Pisces the Catamaran - Day 16

January 8, 2025

1000 Crew moves Pisces from the Oriental Free Dock one slip over to the fuel dock of the marina to take on 25 gallons of fuel (in both tanks and in our diesel heater). Captain OhNo had some trouble maneuvering Pisces, not realizing the rudders were hard over. Important lesson learned.

1030 Pisces departs Oriental. Sun is shining and the Nuese River is calm.

1045 Capt OhNo raises the sails and large chunks of ice come crashing onto the decks! Popcorn is at the helm. Pisces does a combination of sailing and motoring across the Nuese River and into Adam’s Creek, bound for Beaufort!

1330 Dolphins!

1400 Pisces arrives at Beaufort (with more dolphin sightings!) and anchors in Taylors Creek, just along the Beaufort waterfront. The new anchor bridle is easier to manage.

1420 The crew launches the dinghy for the very first time! The small outboard dinghy engine did not want to run properly but Capt OhNo fiddled with it and eventually got it to run decently. From on board the boat, Popcorn held onto a rope that was also attached to the dinghy so that Capt OhNo could tentatively test the dinghy with the safety of still being tethered to the boat. With sufficient confidence in the dinghy, Capt OhNo and Popcorn venture away from Pisces and across the creek to the town dinghy dock where they land the dinghy for free and go ashore. They were having so much fun looking at the stores and walking around that they called Swabs in hopes that she would join them, having initially stayed behind because they dinghy seemed kind of scary. She agreed to come out and Capt OhNo went back out to Pisces to get her. The whole crew enjoyed an wonderful afternoon ashore!

Pisces the Catamaran - Day 14 & 15

No logbook entities for these days. General notes of interest:

• A tiny 26’ sailboat docked next to us also looking for protection from the gale winds forecasted. The sailboat had hailing port of a town in Poland and the captain was named Peter. He had sailed his boat from Poland and had been sailing and living aboard for 1.5 years! He was super fun.

• We also made friends with a couple from Canada who were also docked for the approaching weather. We caught up with them later down in Beaufort.

• The crew discovered a bike for transient boaters to use; it was an old Schwin trike and you had to pretty much steer it using your entire body.

• Popcorn found all of the Little Free Libraries in Oriental and picked up a book called “Wool” which she became obsessed with reading for the next 3 days.

• The crew found a small annex called The Visitors Center which was an excellent little temperature controlled space for charging our devices, making phone calls and otherwise hanging out somewhere else besides the boat.

Pisces - Day 13

January 5, 2025

0530 Crew wakes and brews fresh batch of chai and sings “Take Me Back to Oriental”. The decision is made to go back to Oriental because of incoming harsh weather and generally the crew not really understanding the intensity of the currents and the bridges and the tides closer to the ocean and how they all work together in a way where forward momentum is not always possible.

0640 Depart the fuel dock

0645 Pisces runs aground at the entrance to Spooner Creek Channel. Crew attempts all viable maneuvers to find deep water but to no avail.

0715 Popcorn hails TowBoat US for assistance. OhNo discovers water in the engine compartment from the shaft seal. Popcorn and Swabs watch the sunrise over the Atlantic Beach Bridge. The residents of Spooner Creek watch Pisces hard aground.

0815 TowBoat US arrives

0820 TowBoat pulls Pisces into deeper water! Crew continues north on ICW.

0840 Pisces passes under Atlantic Beach Bridge for the second time in 24 hours (this time going the opposite direction) with no problem

0900 OhNo requests a stop at Morehead Gulf Docks (the same dock from the day before) to see if he can find his retainer in the trash, having unknowingly thrown it away in a handful of other paper towels during their stop the day before.

0910 The crew quickly locates the lost orthodontic gear from the marina trash and departs, wishing their new friend Bobby (the dock maser) farewell.

0915 Capt OnNo discovers he is suddenly missing one of his favorite gloves and deduces that it must be at back at the Gulf Dock. Popcorn calls Bobby on the phone to let him know Pisces was on its way back to the dock to look for the glove. Bobby is able to locate the beloved glove behind the trash can.

0920 Pisces returns again to Gulf Docks. Bobby is waiting with a net containing the lost glove. He extends it out just far enough for Popcorn to grab before Pisces again departs for Oriental.

1030 Dolphins!

1530 Pisces arrives back at Oriental and ties up at the free dock closest to Oriental Marina & Inn. As the boat is docking, Swabs tosses her bow line to Tom who misses and the line

Pisces - Day 12

January 4, 2025

0500 Capt OhNo starts engines to keep them from freezing.

0515 Popcorn climbs in Moroccan lounge to warm up in front of the heater

0600 Popcorn sees 6 shooting stars!

0630 Capt OhNo says we need to get going because there is a shorter bridge up ahead.

0700 Anchor pulled in the freezing cold, duck hunters fire shots, Popcorn at helm

0715 Capt OhNo looks white as a sheet and says he might pass out from being so cold. Swabs monitors OhNo and then takes helm while Popcorn nurses OhNo back to health.

0730 OhNo is feeling restored. Swabs off duty. Popcorn resumes her shift at helm.

1130 Pisces reaches Atlantic Beach Bridge and crew gets nervous when the bridge height board reads > 60’. Crew turns around, believing the boat’s height is 63’5” and takes refuge at Morehead Gulf Fuel Dock behind Sugarloaf Island to wait for low tide and therefore more overhead room at bridge.

1145 - 1400 Crew explores the town. Buy gloves that are good for anchoring for OhNo. Browse the antique store. Eat pizza lunch at Jacks. Get ice cream and warm weather hat at fuel dock store.

1420 Depart fuel dock and make it under Atlantic Beach Bridge with no problem.

1630 Pisces squeezes into Spooner Creek. Popcorn does not like the look of the tiny anchorage so crew ties up to fuel dock that closed a mere 30 minutes before our arrival. Plan is to leave before anyone comes into work in the morning. :)

Pisces Day 11

January 3, 2025

0945 Depart Oriental Marina after fueling up and filling our water tanks. Heading is Adam’s Creek.

1030 Popcorn alerts OhNo of a low oil pressure reading on port engine. Pisces continues to motor under starboard engine only. Captain OhNo consults our good friend who is a mechanic and runs some diagnostics. The crew decides to anchor in Adam’s Creek.

1307 Capt OhNo calls TowBoat US (Capt Matt) after successfully anchoring. OhNo arranges to have a new sending unit delivered via TowBoat.

1400 Capt Matt arrives with replacement unit and waits while OhNo installs the new one…still low reading. Matt calls his dad who says the gauges on these engines are a “known issue”. The crew tests this theory by rigging the wires of one engine to the other and the reading is the same, confirming Matts Dad was right. All is well with the engine. Matt Leaves. Crew sees dolphins for the first time!

1430 The crew commences to celebrate Rumple Day* - a day of relaxation and rest. Popcorn makes Pad Thai, the traditional dish of Rumple Day. Capt OhNo recounts Rumple Days as a child with his father.

*Rumple Day is a completely made up holiday by the crew of Pisces for sailors who are overtaxed by boat work and lacking fun and play.

Pisces Day 7 - 10

We don’t have official log hours for our days at the free town dock in Oriental but a brief recap follows:

• we discovered the reason our engine shut down was because we were out of fuel. :) But in discovering this, we found a whole host of other pressing issues: the engine mounts desperately needed to be redone on the port side engine and because the engine was vibrating so much, the steering cable had worked its way off the engine block, meaning we wouldn’t have had the capacity to control the engine if we hadn’t left without discovering this.

• Captain OhNo successfully remounted the engine which, in brief, consisted of lifting the engine using a very cool pulley system, grinding the old mounts that had been epoxied to the floor off, resetting the new mounts, lowering the engine and finally aligning the engine. This took 2 full days.

• The town of Oriental included us in their New Year’s Eve Celebrations! Usually, a very festive wooden cutout of a croaker fish is raised to the top of the light pole at the town and at midnight it is dropped just like the ball in Times Square…this year though, we rigged it up between our boat and our dock neighbors Arabella! It was a blast.

• We had fun walking around the town and getting to know the locals!

Pisces Day 6

December 29, 2024

0635 OhNo raises anchor to a choir of “Peace Like a River” sung by Popcorn and Swabs

0730 Swabs at helm; Pisces is passed by one fishing vessel

0758 Popcorn briefs our land bound correspondent, code name LandLubber

0840 Chocolate chip and banana pancakes for breakfast!

0900 Popcorn at helm. Albino pelican sighting.

0920 Pisces hits 7 knots under full sail!

1000 Pisces overtakes S/V Sailors Delight on Goose Creek. Bald eagle spotted in a tree.

1045 Swabs on watch, navigates under bridge for the first time! Popcorn and OhNo work on screecher halyard tension at the bow of boat. Popcorn attempts to alert Swabs there are shrimp boats ahead by trying to communicate via charades. Pisces passes Coast Guard Station Hoboken.

1120 Swabs studies 101 textbook, attempts to get Landlubber to purchases an updated iPhone so they can see our location.

Approx. 1230 starboard engine suddenly stops on the Nuese River. Chaos ensues: Popcorn yelling, Swabs cleaning, our main resource in a life threatening situation, our $3,000 life raft, nearly slides off the stern as Pisces is rocked by heavy winds, waves and lack of steerage due to being down an engine. Pisces is in an unfortunate position with a lee shoal a few hundred yards to starboard side and winds pushing her closer to shoal.

1315 With Popcorn and Swabs at helm, OhNo investigates starboard engine shut down. OhNo is unable to resolve the issues but there appears to be a lot of air in the fuel system.

1400 OhNo hails TowBoat US for a tow into the town of Oriental, NC

1443 TowBoat “Captain Ralph” arrives on scene. First bridle attempt to attach Pisces to TowBoat fails because bridal is too short for our beam.

1455 Successful bridal attachment of Pisces to TowBoat and we are under tow at 6 knots towards Oriental

1548 Pisces is expertly towed into town dock with volunteers appearing to catch our lines and also take our photo because its a ridiculous scene. We meet our dock neighbors Steve and Robin of Acorn to Arabella!

1700 Crew enjoys hot showers at Oriental Town Marina. Popcorn has sea legs.

1800 Dinner

1848 Leave for anonymous recovery meeting in the rain

1900 magical meeting where we meet many “old salts”

2030 Return to boat, realize the shrimp boat directly behind Pisces has two giant wooden eagles on the bow overlooking our boat

2100 Lights Out

Pisces Day 5

December 28, 2024

0700 Morning prayers and new batch of chai made fresh on the boat!

0830 Pulled anchor and departed for Alligator River (after a quick Google search, we discovered many days later that the Alligator River is in fact home to alligators as well as black bears, foxes and many other species of animals. We didn’t spot any alligators or bears).

0900 Alligator Swing Bridge opening

0930 Swabs takes helm. Popcorn does her yoga practice. OhNo works on running rigging for the sails. Popcorn prepares yogurt and granola for breakfast.

1030 Swabs off watch, Popcorn on watch. OhNo works on winch.

1200 Popcorn off duty. While on duty, Pisces was passed by two P/V (power vessel) and one small fishing boat. Listens to Jason Isbell with OhNo and sings songs while motoring “down the ditch” (a phrase many sailors use to describe traversing the ICW). Swabs takes helm.

1205 Popcorn and OhNo install “Pisces” lettering on stern of boat

1300 OhNo makes lunch, Swabs off duty

1340 Two bald eagles are spotted by Popcorn who is at the helm. One follows Pisces for almost a half hour

1350 Eagle flies directly behind Pisces, Popcorn almost wrecks the boat trying to film it.

1430 Crew proposes new slogans for North Carolina: “Carolina is for Pines”. “We grow Pines.” “North Carolina, Land of the Pines”. “Pines R Us”. “The Pine Tree State”.

1440 Popcorn has sugar high laughing fest. “Take America back where? The 1800’s?!?”

1520 Pisces passes under Wilkerson Bridge, the lowest bridge on this section of the ICW, with mere inches to spare overhead.

1545 Full rainbow all the way across the sky behind Pisces

1600 Anchor in Pungo River

1630 Crew plays game of Scrabble and OhNo wins by a landslide

1811 Crew enjoys dinner of baked feta, tomatoes, roasted green beans and chicken

2020 Lights Out!

Pisces - Day 4

December 12/27/2025

0630 Leave free dock at Great Bridge in Chesapeake, Va with frost on the decks. Plan is to leave early so we can get a full day of travel in.

0700 Captain OhNo calls for a bridge opening at Centerville; bridge tender responds that they are on restricted hours and won’t open for another hour and a half. Captain OhNo responds to the bridge tender “Oh no” thus sealing his call sign for the trip.

0710 Tie up at closed fuel dock just north of the Centerville Bridge. First Mate Popcorn makes roasted potatoes, broccoli, squash, kale and onion breakfast slam

0815 Sailing Vessel (S/V) Southern Cross approaches from the north and we all freak out thinking we might miss the bridge opening

0831 Bridge opens

0930 North Landing Bridge opens 35’ of the bridge. We squeak through with 3’ on either side and S/V Southern Cross at our stern

0930 - 1030 Popcorn at helm. Uses the radio for the first time during trip to call Motor Yacht (M/Y) Vienna to pass on port side, which they do. Here is a transcript of the conversation: Popcorn: “Motor Yacht Vienna, Motor Yacht Vienna this is Sailing Catamaran Pisces off your bow on channel 16.” Motor Yacht Vienna: “Pisces this is Vienna, go ahead on 16.” Popcorn: “Good morning, Captain. We would like to keep our current course. Would you like to pass on our port side?” M/Y Vienna: “That would be just fine for us, Pisces. We’ll give you a slow pass on your port side. Standing by on channel 16.” Popcorn: “Thank you, Captain. Pisces standing by on 16.” (*many times this is pronounced as one six instead of sixteen)

1030 - 1130 Lt. Swabs on watch. Immediately goes off course after being left high and dry by Popcorn. Captain OhNo helps redirect Lt. Swabs.

1130 - 1230 Popcorn at helm. Brings boat into Coinjock for showers and fuel.

1230 - 1315 First fuel up; diesel spills and one fuel tank doesn’t take much fuel. Everyone showers in the men’s bathhouse because the two men aboard M/Y Vienna have taken over the women’s room. Everyone is in and out in 45 minutes! Pisces shoves off fuel dock and continues.

1415 Crew has a pizza party!

1517 team meeting decides to take on the Albermarle Sound which means traveling in the dark for 2 - 3 hours. ETA to anchorage is 2000.

1700 Lt. Swabs and Capt OhNo watch sunset from starboard deck

1730 Full dark. Popcorn on watch.

1830 Popcorn on bow with spotlight watching for potential navigational hazards, Lt. Swabs and Capt OhNo at helm.

1845 Lt Swabs installs fairy lights at stern of Pisces

1915 Anchor in the dark at the top of the Alligator River near entrance to East Lake

1945 delicious dinner by First Mate Popcorn

2030 Lights Out

Pisces - Day 3

We boarded Pisces The Catamaran on December 24, 2024 and pointed her south in a part shakedown, part healing and grieving trip.    Notes are pulled from our handwritten, on board log book.  Crew are:

Captain Clay (captain and owner of Sail & Surf Adventures, married to Ally); call sign Captain OhNo

First Mate Ally (head chef & lead investigator of all maritime mysteries, married to Clay, owner of Daily Magic); call sign Captain Popcorn

Second Mate Carly (Ally’s mom, Clay’s mother-in-law, one-woman cleaning crew of Pisces); call sign Lieutenant Swabs

Dahlia (the cutest ship cat); call sign DD

* there is a very important and traumatic and magical process of getting Pisces that we are working on sharing here.  We figured if we waited to start updating until we figured out those words though, we might never start updating at all.  Know that there was a before and an after and this trip is part of our grieving process for our brother/son/friend Jacob. *We boarded Pisces The Catamaran on December 24, 2024 and pointed her south in a part shakedown, part healing and grieving trip.    Notes are pulled from our handwritten, on board log book.  Crew are:

Captain Clay (captain and owner of Sail & Surf Adventures, married to Ally); call sign Captain OhNo

First Mate Ally (head chef & lead investigator of all maritime mysteries, married to Clay, owner of Daily Magic); call sign Captain Popcorn

Second Mate Carly (Ally’s mom, Clay’s mother-in-law, one-woman cleaning crew of Pisces); call sign Lieutenant Swabs

Dahlia (the cutest ship cat); call sign DD

* there is a very important and traumatic and magical process of getting Pisces that we are working on sharing here.  We figured if we waited to start updating until we figured out those words though, we might never start updating at all.  Know that there was a before and an after and this trip is part of our grieving process for our brother/son/friend Jacob. *

December 26, 2025

0630 Sunrise at Mobjack Bay

0700 Depart Mobjack for Great Bridge

1015 arrive at Norfolk Harbor Entrance

1200 Enter ICW at Norfolk Hospital Point

1530 Enter Great Bridge Lock

1605 Tie up at free dock south side of Great Bridge

1615 Captain OhNo and Popcorn go for walk on the waterfront trails

1800 Lights Out

Pisces - Day 2

We boarded Pisces The Catamaran on December 24, 2024 and pointed her south in a part shakedown, part healing and grieving trip.    Notes are pulled from our handwritten, on board log book.  Crew are:

Captain Clay (captain and owner of Sail & Surf Adventures, married to Ally); call sign Captain OhNo

First Mate Ally (head chef & lead investigator of all maritime mysteries, married to Clay, owner of Daily Magic); call sign Captain Popcorn

Second Mate Carly (Ally’s mom, Clay’s mother-in-law, one-woman cleaning crew of Pisces); call sign Lieutenant Swabs

Dahlia (the cutest ship cat); call sign DD

* there is a very important and traumatic and magical process of getting Pisces that we are working on sharing here.  We figured if we waited to start updating until we figured out those words though, we might never start updating at all.  Know that there was a before and an after and this trip is part of our grieving process for our brother/son/friend Jacob. *

12/25/24 Christmas Day

0614 Christmas chai on Christmas morning at anchorage!

0632 First present is opened. Easy morning with delicious boat meal (Captain OhNo speciality), thoughtful gifts, memories of Jacob

1100 pull anchor and head into the Chesapeake Bay

1150 mainsail hoisted for the first time underway!

1405 Lt. Swabs cleans the helm windows which increases visibility by 100%

1435 Wolftrap Lighthouse spotted. Captain OhNo shares about how Jacob loved fishing near this lighthouse

1614 anchor for the night in Mobjack Bay. Declare land directly off our bow “Christmas Island”. It is not an island.

1659 Stunning sunset

1701 Captain OhNo fixes a small diesel leak in the heater

1800 Lights Out

Welcome to Pisces - Day 1!

We boarded Pisces The Catamaran 11 days ago and pointed her south in a part shakedown, part healing and grieving trip. Let’s catch up starting on Day 1! Notes are pulled from our handwritten, on board log book. Crew are:

Captain Clay (captain and owner of Sail & Surf Adventures, married to Ally); call sign Captain OhNo

First Mate Ally (head chef & lead investigator of all maritime mysteries, married to Clay, owner of Daily Magic); call sign Captain Popcorn

Second Mate Carly (Ally’s mom, Clay’s mother-in-law, one-woman cleaning crew of Pisces); call sign Lieutenant Swabs

Dahlia (the cutest ship cat); call sign DD

* there is a very important and traumatic and magical process of getting Pisces that we are working on sharing here. We figured if we waited to start updating until we figured out those words though, we might never start updating at all. Know that there was a before and an after and this trip is part of our grieving process for our brother/son/friend Jacob. *

12/24/24 Christmas Eve

1030 Blessing of the vessel by Ashlay and Emily of Rishi Yoga & Wellness.

1135 Sailing Catamaran (S/C) Pisces departs from home port in Wiccomico Church, Va under full power after a false start with air in fuel lines of starboard engine. Ice present on creek surface. Neighbors come out and wave us goodbye.

1308 Captain OhNo installs screecher sail on the Great Wiccomico River

1456 S/C Pisces anchors for the first time in Little Bay @ Fleets Island (Cedar’s). Anchoring system is a little tedious.

1530 Cheese, crackers and sparkling apple juice toast to successfully leaving the dock!

1620 Decorate mini tree with fish theme ornaments that remind us of Jacob

1645 Pot-pie pipping hot from the oven

1651 Stunning sunset viewed by all

1645 - 1850 Home Alone watch party

1914 Lights Out

Reading Wrap Up- 5 books about sailing for 2024

Reading is my favorite way to spend down-time aboard. Books about sailing keep me inspired on my own adventures. Here are some of my favorites from the past year :

Reading the Glass: A Captain’s View of Weather, Water and Life on Ships

A refreshing and engaging perspective on weather as it relates to sailing. Weather patterns play such a crucial role in a sailor’s life. I couldn’t help but love this narrative which is told through a series of tall ship voyages.

Mutiny on the Bounty: A Saga of Sex, Sedition, Mayhem and Mutiny, and Survival Against Extraordinary Odds

If that title doesn’t pique your interest… This book has it all, and as someone who didn’t know much about the mutiny on the Bounty before this book, I couldn’t wait to find out what happens next.

Cape Horn to Starboard

John Kretchmer is a prolific author and his stories and career have been an inspiration to me. He and his crew just rounded Cape Horn again this year, 40 years after this book’s release- but Cape Horn to Starboard remains an excellent read for an aspiring adventure sailor like myself.

Facing Fear: The First Woman to Sail Solo Around Antarctica

Lisa Blair’s account of her solo circumnavigation of Antarctica. Although the writing can be dry at times, the story of her overcoming a bombardment of challenging conditions is nothing short of inspirational. Women have been showing up big time on the sailing scene in the last decade and this story is sure to inspire a new generation of adventurous female sailors.

the outlaw ocean

A fascinating look into the cultural fringes of the seagoing industries written by a New York Times journalist-drawing on five years of perilous and intrepid reporting, often hundreds of miles from shore, Ian Urbina introduces us to the inhabitants of a hidden world.

There are several that didn’t make the list- if you want to talk sailing books, come join me aboard Galene for an adventure!

Fair winds,

Capt. Clay

What the heck is the "ICW"?

Traveling a stretch of the ICW aboard Galene

As winter settles in on the Chesapeake Bay my mind immediately wanders to places where warmer breezes blow and the days are a little longer- south. The Intracoastal waterway (“ICW”) is an inland series of bays, rivers and canals that run continuously from Norfolk, VA to Key West, FL. We are lucky to be located so close to the start of the ICW. The inland waterway allows sailors to travel the Southeastern seaboard without entering the ocean. This is especially helpful in winter when the weather in the Atlantic can be quite volatile with frequent fronts kicking up winds and high seas. Passing through locks, under fixed bridges and through drawbridges, the ICW weaves its way along the coast passing through a variety of small coastal towns and major port cities. Sailing along the ICW is an experience to remember. On December 15th, 2015 Ally and I cast off our 27’ Catalina for Key West via the ICW. We spent most nights at anchor with few or no other boats around. We stopped in charming towns along the way, visited friends and relatives, and met fellow sailors who are great friends to this day.

If you would like to experience a slice of the ICW for yourself, join us aboard Galene in March 2024 for our Coastal Passage from Beaufort, NC to Weems, VA. I hope to see you on the water soon!

-Clay