves of the trip after New Jersey and so we stopped in Annapolis and anchored there for a couple of days. When we left Annapolis, we had three footers most of the way and one of the knocked the hose loose from our bilge pump, so we started having water building up down below until we found what the problem had been. We spent a few hours over at the mouth of the Potomac bailing out and making sure the bilge pump was repaired. After that, we finally had calmer waters the rest of the way to Norfolk. When we got to Norfolk, we were impressed seeing all the Aircraft Carriers and assorted other warships that we had to pass by upon entering. We anchored over by the Naval Hospital and the next morning found ourselves on the ICW. By this time, our primary VHF radio had ceased working for unknown reasons, our handheld fell into the water from the bilge and shorted out, our speed indicator no longer worked, our depth finder works about 1% of the time and the radar decided it no longer wanted to give data to the GPS. We got into the Deep Creek Lock, made our way up the Dismal Swamp Canal and then found we seemed to be running low on fuel. We decided to wait on going through the second lock and instead moored in South Mills, NC to get fuel and something to eat.

The next morning, we got into the lock and made our way the rest of the distance to Elizabeth City. We arrived here a few days ago and have decided since we are very low on funds, that we are going to stay here for a few months and try to replenish our money. The people here are wonderful and we've met a lot of great boaters. Our thanks go to the family traveling on the catamarans "Alleycat" and "Zab-A-Cat" for coming over with their tension tool and helping get our rigging properly tuned finally. Hopefully, we'll see them again someday, but we at least hope to stay in touch with them as we do have their email.

Overall, it's been a crazy few weeks, but we're still in good spirits and looking forward to seeing what the next few months bring. If anyone needs or wants to send us anything, you can always send it "General Delivery" to the Elizabeth City Post Office, Elizabeth City, NC 27909.