The boat, currently named Ali B IV is going to be renamed “Fishizzle” is powered by a pair of Cummins 380 QSB diesels. She cruises at 23kts (25mph) and gets about 1 mpg. It is a very solid, smooth riding boat that is pretty heavy for her size. She has a tremendous amount of bow flares which makes for a very dry ride.
We took off on Tuesday and headed south to go out Little River Inlet at the NC/SC border. Once offshore, the seas were a solid 3 to 4 feet with the wind out of the south. The ride wasn’t bad, but we decided we would be much better off and more comfortable running up the ICW. In addition, we were having some electrical issues and needed to address those before continuing our run north.
So we pulled in off the ocean at the Cape Fear River and made a quick stop at Southport Marina. We had a dead house battery which caused us to loose all of our electronics and the alternator was not connected properly which was not charging the batteries. Couple that with a generator that wouldn’t start and we had a problem that really needed to be dealt with.
Once is Southport, we diagnosed the battery problem fairly quickly. We were able to get a local mechanic to run into town and install a new battery for us. Within an hour, we were back on the ICW heading north. We ran all the way to Oriental, NC which covered 180 miles the first day. Not a bad start given the amount of traffic on the waterway and the bridges we had to wait for given our height restriction. We did lower the outriggers a few times to get under some bridges, but it was a process.
Day 2 went a little better. We left Oriental early and continued our run up the ICW. It was a bit windy, but the boat handled the waves with ease going across the Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds. We had the “water-in-fuel” alarm go off two different times. Not a big deal and we simply drained off the water and kept going.
We finished day 2 after 195 miles in Hampton, VA. We are tied up at the Bluewater Yacht Center near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Today the forecast had small craft advisory and seas building to 5 to 8 feet. There are several boats here tied up traveling north and none went out today. Tomorrow the forecast is 3 to 4 feet, so we are optimistic we will finish the last 120 miles and arrive in Ocean City, MD by early afternoon.
Sorry not any great pictures this time. We had our head down moving most of the time. The SPOT (SPOT Shared Page ) has been up and running and it will be again tomorrow. However, we did see this on the ICW which was a first for me. I saw this and took a picture of it in Wrightsville Beach over the Memorial Day weekend, but we passed it again in Coinjock, NC on Wednesday.
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