Back on the Goose

10/23/2015

We got back to the Snow Goose and found NO cockroaches, mold, or other critters crawling around the boat…YEA!!!

What we did find was a bumper crop of barnacles. We tried to motor over to the gas docks at buzzards Bay Marina and the boat would hardly move. I put on 3 wetsuits (the water is really cold) and jumped in. The prop looked 80% covered with barnacles and the hull was about the same. Some of them were the size of quarters!

The next morning we were off before dawn heading south on the Chesapeake to Norfolk and the intercostal waterway. We should be in Deaton’s marina by Tuesday.

The Chesapeake in the early morning... That's a fishing boat

 

We met this container ship as we approached Norfolk. We were under sail but gave way to this big boy

That's the harbor police escorting the cruise ship out of the Norfolk harbor...
we had to almost get out of the channel to let it go by. 



This is an interesting old guy. At 68 yrs. old he sailed across the Atlantic!
 Now at 78 he and his dog are still going strong.

 While sailing 2 days later on another high wind day (25 gusting to 35) on the Pamlico Sound We came upon the Brant Island shoal. It's a tricky "S" turn that you have to make to avoid the shoal. This 65 ft. power yacht didn't make the turn and ran full speed up onto the shoal. While watching this happen Anna shouted at me "hey! it's getting shallow!!!" We almost joined them on the shoal. A mad scramble and a 180 deg. turn saved us but not them. They had to sit there for 2 days while 3 tow boats tried to get them off. The boat was declared a salvage and the final bill might be as high as $100,000+ between the salvage cost and the repairs. All because they didn't read the chart correctly.
(Click on the pictures to make them larger.)

Sitting in 3 foot waves as the boat is pounding on top of the shoal.