Trip #8 Norfolk, VA - Wilmington, NC - Our Cruise Across America

Sun

22

May

2016

Trip #8 Summary

Length of Trip: 10 days

Nautical Miles Traveled: 350

Hours of Cruising: 27 hours

Longest Cruising Day: 7.5 hours, 70 NM, Beaufort, NC - Wrightsville Beach, NC

Pleasant Surprise: Dolphins & Wild Horses, Beaufort, NC

Biggest Disappointment: Lunch at Farm Boy's

Favorite Destination: Beaufort, NC

Favorite Meal: Spoon River, Belhaven, NC

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Sat

21

May

2016

We left the dock in the morning to be sure to get to our destination in Wilmington in a timely manner. John had to really focus the whole way to navigate through narrow channels, so he was a bit tired when we arrived in Wilmington, NC and Bennett Brothers Yachts, our departure point. So what do you do when you’re tired, you clean! Haha, but he enjoys cleaning the boat, so it’s fine.

We went into the town in the afternoon and marveled at the historic nature of Wilmington, the largest city in North Carolina during the late 1800s. To get more a flavor of Wilmingtron history we took a tour of the Bellamy Mansion. I think it was the first time I’ve toured a home with a slave home behind it. It’s so weird to think that people thought it was okay to ‘own’ other people. The story of the mansion was cool because it was very ‘Gone with the Wind’ in that when the Yankee soldiers took over the town they used the mansion as their headquarters because Mr. Bellamy had been such a staunch Confederate.

Surprisingly, a few years after the war the Bellamy’s were granted a presidential pardon and got their home back. Following our tour, we walked the town and the Riverwalk and had dinner at George’s on the River.

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Fri

20

May

2016

The Long Day

We cast off by 7 am for a 7 hour cruise to Wrightsville Beach, NC. It was an easy cruise but a lot of concentration for John as we were cruising during low tide and you have to stay in a narrow strip of a very wide bay. It looks like big deep water, but there are shoals everywhere except one narrow channel that has been dredged for boat traffic. We docked at Seaport Yacht Club and walked to town and checked out the beach. It’s an interesting vibe – very much like Hermosa Beach in the old days with everything low key and all about surfing. A big difference though was a lot of people were smoking. When I was growing up, no one smoked as all the surfers and volleyball players were super health conscious. But it was fun to see places like this still exist.

We stopped in for an early dinner at a cute healthy Mexican restaurant called Tower 7 Baja that had surf movies playing, then walked back to the boat.

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Thu

19

May

2016

Rainy Day

We awoke to rain. Kelly and Karol had to head home today, but first we made a morning visit to the local maritime museum, which focuses on North Carolina's cultural maritime heritage, coastal environment and natural history. Exhibit displays include shells from over 100 countries, fish models, shipwrecks, ship equipment, types of watercraft historically used in North Carolina, whaling, oyster catching, waterfowl hunting equipment and duck decoys which was quite good. There was a fascinating contraption on display; it was like a 10 foot elongated iron clam that was used in the 1800’s as a rescue vessel. When a ship was wrecked in a storm and close enough to port for the ‘coast guard’ to see, they would shoot a harpoon with a rope on it out to the ship, drag this contraption under surface out to the boat with a guy in it! He would pop out the little top door, get 8-10 people in it lying length wise on their backs, arms trapped at their sides, and they’d all get stacked in there, then he would hop back in and the guys on shore would pull the rope in. OMG. That sounds so awful to be pinned like that getting tossed around by wild seas. I guess it’s a lot better than drowning though. The museum included access to a wooden boat restoration shop which smelled of the lovely from all the fresh wood.

Then we had to say good bye to Kelly and Karol and spent (a lonely) day doing laundry and catching up with ‘chores’. We had dinner at a super charming restaurant in the historic district called Beaufort Grocery Store then had a good night’s sleep for an early morning departure.

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Wed

18

May

2016

Dolphins & Wild Horses

We were up early for our cruise to Beaufort, NC. It was a slightly rough crossing on the Neuse River, but then we headed into Cedarcreek River and things were smoother. The light sand beaches were surrounded by trees as far as we could see. We spotted pods of dolphins along the way.

We docked at the historic waterfront in Beaufort where following lunch we took a bike ride tour with Betsy who told us much of the history of the area, the pre-revolutionary historic houses, and the pirate Blackbeard who lived at the edge of town. Betsy says it’s rare to see the wild horses on uninhabited island across the narrow channel on the Rachel Carson Reserve but we saw a large herd . The Rachel Carson Reserve is located between the mouths of the Newport and North Rivers. Many bird species use the Reserve for nesting and migratory habitat. It’s only accessible by private boat or passenger ferry. It is named in honor of Rachel Louise Carson (1907 – 1964) an American marine biologist and conservationist whose book Silent Spring and other writings are credited with advancing the global environmental movement.

Carson began her career as an aquatic biologist in the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, and became a full-time nature writer in the 1950s. She turned her attention to some environmental problems that she believed were caused by synthetic pesticides and wrote the book Silent Spring (1962), which brought environmental concerns to an unprecedented share of the American people. Although Silent Spring was met with fierce opposition by chemical companies, it spurred a reversal in national pesticide policy, which led to a nationwide ban on DDT and other pesticides, and it inspired a grassroots environmental movement that led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Carson was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Jimmy Carter.

We went to dinner at Blue Moon Bistro in downtown Beaufort. The food was very good and the company fabulous and so were sad it would be our last evening with Karol and Kelly.

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Tue

17

May

2016

Death by Fried Food

The next morning we left early for a cruise to Belhaven. It was a cute town, and the mini marina was at a lovely old mansion. The people were amazingly friendly. When we walked into town for lunch and stopped at an antiques store to ask for lunch suggestions, the owner of the shop offered to let us drive her Prius so we could go a little further out of town. So nice! We declined of course but the decision led to a terrible lunch. The only place open was the one place that the dock master had told us he would not recommend ironically called Farm Boys. Everything on the menu was fried. We foolishly ate heartily, then felt sick all day. I thought I would never eat again.

But of course, dinner approached and we took the marina loaner golf cart and headed to Spoon River, a farm-to-fork style restaurant situated just steps away from the Pungo River, leading to the Pamlico Sound, in an area known as North Carolina's Inner Banks. It is said people come from all ends of the state to eat there. It was super cool and a wholesomely good meal.

Back on the boat, it was a few games of Rummikub and then to bed.

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Mon

16

May

2016

Unconquerable Faith

We rented a car to drive to Kitty Hawk and the Wright Brothers National Memorial, located in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. Along the way we stopped at ‪Basnight's Lone Cedar Cafe‬‪‬ on the waterfront where we shared French toast filled with cream cheese! OMG. Time for a juice cleanse.‬

We arrived at the memorial to learn about the first successful, sustained, powered flights in a heavier-than-air machine. From 1900 to 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright came here from Dayton, Ohio, because of the area's steady winds to generate more lift and sandy ground to soften their test landings. The Memorial commemorates two ingenious brothers who conducted a series of experiments that three years later resulted in the world’s first heavier than air, powered controlled flight. Their story embodies the American ideal of hard work overcoming all obstacles. Wilbur and Orville Wright were not just lucky bicycle mechanics. They succeeded because of study and scientific experimentation. Their story is the realization of a dream that had existed for centuries. Their story is not simply about building the first plane, but rather about how they scientifically solved the problems of powered flight. In order to be successful they needed to address two issues: Creating the optimal wing shape to generate life and developing flight controls that could control pitch, yaw and roll. Today's aircraft still rely on the flight controls of elevators, a rudder and ailerons that the Wright Brothers developed to control flight.

Later, we rented bikes to ride through Kitty Hawk which took us along a pretty forested bike path, and narrow golden sand beach with sea grasses, lined with neighborhoods of houses on stilts. We took a mini nature walk in the midst of the bike ride on a board walk just above the salt marsh. Several species of turtles were sunning on logs (that looked like alligators) and as we took the scenery in leaning over the bridge what seemed like hundreds of turtles poked their heads up from all edges of the cove and started swimming our way. We realized they must’ve been expecting some treats!

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Sun

15

May

2016

Crabpots Galore!

The next morning Kelly and I walked while Karol ran and John cleaned and prepped for the next journey. We took off that morning with our first day of nice sunshine for Manteo, NC. We had a lovely cruise but had to dodge crabpots galore! It’s a wonder there are any crabs left. They only have about 10 feet between pots as far as the eye can see – a field of pots!! I imagined the little crabs trying to live their lives in 3 square feet of ocean floor for fear they will end up in a bisque.

Waterside Marina at Manteo on Roanoke island is lovely. We walked around the town and went into a few shops then had cocktails on the boat. We went out to dinner at Mexican restaurant where Karol was gesturing to demonstrate how it would be okay to run over a crab pot buoy as they would get displaced by the hull, just as the waitress was walking up behind him with a bowl of chili and he swung his hand out, colliding with the bowl and the chili flew into her face!! She stood there frozen while we tried to help her. It was sad – hot chili in the eye and on your face can’t be fun. She reemerged from behind the scenes later in good spirits. Yes, she got a big tip!

On our walk back to the boat a rainstorm came in so we took shelter in Poor Richard’s Pub where a quite good 3 man band was playing. We stayed and tried to dance on the tiny dance floor (big enough for about 3 people). A wedding party came in, so Kelly gave the bride some unsolicited advice, to “always treat him like he’s your fiancé and not your husband”. She explained to us that she sees so many people start to treat their spouse badly because they are married and they know their spouse won’t leave them. Hmmmm.

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Sat

14

May

2016

Order the Prime Rib!

The next morning Karl, Kelly and I went for a walk/jog while John plotted a course for a 1:00 cruise to Coinjock, NC. We then walked downtown to breakfast at Three Way Café and were at the doors to the Nauticus Museum for the 10 am opening. We were greeted by a high school marching band from Pennsylvania. We all marched up the stairs to the USS Wisconsin, one of the largest battleships ever built. The USS Wisconsin was launched in 1943 – two years after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

It is one of four Iowa-class battleships constructed by the U.S. Navy. She played a major role in World War II, earning five battle stars for service against Japanese forces. She served during the Korean War, and led the and led the Navy’s surface attack on Iraq during the Persian Gulf War in 1991, firing not only her first but also the campaign's first Tomahawk Missile Navy’s surface attack on Iraq during the Persian Gulf War in 1991. She was decommissioned at Philadelphia and retired to the Naval Inactive Reserve Fleet in Portsmouth, Virginia, in October 1996.

At quarter to one, we scurried back to the boat and cruised out of the marina to wait for the bridge opening at 1:00. It was down the Elizabeth River to our one and only lock for the trip at Great Bridge Lock, where Kelly and Karol were at the ready to take the lines to get us up to the next level in the canal. We then had a smooth cruise to Coinjock which is a tiny marina along a narrow canal. It has one dock lined with a restaurant and a general store. There we played our first of many games of Rummikub before heading to dinner at the Coinjock Marina & Restaurant (our one choice) where we were surprised that the restaurant was so busy! Every single boater you mention Coinjock to says to have the prime rib so naturally John did. There were no houses or town around, so it was funny to see so many people packing the place. There was live music which was decent too.

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Fri

13

May

2016

Naval Nirvana

We are so excited to be back on The Latitude Adjustment! We arrived into Norfolk, VA late in the evening and summoned a Lyft driver (we chose Lyft over Uber as I have been hearing nebulous negatives about Uber) to take us to the boat in Zimmerman’s Marina at Heron’s Point an hour and a half away. Our driver was originally from Jamaica but had been in the U.S. for over 12 years. He drives for Uber and Lyft so he explained his take on why people are upset with Uber. He says that it’s because Uber charges crazy surge prices and once he drove someone 20 minutes and the bill was over $200. He told her only to pay $40 as he didn’t think it was a fair fare. I was impressed that he would cut his paycheck by so much due to principle. Yay!! People with ethics still drive among us.

We arrived around 11 p.m. so called it a night. The next morning the birds were singing, the green cove was calm, lush and sweetly quiet. A tall heron slowly waded in the shallow water nearby. John scurried around folding canvas, checking the route on his Simrad chart plotter and generally making sure all was working. Then it was engines on (so much for the bird song!) as the tide was high so we needed to move on. Our first voyage of the year was a short two hour cruise back to Norfolk where we’d meet Kelly and Karol. The sky and water were calm and we had a good opportunity to remember how to tie knots, navigate and just be boaters. We had an easy cruise passing by dozens of giant navy ships on our way to Waterside Marina in Norfolk.

The marina is lined by a waterfront walk right in the middle of downtown Norfolk. A block away is the Nauticus Naval Museum which is on the to do list for tomorrow. After settling in, John and I walked to the Chrysler Museum for lunch and then through their collection of paintings. The Chrysler's collection of European painting and sculpture ranges from works by Renaissance masters to early modernists, American works from the colonial portraiture of John Singleton Copley to contemporary art. We enjoyed our afternoon and then went back to meet our guests.

Karol and Kelly arrived about 6:00 and after a tour of the boat a cocktails we walked downtown to the Freemason Abbey Restaurant and Tavern is in a building that was originally dedicated as a church in 1873 by the congregation of the Second Presbyterian Church and converted to a restaurant in 1988. We enjoyed our meal and retired for the night shortly thereafter.

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