38 18.43 'N:76 24.77'W
On the morning of April 18 we had a short but pleasant sail from Cape Lookout to the Beaufort Inlet. We encountered several shrimp boats fishing just outside the inlet. Hmm maybe we would find some fresh shrimp for sale in Beaufort.
We anchored in Taylor Creek just across from town. We hadn't been there long before we noticed the wild ponies grazing along the shoreline of Carrot Island.
It was lunchtime and we had leftover turkey but no bread. I guess I was falling down on the job. I noticed in the cruising guide that there was a bakery in town so sent Paul off to grab a loaf of bread. The bakery didn't have any bread but when Paul pouted and told the lady behind the counter that he had been really looking forward to his turkey and cranberry sandwich she told him she felt his pain and to wait a minute. She went into the adjoining restaurant and returned with four slices of bread. You have to love small towns!
We spent the afternoon wandering around town and through the maritime museum. That evening we had pizza and beer at Queen Anne's Revenge with Allan and Bev from Dagny and Rob and Lana from Our Diamond. It had been a long time since we had a good old fashioned pizza. It was delicious!
April 19 we headed north in the ICW to Oriental, NC. This is another favourite stop of ours along the way. We had hoped to get a spot on the town dock but no luck. They are on a first come first serve basis. You can stay for 48 hours. We had been invited to join the crew from Dagny for dinner on Jim and Debbie's beautiful m/v Drift Away. As we were heading in the harbour on our way to dinner we noticed a spot had become available on the dock so we roared back and got 2 Outrageous before anyone else could slide in there. Jim and Debbie are just starting out on their great loop adventure. They had the news for us that the Erie Canal does not open until May 19. While that gives us a date to work around it is a little later than we thought it was going to be opened.
We spent April 20 at the dock in Oriental. Dagny managed to snag a slip in the morning as well. We spent the day doing chores and laundry. We used the ICW trading Co bicycles to get to the store for some produce.
The next morning we did one more bike ride then departed Oriental around 10:30 for a great sail on the Neuse River. It was a hot day with a nice steady breeze. As we came in the more sheltered waters of the Pungo River those nasty flies known as the green meanies started harassing us. They bite so they are aptly named. We found a nice anchorage just before the Pungo Alligator River canal and thankfully there was a bit of a breeze in the anchorage so the green meanies subsided a bit.
April 22 was another hot day. We had a mixture of motoring, sailing and motor-sailing on this day as we travelled 61 nautical miles. Mid afternoon as we were crossing Albermarle Sound the wind dropped off and those green meanies came back. This time they were even worse. We broke both our fly swatters and had to use duct tape to fix them so we would each have a weapon. Once we made it across the sound the weather became very uncertain with lots of squalls and thunderstorms around. We anchored at Buck Island and were nicely protected with very good holding and water depth close in to shore. The storms continued through the night.
April 23 we woke to very different weather. It was cold and windy with rather poor visibility. We travelled 40 nautical miles to Great Bridge, VA where we found enough room for 2 Outrageous and Dagny on the free dock. This was a great place to hang out until the nasty weather passed by. We spent three nights at the Great Bridge dock. It was only a short Uber ride to Walmart for some provisions. A ten minute walk across the bridge had us at a grocery store. A five minute walk in the other direction would get us to Lockside Pub where they had great happy hour appetizers and drinks for a reasonable price. There was a beautiful park beside the dock with very well maintained hiking trails through a pine forest. The forest floor was covered in giant pink lady slipper orchids. We also saw a large black snake that caused our lead walker Bev to jump straight up in the air. The snake was not a bad one we were told by a local. It had a small pointy head. Apparently you check the shape of the head first. If the snake's head is large, flat and angular in shape, head the other way. Good to know!
Bev prepared a delicious butter chicken dinner onboard Dagny which we really enjoyed and of course Paul has been thinking about how to adopt that recipe to the pressure cooker. This will be a good addition to our rotation of pressure cooker meals.
The weather improved greatly on April 26 so it was time to get rolling again. When caught the 09:00 bridge opening then slid into the Great Bridge Lock where we were raised up about eighteen inches. We stopped at Top Rack marina for some diesel fuel at $2.00 per gallon. Can't beat that price! We travelled only 14 nautical miles but it took us almost four hours because of two extended bridge closures due to train crossings. We slid into the downtown Portsmouth free docks and enjoyed the rest of the day wandering around beautiful downtown Portsmouth, VA. That evening we headed to the historical Commodore Theatre and enjoyed the movie "Going in Style". The Commodore Theatre is a fully restored dinner theatre with comfortable tables and chairs with state of the art screen and sound. We didn't have dinner there but we did indulge in some dessert while we enjoyed the movie. When we returned to the boats that evening we found the tide had come up so high it was over the docks and we had to wade through the water then boost ourselves up on the fenders to climb onto the side decks.
The temperature had been climbing as well as the humidity. We set out from Portsmouth on April 27 and travelled through busy Norfolk harbour. We passed several aircraft carriers and battleships docked in the Navy yards and just missed seeing a submarine returning to the harbour from sea. We were several miles out into Chesapeake Bay when we heard the security call on the radio warning boats to keep their distance from the submarine. Or else!
The winds were light so those nasty flies were after us again. Strangely enough when we anchor in the evening they seem to leave.
The only time they are attacking is when you are out in the big water. We travelled 51 nautical miles and stopped at Hills Bay near Deltaville, VA.
On April 28 we parted company with Dagny for a couple of days as they were stopping to visit some family in the area while we continued north. We had to weave our way among hundreds of crab pots until we reached deeper water out in the bay. The morning was foggy so the visibility was poor until the fog burned off leaving bright sunshine and a warm 28 degrees. The flies came back but we were ready for them this time and had lowered quite a bit of our cockpit enclosure. It didn't completely keep them out but certainly reduced them. Even still we were armed with our duct tape re-inforced super swatters at all times. We went 59 nautical miles before anchoring near the mouth of the Patuxent River at Solomons Island. The anchorage was close to a naval airbase so we were entertained by all kinds of fighters and helicopters flying overhead.