"2000, November 11-12 ICW to B ..." a Belhaven Travel Page by grandmaR

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Approaching the Fairfield Bridges

November 11, 2000 - Leaving the anchorage

The first time we went to Belhaven was Nov 11, 2000 on our way down the ICW. vThis is what I wrote in my journal at the time:

When the moon waked me up, I turned on the TV and tried to find the Sat am news (one of the channels said that they were the only channel to have it) but apparently it was too early. The sunrise was overwhelmed by the brightness of the moon.

Bob was a little annoyed because it took me so long to get ready. I was trying to find the anchorages in the Waterway Guide near Belhaven on the chart and I couldn't find Windmill Point, and then I lost my pen. I've got a goto function on the old Capn 45 that I can't find on the new one version of the program.

The boat beside us - CARA left well before we did. The last boat in that was anchored down at the end left just before us. As we left, the big motor boat trawler left. I motored out very slowly, as it took Bob a looong time to wash off the anchor. He said the whole bottom of the bay was on it. By the time we got up to the other anchorage, all but JOY B had left, and we saw him pulling his anchor.

We turned into the Alligator Pungo Canal (we'd seen some tugs and tows last night but didn't see any today). We have a 16-20 knot head wind for a bit but the wind drops in the canal. Bob brings me French toast in the cockpit as I steer (or monitor the autopilot). We are still trying to use up the thin bread he bought for our daughter's visit in October for the Oyster Festival. The sun is right in the cockpit (low in the sky) and I can't find the cursor on the screen. We turn off the radar as it is of no use in the canal.

We pass the 110 St. M (statute mile)mark at 8:40. The Fairfield swing bridge is at the 113.6 mile marker, and we won't make the 9:00 opening. POPEYE passes us at 8:50. The Spanish boat CONTESSA also passes. (They were both still in the anchorage when we left.) Bob ups the engine speed a little before they pass, but then we figure that we won't make the 9:00 opening and will be too early for the 9:30 opening, so he eases off again.

In the lower section of the canal there is low new growth from a previous burnoff of the forest and also some marsh grasses as the actual river winds around and about the canal, so with less screening trees the wind picks up to NW at 13 knots. We see what look like crab pots!!!

Bob took over the helm as we approached the bridge at about 9:20 and was idling around in the canal and ran aground. He got off and was blown back on, and then got off again.

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Boats following us through the Fairfield Bridge

Alligator Pungo Canal

By the time we got reorganized and going in the right direction, the swing bridge was opening. POPEYE and CONTESSA go right through, and then a boat from Annapolis named LEEWARD comes north [we all (both north and south boats) use the left hand (going south) or east channel]. Then we went through. JOY B and the trawler MARYLAND YANKEE II were right behind us.

The bridge tender was writing down boat names, and I took his picture (top). He was standing on pivot point of the bridge. We went under the new highway bridge being built so highway 94 won't have to go over the swing bridge anymore.

The bridge tender held the bridge apparently for a guy with radio problems (possibly a sports fisher named SLACK TIME). We heard him ask when the new bridge would be ready, and the tender answered sometime this winter. [In fact, when we came back north, the canal was periodically closed while they were taking the swing bridge apart.]

The question was asked "Are you going to retire?" The answer, "Guess I'll have to". The reassurance, "It's not so bad - take it from me."

SLACK TIME passed us all, and then MARYLAND YANKEE II. A big boat from VA Beach called HAPPY HOURS with an MTOA flag (Marine Trader Owners Association) passed us at about 8 knots very very close at 10:55 around SM 123. We thought it was much closer than necessary, but at that time we hadn't learned the proper way to let someone pass.

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Barge with 'spuds'

Pungo River to Belhaven

We came out of the canal into the Pungo River (at 11:30), and Bob immediately ran aground. He claimed it was because I didn't have enough magnification of the charts. I generally like to have a scale that allows me to see various land features so I can place where I am, and in the canal it doesn't matter. You have to stay in the canal anyway. At any rate, we got off and proceeded.

A barge with a peculiar tripod of what looked like telephone poles, one on each front corner, and one on the back sticking straight up into the air came towards us and passed. (see photo) We found out later that these are called 'spuds' and when the barge is to remain in one position they are cranked down into the bottom to stablize the barge.

After we went through the Alligator Pungo Canal into the Pungo River, I called to Robb's Boatyard and Marina and asked them if we could have fuel and perhaps a dock, and he said sure. When we got there to call on the radio. I did that, and we switched from channel 16 to 69 and then his radio crapped out when he was in the middle. I thought I'd had a problem, so I switched back to Channel 16. He told us to come in to B dock behind SANTA MARIA (who was here already).

We were tied up by 1:30, after a total of 35.5 miles at 5.8 mph. The dock girl dragged the diesel hose all the way down to the boat (the dock was about 300 yards long and we were about 15 yards from the end) and we got 22 gallons. I paid $3 for an electric hookup, and $1/foot for the boat so the bill was $79.00 with the fuel. I could hook my computer up and get e-mail for a charge because he said their long distance provider went bankrupt and took all the pay phones out, and also there were no local ISP provider numbers. So I went back and got the computer and downloaded stuff using the mindspring 800# which he didn't charge me for.

I talked to the SANTA MARIA people and they'd had a problem with the dog last night in the anchorage -there was no 'land' to land the dog on to do his business so he got out of the dink and was standing up to his hips in water, which he didn't like, and then they had a big wet unhappy dog.

They got underway early, but missed the 8:30 bridge opening and had to wait for the 9:00 opening, and then landed him to do his business on the other side of the bridge.

Bob did a wash (which was only $.75/load here). Water was free, and there was also free cable. But we don't have a cable to hook up the TV to it. There was a sign that indicated that no sewage, treated or untreated would be discharged (which means the LectraSans should not be run).

I called Oriental for a slip. One marina closed at noon on Sat and I got an answering machine. Probably not a good bet. When I called Whitakers they wanted an eta, and I had no idea what that would be.

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Door of River Forest in 2004

Walking around Belhaven

After the e-mail and the wash, we wanted to take one of the free electric golf carts and explore the town and have dinner, but they have to be back by sunset or the police impound them so we walked. We walked up to the main intersection (with a traffic light), and the only activity we saw was a small hamburger place (closed on Sun), a laundromat, and the True Value/Radio Shack store. Everything else closed by 3 Sat at the latest.

The Helmsman restaurant recommended by the marina didn't start to serve dinner until 5. We walked up to the town hall where they have a button collection and curio museum donated by Eva Blount Way, but it was closed too. We walked down the main street 4 or 5 blocks to the Rivers End marina where they had a smorgasbord dinner, but they didn't start to serve until 6. I sat down and tried to remove some gum from my shoe that I'd stepped in and then we walked back to the Helmsman.

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Belhaven street scene from the town hall

Here we both had the pork chop special (two chops, with two vegetables for $6.95). We both had a stuffed potato, and Bob had lima beans and I had a pasta bean salad. This consisted of spiral pasta with green beans, kidney beans, and boiled raisins. There were orange strips (carrots?) and red bits (either tomatoes or pimentos I'm not sure) in there too. They gave us a big basket of hush puppies while we were waiting, and Bob had a pineapple upside down cake for dessert. I had a strawberry cake, which was pink and dense with a sticky sweet pink icing. I took one pork chop back to the boat.

We stopped in the True Value/Radio Shack as they were closing, and bought a cable TV cable and stopped by the bathroom. The lady from SANTA MARIA (her husband's name is Phil, but I can't remember hers) said she was going to go get a shower and finish her laundry. They are going to stay another day.

We watched the weather channel, and also on the local news channel they have the NOAA weather on the local TV channel. Bob went up to use the bathroom and it was locked. Actually, it wasn't. We had the wrong combination. We both remembered it wrong.

After I figured tomorrow's route, we both watched TV until we fell asleep..

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SANTA MARIA - jib and jigger

November 12, 2000 Belhaven to Oriental

I wrote up the 9th and 10th last night and started writing up yesterday. Also picked up my voice mail from the 301 phone. There was a message from someone who found Brian Beasley's driver's license. That's the only one I've had except for an insurance agent.

I had my rose that I got from the Rose Buddys in Elizabeth City in the toothbrush glass in the head. It has dropped all its petals :-( . The cotton bole that they gave us the next day is still fine of course.

Bob got up about 6ish and started stirring around. I got up and worked on yesterday's journal some more. The boats are lined up parallel to the docks. On our dock, starting at the office end is SANTA MARIA, us, then a gap and the two sports fishing boats (pretty big ones - named WASTE WATCHER from D.C. and IRISH GIRL from Annapolis) that the marina guy says are going to leave early. On the dock opposite us is a small sailboat, a small motor boat and then two enormous boats. The one right opposite us, Bob said he heard the guy say he's owned it 3 times. Apparently he's a broker, and people keep buying it and then trading up to bigger boats.

Those 2 big boats on the opposite dock left fortunately, as I don't think we could have gotten out (we'd have had to back very straight) otherwise.

Bob disconnected the cable, and electric and made one last trip to the bathroom. Phil on SANTA MARIA who had told us he was staying another day apparently changed his mind. He said the boats behind us were up and getting ready to get underway as he came back from exercising Dreyfus (the dog). But we don't wait for them.

There isn't much wind. It is partly cloudy - the sun is behind the clouds - a raw cold day. Bob started the engine, and I turned everything on, and then he started to back out. We got underway about 7:45 and were back to the ICW by 8:05, doing 6.4 mph (5.6 knots) with a tail wind of 5.8 knots apparent. (Apparent wind is the wind that you feel on the boat. To get the true wind speed, you have to take the boat speed into account. If you are going into the wind, you have to subtract your own speed to get the true wind. If you have a tail wind, you add your own speed to get the true wind.)

WASTE WATCHER and IRISH GIRL pass us (rolling us with their wake) before 8:30. CONTESSA comes from somewhere, (probably an anchorage) and cuts close inside of us at G7. They have no bimini over the wheel and the helms person is always in foulies - probably to keep warm. We get to mile 140 at 8:45. Our total mileage to date is 245 nautical miles.

MARYLAND YANKEE II passes us pulling its red dinghy. Bob spends his time polishing the stainless. He says that at least he didn't try to polish the anchor :-)

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