Mer Sea

We had a couple of chilly and wet days on the Bay when we left Eagle Point and Dad and Joy and Uncle Doug. There was some nasty weather moving in, so we hustled a bit and got to Norfolk a day early. The plan was to stay at a marina in Norfolk for a couple of days, since we hadn’t been there before, and then to go across the river to Portsmouth, where the Onan mechanic was, and to stay until the generator was repaired!

 

We had one really notable encounter on our way: we passed another American Tug heading north, and he called us on the radio. Turns out that it was Greg, the broker who had sold us the boat, on his way to the Annapolis boat show. We traded greetings, and when he asked us how things were going we told him we’d been having generator problems. He came back on the radio and told us that we should have NO warranty issues with this generator, irrespective of the age or hours, and that we should remind Tony (Cummins/Onan Northwest, from whom American Tug buys all their engines) that “This was one of a failed group of generators that Onan promised to stand behind.” This quote would be repeated many times in the next couple of weeks…

 

It turns out that this was a great weekend to be in the Norfolk/Portsmouth area, as the Virginia Wine Festival was to take place on Saturday. We were at a marina in Norfolk right at the hub of the “action,” so to speak, and were able to walk to restaurants, shopping, the movies, and whatever else our hearts desired. There was even a grocery store (a GREAT store, by the way) that picked me up and brought me back to the marina. We discovered that there is a ferry between Norfolk and Portsmouth that runs every half hour all day and most of the night. It’s cheap ($1 each way) and fun, and the only complaint we have about it is that it toots its LOUD horn (long, short short short) every time it leaves the dock, which we came to know unequivocally, since we were docked right next to the ferry landing! However, we were glad to be able to move back and forth between cities so easily by taking the ferry.

 

We moved our operation to Portsmouth on Thursday morning. The marina there was immaculate, well-run, and with excellent and experienced help. Boy, I know I’ve said it before, but it makes such a difference when the dock staff knows its business! We liked this marina right away, and it was extremely convenient to all that downtown Portsmouth had to offer.

 

Now, perhaps you remember that we were primarily here for the “certified” Onan mechanic that the Onan honcho in Minneapolis said we needed to verify that the problem was indeed the computer control board. This guy, Neal, had intimated that he thought the problem might not be the control board, even though we’d had two different opinions that it almost certainly was. We were hoping that he was right, since the parts for the control board were not currently available, and God only know when they would be so.

 

The mechanic, Bill, came to Mer Sea that morning and dissected her generator, testing all the parts leading up to the control board to eliminate them as culprits. After three hours he came to the conclusion that the problem was, indeed, the control board. He had a call in to Onan to find out about getting the parts.

The next day, Roy called Neal to discuss who was going to be paying for the work, and Neal asked to speak to the mechanic. He asked him about a service bulletin about the “brushes” (whatever those are) on this particular generator, and Bill told him he’d never gotten the bulletin. Apparently there had been a recall because the brushes needed a shim to fit and work properly, and if they didn’t work properly, it LOOKED like the computer control board. Now, why would this guy hold out on us, let the mechanic do all the diagnostic work, and only then tell us what he’d at least suspected all along was the problem? And then he tried to weasel out of paying for all the diagnostic work, but, in the end, Roy was able to “persuade” the company (he actually got through to Tony of Cummins/Onan Northwest) to pick up the entire tab! However, the part needed to be ordered, and it was now Friday, so we’d be looking at Monday at the earliest for an install, and a Tuesday departure.

 

On Saturday, the sun came out for the first time in ten days! It was a beautiful day!! We took the ferry to Norfolk, and I went to the Wine Festival and Roy went to the battleship Wisconsin and got to snoop all around that. We met up afterwards and compared notes: we’d both had a wonderful afternoon! I’d tasted MANY wines, and found and purchased three bottles of a favorite (Rebec Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon), and gotten to spend the afternoon outside in the beautiful sunshine in a festive atmosphere to boot! Roy got to poke all around a battleship and ask questions of the retired navy officers who provided information about various aspects of the vessel.

 

On Sunday I went to church for the first time since last January(!!). Trinity Episcopal Church was an easy walk from where we were docked, and I’d noticed earlier that their main service was 10:30. Off I went, and what a great time I had! The music was fine, and it was so nice to be back in the familiar embrace of the Episcopal service. As it happened, I sat next to a couple who also live on their boat and stay in Portsmouth all summer. They introduced me to the rector at the end of the service, and when I told him that my “home” parish is St. Bart’s he said, “Oh, yes, St. Bartholomew’s… Didn’t you get a new rector a few years ago?...you all are really ‘out there,’ aren’t you? Kind of a cutting edge parish...” Well, I was certainly proud of my “roots” that day!

 

One of the really great things that happened in Portsmouth is that we met another very nice couple, owners of a Nordic Tug 32. They invited us for cocktails on Friday night, and we had a delightful time with them. We spent some time with them again on Sunday on Mer Sea, giving them a look at her, and hope to see them again next year. They’ve made Portsmouth their home port.

 

We’d expected to have the repairs effected on Monday, and Roy had done all he could to expedite the parts delivery to insure we wouldn’t get held up. Well, the parts made it, but the mechanic got hung up on another job, and Monday came and went without him showing up. It was not a pleasant day…

 

On Tuesday morning the mechanic finally made it, and by lunchtime he’d gotten the generator put back together with the new parts installed. We sincerely hope this is the last we hear from the Onan for a while!!

 

Wednesday morning we set out for the relatively long ride to Coinjock. Not only is the mileage longer than most of our days (about 50 miles verses maybe 30-40), but there is a sequence of bridges and one lock in the first 12 miles that have restricted opening times (on the hour or half hour only), so you have to wait for them before proceeding. It’s somewhat stressful, because the boats tend to bunch up waiting for the openings, and it seems no matter how hard you try, the bridges are just too close together (or too far apart) to time it to arrive just at opening time. Of course, bunching up is problematic because we don’t have a parking brake we can set, and the more bunched you are the less maneuvering room you have, and then you add current and/or wind to the situation, and it’s a situation that is stressful to be in! So we were glad when we got through the last of the bridges in that section.

 

One thing that seems different on this trip south so far is the sense of camaraderie we’re experiencing among the group that is essentially traveling south with us. We hear the same people on the radio, and see the same boats, and it is a friendly crowd. We’ve made friends with one couple that we met in Coinjock. They’re on a sailboat and ended up anchoring with us in Belhaven. We’ve chatted on the radio with a couple of other boats, and there’s even one other American Tug in the crowd! I think our less hurried pace might be partially responsible for the perception of camaraderie, but I also think we left a bit earlier than the “pack” last spring. Whatever the reason, it’s fun to be “traveling with” and getting to know some of the group.

 

We had our first anchoring out in the Little Alligator River. I said a silent prayer as I cranked the generator, and, indeed, all was well!! What a difference it makes to have it! No power worries, coffee in the morning, tea without climbing on top to boil water on the grill, a stove, an oven, it’s positively luxurious! We left the next day for Belhaven, where we planned to anchor out and dinghy ashore. The cruising guide speaks highly of Belhaven, but I’d have to say, not highly enough! What a friendly and nice town! We ended up anchoring there with our new friends on Diva (the sailboat), and we used our dinghy to all go ashore together. As we were climbing out of the dinghy we saw another cruising couple who labeled the town “a dump”, but we pressed on.

 

The first thing that happened to us was that we were stopped on the street by a couple who recognized us all as “boat people” because they sometimes are themselves. (must have been the way we were looking around and trying to get oriented and figure out where to go) They proceeded to give us the lowdown on all there was to do this weekend (turns out it was the Bluegrass/Hot Air Balloon Festival) and the best shops to visit and where the library was with the high speed internet access, etc. Very friendly and helpful. Then we headed to the library, where they were also extremely helpful and gave us carte blanche to use the computers, print whatever we wanted, etc. Roy went off to find a pay phone while I used the computer, and he came back with the word that he’d had no luck getting dockage in Oriental. I headed back with him to the pay phone, which was in the hospital, to see what we could do.

 

We were on the phone in the hospital when a gentleman came up to us and asked us if we wouldn’t like to use his office to make our calls. We thanked him and told him that that wouldn’t be necessary. He then proceeded to pull two tickets from his pocket and asked us if we had dinner plans. No, we didn’t, we told him. Well, wouldn’t we like to go to the Oyster Roast at the Wilkinson Center tonight – he just happened to have two extra tickets. Well, sure, we said, and tried to pay him for the $25 tickets, but he wouldn’t hear of it! He was the hospital administrator, and said he had to give these tickets away. So here we were, with two tickets to the all you can eat steamed oysters, fried shrimp, fried scallops, steamed shrimp, fried fish, and all the trimmings, and all you can drink beer, wine, and iced tea dinner!!! We went to the little shop where we’d arranged to meet Diva’s owners, and had a great time there before heading back to our boats.

 

We stopped by Diva for a drink before dinner, and then headed to the Oyster Roast. What an extravaganza!!! And what a supremely friendly group of people we met there! They just took us right in, and made us feel completely at home. And the food was delicious! I would go back to Belhaven in a heartbeat, and I’m telling every cruiser I meet to be sure to stop there!

 

Now we’re in Oriental, NC, which I’ve always heard about as being a great boating town. The marina where we ended up is actually not exactly as advertised, but we’ll make the most of it. They did have a couple of nice bikes that we borrowed and rode in to take a look at the town. In fact, we ended up riding back later in the evening and having dinner. We're planning to leave tomorrow for Beaufort to meet Paul and Michelle. We’re keeping a close eye on Wilma’s path, and think we’ll be OK, although we’ll certainly get some rain and probably wind as well from her next week. Stay tuned…