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To Chesapeake Bay
  • Ashling's Log

To Chesapeake Bay

A 15-day adventure by Ashling's Log Read more
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  • Trip start
    August 19, 2023
    Ashling's LogTo Chesapeake BayTraveler
    1Anchored at Beaufort.
    3Horses and pirates!

    Myrtle Beach to Beaufort

    August 19, 2023, North Atlantic Ocean ⋅ 🌙 84 °F

    The other night's sky was dark, but partly obscured. Tonight is a Milky Way night, a full view of all the stars and the galaxy as we're 30 miles and more from land. Even so, parts of the horizon are bright with light.. I wish I had the eyes of youth, when you can see the depth of the sky unaided. With the binoculars I can still get that depth, but it's a 2d painting by my naked eye.

    We also have lights downwards, as we shoot through the water. Light explodes and rushes past the hulls as we disturb the phosphorescent sea life. Unfortunately, even modern cameras cannot capture these fast, low-key lights.    Read more

  • Ashling's LogTo Chesapeake BayTraveler
    Nicely formed anvil cloud.Coast Guard practicing basket lifts from a boat, after dropping a diver to assist.

    Between Savannah and Charleston

    August 19, 2023, North Atlantic Ocean ⋅ ☀️ 86 °F

    Nice weather today. 12kn of breeze on the beam, so we're motor sailing along, hoping to make Norfolk on Monday night as N winds start. We stocked the refrigerator this morning from our Costco trip yesterday, and left with the tide after 10am this morning. The north bound exit from Thunderbolt follows the ICW up the Wilmington River until it crosses the Savannah River, where we turn away bearing east towards Tybee Island. After 29 miles, we're in the Atlantic Ocean.Read more

  • Ashling's LogTo Chesapeake BayTraveler

    Charleston to Myrtle Beach

    August 20, 2023, North Atlantic Ocean ⋅ 🌙 81 °F

    Good stargazing overhead! I can see all sorts of star clusters, like a set around Alcyone, in the bulls head in the Minotaur, and a second set about Aldebaron. Lower down, at the horizon, it's misty so no stars there. Jupiter is very bright.

    The sea is very calm, as the wind is down to only 8 knots. Radar shows a rain squall, heading at us from the south that may reach us by 5:30 or 6am.

    None of the squalls got us!    Read more

  • Ashling's LogTo Chesapeake BayTraveler
    The anchorage between the island and the town.
    1Dolphins feeding in the channel.Alexis and the wildlife.New Oru Kayak!The pirates and the wild horses in the marsh grass.Lots of feeding dolphns.

    Beaufort NC

    Aug 21–23, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 86 °F

    We love stopping in Beaufort! It is a wonderful anchorage between the island, a park with wild horses, and the town. We hit up Aqua, our favorite restaurant again and got some kayaking fun.

  • Ashling's LogTo Chesapeake BayTraveler
    Harbor front with a nice, free for dinghys, town dock
    There's room for maybe 50 boats here. We were the only boat overnight.The little bay is protected by two heavy wooden breakwaters. You can still get 1.5 foot chop though

    Belhaven NC

    August 24, 2023 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 79 °F

    Belhaven is a tiny town with a few marinas, 5 restaurants (including Hardee's). Actually, there is some good food here, including a breakfast carryout, Spoon River Artwork and Market, the Refinery, a steakhouse, etc. Almost none of the restaurants are chain franchises! We ate at Spoon with our friends from sv Liberty, Lisa and Stephen Vance. They are doing some serious refitting at TJ's Marina and Boatyard, which also has a Travel Lift capable of lifting boats up to 25 foot beam.

    A huge waterfront house ca. 1904 is under renovation, to be opened in October as Grand Manor, for large events like weddings. It will be very nice.    Read more

  • Ashling's LogTo Chesapeake BayTraveler

    South Lake

    August 26, 2023 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 79 °F

    Rather than crossing the Albemarle Sound and entering the North River which has legendary swarms of insects, we thought we'd try overnight south of the sound. We selected South Lake, next to Broad Creek, an area of shallow, broad water bounded by sandy land a few feet above water with pine trees. Near us is one road leading to a public boat ramp, and a duck blind. We went swimming to cool off and heard voices - two fishermen in a skiff about a half mile away!

    This morning, it was misty, with a heavy dew. I could hear the sudden "chuff" as the feeding dolphins came up for air.

    We left early, to get a good start on a long day, maybe more than 80 miles with low winds. We carefully crept over the Middle Ground passage, seeing no less than 6 feet of water where the charts show 4 feet. The into Albemarle Sound, a huge body of water. The wind is picking up to 4 kn, but too far ahead to be useful. We'll see.    Read more

  • Ashling's LogTo Chesapeake BayTraveler
    A mix of commercial, warships, military education, etc

    Portsmouth VA

    August 28, 2023 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 77 °F

    We left Top Rack Marina late this morning intending to drop the anchor at Old Phoebus anchorage in Norfolk, but only 3 bridges into the trip, the heavens opened on us. It was grey-out rain where you pull your car over under an underpass. We did indeed pull over, next to 3 huge beached barges and a red mark. We hovered there for 15 minutes until we could see again, and proceeded. You really don't want to meet a barge being shoved from behind at you on a narrow twisty part of the ICW, when you can't see it, nor the shore, the marks or the industrial docks jutting out.

    However, the "good" weather was fleeting, with bands of heavy rain arriving every 5 or 10 minutes. So we gave up and anchored in Portsmouth (Scott Creek), just before Norfolk.

    A very quiet night, rather unexpected given our location in the midst of major shipping!    Read more

  • Ashling's LogTo Chesapeake BayTraveler
    Kayak tour of Old Phoebus anchorage
    View from Ft Monroe's parapet towards Wool Island, over the deep water channel.The parapet and terreplaine and moat of Ft. MonroeThe casemate with a gun embrasure.The most.A somewhat different moat, around Ozzlefinch Brewery's tanksAn Ozzlefinch.A blue moon, last night.

    Old Phoebus (Hampton VA)

    August 29, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 82 °F

    We moved here to stage our entry to the bay after Idalia passes. It is a large anchorage, surrounded by land and bridges. It has a strong tidal flow, so you do swing at anchor. The bottom is soft mud, and water from 10-18 ft deep.

    We spent D1 on the boat, except for a small kayak tour.

    D2 we went to Old Point Comfort Marina, then walked to Ft Monroe. Ft Monroe is a 3rd generation fort, built to withstand anything a sailing ship could throw at it. Built over 15 years starting in the 1830s according to a French engineer's design, it used more than 10M bricks! It is also the largest fort ever built in America. If you walk around the parapet, it is a 1.3 miles walk.

    The fort was never attacked, but was used in the civil war to shell Confederate forts. After the war Jefferson Davis was imprisoned there.

    Fort Monroe was decommissioned in 2010 as part of the BRAC, and was transitioned to the National Park Service.

    Early Thursday morning Idalia's winds reached us. Neither the Rocna nor the Fortress anchors held fast (with only 20 kn of wind) so we had to re-anchor at 4am. After that, our anchors did well.    Read more

    Trip end
    September 2, 2023
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