Chesapeake Chase Day 13: Adams Creek Canal
June 24, 2022
We left our anchorage in Topsail Sound about 8:00 AM, after coffee, headed for the Adams Creek Canal. It was a beautiful morning, cool enough and less humid so we didn’t need to run the AC.
Our destination was an anchorage about 14 miles past Beaufort, NC, up the Adams Creek Canal. There was a wonderful breeze with us the whole day. We never turned on the generator or the AC – a first for this trip.
The trip was uneventful compared to the first part of this voyage. I did have to do more steering today than I have so far. The first couple of times Fred asked me, I was a bundle of nerves, reliving running us aground a week ago Monday.
By later in the afternoon, it was easier, and I was more relaxed. The only other time driving unnerved me was when a sailboat approaching us in a narrow channel wasn’t moving over forcing us to move into shallower water. There was room for it to move more to its starboard, but instead continued to head straight at us. Fred had to take control and gave a blast on the horn to indicate we were moving starboard. The sailboat captain seemed then to take notice and moved to his starboard averting a possible problem for both of us.
Fred also had to take some time to repair the captain’s chair that lost a screw (did not come from my head) and was coming apart. My guess is all the bouncing and jostling from our offshore day had loosened it. The repair was minor compared to all that has happened.
Our travels along the ICW (The Intra Coastal Waterway) have now brought us closer and more parallel to the ocean. The scenery today was very interesting. So many of us humans are drawn to water and its therapeutic properties.
There were areas again today that were congested, with more bridge openings to wait for. The area between Morehead City and Beaufort, NC was very congested.
There were other stretches where we saw no houses and few boaters. Some sections of the ICW today were a channel dug out either through land or in an existing body of water. Remember the line from the movie “Field of Dreams”? “If you build it, they will come”. We were on one canal today where houses were built almost at the same level as the water height.
Overall, it was a gorgeous day on the waterway. Tomorrow our destination is New Bern, NC. We have been told it is a must see. It’s not on the ICW, but it was part of the original plan, and we don’t want to miss this opportunity. We found an anchorage only a half day from New Bern. It was shallow but adequate and another peaceful location.
Not too long after we ate lunch today, I decided to surprise Fred with a special desert. We had some root beer onboard, and there was ice cream left from Wednesday night. We could have root beer floats, a favorite of ours. I put two root beers in the refrigerator, quite pleased with myself. About mid-afternoon Fred suggested that I put root beers in the fridge. He too was thinking root beer floats!
We sure did enjoy those root beer floats, up on the flybridge, just the two of us in our quiet little anchorage. A little later, before evening’s end, we went out on the bow to appreciate the starlit night. This is another reason why all the work of boating is worth the effort.
Captain’s Comments:
Awoke this morning (not too early) to the sound of surf on the other side of the barrier island where we were anchored–and birds singing in the trees. An amazing combination. This picture was taken before sunrise (too early–I went back to bed) looking east over the barrier island.
With a desire to put some miles behind our transom, the Admiral started coffee (using battery power through the inverter) while I did the various engine checks. Three strainers needed cleaning, but everything else was normal. We started the main engine, pulled the anchor and Sue steered us out of the anchorage while I finished putting equipment in its place. We took breakfast under way.
Notice we didn’t start the generator! We went all day with no need for AC! The breeze coming in through the open windows was wonderful, though, some aromas can be a little jarring, like being on a boat and smelling new mown grass or someone cooking BBQ. Maybe being on a boat heightens your senses?
Originally, the leg from Wrightsville Beach to Beaufort, NC, had been planned as an optional offshore leg. After our last offshore run and resulting problems, we opted to run inside (on the ICW) to make sure we have all the problems adequately addressed. Had we gone outside, we would have missed waiting for three more bridges to open (about 30-45 minutes each, in strong currents, with substantial boat traffic not paying any particular attention to the rules of the road).
We also would have missed seeing U. S. marines training in their small boats at Camp Lejeune, a crazy mix of houses along the waterway (from 4 stories on stilts to ranches barely a foot above high tide), families out enjoying the afternoon on sandbars, the gradual transition from low country topography to actual shorelines, and Bogue Sound (a little like Mosquito Lagoon in Florida—a big shallow body of water behind the barrier islands, with a channel dredged for the boats, the spoil from which creates numerous little islands—except smaller).
Adams Creek Canal
Coming out of Bogue Sound, we were fighting the current, barely making 6 knots. After wandering successfully through Morehead City/Beaufort, we turned north on the Adams Creek Canal. Once we turned north, the current was in our favor. We cut back on the throttle and let out a whoop when we topped 9 knots!
The Adams Creek Canal was completed in 1911, connecting the Neuse River with the deep-water port at Beaufort. It effectively replaced the Harlowe Creek Canal, a few miles to the west. The Harlowe Canal, originally envisioned by the NC colonial legislature in 1766, was hand-dug by African American slaves starting in 1783 and finished in 1790. It had a tide control lock at the north end and was limited to work boats that could navigate its 4-5′ depth and 14′ width.
As we came to the end of Adams Creek near the Neuse River, we found that the anchorage we had planned to use was too shallow and too full of crab pots, so we backtracked to the previous anchorage. Sue was warming dinner in the microwave while we were anchoring, so we never did need to turn on the generator today. The Admiral rewarded the crew with root beer floats on the flybridge—but even though the stars were poking through, it was too cool to linger.
This anchorage was also shallow—only about 6’. We’re used to big tides in SC, but here—behind Pamlico Sound and the Outer Banks, the tides are small/nil, so we deemed 6’ to be adequate. Initially we shared the anchorage with one other sailboat, but another came in and anchored after dark. We guessed they knew what they were doing, since they anchored midway between a sunken boat marked only with PVC pipes and a sandbar. With only 6’ of depth, you don’t need to put out much scope of anchor chain, so your swing radius is small.
Nevertheless, I still checked the anchor a couple times over night. The last time, the crescent moon had just risen. It was dark—probably the darkest spot we have been in yet this trip. The brightest terrestrial light was the flashing green navigation light marking the channel. A few houses also had some lights on. But the stars shown the brightest. It was cool. And it was cool, too. I hurried back to bed and pulled up a blanket.