Cape Hatteras
On Sunday November 17th we got an early start and left Norfolk for an overnight passage to Beaufort. We had great conditions during daylight hours and had contact with a few boats also on the same route. You can see boat names on the AIS chartplotter (which allows you could radio them if needed) and also on the app No Foreign Land (which has a chat component).
As the sunset the waves became bigger and everything always feels worse in the dark. As soon as I put on my life vest, the anxiety of night also kicks in my seasickness. I thought this was just me but while reading “My Old Man and the Sea” by D. Hayes I learned that anxiety and seasickness are common even among seasoned sailors. This sailor claimed that sheer terror always cured his seasickness. Luckily there was no terror for me.
We broke up the watches in two hour shifts, but Josephine disappeared at 5p into her cabin and we didn’t see her again until the morning. Neither Nate nor I had the heart or the desire to go down below (cause of further seasickness) to drag her out. We attempted to do our watches on a stool in the kitchen which has a clear view of the front of the boat. Nate’s iPad connects to the chart plotter and the radar. Thus we could see both screens.
The sea became “confused” as meteorologist report causing the slamming of water against the hull to be loud and frequent. Nate took most of his watches outside because he was throwing up. This is only the second time I have seen Nate get seasick in 31 years. During my watches, I had my head on my arm on the counter and looked at readings/sea every few minutes. I tried eating crackers and water but did not find relief unless I was laying flat on my back in the saloon. Nate took on the brunt of the night as he could not sleep anyway. Things were flying. An old mug of tea from the morning fell from the table and all I could do was throw a tea towel at it. Whatever fell, fell and stayed there. Queso was nervous in his bed and often on the sofa. At least I think he was nervous and did not sleep much either.
As the sun rose, the sea was pretty choppy but we were closer to our anchorage and knew better rest was too come. Josephine was also able to help with watches throughout the day. This was the only photo captured (credit to Josephine) on November 18th when we completed our passage and arrived at Cape Lookout.
