Ok! Ok! I missed a day.....Sorry. Alright, two. Three?! Damn it there has been four days now.

Here's the catch up of the sailing adventures of the traveling Turney's.

Our departure from Norfolk was not without its memorable moments....the first bridge that we came to that required an opening had opened earlier at 0800 but by the time that we got there at 0900 it not only wasn't opening but no one could get a response from the operator on the radio. Finally around 0925 he came on the radio with the story that he was taking a bathroom break. Well! A one and a half hour pottie break!? All I can say is I hope things all worked out in the end for him. Then we had a pleasant little putt to Great Bridge and the lock where we discovered that the south side free dock was undergoing a transformation. Into what I don't know but we won't be able to dock there any more at least not for free.

Our planned stop for the day was intended to be at Pungo Ferry but that too was a non starter as the defunct marina where I planned to stop had a fake pirate ship tied across the dock and there were "piss off and die" signs all over the place, so we continued on to Coinjock. I really wanted to bypass this place this year since a) you have to stop at a marina, and b) this was the site of the kidney stone attack that I had last time we came through. Not great memories but the Midway Marina is a nice place, it is 30% cheaper than its across the canal competitor, and in the end we had no choice.

Alan and Heather came over for dinner and yours truly got to show off with scallops Alfredo and Heather really outdid herself with a salad and salad dressing made from sesame oil as a base and Barb did a desert from stove top pound cake and ice cream. Yum!

This morning we got away (a lot better than the last time we were here. I guess even an idiot like me can learn) and headed on further toward our end objective of warmer climates finishing the day at the east end of the Alligator River Pungo Creek Canal. As I write this we are anchored just at the mouth looking at a beautiful sunset. We almost didn't stay as it took two tries to get the anchor to set. First time it was in but when I backed down on it we were obviously ploughing the bottom. Appropriate with a plough anchor. Since we stopped there has been one boat barge on through and down the canal and two more creeping in to anchor and as I look out over the stern I can see yet another arriving.

Tomorrow the idea is to head out and head for an anchorage at Bellhaven and go in, hit an ATM, and do some shopping. Mostly groceries but the rum bottle is getting to look rather sad.

But then in the morning when we went to turn over the motor the cranking bank was flat and due to an innovative idea in wiring so that we have a 12 volt starter motor we can't use the house bank as a backup without jumper cables and guess what we decided that we didn't need on this trip? And by we I really mean me. You guessed it. The jumper cables. Sigh. Well a call in to TowBoat US and they were on their way but they were three hours away so I pulled out our little suitcase generator which by happy chance has an inverter on it and set it to work recharging the battery. Two hours later and vroooooom she was back to life and we set off chasing Moonlight Maid down the canal to Bellehaven. Heather was gracious enough to invite us over for an outstanding pork tenderloin dinner when we got there by way of a cool down after a crappy day. We had thought of spending the next day in Bellehaven to grocery shop and fix the batteries. Oh did I mention that after a full day of charging the lower 12 volt cell of the cranking bank which is what we use to start the engine still only showed 11.5 volts? I had been wondering why the charge didn't equalized over the upper and lower cells and I guess the reason is that one or both the of the lower 12 volt batteries is kaput! Then we discover that the town has no grocery store near the dock nor an automotive store where I could get new batteries. But I did find a hardware store and I was able to buy a new set of jumper cables which......

......came in very useful this morning to boost the engine and get us under way. At 1530 we anchored in South River well positioned for a start tomorrow to head for Morehead City. Both Moonlight Maid and Nelleke will be spending a day or two there to get some boat chores and some domestic administration taken care of.