We awoke while still experiencing the very calm and very dark night at anchor. I was thankful for the fact that we had made it before total darkness fell upon the anchorage. I was also thankful that we had pushed on to this anchorage, because NOAA was predicting gale force winds for this evening, and I wanted to be in my home slip before the big winds hit.

We pulled up the anchor and were underway at first light. The sunrise reflecting on the calm water was truly spectacular! Sheryl took the first shift at the helm, motoring along a very calm ICW, while I put the deck wash through some serious paces (being careful not to disconnect and get sprayed again). I took a sponge and some SoftScrub forward and scrubbed the deck, especially where our running shoes had left marks. Interesting to note that those same shoes never left marks on Ashiya. (Looks like we are going to have to get a different type of walking shoe to wear on this boat during cooler weather, when sandals will not suffice).

We decided to take turns at the helm in two hour shifts, allowing each other to do chores and unwind while on 'downtime.' During Sheryl's time off, she contacted Deaton's in Oriental and asked if someone could take a look at our leaking problem. They were swamped with transient boaters (due to the snowbird migration) and suggested that we call back later that afternoon to see if they could make someone available. Sheryl also gave the dodger plastic a good cleaning during her time away from the helm. Queste was looking prettier by the moment.

During Sheryl's next shift, I turned my efforts to cleaning the interior cabin. Dust had accumulated while she sat on the hard, and I used damp paper towel to corral the dust bunnies into the garbage. Soon, Sheryl made a request for lunch. I decided to use our fancy baguette bread, sliced into thin circles, to make little teeny-tiny PB&J sandwiches. I laid them out on our cutting board and set a pile of ginger cookies on the side. I took it up to the cockpit and presented my special 'Peanut Butter and Jelly Sushi', explaining that the ginger cookies were to be used to cleanse the palate between sushi pieces. I thought that this was exceptionally cute. Sheryl didn't seem to agree. I assumed that it was due to the fact that our minds were heavy with the decision about whether to take the boat to Oriental for repair of the leak or simply go home to Whortonsville (I later learned that she was just hungry, and my efforts to make this spread took longer than a simple sandwich would have required).

At the end of her shift, Sheryl contacted Deaton's and they made the decision easy for us. They had no room for us to bring the boat in, no ability to haul it out, and nobody who could look at it. We were going to Whortonsville, and would deal with the leak as best we could there. I happily turned our course to Green #1 at the mouth of Broad Creek. We were in familiar waters at last. Who knows, with all the boating experience around the marina, perhaps someone could suggest a fix for our leak.

MOVIE: Dolphin sighting

As we rounded the mark to enter Broad Creek, we were greeted by the largest pod of dolphin we had seen in all of our travels. There were big ones, and small ones. Some coming so close to the boat you could reach out and touch them. Unfortunately, this coincided with some very shallow readings on the depth sounder. As low as 3.5-feet! This is alarming when you know that you draw 4'11". I shouted for Sheryl, who was up at the bow taking pictures and movies of the dolphins, to come back and give me another set of eyes. She replied, "You are doing fine, hun, just take it easy." I had to be a bit more emphatic for her to realize that we were in dire straights. In retrospect, it all sounds very similar to our first dolphin sighting from a sailboat back in Belize, with our friends Steph and Bruno, near the infamous Porto Stucko.Click here to jump back to one of our earliest sailing experiences aboard their boat, Artemesia.

As it turns out, the depth gauge on Queste is off by at least 1.5 foot, possibly as high as 2 feet. As a result, the audible alarm (set to go off at anything less than 4 feet) continued to sound all the way up the creek. At least as far as I am aware, though, we did not touch the bottom.

We spotted Ensign Harbor, and pulled the boat up to tie off at the end of the dock. Nick greeted us and we discussed how to handle our current situation of owning two boats. Due to the gale which was expected this evening, we wanted our new boat in the slip and would be willing to find a temporary home for Ashiya. We tried to take her around the inside, between the main and the dingy dock, where a slip was empty; however, the water was too shallow. After going aground three times (good thing Ashiya has such a strong engine), we decided to take her around to the other side and tie up to the side of the main dock.

Sheryl and I moved Queste into her new home, and gave Iron Jenny a much deserved rest. We invited Nick and Janette to join us aboard the boat for sundowners in gratitude for helping us with all of the late afternoon boat wrestling. We were home at last. After early cocktails, we set about settling in for the evening. The marina was quiet and the weekend crowd had yet to arrive.


Day 5 Statistics:

Start: Pungo River Anchorage, NC (35�33.575' N, 76�28.185'W)
End: Ensign Harbor, Whortonsville, NC (35�05.784' N, 76�38.006'W)

Nautical Miles Traveled: 42.66
Hours En Route: 8.0