FAIRWINDS FOR FLUKE

August 11, 2009

We just passed Atlantic City, New Jersey, about 28 hours since we left Great Bridge, VA. In between swatting flies, I'm trying to write this section of the blog. Now backing up a bit:

The WE Marine Maintenance Team did all they could on the auto pilot repair, including a dockside test. We needed to get out in open waters to see if it really was fixed. We decided to catch the 0800 Great Bridge lock opening so we could time the bridge openings through Norfolk and Portsmouth harbors and get out into the waters of Chesapeake Bay.

One large section of the Norfolk waterfront is devoted to the scrap industry. It is fascinating to see the scrap heaps and all the activities associated with processing the scrap and moving it to and from the yards. Remember the barges we passed going through the bridges as we approached Great Bridge? Gigantic ships, commercial and military, some still whole, others in half or pieces, waiting to be picked clean and chopped up into movable sections, sit by the waterway.

Recycling America

The commercial shipping piers are numerous, we always see freighters coming in, going out, getting loaded or unloaded. This colorful Maersk freighter caught my attention because it had just come in from sea and was getting ready to be pushed into the dock by the two tug boats. We were marveling over how many containers were on board. The stern area picture shows one stack of 134 shipping containers. Look how many are on the rest of the ship, and think of how many are below decks that you can't see. I imagine a ship packed like this out in the open ocean in rough seas and bad weather with the waves smashing up on those containers, and am not surprised about the stories we've read where containers get loose and fall into the ocean, broken apart and cargo floating away. All that stuff can become hazards for other vessels.

Goods For a Recessed Economy

UPS Will Be Waiting Nearby

We were gathering weather information as we were underway, with two options in mind. If the weather and seas in the coastal Atlantic waters were forecast to be good for the next couple of days, we would go offshore again. If not, we would have to travel up the Chesapeake, go through the C & D canal, and then back down the Delaware River to get to the Atlantic. That would add several days and many more miles to our journey.

When we heard a favorable forecast we made the decision to head to sea again. Right before we crossed over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel for our off-shore travel this odd-looking Navy vessel went thundering by. It was like a gigantic, high speed airboat.

Getting There Quickly

We turned northward with the idea to travel offshore along what is called the DelMarVa peninsula, short for Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. Our initial plan was to continue on all night until we reached the mouth of the Delaware River and see if we needed to find a secure place to anchor because of weather, fatigue, or boat problems.

Once we got out of the 3 mile limit area, we put out our trolling lines. I told you we had stopped at the bait and tackle store, only with the intention of picking up $2 worth of swivels, but we left the store with $42 worth of other tackle to try (we call that stimulating the local economy). We were hoping to be able to get some striper action. Eddie is holding the lure contraption the guy told us people were using with good results. I had my doubts, but put it in the water behind FLUKE. The thing weighed so much I was afraid we would have our fuel efficiency reduced. It almost broke my arm to have to haul it in while we were underway. Two of the lures were lost without even any fish activity. I will disassemble it and use the parts for other fishing activities.

Trolling Trash

Calm seas throughout the daylight hours made for a comfortable passage for everyone. I made gourmet brownies, another first for the FLUKE crew, we grilled burgers while fully underway. Even AP has done the proper job keeping us on course, so I guess we can chalk up another victory for the WEMMT!

The Happy Grill Master

We reached the southern mouth of the Delaware River at sunrise, and with fair winds and good seas still in our favor we made the decision to keep going all the way to Barnegat Inlet, NJ where we would anchor for the night. That will be 38 hours of straight passage making.

Now I will have to talk about the flies. Every time we have traveled along the New Jersey coastline, we have been inundated with hoards of fat, biting, house flies (maybe they are really sea flies!). There is no land closer than 3 miles away, we aren't dragging a dead animal, and the wind doesn't appear to be a factor. Yet, swarms of these flies land on the boat and then work their way inside. Closing our doors and screens just makes it unbearably hot so we end up swatting flies for hours. I will have to vacuum up all the dead flies when we anchor the boat so they don't get ground into the floors.

Well, we made it to the “anchorage” at Barnegat Inlet. There are more permanently moored boats here now than when we were here 2 years ago. There isn't much space for us to anchor; the area is restricted by depth, some nearby docks, mooring balls, and channel markers. We set the hook, but broke several of our standard anchoring rules: we only have out a 100' of line, about 1/3 to ½ of what we would usually have out, we're very close to a little moored sailboat, we're close to a dock, and we're practically on top of a channel marker. We are in a reversing current area, so the lesser of all the evils will be to brush the channel marker and hope not to get hung up on it. If we get a blow in the night we will be up with the engine going for sure.

August 12, 2009

Well it was a calm night, since the t-storms stayed to the west, and we are underway to New York City as this entry is posted. We are a couple of miles off shore and are connected to the internet via ATT cellular.

It is a little foggy and we just spotted a couple of humpback whales.