FLUKE on the Neuse

May 13 – 17, 2011

A bear with good advice

When we last left you we were headed to the South River anchorage off the Neuse River in North Carolina. After getting the anchor down securely and getting buzzed by a couple of curious hummingbirds, we spent 3 nights there, just trying to catch up on some much-needed rest and getting FLUKE back in order. The weather forecast remained very windy with a constant threat of thunderstorms. It was clear that if we hadn't made it in to Beaufort when we did, we wouldn't have made it to North Carolina for several more days; the fleet would have had to go into another inlet to the south.

The days went by with the wind howling outside and dark skies looming overhead, but we were so busy it was never boring and time passed quickly. Wayne caught up on some baking: English muffins, hot dog and hamburger buns. FLUKE smelled great!

We were anchored across from an old cemetery that used to belong to the long ago abandoned community of Lukens. On Saturday morning I heard a motor sound and I looked out the window to see a small, home-made, barge-like vessel being pushed by a fishing boat. There were a dozen people on the barge with lawn mowers, coolers, and tools. They all headed over to the cemetery. I could look through the binoculars and see them working among the scattered headstones, cleaning up the grounds.

The Neuse River is one of the widest (6 miles) rivers in the U.S. and it is 34 miles long. We decided to cruise all the way up to New Bern, about 25 miles. New Bern was founded by a group of German and Swiss colonists in the 1700's, thus the European name. The city prospered as a riverfront community and was both the colonial and state capital for a period of time. Today, there still remain many fine homes and buildings from the 17 and 1800's with a revitalized, charming downtown business district within easy walking distance from the waterfront.

Going under and through New Bern bridges

Coming up the river and seeing the expansive bridges is quite an impressive site when you are expecting to see an historic waterfront community. We had decided to anchor a couple of miles up the Trent River which intersects the Neuse River right at New Bern's waterfront hub. That meant we had to go under the big spanning bridges, through a low, bascule bridge which opened on demand for us at the time of day we were passing through, and then we had to go through a swing railroad bridge with 32' of opening width on each side which looks pretty narrow when you are at the helm of a fat 18' wide girl like FLUKE. Then under another set of 3 bridges and into a more quiet section of the Trent River.

Bridge bird

Most of the channel markers and pilings were occupied by nesting ospreys, and some of them were at our eye level. I wonder why this osprey chose to live right under a noisy, busy bridge when the wilds are in sight a short distance away. You can see the variety of nesting materials in this photo.

Lots of trimming to do

The scenery changed from business to residential in a hurry. In less than 2 miles, we were in a section of diverse types of private homes and vacant marsh.

Our anchorage view

We found a secure, roomy place to drop the anchor and spent the rest of the afternoon planning for the next day's activities, doing boat chores, and food preparation. I watched a pair of Canada geese swim slowly by with a flock of newly borne chicks trailing closely behind. They were still so tiny and very yellow; I think it was the first time they had crossed the river. Cows were mooing through the trees nearby. A bald eagle flew low overhead, making the geese honk madly and several ospreys screeched and flew after it, pecking at its tail. As night settled in, the water looked like black glass with a big moon reflecting off its surface and a pleasant cool, quiet settled over the marsh. Perfect conditions for a good night's sleep!

We wanted to get to the town dock early before the wind had a chance to kick up and make it more difficult to get to the dock. When we had gone through the bascule bridge the day before we noticed a sign that said the bridge was closed for recreational boat traffic from 6:30 a.m. - 8:30 a.m., but had an opening at 7:30 a.m., so that's what we decided to go for.

We noticed that the docks were shorter (only 40') than FLUKE, so that presented a challenge to be able to adequately tie her up. Wayne pulled up perpendicular to the end of the dock to let me jump off the boat and start grabbing lines while he slowly eased FLUKE in. I would secure the line to the dock and Eddie would tie it off to the boat and try to pull the boat in.

FLUKE at the New Bern town dock

In addition to being too short for us, the docks are really exposed to the wind and open water conditions. We were tentative about how much FLUKE would shift with changing weather conditions, but decided to go for a walk in the downtown area which was close by anyway. It had been a full week now since we had been off FLUKE, so it felt good to be back on terra firma for some walking exercise. It is funny, though, how we still felt we were “on the boat” as we walked around with a bit of a rubbery leg feel.

The New Bern community had a display of theme-decorated bears placed throughout the downtown area; the opening photo was one that was in front of a liquor store. Here are a couple more of my favorites.

Activities bear

Confederate soldier bear

New Bern is a pleasant town to walk around. The tree-lined streets have interesting shops of all sorts housed in architecturally fascinating buildings from a bygone era. Several of the shops had water bowls for dogs. A dog-friendly town is our kind of town!

New Bern street scene

We found a corner drugstore next to this historical information sign. Since we all drink Diet Pepsi we were interested in seeing what was inside. There were all kinds of Pepsi memorabilia and an old-fashioned soda fountain. One of the tee shirts for sale said “Friends don't let friends drink Coke”.

Our favorite soft drink

The best commercial visit was to Mitchell's Hardware store. The placard in the doorstep read 1911. The store was packed with all kinds of merchandise like you would find at a country general store. Locally grown bedding flowers and vegetables lined the sidewalk outside the store. Employees were cheerful and attentive to the many customers who were browsing. Ursa was a huge hit with the staff and other customers when one of the employees asked if she could give Ursa a treat. We told her that she could, but only if she made Ursa do tricks. Ursa works for anyone with food, so we just told her to think of things to tell Ursa to do and Ursa did a half dozen tricks for her. I finally managed to find a heat diffuser for our gas burners; I hadn't been able to find one at any of the big box stores before we left the home port.

Feeding America one seed at a time

The residential neighborhood is adjacent to the business district and the tree-lined streets are filled with a variety of period homes, many in beautifully restored condition. Modern updates have not been ignored for our canine friends either, as evidenced by this corner yard monument we passed. Ursa made a good connection and picked up, and left, appropriate communications.

Hook-up site

One of the biggest tour highlights for the town is Tryon Palace Historic Site & Gardens. The palace was built by Governor Tryon in the 1700s and was damaged by fire, but has been restored to the original specifications. Several outlying buildings of historical significance are on streets adjacent to the palace grounds. Most all the buildings have gardens of varying sorts and sizes. We didn't have time to tour anything inside, but it was interesting walking around the outside, seeing the buildings and their grounds.

Tryon Palace

At the beginning of this post I told you that we had to go through a railroad bridge. Well, we saw where the tracks left the waterfront area and were so surprised to see that they go right through the town. The cross streets don't have any crossing gates, and you can see in this photo that cars just drive right down the middle of the tracks when there isn't a train there. We found it amazing to find that the New Bern residents actually assume personal responsibility for dealing with the train passing through their town and having sense enough to know to stay off the tracks without having a government agency tell them how to do it.

Living on the tracks

As midday was approaching and the weather was deteriorating with the winds picking up and the skies darkening, we decided we had better head back to FLUKE. We walked back via the Riverwalk which runs right along the waterfront. This is a modern, walk area that connects the convention center, hotels, and marinas. It has been landscaped with native vegetation and has lots of information signs about coastal fauna and flora. This mallard mother brought her babies in close to teach them how to receive subsidies from an early age. She lost interest when she realized that we didn't work for the government!

Mallard family

When we got back to the town dock, we had an unpleasant surprise. With the wind blowing hard in, FLUKE had stretched her lines enough such that the bow was scraping the dock. Now we have a smudged “nose” that will need a paint make-over. At least the fiberglass was not chipped.

It wasn't going to be an easy task to get safely off the dock. At least we were the only boat there, so we didn't have to worry about hitting another boat. We had a crew meeting to figure out how to release the lines, power the boat up enough to get away from the dock, and to get Eddie back aboard since he was going to be on the dock releasing the lines. In the meantime, it started to rain. So, we scrambled, yelled, and powered up FLUKE.

Unfortunately since I was occupied with line handling I couldn't get a picture of Eddie clinging to the upper deck railing and trying to get a toe hold on the rubrail while we were pulling away from the dock and he was jumping off the dock. He'll be 70 in December, but he can still climb like a monkey!

Our adventure on the Neuse River ends at Clubfoot Creek. No, I didn't name it that because Eddie left a toe behind in New Bern when we left the dock. I've told you before, the origin of some of these names is only a part of local folklore that would take a lot to try to uncover. This isolated, tree-lined creek provided us a safe haven for the night with the predicted wind direction. For some reason, it took us two tries to get the anchor to set. Clubfoot Creek is not too far from the Cherry Point military base, so we were treated to several flyovers from a variety of military aircraft: jets, helicopters, and transport planes.

We awoke the following morning to glassy waters and a big alligator cruising along the shoreline. Any wildlife siting is a good start to my day.

Stay tuned for our next new adventure: north to Albemarle Sound and west to the Perquimans River.

FLUKE At Sea: Setting New Records

May 10-13, 2011

A close pass in the inlet

This was the small, inbound freighter we passed in Ft. Pierce inlet at 9:30 a.m. on
May 10, 2011 as we were heading out to sea. A trip ending for that crew and just beginning for the FLUKE crew. Right outside the inlet we rendezvoused with 6 other Krogens, ranging in size from 39 – 48' in length. We had agreed to travel in a group all the way to Beaufort, NC. The trip would take 3 nights and 4 days at sea, weather permitting.

This plan would enable us to better our previous 2 nights at sea to 3 nights. Plus, we would be traveling with a group of other boats for the first time. Prior to the rendezvous outside the inlet, we had had 2 meetings with the group to understand what the expectations and “rules” would be for the “fleet”. Some of the cruisers had no experience traveling offshore over night, so being able to travel with other boats would help give them confidence and a better sense of security for the night travel; the plan was called “Cruising With Confidence”. All boats would check in with the lead boat via VHF radio every 6 hours; plus you could call anyone else in between if you had questions or comments about anything going on.

The FLUKE crew seemed to be handicapped from the beginning. We were dead tired from having to work long days and nights for a straight week to get the boat and house in mostly proper order so that we could be gone for 6 months. When we left the dock at 7:00 a.m. every cabin had several totes filled with gear for the trip. Two of us worked for 2 more hours unpacking and stowing some of those items during the trip to the inlet. Eddie said this was the worst level of preparation we have ever had, but his memory is very short term when it comes to events like that. The NOW is always the worst for him!

If we and FLUKE can hold together we will be traveling up the Hudson River, through the Erie and Oswego Canals, into Lake Ontario and the Thousand Islands, and hopefully up to Ottawa and Montreal via the Rideau Canal and back into the U.S. via the Richlieu Canal into Lake Champlain and then back into the Hudson River. After that our goal is to be back in the Chesapeake by the end of September for the annual Krogen rendezvous in Solomons, MD.

Fleet formation on radar

This photo shows how the fleet appeared on radar, in the shape of an inverted V. FLUKE is in the bottom right position; we are 3 miles behind the lead boat and 1.5 miles from the boat in the far left corner. This formation is designed to keep the boats together and provide a big target for other boats to see at night. It is hoped that they will alter course to avoid our little fleet. In fact, one large freighter, the YORKTOWN EXPRESS did kindly alter his course when we encountered him outside of Charleston, SC.

Conditions for the first day at sea were relatively mild. Since the ocean was flat, we could see lots of turtles. I was able to troll and caught and released two tunny tuna. This bird (a type of sparrow I think) landed on the swim platform. I guess it was trying to get a rest from flying. It picked a wet, salty, very noisy spot with a lot of exhaust fumes – ugh! I need to tell you that taking photos while the boat is underway is not always easy, especially if what you're trying to take a picture of is also moving. Yet everyone always asks for pictures, so just bear with me on some of my shots.

Catching a breath

For the night watches, my shift ran from dark up until 12:30 a.m. I listened to an audio book to help keep my attention sharper. Wayne took over until around 1:00 a.m. and then Eddie manned the helm from around 3:00 - 6:00 a.m. when Wayne took over again until I came back on around 7:30 a.m. They usually listened to music to try to keep awake. The guys were able to nap periodically during the day; I can never sleep when the sun is up, even if I'm in a dark room. So, I man the helm a lot of hours during the day when they are asleep.

By the middle of the first night, sea conditions began to deteriorate, not with high waves, but the seas became very choppy and disorganized, causing a lot of pounding with the boat. Eddie got sick at that point and stayed in a state of discomfort until the fourth morning. He doesn't even like to discuss his seasickness, so getting any photos of him at this time was totally out of the question! I couldn't do any more fishing because it would be too uncomfortable for everyone to have to slow the boat down to let me land the fish. It is very tiring and boring having to ride in those sea conditions. You can't do any reading and sleeping is fitful because of the erratic motion of the boat. Poor Visitor got sick too and had a difficult time trying to find a place of comfort.

A soft haven of comfort

Ursa is a true sea dog and just settled into a regular sleeping and eating routine; she never likes to miss a meal and stayed on her daily feeding schedule. With no land in sight (we ranged from 20 – 50 miles offshore), she couldn't get any land smells and “complain” about wanting to go ashore. She was content to be with her favorite sea pack members. She had sense enough to stick close to the lift raft in case there was an abandon ship emergency as evidenced by this photo.

Safety first

Some activities, although not necessarily good, at least provided a change of pace and a diversion from uncomfortable seas. Off Jacksonville, FL we were contacted by Navy Warship 69. They had established a 10 mile radius around their ship for live firing practice which prohibited any other vessel from traveling within that radius. We had to alter our course by several miles and to make it more complicated, NW 69 kept moving, changing the no travel zone.

This least sandpiper, typically a shore bird, landed on the upper back deck and was looking for dead insects and other scraps. It spent a lot of time pecking at Ursa's pee mat. During one of my night watches a tern landed on the bow rail and kept me company for several hours. I was surprised how it could hold on since the bow was rocking so much.

That is not the beach

On the morning of Friday the 13th I awoke to overcast skies but much, and very welcomed, calmer seas. The rattling chop was gone and the seas were just long, rolling swells that we could ride over and down again without having our bottom drop out. We were finally in the home stretch and were able to reach Beaufort, NC by around 2:00 p.m. It was a relief to see the inlet and pass through into the quiet waters of the Intracoastal Waterway. We said goodbye to our fleet mates who were all heading to the nearest marina for the night; we were going to go another 20 miles to drop the hook at one of our most-visited anchorages.

Although tired, and looking forward to a quiet anchorage, we declared the offshore voyage a success, both in time and fuel saved. Here are our summary statistics from the Vero Beach dock to our first anchorage:

Continuous hours underway: 85.5
Distance: 575 nautical miles/660 statute miles
Diesel fuel burned: 245 gals. (purchased for $3.87/gal.)
Average speed: 6.9 knots (8mph)

2011 FLUKE UPDATE

May 2011

You last heard from us when we pulled back into our home port of Vero Beach, FL right at the beginning of August after our 2010 Bahamas trip. With hurricane season in full swing we knew that we needed to get FLUKE out of the water ASAP before a hurricane was headed this way. If that was the case, every boater who had a boat in the water would be trying to get out too, and it would be chaos. Space becomes very limited.

Since we wanted to have FLUKE as close to home as possible so that it would be easier for us to do work on her, the guys suggested we look into hauling out at Riverside, a work yard about 15 miles south of Vero, in Ft. Pierce. In years past we had gone through the facility by car, and it was very disorderly, full of derelict boats, dirty, dusty, and just not my idea of a place to keep FLUKE for nine months. So, I whined and pitched a fit, but in the spirit of compromise, agreed to make a new visit to the facility. I can say it was 100% better than the last time I saw the place. It had been cleaned up, better organized, and the owner/operator family was very helpful answering all our questions. They were almost filled to capacity already, but had a couple of boats going back into the water and were able to get us out.

Transporting the big girl on land

So, FLUKE sat in the yard, collecting dust and yard dirt at a rate of $400/month, but at least relishing in the fact that we didn't have to contend with the trauma of going through a hurricane. If we had kept her in the water, we would have had to deal with having her bottom getting fouled which would have created a whole new set of problems and it would have cost even more money just to keep her in the water at the marina anyway.

No work got done on her until the first of 2011 because of the following “excuses”: too hot, had to recover from the Bahamas trip, unpacked moving stuff, landscaped the yard and did house projects to the new place, holiday activities, and personal “business” (more info on that to follow).

Once FLUKE was hauled out the second week of August, we moved to the “new” land home and starting sleeping there for the first time since we purchased the place in April 2010. It has taken a lot of getting used to, especially the lack of storage space. We had to buy a storage shed for the yard. I can vacuum the house by only moving the plug once; I had to move it 6 times to get the whole old house done. We had hurricane shutters made, and the little block house should be a fortress. I call it our “Lock and Go” home. However, we are finally settled in and love the neighborhood. We can walk or bike to the municipal marina where FLUKE is now berthed waiting our next departure. We can walk to the end of the driveway and see the beach boardwalk at the end of the street, and we walk down there often to watch the sun rise and check out the sea conditions. When the wind is out of the east, we can hear the ocean at night when it is cool enough to have the windows open. The following two photos are taken about a year apart.

At the time of purchase

Home improvements

I went back to work part time for the University of Florida at their Medical Entomology Lab, where I have worked periodically for almost 10 years now. I was happy to be able to work on field and lab projects and do a variety of different jobs. My days always went by quickly and the work was very mentally stimulating. While I enjoyed being away from the guys, they floundered in my absence; a lot more work gets done when I am on site to supervise.

Eddie just up and left town altogether. He rented a convertible Mustang and took a month-long road trip, visiting friends and relatives in GA, AL, OH, RI, ME, and CT. Then when Chief Cool Wheels returned, he jumped right in and started working in the yard. He did a great job creating plant beds and planting and watering in the new plants. We wanted to get the yard done so that we would have time to get the new plants established before we left again.

Wayne transitioned into a new, truly advanced phase with his bread making hobby. He finally broke down and got a Bosch compact mixer for mixing the dough and began using different types of bake ware and vessels to prepare the various breads he makes. He has become interactive with several on-line bread sites. We haven't had store made bread loaves, hamburger or hotdog buns, rolls, or English muffins since our return from the Bahamas!

No loafing for these loaves

Once work finally began on FLUKE, after the first of the new year, the days went by quickly. Wayne spent lots of time working on re-varnishing the cap rails with 12 coats of varnish. Hopefully they will be able to last a while and won't take the effort just to put a couple of new layers on when the time comes to do them again.

In the interest of saving time, we broke down and paid for having her hull waxed; we still need to do the house and inside bulwarks. I polished quite a bit of the chrome. I have no idea when we will finish the rest of either.

We sanded and painted our own bottom, a dirty, nasty job! We have to wear haz-mat suits and respirators so that we don't breathe the paint dust. However, you work up a sweat and the blue dust sticks to any skin that is exposed, so we all end up looking like blue raccoons in the face where our eyes are covered, but not our cheeks. We had prop speed put on the main prop and thruster props. That is the shiny surface you can see on the prop Eddie is sitting next to. The stuff is supposed to help keep bottom growth off the metal, the favorite place for sea life to try to grow on.

What keeps us going

We extended our external exhaust pipe; the little black flap you see above the pipe where it comes out of the stern in the photo is where it used to be. We've had a problem with the exhaust getting on the transom and also a station wagon effect whereby the exhaust gets pulled up towards the boat as we're moving forward, so this may help with that. No matter what the sea conditions are, it is just not pleasant having to breathe exhaust fumes. If you aren't sea sick from rough seas, you can get sick from breathing exhaust fumes alone.

It is important to quit smoking

We purchased a smaller dinghy for the trip north. We had talked (and argued) about doing this for several years. Of course we also had to buy a small outboard motor to put on it. Both items can be picked up by hand without having to use our mast lift system and then can be stowed aboard – somewhere. My big beef about getting new stuff was having more things to take care of when we don't take care of what we already have. The guys had a good point, though, there are times when launching the big dinghy is just too much of a production. Plus, we can't have our mast up (needed to launch the big dinghy) when we are on the northern canals because their bridges are too low. I described this situation to one of my landlubber friends as leaving our car at home and having to use a scooter. I think the new dinghy sat for 6 weeks on the porch, which I guess is where everyone keeps a dinghy, right?!

Trying out the new equipment

Anyway, the big dinghy has problems. The Sea Stooges let it sit in the water for too long without keeping it clean. Bottom growth accumulated, including barnacles. Then we scraped them off, causing pinholes which let the air out. There were months of discussions between Wayne and Eddie and I about the dinghy not holding air; W said it was due to temperature changes, but we kept saying it was leaking since we were the ones who paid the most attention to how often it needed air before it had the pin hole problem. It is a huge project to try to seal the holes.

Since we weren't going to be taking the big dinghy north, we needed to find a place to keep it. The municipal marina has a rack and stack; it's one of those big buildings where a fork lift puts boats on racks. The price for our dinghy was going to be $100/month. So, we decided to try to buy a used trailer and keep it in the yard. That also meant that my little truck had to have a wiring harness put on it to tow the trailer. This is just the beginning of the money trail; keep reading for more details.

We managed to get the big dinghy off FLUKE while she was in the slip at the dock without hitting the boat next to us and with minimal yelling (that is always a gauge used to determine the complexity and/or success of a crew project). Once in the water, we had to act quickly since the dinghy was losing air at a rapid pace. Fortunately the closest public boat ramp is right around the corner, so the guys got there without sinking. Getting it on the trailer didn't go too badly, only because of dumb luck. I expected my poor little truck to get pulled back down the boat ramp and into the water, but that went okay too. However, once the truck and trailer were clear of the boat ramp we noticed that one of the trailer tires was losing air, and Wayne had forgot to put the license tag on the trailer. Eddie and I went back to the house to get a pump and to try to look for the tag. Found the pump, but no tag.

Eddie's job was to pump up the tire, and he was getting testy because he wanted to get home in time to watch Glen Beck's weekly wrap-up. So, he was hurrying along, following Wayne's misinformation in regard to the air pressure, and ended up blowing the valve stem off the tire tube. We could hear the air hissing out. Since we only had about a half mile to get home, Eddie and I followed Wayne and the trailer, being ready to lend assistance if the tire fell off the rim. Luckily we all made it home without incident and jacked up the trailer since the whole thing was listing badly to starboard with the flat tire. Poor Eddie only got to watch the last 15 minutes of Beck, but that is the most important part anyway since you get his take-home message which will hold you over for the weekend.

While taking off the tire to have the valve stem replaced, the guys discovered that the wheel bearings were low on grease and one side was missing the dust cap. When Eddie went to the automotive store to get the parts, they were having a sale on wheel bearings, so he decided that they would replace both sets of wheel bearings. At least the trailer will have good bearings while it sits in the yard for 6 months. You can see this crew covers all our bases!

Our dear friend, Big Al, who I've mentioned before, was kind enough to let us use the fork lift in his automotive business to try to lift the big dinghy to put a liquid sealant inside to try to seal the pinholes. While it took an entire afternoon to manipulate the whole thing, it was only partially effective. So, now the poor thing will have to sit on the trailer for the whole summer mostly deflated. At least it will have good wheel bearings though.

When the beginning of May rolled around, we were really starting to get panicky since we had set a May 10 departure date to leave Vero for our trip north this year. We still had a LOT to get done preparing FLUKE and shutting up the house. Tempers flared on a daily basis. One day at lunch Eddie asked me how he could tell if I was happy. I told him he would probably never be able to tell since I was only happy when he wasn't around!! One of my friends has said that she fully expects to hear that one of us won't be returning from one of our adventures some day. So, with that in mind, I will close for now.