This is a video I found of flying fish that'll give an idea of what they're like...the ones we saw didn't fly as far, because it wasn't as windy, but still would go between 30 and 50 feet!
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1349192/flying_fish/
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Annapolis Post Office
Hey Mom, this is where I sent your post card from! You aughta see the inside, it's really cool!
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Annapolis, MD - Oriental, NC On A Spindrift 43 Cutter
Sunday, September 22, 2009
Arriving in Annapolis with a lot of curiosity about this historic place proved to be warm and inviting. The streets and sidewalks are red brick, and the buildings look very old, and you can feel the old English touch in the decorative trimmings that adorn these beautiful buildings. There are black iron lamp posts with large hanging flower baskets, colorful flowers spilling out. More large baskets sitting on the outside edges of the sidewalks, with more flowers. The water comes right up to the edge of the sidewalks, and big pilings are capped off on the tops with sheet copper nailed with copper or bronze nails that look very old. Skipjacks, a few old smaller boats, and a number of boats of all types are docked everywhere, the city is pleasantly crowded with boats, moorings, and more boats.I cannot take credit for these photos, just wanted to add 2 to give an idea of what part of downtown looks like.
We provisioned the boat the night we arrived, and when I woke up in the morning and came out into the cockpit I had to take a picture of the boats on the river where “Dolphin Song” , our 43 foot Cutter known as a Spindrift was nestled in. The end of each street that runs to the waterfront (nearly every block) has public access seawalls that provide easy access into the city by dinghy. This is the photo of the mist on the water and I couldn’t help but think of that Van Morrison song, “Into The Mystic”.
After scrubbing the bottom of our dinghy, that had a significant amount of growth on the bottom, we came back to the boat and went over the weather, the amount of fuel and water we’d need, and took care of the last minute details. Just before leaving I asked Pat to snap a quick photo of Dave and I, and shortly afterwards we untied and headed up the river through the bascule bridge, and stopped at Annapolis City Marina to take on fuel and water. We untied and glided past “Ego Alley”, the Naval Academy, and the State Capitol building among many other beautiful sightings that dot this fabulous place. I have misplaced the memory stick for the camera, so I’m limited to only a handful of photos for the entire trip, the camera memory is all we have.
We headed out into the Chesapeake, passing crab pots, a group of small sailboats having what looked like a regatta, and several beautiful boats with colorful spinnakers inflated. Large cargo ships are anchored south of a very high bridge that spans the bay from one side to the other, (looks to be 3 or 4 miles long (maybe) and high enough for these enormous vessel to pass underneath heading up and down from Baltimore and some of the other cities higher in the bay. After a few hours I took a picture of one of the lighthouses as the sun was setting behind it.
The depths in the bay are frequently over 100 feet, unlike the 20 foot shallow of our “stomping grounds” in the Neuse River. Pat, Dave and I discussed who’d do what shift, where I was tasked with the 8-12pm. At approximately 11:40 (Pat and Dave asleep below) while passing a lighthouse similar to the one I had photographed earlier in the evening, the hydraulic steering failed to keep the boat on course. After several hours, we had a patch on the high pressure line and were headed to anchor on the west side of the bay.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
After breakfast and coffee we pulled up anchor and headed into Solomon’s Island where repairs were made on the steering. This gave us the opportunity to get a shower and properly dispose of some oil that Pat had onboard from an oil change done shortly before we had left Annapolis. We headed back out and down the bay in the afternoon, Dave snapped a photo of me on the bow,
and along the way we were passed on both sides by a number of different cargo vessels and tankers going both directions. Large tugs and fishing trawlers of all sizes were a common sight. Dave took the 8pm to 12 shift, Pat 12-4 and I did the morning shift. We crossed the North tunnel of Chesapeake bay bridge late in my shift where Pat woke and we drifted just outside and decided to go in to pick up more fuel, and check with Chris Parker for weather information.
After several hours of rest at the dock we headed out over the south tunnel of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge catching a shot of a Chinese container vessel passing to port just after our exit.
Several Naval vessels and Cargo ships lay just outside of the bay exit as well as others anchored way off in the distance out along the edges of the long shipping lane that reaches from Norfolk out into the Atlantic. Large Pilot boats speed in and out to drop captains off for departures, and help bring the boats in through the bridge lanes.
Cape Henry lighthouse (see photo) sits on the southern point of the bay overlooking all the activity in and out.
I took another picture of Dave and Pat after heading away from the Cape Henry for about an hour and a half
I took the 8-12 shift and noticed the waves seemed to pick up as the dark came over the ocean. The Orange lighting was seen from Norfolk through the majority of my shift till we were finally far enough from shore where the only visible light was the Currituck Lighthouse blinking in the distance. The stars and moon were beautiful, moon crescent and bright, and I could see the craters on the surface through Pat’s powerful binoculars. The boat is equipped with an independent GPS in the cockpit, and another laptop GPS at the Nav Station with a large screen mounted on the bulkhead in the salon, next to a radar unit (see photo). This unit has AIS receiver that provides information about the larger vessels, including the name of the vessel, it’s course if it’s under way, and what type of vessel it is.
This proved to be a big asset the entire trip through the dark, especially when lighting against the lighting on land made it difficult to determine a vessels direction of travel.
Once my shift was over I found it difficult to get to sleep at first, because as the boat dropped from the crests of the larger waves into the troughs of water between I found myself lifting out of my berth almost suspended in air, and then the “G-force” of the boat lifting again would pressure everything into the mattress. I rolled up my coveralls and wedged them underneath me while tucking my body into the side of the hull and fell sound asleep until the next morning.
Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009
Poking my head out of the companionway and looking around as water seemed to fly by under a beautiful sunny blue sky was a welcoming sight. We spent a day together talking and enjoying the nice weather while working our way down the coast slowly getting further and further out to sea. The water was calm with 3 foot swells that were 30-50 feet apart. We tried fishing, dragging the hand line behind the boat, and found that the spoon was soon bit off the end of the line, no idea what took it, and no other fishing gear onboard. Enjoyed the beautiful water and sunshine and the distant shore as it went by throughout the day, talking with Pat and Dave, catching up on reading, and keeping an eye on the boats and ships that went by in the distance.
8-12 shift that night, slept well.
Thursday, September 24th, 2009
Woke up to 3-5 foot swells, sunshine and dark blue water. No sight of land as we make way towards Hatteras. A few hours into the morning, talking with Pat and Dave over coffee and enjoying the warm sunny breeze and the salt air, we spotted a pod of whales off our starboard bow, tails slowly exiting the water creating the only white water visible. Pat said that they were not incredibly large whales. It was hard to tell how many there were through binoculars, but the sighting itself was very exciting. Just a few hours later, while Pat slept below, Dave and I were visited by a grouping of playful dolphins that darted from the bow of the boat, to just abaft the beam where they shot out of the tops of the crests made by our wake. The two that chose to play below the sprit of “Dolphin Song” were a dark gray (almost black) and had blotchy spots of off white. I leaned over the side of the pulpit and caught a photo of them (you can almost make out Dave and I in the reflection in the water)
They weren’t very large, and looked as if they exerted very little effort to keep up with our 5+ knot pace. After 5-10 minutes they peeled off and regrouped drifting away behind us. This would be the first of two visits at the bow by dolphins for the day.
The speed of the boat was maintaining almost 7 knots until we entered the Gulf Stream, where we lost nearly two knots at times. The water was exceptionally clear, providing visibility down to 40 feet. Large jellyfish could be seen at all kinds of different depths passing under the boat as we headed into the currents. Sea grass provides shade for small groupings of fish that hang out underneath. Flying fish shoot out of the water with a short hissing noise that resembles the sound a can of Coke makes when its opened. They glide just above the surface of the water often leaving a trail as they go, their tails seeming to support them while they frantically flap their “wings”. Sometimes the boat scares up schools of these flying fish, that fan out in front of the boat shooting out of the water and along the surface all at the same time. The schools I saw were of small flying fish, looked only 4 or 5 inches long. The larger flying fish, around 12 inches long or better, fly farther and seem to travel in twos. They sometimes launch off the crest of a wave and are able to travel to better height in the water. Pat says if the winds are higher, the fish travel higher out of the water. I’ve heard of people getting “smacked” in the head by these airborne oddities. Caught a picture of Diamond Shoals buoy that seemed to take forever to reach.
Seemed to take even longer to disappear into the distance behind us. By the evening we were in sight of Cape lookout blinking far in the distance. Dave took the 8-12 shift and I slept well after a day full of countering the rocking motion of the boat, grabbing each handrail along the way back and forth on the boat throughout the day, and feeling exhausted. It’s amazing how much energy is used when the boat is under that much motion.
Friday, September 25th, 2009
I woke up at 3am and came out from below to the Cape Lookout Lighthouse sweeping in the distant darkness off our Starboard beam. Pat had brought us around the shoal through the night, but we were still almost 3 hours from the Beaufort Inlet. We arrived in the port while a large crane was dredging the right side of the Turnaround Basin where two Container ships were tied up to the Morehead City Dock, side by side. We passed under the bridge and winded our way up Adams Creek for the next several hours while listening to music and cleaning up. We arrived in Whitaker Creek and tied up to the marina, and sat recapping the trip and talking about others that Pat and Dave had been on. The opportunity was a great learning experience for me, one I’m thankful to have taken part in. Pat captained the boat with fantastic presence and Dave and I always enjoy our time together, so the whole experience was a joy and an adventure. Special Thanks to Pat Carrington House for the opportunity!
The sunset the last night out, in the Gulf Stream off the coast of Cape Hatteras
"Red Sky At Night, Sailor's Delight"
Arriving in Annapolis with a lot of curiosity about this historic place proved to be warm and inviting. The streets and sidewalks are red brick, and the buildings look very old, and you can feel the old English touch in the decorative trimmings that adorn these beautiful buildings. There are black iron lamp posts with large hanging flower baskets, colorful flowers spilling out. More large baskets sitting on the outside edges of the sidewalks, with more flowers. The water comes right up to the edge of the sidewalks, and big pilings are capped off on the tops with sheet copper nailed with copper or bronze nails that look very old. Skipjacks, a few old smaller boats, and a number of boats of all types are docked everywhere, the city is pleasantly crowded with boats, moorings, and more boats.I cannot take credit for these photos, just wanted to add 2 to give an idea of what part of downtown looks like.
We provisioned the boat the night we arrived, and when I woke up in the morning and came out into the cockpit I had to take a picture of the boats on the river where “Dolphin Song” , our 43 foot Cutter known as a Spindrift was nestled in. The end of each street that runs to the waterfront (nearly every block) has public access seawalls that provide easy access into the city by dinghy. This is the photo of the mist on the water and I couldn’t help but think of that Van Morrison song, “Into The Mystic”.
After scrubbing the bottom of our dinghy, that had a significant amount of growth on the bottom, we came back to the boat and went over the weather, the amount of fuel and water we’d need, and took care of the last minute details. Just before leaving I asked Pat to snap a quick photo of Dave and I, and shortly afterwards we untied and headed up the river through the bascule bridge, and stopped at Annapolis City Marina to take on fuel and water. We untied and glided past “Ego Alley”, the Naval Academy, and the State Capitol building among many other beautiful sightings that dot this fabulous place. I have misplaced the memory stick for the camera, so I’m limited to only a handful of photos for the entire trip, the camera memory is all we have.
We headed out into the Chesapeake, passing crab pots, a group of small sailboats having what looked like a regatta, and several beautiful boats with colorful spinnakers inflated. Large cargo ships are anchored south of a very high bridge that spans the bay from one side to the other, (looks to be 3 or 4 miles long (maybe) and high enough for these enormous vessel to pass underneath heading up and down from Baltimore and some of the other cities higher in the bay. After a few hours I took a picture of one of the lighthouses as the sun was setting behind it.
The depths in the bay are frequently over 100 feet, unlike the 20 foot shallow of our “stomping grounds” in the Neuse River. Pat, Dave and I discussed who’d do what shift, where I was tasked with the 8-12pm. At approximately 11:40 (Pat and Dave asleep below) while passing a lighthouse similar to the one I had photographed earlier in the evening, the hydraulic steering failed to keep the boat on course. After several hours, we had a patch on the high pressure line and were headed to anchor on the west side of the bay.Tuesday, September 22, 2009
After breakfast and coffee we pulled up anchor and headed into Solomon’s Island where repairs were made on the steering. This gave us the opportunity to get a shower and properly dispose of some oil that Pat had onboard from an oil change done shortly before we had left Annapolis. We headed back out and down the bay in the afternoon, Dave snapped a photo of me on the bow,
and along the way we were passed on both sides by a number of different cargo vessels and tankers going both directions. Large tugs and fishing trawlers of all sizes were a common sight. Dave took the 8pm to 12 shift, Pat 12-4 and I did the morning shift. We crossed the North tunnel of Chesapeake bay bridge late in my shift where Pat woke and we drifted just outside and decided to go in to pick up more fuel, and check with Chris Parker for weather information.After several hours of rest at the dock we headed out over the south tunnel of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge catching a shot of a Chinese container vessel passing to port just after our exit.
Several Naval vessels and Cargo ships lay just outside of the bay exit as well as others anchored way off in the distance out along the edges of the long shipping lane that reaches from Norfolk out into the Atlantic. Large Pilot boats speed in and out to drop captains off for departures, and help bring the boats in through the bridge lanes.
Cape Henry lighthouse (see photo) sits on the southern point of the bay overlooking all the activity in and out.
I took another picture of Dave and Pat after heading away from the Cape Henry for about an hour and a half
I took the 8-12 shift and noticed the waves seemed to pick up as the dark came over the ocean. The Orange lighting was seen from Norfolk through the majority of my shift till we were finally far enough from shore where the only visible light was the Currituck Lighthouse blinking in the distance. The stars and moon were beautiful, moon crescent and bright, and I could see the craters on the surface through Pat’s powerful binoculars. The boat is equipped with an independent GPS in the cockpit, and another laptop GPS at the Nav Station with a large screen mounted on the bulkhead in the salon, next to a radar unit (see photo). This unit has AIS receiver that provides information about the larger vessels, including the name of the vessel, it’s course if it’s under way, and what type of vessel it is.
This proved to be a big asset the entire trip through the dark, especially when lighting against the lighting on land made it difficult to determine a vessels direction of travel.Once my shift was over I found it difficult to get to sleep at first, because as the boat dropped from the crests of the larger waves into the troughs of water between I found myself lifting out of my berth almost suspended in air, and then the “G-force” of the boat lifting again would pressure everything into the mattress. I rolled up my coveralls and wedged them underneath me while tucking my body into the side of the hull and fell sound asleep until the next morning.
Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009
Poking my head out of the companionway and looking around as water seemed to fly by under a beautiful sunny blue sky was a welcoming sight. We spent a day together talking and enjoying the nice weather while working our way down the coast slowly getting further and further out to sea. The water was calm with 3 foot swells that were 30-50 feet apart. We tried fishing, dragging the hand line behind the boat, and found that the spoon was soon bit off the end of the line, no idea what took it, and no other fishing gear onboard. Enjoyed the beautiful water and sunshine and the distant shore as it went by throughout the day, talking with Pat and Dave, catching up on reading, and keeping an eye on the boats and ships that went by in the distance.
8-12 shift that night, slept well.
Thursday, September 24th, 2009
Woke up to 3-5 foot swells, sunshine and dark blue water. No sight of land as we make way towards Hatteras. A few hours into the morning, talking with Pat and Dave over coffee and enjoying the warm sunny breeze and the salt air, we spotted a pod of whales off our starboard bow, tails slowly exiting the water creating the only white water visible. Pat said that they were not incredibly large whales. It was hard to tell how many there were through binoculars, but the sighting itself was very exciting. Just a few hours later, while Pat slept below, Dave and I were visited by a grouping of playful dolphins that darted from the bow of the boat, to just abaft the beam where they shot out of the tops of the crests made by our wake. The two that chose to play below the sprit of “Dolphin Song” were a dark gray (almost black) and had blotchy spots of off white. I leaned over the side of the pulpit and caught a photo of them (you can almost make out Dave and I in the reflection in the water)
They weren’t very large, and looked as if they exerted very little effort to keep up with our 5+ knot pace. After 5-10 minutes they peeled off and regrouped drifting away behind us. This would be the first of two visits at the bow by dolphins for the day.The speed of the boat was maintaining almost 7 knots until we entered the Gulf Stream, where we lost nearly two knots at times. The water was exceptionally clear, providing visibility down to 40 feet. Large jellyfish could be seen at all kinds of different depths passing under the boat as we headed into the currents. Sea grass provides shade for small groupings of fish that hang out underneath. Flying fish shoot out of the water with a short hissing noise that resembles the sound a can of Coke makes when its opened. They glide just above the surface of the water often leaving a trail as they go, their tails seeming to support them while they frantically flap their “wings”. Sometimes the boat scares up schools of these flying fish, that fan out in front of the boat shooting out of the water and along the surface all at the same time. The schools I saw were of small flying fish, looked only 4 or 5 inches long. The larger flying fish, around 12 inches long or better, fly farther and seem to travel in twos. They sometimes launch off the crest of a wave and are able to travel to better height in the water. Pat says if the winds are higher, the fish travel higher out of the water. I’ve heard of people getting “smacked” in the head by these airborne oddities. Caught a picture of Diamond Shoals buoy that seemed to take forever to reach.
Seemed to take even longer to disappear into the distance behind us. By the evening we were in sight of Cape lookout blinking far in the distance. Dave took the 8-12 shift and I slept well after a day full of countering the rocking motion of the boat, grabbing each handrail along the way back and forth on the boat throughout the day, and feeling exhausted. It’s amazing how much energy is used when the boat is under that much motion.Friday, September 25th, 2009
I woke up at 3am and came out from below to the Cape Lookout Lighthouse sweeping in the distant darkness off our Starboard beam. Pat had brought us around the shoal through the night, but we were still almost 3 hours from the Beaufort Inlet. We arrived in the port while a large crane was dredging the right side of the Turnaround Basin where two Container ships were tied up to the Morehead City Dock, side by side. We passed under the bridge and winded our way up Adams Creek for the next several hours while listening to music and cleaning up. We arrived in Whitaker Creek and tied up to the marina, and sat recapping the trip and talking about others that Pat and Dave had been on. The opportunity was a great learning experience for me, one I’m thankful to have taken part in. Pat captained the boat with fantastic presence and Dave and I always enjoy our time together, so the whole experience was a joy and an adventure. Special Thanks to Pat Carrington House for the opportunity!
The sunset the last night out, in the Gulf Stream off the coast of Cape Hatteras
"Red Sky At Night, Sailor's Delight"
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Special Delivery!
Sunday Morning at 9am I'll be sitting in the back of a rental car headed for Annapolis! Why? I get to crew with our neighbor (Dave) on a 42 foot Cutter for a 5 to 10 day skirt down to Oriental, NC..
Will post when I get back!!!
Will post when I get back!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)