Voyage 2016: Chapter 4

01 Nov 2016, Helping with a Delivery, 33 55.842 N/ 077 59.79 W

Jim and Capt. Bob drove to York River Yacht Haven to move SV Wanderer II from there to Deep Point marina in Wilmington. The boat was ready for launch when we arrived so we spent the morning of our first day coordinating the launch, fueling her, and waiting for a favorable tide. We spent the first night in the Elizabeth River anchored at Hospital Point. Bob noticed quite a bit more traffic now than Jule III saw last month..

Next day, we took the Virginia Cut route to go through the Chesapeake VA area. As the Dismal Swamp route was closed due to Matthew, everyone was crowding their way through the Great Bridge lock and bridge, including us. The lock tender wanted the forward line first while Jim wanted the aft line first. Jim won. Lock and bridge passed quickly but we had a crowded waterway until we lost a bunch of boats at Coinjock. However, we kept moving until we arrived at Buck Island where we anchored in some pretty skinny water.

We kept moving through the Pungo canal, Hobucken, and Oriental until we stopped at an anchorage off of Morehead City. Our last night got us as far as Banks Channel in Wrightsville Beach. Hard to believe that we went from Morehead City to Wrightsville in one day on the inside. We anchored near the barges at the mouth of the Banks. Today, we called Doug at Deep Point to let him know that we would soon be coming through the breakwater. We tied up for fuel and then had a tough approach to Wanderer's slip but we made it without breaking anything. Yep, great trip. We will find out in a couple of months that Wanderer II will not go further south anytime soon.

13 Nov 2016, Driving to the Melbourne Gam and WWRCC Picnic, 33 55.842 N/ 077 59.79 W

Mid November is typically the time for the SSCA Gam and the Waterway Net annual picnic, both in Melbourne FL. We headed down there in our RV stopping off at Fernandina Beach to see how the City Marina fared. Sadly, not too well. The marina, mooring field, and dinghy dock were all closed due to extensive damage. We left Fort Clinch campground several days ago and headed for Wickham Park's campground in Melbourne. The Gam was to be held on Friday and Saturday while the WWRCC Picnic would be held Sunday at Wickham.

The SSCA Gam was good as usual but the attendance seemed a bout less than the more familiar (to us) Gam at Annapolis (Actually, at Camp Lett's near Edgewater). This was our first attendance at a SSCA National Conference. We met many old friends, made some new ones, but we noticed that there were not many newbies here. At Camp Letts there is a lot more energy from the folks going on their first serious passage.

Yesterday, we headed to the WWRCC picnic near where we were camping. Quite convenient. Mostly a different crowd as there was lots of chatter about cruising, radios, and just plain stuff. The day was bright and warm, the food was great as was the beer. Very nice. Towards the end, one of the members flew his drone (with camera) up 100' or so and took a picture of the crowd. Not bad.

Time to head back to ILM via a short stop back to Fort Clinch. We spent the night just relaxing with the view of the Amelia River. Fort Clinch is one of our favorites so we try to stop there whenever we can.Mattie has come to like traveling via the RV. So far she has not tried to tear up the place. We can only hope that she will take to the boat.