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August 2003 A cruise to the Northwest Caribbean. The Chesapeake Bay and South to Florida My wife and I returned to "Mr John VI" in Coan River Marina on the 3rd August 2003, it was nice to be home again. The bilges were dry and everything seemed to be in good order so we stowed our gear and made plans to get afloat. It was raining heavily when we arrived back as it had been when we left. I got the impression that it had never stopped raining in the interim. The next day I filled a few superficial dings in the keel and antifouled whilst Paula did washing and squared away inside. In the evening I cleared away the two small gas cylinders that we used to keep in the cockpit gas locker and we went onto using two twenty pound bottles which were mounted on the aft rail. With the new requirement for a safety valve in all cylinders the small ones only had room for four pounds of gas and this made them uneconomical to run. Also the empty weight of the two small cylinders was not much less than a twenty. I'm much happier with the new system as the regulator is at the bottle on the rail so there is no High Pressure Gas anywhere inside the boat. August 5th, we launched and were snug in a berth for 1100hrs. The sun came out and it was a nice day! We polished the hull and prepared the boat for sea. There was an active thunderstorm during the night and the lightning disturbed our sleep but reminded us that fall would soon be coming and there was much to do if we were to get away from the Chesapeake before the temperature dropped. The next day we settled with the Marina and moved off the dock to anchor for a short time whilst we ran the headsail up the foil and furled it whilst facing the breeze. Once ready we moved off north and anchored in Back Creek at the Solomon's Islands by late afternoon. That evening we had the Genoa down again and made a repair on the luff tape before hoisting it again as the sun was setting. We spent two days here, bussing to the shops to buy items required. Paula upgraded to Windows XP and finally gave up on ME, which had proved a dead loss. I fitted our second Solar Panel, which we had brought back to the boat with us.On the day we sailed up to Annapolis we had a beautiful Cruising Chute Reach just about the whole way, it was a beautiful sail and reminded us of just how much great sailing we have had on the Chesapeake Bay. It is truly a magnificent cruising ground and rates in my top five world-wide. We spent almost two weeks in Back Creek, Annapolis and every day was a full one. Jobs included, replacing all the lifelines, fitting an inner forestay for our new inner headsail. Fitting two more cockpit drains to aid faster discharge of any water we should get in the Cockpit at sea. There were a whole host of smaller jobs but I took time out to visit Canada where I had to go for a Seafarers Medical Examination so that I could update my British Certificate as a Master Mariner. They wouldn't accept an American Medical Certificate or one from the Bahamas! I was not impressed, it was a most expensive medical certificate but at least it was cheaper than having to fly back to the U.K. On the 23rd of August we sailed back to The Solomon's and anchored in our usual spot. Somehow we managed to spend two weeks here and again the time went very quickly. The main job was to attend all the varnish work on the outside. The Stainless Steel rub-rail was removed and this gave us chance to do a proper job on the woodwork. It was the 11th September before we moved off again and had another great Cruising Chute Reach back to Coan River where we anchored off the Marina and went ashore to see our good friends Geoff and Merel with "Sifar". They were up in the yard doing a wonderful job of painting the decks. I was very impressed as they were getting a most professional finish. We were there for a couple of days whilst a Front came through and we bobbed up and down in the anchorage which was a little more exposed than I would have liked. I made a note in the log that this was "no port in a storm". Those words were later, unfortunately, to be proved correct as several boats were sunk in the Marina during the Isabel incident. The next day we left and had a good sail across to St Mary's where we anchored under sail off the Collage. There is not a great deal here except the collage but we have always liked it. We can use the Internet facilities in their lovely Library and eat in the refectory where they serve great meals at affordable prices. It was here that we were thrust into taking notice of the developing situation out in the Southwest North Atlantic. We knew there was a storm brewing and that it was coming our way but when we got to looking at the data in the predictions of the Miami Hurricane Centre, we were awakened to the very real and imminent danger posed by this storm. Hurricane Isabel was a Cat. 5 storm and the predicted track took it right over us. We decided that there was little time to loose in looking for a safe haven for our boat and ourselves. On the 15th of September we motor-sailed down to Reedsville in pouring rain and reduced visibility. It was a GPS and Radar job for the first part of the trip but as we arrived, the rain cleared and the sun came out. We went alongside, purchased some Diesel and topped up with water. This proved to be a very good move and if you don't have topping off fuel and water tanks as part of your Hurricane Preparedness Plan, you should add it. There wasn't much to be had in the way of provisions available but we managed to secure some bread. We cast off and made our way up the Great Wicomico River to Horn Harbour where we found the most secure anchorage we could as far up the harbour as we could go. On the 16th we began our preparations in earnest, I decided to leave the anchors until last as I wanted to see which way the storm would deviate as it approached. I also wanted to see what other boats were going to do in the anchorage, you can never tell if someone is going to anchor on top of you at the last moment with insufficient gear. We took everything off the deck that didn't have to be there. I even removed surplus halyards leaving only the basics. The Mainsail was lashed tight to the boom and wrapped in tarpaulin, the boom was then un-shipped and secured on the deck where it was covered by the dinghy in the 'stowed for sea' position. We covered what we couldn't move and used Duct tape on the cockpit seat lockers, which were then all locked down tight. The 17th saw some improvement as Isabel was downgraded to Cat 4. Not much would survive a Cat 5 Hurricane, certainly, not much afloat! However it was still coming our way and Cat 4 was still way to much wind for this anchorage. A few more boats arrived; they had been ejected from the local Marina who were, no doubt, looking into self-preservation. No one came and anchored on top of us and with a few minor exceptions people seemed to be doing a good job of securing their assets. I brought up all my gear in the morning and started laying things out in the afternoon. Paula went into Kilmarnock with some friends we had just made on a boat called "Painted Sky's" who had a dock in a quiet corner of the harbour. She returned with plenty of nice 'goodies' to see us through the blow. In the evening the wind started to increase from the Northeast but we did not expect more than 35kts till morning. By this time we had five anchors out and two lines to stout trees on the shore. There was plenty of chaffing gear and all the lines were well protected. I buoyed the shorelines so that should anyone be moving about last minute they would be visible. Before we turned in we heard that Isabel had been further downgraded to Cat. 3. It was good news and we slept well. Thursday 18th September in the early morning the clouds were scudding across the sky at 35/40kts but we were still quite protected in our anchorage. Just the occasional gust would sweep around the corner and we'd settle back on the main bow anchor for a while. There was little to do at this stage but listen to the radio and check the lines. The late morning report downgraded Isabel further to a Cat. 2 storm and it was due to cross the coast just south of Cape Hatteras at about1600hrs with winds of 95 gusting 105kts. In the afternoon the wind slowly shifted from Northeast to east, we were not putting a lot of weight on our gear. On occasions, some of the wind that was ripping by up above would drop into the harbour as a downdraft and we would heel over momentarily under its weight. As Isabel approached the coast the radio stations we had been listening to began to drop out. The power was going out in Virginia and even our local Heathsville NOAA station died on us. I was very surprised that these important links to emergency information did not have back up. By nightfall we were getting very little on the radio that gave us concrete facts on where the storm was located or where it was going. It was clear however that some people were having a very hard time. Much of Virginia was already under water and the down town areas of Annapolis and many Chesapeake towns were slowly getting inundated as water levels rose all over the bay. It was a night to remember, even inside the boat we could hear the tortured sound of the forest around us, Trees were snapped like twigs in the wind and came crashing down, some sounded very close and there were cracks like gunfire right through to the early morning. Sometime around midnight we started to face Southeast and I went out on deck to adjust some of our lines so that with the swinging about we would not take off the antifoul with ropes under the hull. In the morning there was a noticeable improvement in the conditions and we realised that we had come through the worst. "Mr John" had survived without a scratch; we had been very, very lucky! As the sun came out we were able to see some of the devastation around us. All the boats anchored in our area had survived intact but the trees that had offered us their protection had suffered greatly. Our friends from "Painted Sky's" came by in their RIB and we had coffee whilst exchanging stories, they had also fared well. We were lucky, there was over 1.8 million people without power, thousands homeless and many more flooded out. The Chesapeake was a mess and the Northern Neck of Virginia, where we were located, was one of the most devastated areas. We spent the next couple of days putting the boat back together, stowing anchors and drying lines. Time was moving on and we were keen to get going. We motored back down the river to Reedsville surveying lots of damage on the way. The fuel dock and part of the town had been underwater and the residents were cleaning up. There was no power so there was no Fuel but we were able to obtain some water. We were lucky to have taken fuel before the Hurricane; there was enough to see us at least as far as Norfolk. We pushed on down to Kilmarnock skirting a lot of floating debris on the way. There were boats, bits of boat, docks, trees and many other items floating all over the Chesapeake and you had to keep a sharp eye out. We learned also that there were over a thousand Navigational Markers missing or knocked down, it was going to keep the Coast Guard busy for quite a while! We anchored in Indian Creek and went for a little walk ashore in the evening; there were a few damaged boats at the Marina and lots of trees down ashore. Crews were out and about clearing roads, securing downed power lines and trying to clear up the mess. We returned on board early as we were expecting a frontal trough during the late evening and I wanted to be secure. It somehow got magnified as it got closer and when it hit we had over Fifty Knots of wind. As it went through it spawned some mini tornadoes and later we heard that some people got more damage from these than they did from Isabel. Again we were lucky that we were in a sheltered spot and our anchor held well. The next day we were able to get some groceries from up town, things were scarce and there was still no electricity but many people had acquired portable generators so that they could continue to keep their A/C running and their beer cold! We lugged our groceries the two miles back to the boat grateful that we could still get fresh produce. The next day we moved down to Irvington where we found American Wealth, tucked away in a quiet corner of Virginia, trying not to get noticed; A beautiful area with some nice waterfront properties. The weather seemed to have now fully recovered and we were again in the glorious sunshine of a summer's day with the promise of more to come. Whilst here we hired a car for a weekend and went to visit with our friend Debbie in Culpepper, Virginia. It is great to be able to visit with friends and its great to have a car and see a little more of the interior of this fascinating country. As a Bonus to this trip we also took in 'Monticello' which was once the home of Thomas Jefferson. Virginia is a beautiful state to drive around it has a charm all of its own. It has always seemed strange to me that the East Coast of the U.S. is so ignored as a cruising area. I have found it interesting and entertaining with some great sailing and plenty of good anchorages. On the 30th of September we moved down to Deltaville and got going on our passage south. There is an unwritten rule that says. " The Annapolis Boat Show is held during the first week in October, if you go to see it then you'll get your butt frozen and your head blown off going south. If you can be south of Great Bridge before the 5th of October, then you stand a chance of getting clear. So far that rule has worked for us and those that followed behind have told us stories about how it worked against them! We had a good passage south as far as temperature was concerned; it was the wind that failed to co-operate. Either there wasn't enough or there was too much from the wrong direction. This resulted in more motoring and less sailing than we were used to! There were some nice days however and we worked on our suntans; on route down the waterway we were able to see the destruction caused by hurricane Isabel which turned out to be the most expensive disaster ever to hit the Marine Industry. We had to clear out of North Carolina before the trail of damage stopped! We managed to get outside in the ocean between Beaufort and Wrightsville Beach but we were stuck on the inside from there to Charleston where we got a weather window that let us go offshore again. We had to duck in at St Augustine but as we arrived in the early morning we didn't stop but pushed on till nightfall and that took us down to Daytona Beach. Two days later we were in Vero Beach on a mooring and getting the boat stored and ready to move off into the Bahamas. We were there for almost two weeks and did a lot of work checking the gear, the rigging and the engine. The latter got special attention, all the filters were changed, the oil was changed in both motor and gearbox, the fuel tank was cleaned out and the shaft seal tightened. I went through the spare's kit and put in some extras. While I was doing this Paula was laying in all the required stores checking them, entering them up in her 'food stores log' and stowing them. The boat was cleaned and polished from the truck of the mast to the waterline. Eventually we were ready to go the problem was the weather, which was still working against us. We have another little rule here that seems to work well: "If the weather is not favourable to cross to the Bahamas, go south down the ICW. If you get far enough south the wind will eventually be in the right direction". We eventually ended up in Miami where we met up with S/Y "Magpie" with Tony and Jeanne Cardwell aboard; it was one of those instant meetings of the mind. We sealed our friendship with a visit to the movies to see 'Master and Commander', after which we all vowed not to complain about the weather ever again! They were going to the West Coast of Florida but we scheduled to meet up in the Bahamas later. When it looked like there may be a short window for the crossing we went down to No Name Harbour on Cay Biscayne to be better positioned for exit. No Name Harbour quickly got the name of '$12 per Night Harbour', we got caught, I don't often get caught but our pilot book was out of date and by the time I had the charge laid on me it was too late to find an alternative anchorage. I was a bit peeved as we had arrived late and expected to be away before midnight, we were just waiting for a wind shift. As it was the shift did not arrive until the early hours of the morning and we left at 0430hrs. Outside the wind shifted to the south but that wasn't good enough as there was a lumpy, left over sea from the Southeast and we couldn't point up enough to make Bimini. I decided to come off on a fast reach and make use of the current to take us up to Grand Bahama where we arrived of Port Lucaya just as it was getting dark and just as the Cold Front arrived with 25kts of North westerly wind. We were lucky, it was a short window and not many boats got to use it. Being south paid off, we lost a lot of ground to the north but at least we got across the stream without getting our heads blown off! John & Paula |
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