This morning we woke up surrounded by cruising sailboats that had come in during the night, undoubtably looking for a safe harbor in the storm. This was it, just outside the USCG station. This bay was well protected from everything but the wakes of other boats. The Coast Guard station at Ft. Macon sits on a little spit of land just inside the Beaufort, NC inlet.
Because of the rain, we slept with hatches shut and a/c on and only woke up once when the lightning and thunder roared for a half hour or so. Our planned departure time was 6:00am but we still had heavy rain so we delayed pulling up anchor a bit. We checked the weather predictions which showed a break coming in about an hour. We had coffee, ate breakfast and went over the plan for the day again.
At 7am Liana was at the bow with her headset on. (We wear headsets so we can whisper sweet nothings while the anchor chain reels back into the locker, and we don’t have to shout at each other to be heard.) She stepped on the foot switch and the windlass began pulling in the chain for the anchor. Both chain and anchor was clean. What a nice change from the muddy anchorages we have been in recently. We had let out 200 feet and that gave us a nice 7 to 1 ratio for 28 feet of water depth. We could use less but we sleep better knowing we have the weight of a Volkswagen laying on the sea floor holding us in place.
The rain was still lightly falling by the time the anchor settled back onto the rollers and we headed into the channel. The first obstacle we faced this day was the Carolina Coastal Railroad Bridge. It is normally vertical when no trains are coming but could delay our transit by a 1/2 hour if the bridge was horizontal. As we approached we could see the bridge was up. It seemed to be one of the most narrow spans we have had yet to maneuver. We only had a few feet on each side between us and the sideboards of the bridge. No one was coming towards us and Silhouette had the whole waterway to herself.
The next challenge was a shallow spot we read about last night. Going close to the red side of the channel would put us aground. Recently a 44 ft Swan sailboat with a 7 ft draft came through at low tide and made notes where the deep water was so we followed their track. It was obvious why there was shoaling. A side channel flowed into the river and the current set us sideways all the way past the entrance. I am sure the silt gets carried in and dumped here at low tide.
After that we came through what we can only describe as a confusing area. (Coming in from sea it is “red-right-returning” keeping the red buoy on the right side, and the green on the left.) Here, two channels come together and they both have their own red and green channel markers and the ICW has different rules. These are inland waterway regulations and are less strait forward. We were going up-river and it’s red on the left, green to the right. Down-river is red on the right, green on the left. (Unless you are on the Great Lakes and they have a whole new set of rules.) So to make things clear as mud, the charts for the ICW also have a magenta line that deep draft vessels need to follow for deepest water in the channel. That’s us – deep draft. Six feet 6 inches of boat-stopping keel dragging underneath. The magenta line went outside all buoys. Many yachts had previously ran aground here. We learned earlier the best way to handle these situations was to call Tow Boat U.S. No, not to arrange a tow through it. We called because they will take all the time needed explaining how to safely navigate these problem areas. Who better to talk to than the people who have to go out and pull yachts off the muddy shoals. Their valuable advice was to hug the inside of all the red buoys and ignore the magenta line through this area.
We made it through without a scratch or any undue embarrassment. We finally made it to the cut – a narrow river that connects the Neuse River to the Beaufort Inlet. This was some of the prettiest sections of the ICW we had seen. Oak trees, green grass, vines taking over the landscapes of the little islands. Tucked along the way were several quiet fishing villages, peaceful and serene. Silhouette barely made a sound slipping up that river. We came across a family of dolphins slowly diving for food. There were six or seven including some small ones. They lazily swam right beside our boat so close we could almost reach out and touch them. We slowed down and just enjoyed watching them.
Then the river widened and opened up. We came upon a fishing boat drifting ever so slowly in the middle of the channel and we couldn’t squeeze by. This trawler was surrounded by its own little flock of seagulls. We tooted a blast on our ships whistle. The captain looked over his shoulder, stepped into the wheel house and slowly pulled forward so we could pass. Then he went right back to cleaning his catch and tossing the discarded pieces to the seagulls. He must have fished all night and was now finishing up his day as everyone else was having their first cup of coffee.
Next was the Neuse River. Big and wide, full of sailboats and ferries crossing back and forth to all the remote low lying islands of the sound. The fog settled in on the banks so we powered up the radar. We were on our way to New Bern Grand Marina at the headwaters of this great river. We had one more tricky area where the channel was only marked by green day marks that must be passed to the right. We called the drawbridge for an opening and also contacted the marina for our slip assignment. We motored under a stationary bridge, then the open drawbridge, made a sweeping u-turn, eased up to the dock, tossed lines to the dock master, and our ship was moored. This is the first time in three months we have tied her tied up to a dock. No generator needed to charge the batteries, no watermaker to make fresh water, – we just hooked up a cord and a hose and those systems were shut down. This three-month shake down cruise was a success. We are ready for the next step… The jump-off to the islands and then on around this wonderful planet we all call home. Thank you Lord for safe passages.
Love sailing with you guys.