Impulse Cruising Again

As the sun came up so did our anchor, and it had stopped raining. We passed the mile 100 sign at 6:30 am, and then the rain started again. The wind picked up to 20-25 knots, on our nose, so the water was rough and we took water over the bow. Once we passed through the Alligator River bridge, we headed into Albemarle Sound. We had no cell service last night or most of the day, so we couldn't check our normal weather services (or post my blog entry!). The NOAA weather forecast was for winds 10-15 mph from the south. We saw up to 30 mph from the NE pretty much all day, with rain heavy at times. Bill asked if NOAA's office is in a basement somewhere with no windows... When wind blows across water for a distance (called the "fetch"), it gets very choppy, especially in a shallow body of water like the Albemarle Sound. The long fetch today brought the seas to about 4-5 feet, so lots of splashing and pounding went on. The photo shows Bill's view through the dodger window as water crashed over the starboard side of the boat. Once we crossed the Sound, the land shortened the fetch and the chop decreased quite a bit. Rain continued, so we hunkered down with soup for lunch. Around 2:00 we arrived at Coinjock Marina, which is in the middle of nowhere, but is the only game in town. We talked about continuing, but decided to stop overnight and not push our luck since we have to cross Coinjock Bay next. We fueled up and were told they could make room for us, but we would have to move up and down the long dock as boats arrived. And they did! Huge yachts and other big boats that I would have thought would keep going rather than stop here. There was a small cruise ship at the north end of the dock and when that left we moved there for the night. Meanwhile we moved around to get out of everyone's way - including across the canal at a closed marina for awhile! There is a small store here and they sell Tshirts (among other things) that say "whereinthehelliscoinjock?" and that makes sense once you are here and realize there is nothing else nearby. We had some wine on the boat and then went to dinner at the restaurant here. The food was actually good - I had crab bisque and Bill had Hatteras-style clam chowder (like New England but with no cream) and buffalo chicken wings - of course! It was all good. Back to the boat by dark, and it is still raining! Hopefully on our way to Norfolk tomorrow.

53 miles, 8 hours