Chesapeake Bay

We have been exploring Chesapeake Bay for just over one month. Reedville was our last stop in Virginia; when we entered the harbour, we saw some different looking fishing boats.

We learned that these are menhaden fishing boats. Menhaden fish are caught for their oils; there are Omega-3 fatty acids in the oil that is extracted when the fish is cooked – this oil is then used in food supplement pills. Humans do not eat menhaden as the fish is too oily and bony.

The menhaden industry is now not as prosperous as it once was. However, the Victorian mansions we saw while exploring Reedville are a testament to its great past.

Our first stop in Maryland was Solomons where we decided to stay at a marina after anchoring out for nine days. Of course, the first thing I almost always do when getting to a marina is to get laundry done – not very glamorous but necessary! It was nice to get our bikes out and visit AnnMarie Garden. There were not many people out and about; we met a staff member and she explained that they are preparing some touchless activities for the kids. She was busy painting activities on the walking trails.

They have also hidden 50 fairy houses throughout the park – we looked for some but did not find all 50. I am sure if our grand-children had been with us we would have been more inspired!

The garden was also filled with sculptures and other artwork.

We don’t find many places that are open so are very appreciative when we find something that is.

We are fortunate that patio dining is available – gives us a bit of a change of pace (in Maryland, masks are required indoors and outside if within six feet of others). Jacques got to experience something new when we ate at Lighthouse Restaurant in Solomons.

This is a soft-shell crab sandwich. Since it is soft shell you eat the whole crab (or in this instance, two crabs – it’s a big sandwich!). Jacques is glad he ordered this but indicates that it was his first and last. It was kind of good but the texture was ‘weird’.

On June 4, we left Solomons and headed to Madison Bay anchorage and encountered the Chesapeake at the calmest we have ever seen it.

Our friends, Diane and Gaetan, on Sunten during an early morning cruise on Chesapeake Bay.

It was so calm that when we arrived at the anchorage, I did something I haven’t done since we have been in our home waters.

Spent some time in our little inflatable boat tethered to the mother ship.

We learned there is another way of crab fishing where crab pots are not used! Bait is attached in small packs on a trot line. The crab love the bait and so grab on and keep holding on until the fisherman pulls up the line. As the crabs get close to the surface of the water, they let go and land in a waiting basket. Some larger boats are automated; this friendly fellow and his daughter were doing it by hand one beautiful Sunday morning at our anchorage in Plaindealing Creek near Oxford, Maryland.

They spent several hours in close proximity to our boat.

We bought half a dozen blue legged crab directly from them and Jacques ensured he got advice on how to cook them.

And then he took that advice to heart.

While we enjoyed the fruits of our labours (getting the crab meat out of six crabs took us both over an hour to accomplish); we decided that getting our crab fix at restaurants was a better proposition.

Our small group has changed dynamics – here we are with Pierre and Renée of Shoreline Traveller and Diane and Gaetan of Sunten. This is now primarily a French group so I am enjoying some French Immersion – something I didn’t quite expect in the US. Our waiter was thrilled to serve our table and practiced his recently learned French.

We really loved the anchorage at Plaindealing Creek, near Oxford. Swimming and enjoying the sunsets were top activities.

We pulled into St Michaels, Maryland on June 8. St Michaels is known as the town that fooled the British. The British attacked in the dark on August 10, 1813 with the goal of destroying the many shipyards. Legend has it that the residents of the town were forewarned and so hoisted lanterns to the masts of ships and in the tops of the trees, thereby causing the British to overshoot the town. This turned out to be so effective that only one house was struck.

We enjoyed walking the historic town.

Many houses are from the 1700s and 1800s. We saw several with this rectangular piece of brickwork on an outside wall. If anyone knows what this is please let us know as we were unable to discover.

The figurehead below was made for a small schooner yacht that was used to train midshipmen just before WWII.

We anchored at a sheltered spot called Quarter Cove on the Wye River, about 12 kilometres from St Michaels to wait out two days of winds. However, due to some misfortune, it is going to cost us more than a quarter as Jacques inadvertently left his glasses on when he dove into the water.

Our good friend, Gaeten, tried valiantly to retrieve them but, alas, *they are now sitting in the mud at the bottom of the cove.* Luckily, Jacques has some reading glasses on board that will do until we can get replacement glasses.

We are now anchored at Fairlee Creek at the northern tip of Chesapeake Bay and will soon be making our way towards Delaware Bay.

We love Virginia!

Deltaville, Virginia was a great spot to spend a few days. Our anchorage was located right next to the town and we had easy access via dinghy; we were able to explore.

At Holly Point Nature Park we discovered that Virginia really is for lovers (as per the motto on their license plates).

Holly Point Nature Park was open for visitors as long as you observed social distancing. We didn’t run into too many people so this was not a concern.

There were a few sculptures in Holly Point Nature Park in Deltaville.

There was a children’s section – Abigail and Logan – we wish you could have been with us!

You have heard me mention many times all of our encounters with crab pots and our endeavours to avoid them. So, here is a little info!

Captain John Smith explored Chesapeake Bay in the early 1600s. He was seeking precious metals and a passage to Asia. For his explorations he and his crew sailed and rowed a primitive 30 foot boat about 3,000 miles.

On our way out of the Deltaville Channel, we spotted this growing family.

This family of ospreys made a home on one of the channel markers near Deltaville.

And here is the baby. Home is where the nest is!

Our next stop was Urbanna, Virginia which is located on the Rappahannock River.

We felt like Hollywood royalty as we entered Urbanna Harbour.

Our original plan was to stay just one night as the weather was cooperating for continued travels. However, within five minutes Jacques and I had decided we were not leaving the next day. The anchorage was so spectacular – extremely sheltered and filled with an abundance of birds.

View from our anchorage in Urbanna, Virginia.

Another view of our anchorage in Urbanna.

Note the two trees towards the middle left of the picture. We counted no less than five heron nests in the treetops.

There are three heron nests in this tree. We could hear the babies cackling constantly.

We became birders sitting on the bow of the boat obsessed with our binoculars.

Our travelling companions also came to the same conclusion that staying was a good idea so we enjoyed Urbanna for four days.

Sequel is Brian and Dorothea’s boat. Note the Osprey on top of their boat (the town of Urbanna in the background).

As you can see, the town of Urbanna is quite small but had everything we needed: groceries, pharmacy, bank, Napa auto-parts, liquor store and even a beach.

The beach was accessible by dinghy. The sand was piled quite high. Jacques and Pierre are checking out a cave which appears to be man made.

Lansdowne House is a private residence built prior to 1763. It was named for William Fitzmaurice, the Marquess of Lansdowne, a British statesman who supported the American cause before and during the revolution. Fitzmaurice became Prime Minister of Great Britain in 1782 and negotiated the Treaty of Peace recognizing the independence of the United States.

We reluctantly departed the gorgeous anchorage on Saturday, May 30.

We love when Chesapeake Bay is nice and calm.

We cruised to Reedville, Virginia and plan to stay until Monday, June 1.

Yorktown, Virginia

We arrived in Yorktown, Virginia on May 14 and checked into Wormley Creek Marina. Our intent was to stay a few days, but we ended up staying for nine! As usual, weather played a part in our decision. The first named tropical storm of the season ‘Arthur’ had us watching the weather quite closely. While Arthur did not make landfall, we had strong winds for several days. We really lucked in with our choice of marina as it was extremely sheltered. Also, we were in America’s Historic Triangle which consists of Williamsburg, Yorktown and Jamestown.

The day after we arrived, we were able to visit some of the historic sites as our good friends and fellow Loopers, Jim and Julie, came to visit. They live in central, rural Virginia and completed their Loop earlier this Spring. We first met them in Trenton in late June during the first week of our Loop and got together again in Grand Rivers, Kentucky and Chattanooga, Tennessee. This visit was a little different though as we were practicing social distancing. Luckily, we had a beautiful day and were able to spend most of our time in the great outdoors at Colonial Williamsburg – a living history museum.

Jim and Julie in Colonial Williamsburg (home of William and Mary University which was founded in 1693; it is the second oldest university after Harvard University).

While the marina is located only three miles from downtown Yorktown, it is not possible to get there safely by bike, so we took our dingy to the town dock.

*We were surprised to see these rays as we were docking. They are cownose rays and there were a lot!* We watched them for about 15 minutes – they kept swimming back and forth. We learned that they usually arrive the first week of June and stay for about a week. We were lucky that they were early this year.

When it became evident that we would be in Yorktown for at least a week, we decided to rent a van. Our first stop was Kilmarnock, the home of American Diesel (which supplies Ford Lehman engine owners like us with all kinds of parts). It was a very pretty drive and the company is located in a rural area. Since we were so close (only an hour away by car), Jacques decided it was time to make a big purchase.

Those boxes in the back of the van are holding brand new heat exchangers which Jacques has since installed.

After making the purchase, we explored the quaint town of Kilmarnock. Throughout the town, there were several pairs of big boots so I tried some on!

This was an art project and there were lots of these boots at various locations in the town.

This Texaco gas station really caught our attention as we drove by. Google tells me that after sitting vacant for several years it was renovated to its original 1930s-era look complete with gas pumps and light poles, authentic Texaco signs and even a conference table built on top of the original service station’s car lift. It is now a center for archaeology, preservation and education.

We returned to Colonial Williamsburg and did some further exploring. Even though all the buildings were closed, we were able to walk around this very large historical site. Colonial Williamsburg could be compared to Upper Canada Village in Ontario or King’s Landing in New Brunswick as typically the buildings are all open with guides in period costumes providing history, facts and commentary.

It is a very well preserved site; we noted some on-going construction projects.

This was the seat of Virginia’s colonial government for 75 years.

The first theatre in English America was built on this site about 1776.

We toured Colonial Williamsburg with our fellow Canadian Loopers.

Renée and Pierre in middle, Brian on right (Dorothea took the picture)

There are lots of big, old trees in Colonial Williamsburg. This is a Northern Catalpa that our friend Renée is taking a picture of.

I was delighted to find William Pitt’s store! He sold hats, clothing, housewares and other goods here during the revolution.

On my side of the family there is a legend that says Sir William Pitt’s daughter married a coachman and moved to Canada; we are supposedly descended from them. Now, this William Pitt is not the same one but maybe he is a distant relative!

We also explored Yorktown where we found this windmill which is a reconstruction of William Buckner’s Mill built in 1711.

This is a reconstruction of a windmill built in 1711 that was a guidepost on the York River for nearly two centuries. Its purpose was to grind corn and continued to provide most of the flour for York County throughout the 18th and 19th centuries.

Yorktown Victory Monument was created to commemorate the October 19, 1781 surrender of British General Cornwallis to the Franco-American alliance at Yorktown. This battle was a huge turning point in the Revolutionary War. Peace negotiations began in 1782 and the Treaty of Paris was signed on September 3, 1783 , officially naming the United States as an independent nation.

The monument is made from Maine granite and stands 84 feet high.

There is still evidence of the battle in Yorktown; note the cannonball embedded into the brick.

This was the home of Thomas Nelson, Jr. (1738-89), Yorktown’s most famous son and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Nelson’s devotion to the patriot cause during the American Revolution contributed significantly to the creation of the United States.

We tried to visit Jamestown as it is the first permanent English settlement in the New World (established on May 13, 1607), but access to the historical site was all locked up; it is not an open area like Colonial Williamsburg and Yorktown.

We departed Yorktown on May 23 and cruised about 4 1/2 hours to Deltaville, Virginia.

At anchor in Deltaville with Sequel (on left) and Shoreline Traveller – our Canadian friends.

The anchorage is well sheltered, even though it is open to the Chesapeake Bay. There is a well marked channel to enter the anchorage – if you look closely below you can see the brownish coloured water which is a sandbar that is extremely evident when the tide is out.

You may also notice the large American flag on this sailboat!

We plan to stay here for a few days and figure out our next steps. The New York Canals are dictating how long we stay on Chesapeake Bay (the canals were originally slated to open on May 15 but have been delayed to July 4). We expect to be on Chesapeake Bay until at least mid June.

Portsmouth/Norfolk, Virginia

We left the Dismal Swamp Canal on Sunday, May 10.

Deep Creek Lock Station – we are in the lock; Shoreline Traveller and Sequel are following in behind.

We cruised to Portsmouth/Norfolk, Virginia – a distance of about 10 miles – which made all the difference in the scenery.

We docked right in downtown Portsmouth and across from a repair facility.

This is one of the Navy’s non self-propelled Repair, Berthing and Messing Barges (in other words, a barracks). When a ship is in for repairs they move these barracks beside the ship for the duration of the repair. This one is 146 feet long and 46 feet wide and can accommodate 26 Officers, 30 Chief Petty Officers, and 201 Enlisted.

There are lots of big things in the harbour including this Hammerhead crane (which we could see from our dock).

This Hammerhead crane was built in 1940. It is 20 storys tall and can lift 350 tons. It is the largest crane of its type in the world. The small crane atop the Hammerhead can lift 25 tons and is used primarily for the repair of the Hammerhead crane. This Portsmouth landmark is still in use today.

We explored the City of Portsmouth.

It is a very historical city.

And the streets were quite pretty.

This was not the oldest house we saw but it has an interesting history.

This Romanesque Revival dwelling was built in 1894. Identifying features of this architectural style are the round arches over thick cavernous entryways and window openings as well as the round tower. In the 20th century, the home was converted to an Elks Lodge. Currently the house is made up of several apartments. We met one of the residents and she told us that the house is haunted. She reports she has seen and heard things!

We met the Deputy Chief of Police. As we were sitting on the dock having a planning meeting about our next steps, he joined us. He was such a good ambassador for his city that he convinced us to stay another day. He is familiar with Loopers; he recounted that his father had done the Loop a few years ago. He had so much information to share and was a very personable and friendly guy.

On his recommendation, we visited the Navy history trail.

Jacques checking out a German World War I gun.

The Navy history trail included this propeller.

This propeller is 75,000 pounds and has a diameter of 28 feet. The propellers were used on Cimarron Class Oilers which were used for refueling aircraft carriers.

We found the house below while out exploring. Luckily for us, the owner was outside and very interested to chat with us. He explained that he bought this abandoned building in 1996 and spent three years converting it to a house. It started as a warehouse to store and process water from the Dismal Swamp so it could be used as potable water on ships. Then it was used as a sub-station to provide power for the streetcars until 1941 when it was abandoned.

This building is so big, they sold the back part of it to be converted into an apartment. The building is 150 feet long!

Within sight of his house, was this condo building.

It was built in 1962. At the time, according to our new friend, there had never been a building built so big out of brick and they needed special expertise. This special expertise belonged to Grace Kelly’s father. He and his crew came here to do the brick work – which was reportedly completed within 60 days.

By complete chance, we heard about a special flypast that was being done to honour the front line workers in the COVID-19 crisis and so we positioned ourselves at the end of the dock in order to have a front row seat. We were not disappointed.

These are World War II P-51 Mustangs with an F-22 Raptor.

On Wednesday, May 13, we departed Portsmouth and headed to Hampton, Virginia. It was a very interesting cruise as we were passing through the harbour of the largest Naval Base in the world.

The harbour was very busy. Here we are cruising past some Navy ships.

We had to monitor two channels on the radio and there was lots to listen to. At one point we heard: ‘Securité, securité, securité. This is Navy Patrol Boat 410 with the flashing blue lights. Please be advised that there is a submarine entering the channel. You must leave the channel. Captain, please acknowledge’. We didn’t waste anytime complying with their request.

As you can see, those are real machine guns!

This is the submarine being assisted by two tug boats. Notice the aircraft carrier on the right.

The aircraft carrier is huge! That is a Navy patrol boat on the left and the submarine just on the right.

There were about four Navy patrol boats bopping around and ensuring that no boats got close to the submarine. We only had a short cruise – less than two hours but it was one of our more exciting ones!

The Great Dismal Swamp

No, the Great Dismal Swamp is not something out of Lord of the Rings (thanks Keith for that reference!). It got its name from early European settlers who referred to low-lying, wet areas as ‘dismals.’ Because of its vast size , this ‘dismal’ became known as the Great Dismal. The word swamp was added later.

The canal running through the Dismal Swamp connects Albermarle Sound in northeastern North Carolina to Chesapeake Bay in southeastern Virginia. It is the oldest continually operating man-made canal in the United States and opened in 1805. It was dug completely by hand (mostly by slaves) and took approximately 12 years of back-breaking construction under highly unfavorable conditions to complete the 22-mile long waterway. It served as a trade route from Virginia to North Carolina and today is part of the Intracoastal Waterway.

We picked the right day to cruise – beautiful and calm.

Gyp C is the second boat; we were a convoy of four Canadian boats travelling from Elizabeth City.

South Creek Lock is the first of two locks we must travel through on the Great Dismal Swamp canal.

Waiting for the lock (while sunny it was a cool day). Unlike on the Parks Canada canals, there is no dock to tie up to. As the biggest boat, we tied up to ‘dolphins’ (large pilings) and the other boats rafted to us.

Note the brownish colour of our wake in the picture below. Many assume that it must be dirty and are surprised to learn that it is actually some of the cleanest water there is. The colour comes from tannins (compounds found in cypress/juniper trees) that leach into the water. As a result, the water has a very low pH that helps to inhibit bacterial growth.

Apparently, swamp water stays fresh for a very long time, which made it valuable to the early settlers, who used it for drinking on transatlantic crossings.

We stayed at the Dismal Swamp Visitors Centre dock for two days and got to know our travelling companions: Diane and Gaetan of Sunten; Brian and Dorothea of Sequel; Renée and Pierre of Shoreline Traveller.

*Sitting next to Gyp C from left: Dorothea and Brian (celebrating their 37th wedding anniversary); Diane and Gaetan; Karen and Jacques; Pierre (missing from photo Renée)*. Hard to tell in this picture but we are keeping the requisite six to eight feet apart.

There was a great biking trail near the dock; we made use of it both days we were there.

One day, we explored the country side and this small village (Renée, Pierre, Karen).

This is a farmer’s portable bridge which is put into place across the canal when it is time to move the livestock.

It is not often we have a ‘road sign’ telling us where we are!

We cruised to Deep Creek Lock in Virginia on May 8. The turtles were out in full force just behind our boats.

This turtle was really sunning himself – note the splayed legs.

Since tomorrow is a special day, we would like to take this opportunity to wish a Happy Mother’s Day to our mothers!! Here they are with our son and daughter-in-law on their wedding day.

My mother, Hope, on the left; Jacques’ mother Thérèse on the right.

We are continuing to move slowly north (tonight there is actually a frost advisory for Chesapeake Bay).

Morehead City to Elizabeth City

After two weeks, we pulled up the lines and left Morehead City saying goodbye to our friends Linda and Mahlon on ‘Just Ducky’.

We got together almost every day in late afternoon sitting outside the marina office. Note Mahlon is demonstrating that we are more than six feet apart.

We got up early (5:15 a.m.) on May 2 and got underway just at daybreak. We had several waterways to traverse on our way to Belhaven, North Carolina.

Still on Adam’s Creek, which in our opinion, got a lot bigger than a creek!

Canal connecting Alligator River and Pungo River.

We travelled the Neuse River and Pamlico Sound; we needed a good weather day as these are bigger bodies of water. Fun fact (Logan!): The Pamlico Sound was the home waters of Edward Teach – also known as Blackbeard. Blackbeard did much of his pirating here on his flagship, the Queen Anne’s Revenge. He was known for his thick black beard and scary appearance; supposedly he would light fuses under his hat and into his beard to frighten his enemies (some sailors who saw him thought he was the devil).

He was pardoned by the Governor of North Carolina in June of 1718 when he made a promise to stop pirating. Alas, he reneged on his promise and was hunted and killed in November 1718. It is rumoured that his treasure was buried on Ocracoke Island, North Carolina which is now a National Park, so no one will be able to find it now.

Neuse River (heading into Pamlico Sound).

We arrived in Belhaven, North Carolina about mid afternoon and stayed at River Forest Marina. We discovered that the marina had free golf carts so we borrowed one to explore the town. River Forest Manor is directly in front of the marina.

Taking the picture of the manor aroused the curiosity of Conrad, a spry youngster of 91, who was out for his daily walk. He told us about some of the history of the manor.

The manor was completed in 1904 after five years of construction. Conrad recounted that there was a cook named Alice, who was known quite widely for her oyster dishes. Famous celebrities who visited the manor include James Cagney and Twiggy. The manor is now dedicated as a wedding venue.

We had heard from other Loopers that there is a fantastic restaurant in Belhaven so we decided to place an on-line order and used the golf cart to pick up our meal to bring back to the boat. The owner was absolutely thrilled that we were giving her our business and included a free bottle of wine and flowers. And we were thrilled with our meal!

We would love to come back here and have the full experience in the sit down restaurant. Apparently, the owner is an artist and she has created an awesome ambiance inside the restaurant (although we were not disappointed with the ambiance on the boat!).

We got another very early start on Sunday, May 3.

Sunrise at River Forest Marina, Belhaven, North Carolina.

We travelled on the Alligator River Cut, the Alligator River, and then Albermarle Sound to Pasquotank River leading into Elizabeth City.

Several times during the day, we heard a warning from the Coast Guard on the VHF radio to be aware of a sunken sailboat on the Albermarle Sound. We made note of the coordinates and we did eventually see it.

We are not sure what happened but the water is only about 12 feet deep here.

Elizabeth City is home to the only remaining steel blimp hangar built during WWII. It was completed in 1942 in a nationwide effort to build a lightweight air fleet (of blimps) that would be used in spotting German U-boats.

On our approach to Elizabeth City we could see the blimp hangar. This structure is so big that it had room for 12 Navy K-class blimps, each an average of 250-feet long and approximately 50 feet in diameter.

We walked the town of Elizabeth City and found this very cute building.

North Carolina is known as first in flight. Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first controlled, powered aircraft flights at Kitty Hawk on North Carolina’s Outer Banks on Dec. 17, 1903. We found this sign on the building featured in this newspaper article dated 1901.

We are staying at a free dock in the downtown core which is provided by Jennette Brothers Food Distribution company. Their only caveat is that you patronize some of their local restaurants (it is called Dock and Dine). We certainly complied with that except as with everywhere else it is all takeout.

Jennette Brothers Dock, Elizabeth City. Gyp C is third from the left. The other boats on the dock are all Canadian. The first boat, Sequel, is a Looper boat. We met them in October on the Tennessee River but hadn’t seen them since.

The dock is located right next to the Elizabeth City Bridge. Here is Sequel passing through the bridge opening. I took this picture from the bow of our boat.

We plan to depart Elizabeth City on May 6. Next up: the Dismal Swamp Canal.

Morehead City, North Carolina

We have been in Morehead City in North Carolina since April 19. Still not sure when we are leaving but potentially in the next couple of days. The temperatures here are just right – not too hot, not too cool and it has been quite windy, so we are not too anxious to continue heading north just yet (today is windy and rainy so a good blog day).

We have been walking around the town – nothing is open of course, but we did a little window shopping and exploring.

At this art/gift shop we were surprised to see an Ontario license plate.

Not far from the marina, we found this monument which lists all the past winners of the annual Blue Marlin fishing tournament. The 2019 winner caught a Blue Marlin that weighed 914 pounds!

There are numerous sport fishing boats near us at the marina. In chatting with one of them, I mentioned the Blue Marlin trophy and that I was amazed that the 2019 winner caught one that was 914 pounds. He very cheerfully engaged me in conversation but I learned that this was a bit of a sore point with him – as he was the one who came in second place (although he did not mention the poundage of his catch!).

On this sport fisher boat, these fishing lures looked like a Halloween decoration – black and purple. They are pulled behind the boat to ‘tease’ the fish – then the fishermen get out their lines and try to capture them. I imagine that it must be quite a challenge if some of them are as large as 914 pounds. We did see some fish when they got back but there were no Blue Marlins.

Cape Lookout National Seashore is located about three miles off shore from Morehead City. On one fine day (April 28), we took Gyp C over for a day trip to have a look. Cape Lookout National Seashore consists of 56 miles of undeveloped beach stretched over three to four barrier islands from Ocracoke Inlet on the northeast to Beaufort Inlet on the southeast (we are at the southern tip at Beaufort Inlet).

A moment of reflection – Cape Lookout Beach reminded me of Portapique Beach – not covered in stones, but covered with shells.

This is the best ‘shelling’ beach we have seen so far in our travels. Many of the shells are so tumbled they actually look like stones.

Cape Lookout Lighthouse is 163 feet high. It flashes every 15 seconds and is visible at least 12 miles out to sea. We learned that it is one of the very few lighthouses that operate during the day.

Gyp C at anchor for the day at Cape Lookout National Seashore.

We walked across the sand dunes to get to the Atlantic Ocean side.

Of the more than 9,000 living species of birds in the world, about 250 species have been found at Cape Lookout National Seashore.

Black Skimmers are easily recognizable by their black and reddish-orange bill. They use their long, scissor like bill to skim the water’s surface for small fish and crustaceans. Black Skimmers prefer to nest on uninhabited beaches, and we were certainly on one of those.

This horseshoe crab was left behind when the tide went out. They live primarily in and around shallow coastal waters on soft sandy or muddy bottoms.

As you can see, the tide went out as we were walking the beach.

Since I seem to have less and less to share, I thought I would introduce you to a few aids that we use in our planning and cruising.

We rely on several guidebooks/charts. The ones we rely on the most are: Skipper Bob Publications, Waterway Guide, and MapTech Chartkit paper charts. We have several copies of each on board – the ones currently in use are specifically for the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.

In addition to the chart plotter at the helm which includes all of the electronic charts that we need, we also use AquaMap that I installed on my tablet and also includes electronic charts. Both of these get updated frequently so we always have the most up to date charts.

*Getting ready for a day’s journey – checking out the daily America’s Great Loop forum on my laptop and AquaMap on my tablet*.

AquaMap also has a great feature – an anchor alarm.

Here we are at anchor on the Waccamaw River (the anchor symbol is where the anchor is, the pink boat is us). You can see by the tracking that we mostly stayed in the same spot but the tide went in and out while we were at anchor. The alarm goes off once you get outside the circle. We have heard it go off – when I forget to turn off the anchor alarm before we start cruising. There is no missing the alarm – it sounds like a siren.

Also to keep busy, we are enjoying staying in touch with family and friends via video conferencing and are also taking part in a games night once a week with the kids.

We are certainly appreciating the video conferencing options we have during this pandemic.

Nova Scotia: A Tribute from Gyp C

Our hearts are breaking. Portapique – the place where we have such great memories. Visiting with family at the family cottage. Digging clams. Enjoying the most fantastic beach in the world.

Today, Jacques and I are wearing red in tribute to the victims and their families in Nova Scotia. We remember.

The heather I am holding I picked off the beach in Portapique several years ago and has been travelling with us for our entire journey.

To show Portapique in happier times, here are a few family photos.

What my kids looked like after digging clams.

At the family cottage, cleaned up and enjoying the eating of the clams. The beach is just visible through the window.

While we haven’t been to Portapique for several years, our hearts are still there.

Murrell’s Inlet to Morehead City, North Carolina

We really enjoyed our passage on the Waccamaw River on April 14 – it was so pretty and it was a perfect cruising day. The three images below are just a small sampling of the pictures I took. Everywhere I looked was picture worthy.

Waccamaw River; note the red marker – very important to keep those on the correct side – the channel can be narrow and shallow in some places.

We got an early start – the sun was rising behind the trees.

We cruised past Myrtle Beach and saw lots of golf courses along the water’s edge.

We ducked into South Harbour Village Marina in Southport, North Carolina as we were expecting more heavy winds. The winds actually came with rain so we stayed two nights. A good opportunity to get laundry and other chores done. Then onward to the Cape Fear River.

Some parts of Cape Fear River reminded us of Lake Michigan – with all the sand.

This passage is called Snow Cut (near Cape Fear River).

Sometimes we feel like we are practically in people’s backyards.

But we liked this smaller, colourful one!

These houses and condos are located right on the beach on the Atlantic Ocean, while we are a little ways inland on the Intracoastal Waterway.

On some parts of the Intracoastal Waterway we are not that far from the ocean.

The sand dunes provide a nice barrier from the white caps on the ocean.

This dredger was actively working as we passed by.

We passed by several inlets – this is Carolina Beach Inlet.

There must be a very active swim club in Wrightsville Beach. We saw a lot of late afternoon swimmers in the bay where we were anchored. And the next morning as we were heading out we saw more. Note the orange marker in the water – they were attached to the swimmers so they were visible. All the swimmers were wearing wet suits. It was nice but not really that warm.

We are not sure what these fellows were up to at this research sanctuary but although it was sunny it was kind of cool and they are standing in the water.

On April 17 we anchored at Mile Hammock Bay. It is a big bay with room for lots of boats. There were four other Canadian boats anchored here as well. We have not been able to meet boaters in person too much as we are all practicing social distancing. Jacques and the gentlemen on the Canadian sailboat on the left tried to have a conversation from our respective boats; it didn’t work too well so they reverted to VHF radio.

Wind and rain kept us at Mile Hammock Bay anchorage for a second day.

On April 19 we cruised to Morehead City. To get there we had to pass through Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune.

This bridge is owned and operated by the Marine Corps.

*They do a lot of amphibious assault training at Camp Lejeune along the base’s 14 miles of beaches. This armoured personnel carrier looks abandoned.*

We are staying in Morehead City for a few more days for a few reasons: we do not want to make our way north too quickly and to wait out some windy, rainy days (there seem to be a lot of those lately!). And it doesn’t hurt that we heard there is a fantastic restaurant near the marina that is offering take out!

South Carolina

After four days in Georgia, we crossed into South Carolina on April 7.

Navy Hospital at Beaufort, South Carolina. Note the dock marked with ‘H’ for boating emergencies.

There is still marshland in southern South Carolina.

We have to take into consideration the tides; in some places the tidal range is nine feet!

We travelled through Charleston Harbour.

Fort Sumter is located at the entrance to Charleston Harbour and is most famous for being the site of the first shots of the Civil War.

As we travel northward, we are starting to leave the marshland behind.

While traversing a shallow stretch, we had seagulls following us for quite a ways.

Just like on Lake Okeechobee, they thought they would find something to eat in our wake.

We are glad it is not hurricane season! We had no trouble getting through the bridge.

The Isle of Palms Marina was recommended to us as a good stop so we spent two nights there. Quiet community – did a couple of bike rides and the streets were for the most part empty.

We loved this tree in the middle of the street including a basketball hoop.

Blurry picture but this is a school boat. Takes kids from the island to the mainland to school.

We anchored at Butler Island.

We loved this anchorage with trees – good to block the wind!

We needed some serious provisioning so contacted the Harbour Hosts in Murrell’s Inlet (just south of Myrtle Beach). We first met fellow Loopers, Tom and Brenda a few short weeks ago in Vero Beach, Florida. Their boat name is one of the best we have seen: Kissed Some Frogs.

They went above and beyond; picking up 10 gallons of oil for our next oil change, transporting us to the grocery store for an overflowing grocery cart full of provisions, and lent us their vehicle so we could visit the only thing in town that was open: BrookGreen Gardens.

BrookGreen Gardens was created by Archer Huntington and his wife Anna, a noted sculptor and opened in the early 1930’s. The gardens meld together art, nature, and history.

While South Carolina has a stay at home policy, the gardens remain open for walking exercise. And boy, did we get our exercise. The gardens are on 9,127 acres; needless to say, we did not see it all. Naturally, all interior spaces were closed.

The outdoor spaces include the first public sculpture garden in America. Today, it is the finest outdoor museum of its type and contains the largest and most comprehensive collection of American figurative sculpture in the country.

Diana of the Chase: the Roman goddess of the hunt has just released her arrow as a hound leaps at her feet.

Dionysus by Edward Francis McCartan in gilt bronze.

This sculpture by Derek Wernher symbolizes the readers of a county newspaper in rural Michigan.

The gardens themselves were pretty amazing as well.

Wide paths – great for social distancing.

This log is a portion of a Bald Cypress tree cut from virgin swamp lands in the 18th or 19th century during the creation of rice fields along the Waccamaw River. It is believed to have been 500 years old when it was cut.

Look closely below.

This little guy was hiding in plain sight in the log.

BrookGreen Gardens is an amalgamation of what was once four plantations. Through the years, over 2,000 African slaves lived and worked on the four plantations that now constitute BrookGreen Gardens. Many South Carolina slaves were brought from areas of Africa where rice had been grown for thousands of years. Because of similar environments, African tidal flow methods of rice cultivation were transferable to the Low Country. Planters here actively sought slaves from coastal West Africa who brought with them this agricultural tradition.

The scenes below along the Waccamaw River are where rice used to be grown. After the Civil War, when slave labour was no longer an option for the labour intensive rice fields, the plantations failed and the rice fields gradually went back to their natural state.

We have seen some commercial traffic like this tow with one barge.

We stayed an extra day at Wacca Wache Marina to wait out forecasted severe winds and thunderstorms which hit the morning of April 13.

The storm lasted about an hour and a half. The winds died down by about mid afternoon and the sun came out.

The next several days are expected to be nice – we will continue on our journey on Tuesday, April 14.