10/26 - 10/28/2015
The winds were predicted to be stronger than they ended up being so we sailed from Elizabeth City down the Pasquotank River and across the Albermarle Sound with only the head sail blowing. The consistent 19 - 23 knot winds on the stern pushed us along at 7 - 8 knots, a great sail going 81 miles in all. Lucky for us the predicted waves of 6 feet on the Sound were only four feet at the most. It was rough enough that we heard a couple boats radio that they were turning back, but really it was not that bad. Just before the Alligator River Bridge a huge fishing boat roared by us trying to make the opening. Don turned Nemo into his wake just in time to keep from being thrown all over. The bridge attendant sternly reprimanded him, reminding him of the no wake rule in the channel, however he did make the opening. We knew we weren't making it. By the time we got to the bridge, it had closed, cleared the traffic and reopened. We heard people grumbling over the radio about the manner less fishing boat plowing through, hurrying on his way. Arriving at Dowery Creek Marina at 5:45, we were greeted by old friends Carl and Melissa. We traveled down the coast with them last year when they had S/V Perceptions, along with SeaQuell. This year they have the larger S/V Bay Breezin. Their keel is now 1/2 ft deeper than Nemo when last year it was almost a foot shallower - a whole new ball game for them! After fueling, pump out and showers, Carl and Melissa fed us supper and we had a great night catching up and finally a tour of the new boat. It is a beauty! They are going to be very happy on their new (to them) Hunter. We slept well and the next day we borrowed the courtesy car and drove to Belhaven for lunch. The tour of the town did not take long and our restaurant of choice was closed Monday and Tuesday so we ate at Fish Hooks, good southern comfort food. We could cross a stop at Belhaven off the list. Nemo spent many times anchored just outside on the Pungo River when we docked in little Washington and I vowed to some day actually see the town, lol. That night we went to the 5:30 meet and greet with the Snowbird Rally. The clubhouse was packed and quickly became quite warm. We finally went out to the wide porch overlooking the creek, chatting ir relative quiet. The mosquitos soon found us and as we could not make it through the crowd to the food we decided to go back to Bay Breezin for a game of Mexican Train Dominoes. Being a bit rusty, it took a while to remember how to play, luckily Carl and Melissa were still in practice! The wind howled through the rigging and rain was predicted so we decided to stay put for another night. It did indeed rain off and on the next day and I spent most of it holed up on Nemo, reading and catching up on the blog. Don worked on Bay Breezin with Carl trying to get the AIS and distress signal working. They were successful! Dinner on Nemo that night and the second half of dominoes.