Cat Cruising

Spent our second day at the free dock in Chesapeake, Va doing more shopping.

We met a liveaboard here who pointed out one of the reason there are so many flies here is that several days ago a boater smelled a terrible smell from a boat 2 boats down from us. He called the police and to make a long story short, they discovered a dead sailor in the boat. It was estimated that he had been lying there for about 5 days. It was assumed he died of natural causes.

They took out the body, but unfortunately nobody claimed the boat and it’s still here. Flies and all. Glad we’re leaving tomorrow AM. We’ll be locking through the “Great Bridge Lock” and expect to anchor just north of Norfolk, VA.

Can’t assume I’ll have WiFi there.

We left the free restaurant dock at Southport 2 days ago. We spent yesterday night anchored in a Marine base (Ft. Le Jeune). We were buzzed by helicopters, had multiple dinghies with armed marines landing on the beach (practicing obviously), and heard much artillery in the distance. Luckily it all quieted down after dark and we had a peaceful night.

We left this AM and after traveling for 30 minutes were stopped by a Navy patrol boat. The were conducting artillery practice across the ICW in front of us. We had to anchor and wait an hour before we could go on.

The remainder of the trip was uneventful. We saw minimal damage from Irene and there was minimal debris in the waters of the Neuse River despite what had been reported.

We arrived a little while ago in Oriental expecting to anchor but luckily the free Town Dock had an opening and we’re docked here. It’s right in the center of town, unfortunately the street in front of us is flooded, there is no electricity and the town has to boil its water. They were hit hard. We can stay here for 48 hours and will explore the town tomorrow. Hopefully the water in the streets will have subsided.

Check out www.towndock.net , click on the right side of page “harbor cam” and you’ll see us live (as long as we’re still here).

After all the excitement of Hurricane Irene, I’m back to just reporting our progress.

We left Myrtle Beach early this AM, encountered lots of fog. Had Janice at the bow blowing our foghorn, while I had my eyes peeled on the radar. Reminded me of our travels in Maine. After a tense hour or so, the fog lifted and we had an uneventful cruise to Southport, N.C.

Currently we’re at the free dock of a restaurant we just ate at called the Provision Company. Actually had good seafood, and with the free overnight dock, a real bargain.

We’ll be leaving tomorrow AM early. We want to make up the time we spent waiting for Irene to pass.

It’s 6AM here, still dark. Luckily Irene weakened through the night (now just Cat 1) and the eye came no closer than 125 miles of us. We slept like babies through the worst of it. No damage (except for some leaky windows). Our 9 dock lines held as did the dock. I haven’t checked the rest of the marina yet, but if any boats broke free they didn’t hit us.

We’ll stay here a few more days waiting for the seas to calm.
We could be stuck in worse places. The full name of our marina is “Osprey Marina & Grill” (really). Food is wonderful, and Janice is thrilled not to be cooking on the boat.

Latest hurricane track is for Irene to hit the junction of N and S Carolina on Saturday.

We’re currently near Charleston S.C. We’re heading for Myrtle Beach, S.C., should reach there on Wednesday.

Why Myrtle Beach (exactly where the current track is headed)? We spent the day (while traveling) calling various marinas on the way. None of them would allow us to dock there during a hurricane. (Fear of us damaging their docks). We finally found a marina in Myrtle Beach. Interestingly it is quite cheap and gets excellent reviews in the cruising websites. We’re looking forward to arriving.

We’ll tie up Latitude Adjustment as best we can, maybe rent a car and drive as far inland as we can.

If we get a direct hit at a Category II or III I don’t think there’s much chance the boat will survive. That would put an early end to our trip.