New Bern, NC to Sneads Ferry, NC, AICW mm 247

April 3 & 4, 2017

We had planned to be back down in Florida in November 2016, but between one thing and another, we didn’t end up leaving New Bern until yesterday.  We had also planned to have our boat hauled out in Florida for a bottom job and insurance survey, but since we stayed in New Bern longer than planned, we went ahead and hauled out on March 13^th at Bridgeton Boatworks.  We had not planned on hauling out until the 15^th, but we hauled out a couple days early because the winds and water levels were more favorable than they were predicted to be on the 15^th.  Weather is always a factor in decisions on boats!

After the boatyard did the sanding, Rob painted the bottom and running gear himself.  He used a hard anti-fouling paint on the running gear since we hadn’t had very good luck with just using ablative paint there, and 2 coats of ablative paint on the rest of the bottom.

In the slings so than Rob could paint where the jack stands were

Hard paint on all metals part and new zincs where needed.  Zincs decreased corrosion of other metal parts by attracting stray electricity to themselves first.

We could have splashed back in the water a little earlier than April 3^rd, but I had a two week job in Daytona at Halifax Health Center that didn’t finish up until the morning of April 1^st.  There was no reason for Rob to try to single-hand the boat back to New Bern Grand Marina since we planned to head south as soon as I was done with my short contract anyways.

Monday, April 3^rd turned out to be a great day to be splashed back in the water and to start cruising south.  It was nice and clear with only a light breeze, so before we knew it, we were on our way!

Our friend, Captain Ray Newcomb of Second Noelle, had been telling us that we really would appreciate having autopilot.   After experiencing the benefits of one when we helped our friend, Jim, take his 58’ Bertram to Isla Mujeres, Mx, we decided to go ahead and get one from Garmin that would work well with our existing navigation system.  Rob had planned to have it installed in Florida if we hauled out there, but since we would be delayed getting there, he decided to install most of it himself, with the help of a local Garmin-approved technician.  He mainly wanted the technician to double-check his planned placement of the components, to install the hydraulic lines, and to help with software setup if necessary.  While the technician seem to have general knowledge of the system, he did not seem very sure of himself with regard to the specifics of our boat.  After one of the hydraulic lines that he installed kept leaking and he admitted to installing one of the lines incorrectly, Rob didn’t bother to call him after he failed to show up to correct the problem when he said he would.

If you ever need anything electronic, be sure to check with Scott Bickwid, of Scott Bickwid Consulting and Supplies, Coca Beach, FL.  Even if he doesn’t end up installing whatever product he sells you, he is available by phone to help you troubleshoot issues.  Rob figured out that the technician had not installed the shadow drive correctly, confirmed it with Scott, and followed his advice to just detach the wiring to it.  Apparently, many systems don’t have a component like the shadow drive which disengages the autopilot if the captain takes the wheel, so we would just have to remember to put the autopilot on standby whenever we feel the need to steer manually.

After we passed under the highway bridge on the Neuse River and got to a fairly wide spot with plenty of water, we had to perform the Sea Trial setup of our autopilot.  This entailed turning in a circle to calibrate the compass and performing a couple of cruising runs so that the autopilot could calibrate itself to our boat.  It only took about 15-20 minutes and then we were ready to use it!

Look, Mom, no hands!

The Neuse River is pretty wide with good depths once you get a little ways past the highway bridge at New Bern, so it is a good place for a first autopilot run.  Once we were approaching Adams Creek and our first real auto-turn, we were excited and nervous to see how it would handle that.  It was almost anticlimactic since it went so smoothly, but now it would be handling the curves and twists of the creek so we couldn’t relax yet!  Needless to say, the autopilot keeps our plotted course better than we can by hand, but it isn’t good at avoiding hazards, such as markers, buoys, and other boats, when our course line isn’t perfect.  We still have to pay attention and to take over from time to time in order to navigate some areas safely, but it sure makes for a more pleasant cruise to not have to hand steer all of the time.

Rob programmed in the course (purple line)

The autopilot keeps the boat on the programmed course.

Rob does all of the planning for our routes each day, because he is so much better at it than I am.  We both agreed that it would be nicer to have shorter days while we cruise the ICW, and that if we saw a good weather window for cruising out in the Atlantic from Wilmington to Brunswick, GA or St Augustine, FL, we would take it.  So, our first planned stop was just a 38 mile cruise to Jarrett Bay Boatworks, Core Creek, NC, where we would fuel up and stay for the night.

Beautiful water frontage homes

This barge looks like a mobile lighthouse.

Jarrett Bay Boatworks builds sportfishing boats and has a huge boatyard which can handle very large boats.  You can have them do whatever work you need done on your boat, or you can do it yourself.  Their fuel dock has fairly easy entry and they have enough dock space to accommodate a fair number of boats for overnight dockage even though that isn’t their primary focus.  There was enough wind and current that docking wasn’t just routine, but fortunately for me, the wind was blowing Lorelei toward the dock rather than away, so once I was out of the current, it was no trick at all to get her in for a port side tie.  Sasha had plenty of time for 2 frisbee sessions – one at a large grassy spot at the end of road that leads to the boatyard from the landside and the other by the marina office.

Docked at Jarrett Bay Boatworks

This lift can handle boats up to 200 tons!  The tires are taller than me (I'm 5'3").

We were concerned about the storm system that had produced severe weather conditions in some parts of south, but it broke up for the most part as it got to our area.  We had quite a bit of rain starting in the late evening, and Rob said that it blew pretty hard around 4 a.m. as well.  The wind settled down a tiny bit by 7 a.m. when we were ready to leave, so we had no trouble getting off of the dock and on our way.

Boy, were we glad to have the autopilot when we reached the open waterways near Morehead City!  Both the 20+ mph wind and the wind driven current were hitting us on the beam, but the autopilot had no trouble making the adjustments to keep us on our course.  Hand steering would have been more physically and mentally stressful for sure!  We had to text an apology to our friend, Captain Ray, for laughing at him for whining when his autopilot broke on our Gulf crossing in fall 2015.  After just a day and half of having the autopilot, both Rob and I agreed that we wouldn’t want to be without it.  I know, I know:  we are turning into high maintenance cruising wimps.

We did have to do some hand steering where the ICW channel narrows south of Morehead City, either because our course line wasn’t plotted precisely enough or because we don’t have the best chart version to provide the autopilot with more precise tracking.  Otherwise, we would have been closer to shallow water and markers than we were comfortable with.

Nice looking shrimp boat

Shallow water just off the ICW channel

We had to go through the Marine Corps firing range right before we reached our destination for the night, but we found that the shoal where we ran aground on our trip north had been dredged and the channel markers moved to mark the new wider channel.  Hooray!

Watch Tower at the north entrance of the firing range

We made sure we didn't see any flashing

Targets on the firing range

We did meet a boat right at the spot, so we graciously allowed it to go first as the sacrificial lamb ;).

The scene of our first grounding

There must have been maneuvers going on at the base, because we saw lots of activity on land, in the water, and in the air.

2 fast boats loaded with troops and machine guns

This Osprey flew pretty closely overhead at times

We saw these amphibious carriers on both sides of the ICW

We had to wait a half hour for the next opening of the Onslow Beach swing bridge, but since Rob had planned shorter days, we were in no hurry at all.  Oh wait, I mean it was such a chore to sit there with the sun shining, a nice breeze, good music, and great scenery that everyone should just feel so sorry for us.

By 2:30 pm, we were docked at Swan Point Marina, Sneads Ferry, NC.  We had been there before and prefer to stay on the face dock on the ICW, because it is easy to get in and out.  The wind did tend to blow the boat off of the dock while we were trying to get our lines secured, but I finally figured out that I needed to put the wheel hard to port while engaging the port engine in reverse to help get the stern over to the dock once we had a pivot line on.

Sasha waits so patiently for her walk once we are docked

We really like these shorter cruising days.  We actually have time to really relax before we have to get the necessary chores of supper and then making sure we are ready for the next day’s adventures.