Life on Lailia

Tidewater Marina, VA to Coinjock Marina, Coinjock, NC (docked)

October 29 & 30, 2023

We planned to leave Portsmouth on Friday but the wind was so strong we were concerned about getting out of our slip. The wind was blowing from the north and could have pushed us beamwise across other docked boats. We stayed an extra day which allowed us to leave safely, get more provisions, and get a slip in Coinjock today- all of which are wins.

Portsmouth/Norfolk is mile marker 0 for the ICW. There’s also a lot of shipyard industry and bridges right there. The Gilmerton Bridge is just about 6 miles south of Portsmouth and the bridge tender there is cranky. She likes to make boats wait for this “on demand” bridge, which means we have to circle for a few minutes before she does her thing (we can see when she begins starting traffic).

When we were in the Great Bridge lock in July, there were 2 other pleasure boats and a tug going north. Today there were at least 8 other boats, all going south. There are a few bridges just past the lock, so we wound up in a flotilla with them for a couple of hours (even the boat that tried to pass everyone had to wait at the bridges while we all caught up).

It’s easy to see why this part of the ICW, the Virginia Cut, is often called the ditch – it’s a straight, narrow cut through the woods. The water is calm and there’s no real current.

It was still mostly cloudy for much of the way, although we began to see blue skies just before we hit the Currituck Sound.

After the rough ride through the Port Royal Sound in January, I get a little worried when I know we have to cross another sound. The Currituck was super easy today (but I wonder what it was like yesterday in the wind) plus, we had sunshine!

We’re at Coinjock Marina and have fueled up; we’ll head out early tomorrow and plan to travel about 50 miles so we can anchor somewhere near or in the Alligator River in North Carolina.

Tidewater Yacht Marina, Portsmouth, VA (docked)

October 26, 27 and 28, 2022

This is a good place for us to be docked while I am working. There is good 5G broadband so I can be in Zoom meetings and there’s some interesting places for John to visit.

John learned that there is a very inexpensive ferry between where we are in Portsmouth to Norfolk, which is right across the Elizabeth River. He scouted it out while I was working (and while it was really sunny).

Since John knows that I like ferries and that I have been boat-bound due to all of the virtual meetings, he suggested that we take a ride to Norfolk for dinner.

Once the ferry leaves the dock, it takes about five minutes to get to the other side of the river.

The western skyline of Portsmouth opens up from the Norfolk side of the river.

After we rode the ferry back to Portsmouth, we took a walk in Old Town. The houses there are really pretty and the Halloween decorations were great.

We will be heading south again tomorrow morning. When we were here in July, it was really hot and humid and we didn’t encounter too many issues finding dock spaces in the ICW south of here. Not only are temperatures much cooler these days, there are also many boats heading south now that hurricane season is nearing its end. This means we may not get dock space at our next probable stop in Coinjock and prospective anchorages may also full. We’ll see how things turn out tommorow.

Deltaville to Tidewater Yacht Marina, Portsmouth, VA (docked)

October 25, 2022

Red sky last night did not provide any delight for this sailor. It’s still gray. It’s not raining and it’s not windy, but it’s still just gray. We were lucky that we had sun when we were in St. Michaels on Friday because we’ve been in this monotone gray ever since.

At least the water was pretty calm today so we could read. We also had a passenger for about an hour and a half. No doubt she is also tired of the gray, too.

As we got closer to Portsmouth and Norfolk, there was a definite change in the surroundings. We also saw a naval police boat interact with a sailboat that was getting near some of the docked naval ships.

There was also a lot of commercial traffic.

We’re back in the same marina where we stayed in July. I will be in some virtual meetings for the next few days and the wifi is pretty decent here. We can also get groceries and other deliveries while we’re here; we know the next week or so we will travel through some remote-ish areas.

Night is very different here in this marina – we’ve got so much light from across the river from us in Norfolk.

Solomons Island, MD to Jackson Creek South anchorage Deltaville, VA

October 24, 2022 (published on 10/25 because we didn’t have internet in Deltaville)

This gray weather is pretty terrible – although the rain has stopped, the sun has not come out and it’s just monotone gray. Every now and then we can see a few trees with their autumn colors.

It’s just mostly flat and gray, although we occasionally get some waves. This makes it tough to read, which is one of the ways we pass the time.

There was a definite strange moment where there were a bunch of gulls floating; there was some sunlight breaking through for just a couple of minutes. Luckily they stayed on the water because we have a canvas top on Lailia and we definitely didn’t want a Birds moment.

This anchorage is very sheltered with no wind or waves. There’s several boats in here but there’s a lot of room (and with no wind or current, we won’t be moving too much).

It was comfortable enough for us to eat dinner in the cockpit and we are glad we did – we had about five minutes of gorgeous color in the sky before the sun was too low to make much color.

We’re hopeful that tomorrow will be brighter as we head north to Portsmouth.

Back Creek, Solomons Island, MD (anchored)

October 23, 2022

The forecast changed last night – we planned to head to Tangier Island but with winds gusting to 27 knots (31 mph), gray skies and rain, we decided to stay put in this anchorage. Tangier was a side trip as it’s not exactly on the route south, so skipping it won’t set us back on our timeline. In reality, we also wouldn’t have enjoyed exploring there in the yuck.

John took the dinghy to shore and found a place to watch the Phillies win but it’s a stay on the boat day for me. It’s been so gray all day (in between rain showers) which means it has been a really good day to just read.

Since we weren’t going to get heat from the engine or from the sun shining on Lailia, we lit the boat’s propane heater. The flames heat up the metal above it and it radiates throughout the cabin.

We haven’t had to use this heater much – we’ve been in warmer places most of this year. We have little ceramic heaters when we’re docked and a small portable propane heater to take the chill off when mornings are cold. This might be one of the first days that it’s been cold and gray for an entire day while we have been at anchor.

Tomorrow we plan to leave around 8:00 AM to go to Deltaville. I’m pretty sure that it’s going to look different from when we were there in July.

St. Michaels to Back Creek, Solomons Island, MD (anchored)

October 22, 2022

The nights are definitely getting a lot cooler. When we are at anchor, we’re not plugged into shore power so we don’t run a heater. This morning it was a 56 degrees in our cabin. Temps like this make getting out of bed just a little more of a challenge! (We use our propane heater to warm up once we are up and about.)

Solomons Island is a around 50 miles so we knew we had to get up and out early. We had some mud (and a HUGE oyster shell) on our anchor but our wash down hose wasn’t working, so I had to drop a bucket a few times to get bay water to clean off the anchor and bow pulpit.

The cooler air on the warm water makes really pretty advection fog. This makes everything look just a little more ethereal.

The water is still really smooth – there’s not enough wind to sail, but at least we’re not getting bounced around for hours.

On the way to Solomons Island we passed Calvert Cliffs State Park. The cliffs are pretty unique – they’re the only ones we pass on the Chesapeake. There’s not a good way for us to get there by boat, unfortunately. They’re supposed to be teeming with fossils.

Solomons Island is full of marinas and boats. They’re docked and anchored everywhere but we were able to find a good spot to drop our anchor.

We dinghied to a dock close to a lot of restaurants and had dinner and drinks at the Tiki Bar. Our timing was good since they will be closing for the season next week.

We’re planning to head to Tangier Island tomorrow. Tangier seems like it will be really interesting – the island is slowly losing ground and will probably be uninhabited within the next 30 years.

John also diagnosed and fixed the wash down hose issue so cleaning the anchor and chain should be much easier tomorrow morning.

Kent Island to St. Michaels, MD (anchored)

October 21, 2022

After almost 3 months in a marina in Kent Island, it’s time for us to start moving south – it’s starting to get cooler here and we don’t want to get COLD.

John and I had heard so many great things about St. Michaels, so this was our first stop. Today was a great autumn day which made this short hop feel like a good omen for a great trip south.

We departed from Piney Narrows so we could get to the Kent Narrows Bridge for its 10:30 opening.

Lailia has an enclosed cockpit, so even though it was in the low 50s, we were warm in the sunshine today. There was little or no wind so the water was really flat and we motored along at about 6 to 7 knots.

This good timing also extended to our arrival at St. Michaels where we found plenty of room to anchor in the basin. This meant a very short dinghy ride to the docks.

The waterfront has so much history including historic houses and replicas of the shallop that John Smith sailed during his exploration of the Chesapeake.

St. Michaels also has Freedom’s figurehead which was made just before World War II. There’s an amusing story about why she’s on loan to this museum.

John and I toured the replica lighthouse and the maritime museum.

Of course we stopped at Eastern Shore Brewery, which was a short walk in town. We also had some great brick oven pizza before we headed back to Lailia just before sunset.

We won’t always be this lucky with short trips, great weather and calm water and we won’t always anchor in places that embrace boaters the way that St. Michaels does, but this was such a perfect day and a perfect beginning to our southward journey.

We plan to head to Solomons Island tomorrow which will be a bit under 50 nautical miles. That will take most of the day (an hour by car is a day’s ride on Lailia).

Chris: Cincinnati, OH (hoteled)/John: Chester, MD (docked)

October 16-19, 2022

I’m not sure that I have ever visited a place like Cincinnati – everyone I met was really (rightfully) proud of their city – from the Uber driver to the gate agent in the airport, as well as the educators with whom I interacted and even the servers in restaurants. People genuinely seem to want to share the cool stuff with visitors.

I am lucky enough to be able to work as a consultant to schools who are beginning their journey to become Middle Years International Baccalaureate schools. I’ve been consulting with two schools who are partnering and who wanted to get some insight into their progress which meant that I was able to fly to Cincinnati for a few days.

It’s a short flight from BWI to Cincinnati, so I had time to check out the Cincinnati Zoo. It’s one of the best ones I have visited and the weather was perfect that day, too. (At least 6 people I met in the four days I was in the city made sure that I knew that Cincinnati had a great zoo.)

There’s also incredible murals everywhere. I especially enjoyed the one that represented Cincinnatus, the Roman leader for whom Cincinnati was named.

Even the airport was cool – although it’s actually in Kentucky…the signage is pretty clever.

Thursday will be a preparation day for us so we can begin traveling south on Friday. We’ll get one more grocery delivery here and also secure all of the “stuff” that we’ve been using since we arrived here at the beginning of August.

Piney Narrows Yacht Harbor, Chester, MD (docked)

October 10-15, 2022

Since it’s getting cooler here, I decided to make some chili and used our last can of beans from the Bahamas. If you’re not sure how we know we bought them there, check out the price written on the can: groceries are expensive in the islands.

Birds love to sit on top of Lailia’s spreader and lines, which wouldn’t be a problem except they also like to eat berries. Berry-poop stains the decks and it’s really difficult to remove. To try to keep them from landing, we have installed Circe-Bird B. Gone.

Circe-Bird was named for the main character of a book I just read – they’re kind of the same color although the novel’s protagonist really likes nature. This is the Circe who interacted with Odysseus, by the way.

Facebook memories reminded me that it has been five years since John and I relocated from Rock Hill to Charleston. That was the beginning of the adventure that we’re living every day.

We have had a few really nice autumn days so I’ve made it a point to get out on the Cross Island Trail. The leaves are changing and it’s really beautiful.

We are making plans to start moving south. I have to fly to Cincinnati at the beginning of the week so we’re planning to head out on the 21st. There are a few places we want to visit on the way – St. Michaels is close and sort of on the way, so it will be our first stop.