Day 30 - Sun 26 Apr 2015
Anchored - Little Alligator River, NC

[photo: Diane trying to stay warm during a cold snap in NC]

We slept very comfortably last night, although we did awake around 0300 for me to check the lines at the dock. With no lunar tidal height changes here, it was very simple and easy to tie up. It was a stroke of luck that our deck height was almost exactly the same as the dock. How often does that happen?

Still awake for a bit, I rechecked the weather for the area we plan to travel over the next 3-4 days and so far it looks like today will be the worst of it, and hopefully not too bad. I saw Ariel awake before 0700 so I went over to chat about the weather and our plans. We had been describing different anchorages on the Alligator River when we last spoke, so this was important to clarify. Theirs was at the end of the long, protected (if ugly and boring) waters of the Alligator/Pungo canal. Mine was at the extreme N end of Alligator River, about 20 miles further.

Before we left, I got the small pork loin roast into the crock pot with seasoning and chicken broth. Once we were underway and the engine-driven alternators were pumping voltage back into the batteries, Diane would turn it on and let it cook for the whole time we were running.

Not long after getting underway, we saw 2 large motor-yachts joining the ICW from a marina and were glad they cut in front of us to avoid an awkward pass later. A third large motor-yacht passed us, as well as a smaller fast boat. Other than that, the only excitement for the first 2/3 of the trip was a commercial barge coming S that took up a good bit of the available width. We moved over and found less than 5 feet of water pretty quickly, but the depth is not the scary part. For mile after mile we could see stumps that were barely a foot above the water. Who knows how many are just a foot below the water level waiting to hole your hull or tear off your running gear, should you stray too far over?

About 4 hours into the passage, we passed the southernmost anchorage and it was fairly calm. We could have stopped there, but it was only 1100 and that would leave a much longer distance to travel tomorrow. We agreed on the VHF radio to carry on another 10 minutes until we could gauge the conditions with the 15-20 kt N wind blowing straight down the Alligator River. It wasn't fun, but didn't seem too bad, so we agreed to keep going.

The waves were only 2-3 feet, but the larger ones slammed into the bridgedeck between the hulls, making a loud slap. On the sailboat, we would have porpoised (pitched nose up then down) more, but it would have been less jarring. The uncomfortable passage would have been almost twice as long, however, because those waves would have slowed the sailboat to a crawl. Our PDQ just kept going at 7.2-7.7 kts with no hiccups.

During the trip, even before the rocking and rolling began, Diane was uncomfortably cool, so she had her turtleneck, hooded sweatshirt, long socks, and wool afghan blanket on her sitting on the settee. I offered to run the generator and turn on the cabin heater, but she didn't think it necessary, nor did I.

Finally, we got through the swing bridge and started working our way into a twisty deep channel of the Little Alligator River lined heavily with crab pot buoys. At some point, we both said our location was good enough to be out of the wave action from the N winds and set our anchors. It was only 1330 but felt much later.

We relaxed as best we could, but there is still enough wave action that it is not exactly peaceful. After a short nap, we got the supper together. Turning on the generator for a half hour allowed us to heat water, recharge batteries, run the heater, and the microwave to heat supper. The pork was wonderful, served with mashed potatoes, broccoli, and sauerkraut. We are so glad to have received that tip about using the crock pot while underway.

Not terribly surprisingly, there is no Internet service for my smartphone here. I was able to call Ariel at the pre-arranged time of 1700 to discuss weather, and his service worked well enough to confirm that the weather forecast from this morning is still the same tonight. With that, we plan to head to Manteo n Roanoke Island for 2 days, and then head to Elizabeth City.

Making that deviation to Manteo will add about 40 miles to the trip in addition to just following along the ICW, but this trip is all about enjoyment and we have already realized we are just a bit too far N for the current weather.

I should close with two facts. So far, almost everywhere we have stopped, there has been a free (open) Wi-Fi connection to be had. Sometimes it was slow, and I reverted to using my Verizon mobile hotspot on my phone. That plan has 6 GB of data, so it is generally adequate, but anytime you can use another source, you can save your data for when you really need it. Second, this stop today in the middle of nowhere is the first time that I have not had a data connection from the Verizon phone. I was able to make a phone call, but that's it. This blog will be posted sometime late Mon morning, I hope.