Perseverance2

Wednesday we headed north on the Alligator River, aiming for the Virginia Cut of the ICW. But first......as we turn north onto the river, we are met with strong north winds, in the 20-27 range, making for a rather bumpy ride. Another boat, well ahead, radioed back that the Albemarle Sound was ‘not very nice’ and he would not recommend crossing. Great! Alternate plan - take one of the anchorages at the north end of the river, past the bridge, and try again tomorrow.
But wait....Now one of the boats calls the bridge tender of the Alligator River Bridge, a swing bridge that must open to allow the boats to go through, to verify that the wind is not too strong for an opening. Nope, the wind is not too strong, BUT there is a maintenance crew starting to do repair work on the bridge and the bridge will not open and they don’t know when it will open. Great again! Was there any announcement of this? No. A half-hour later the Coast Guard makes the announcement. Gee, thanks.
So now there were six boats in wait status. One anchored close to the opening span; four of us opted to anchor close to the western shore; one was far behind and just slowed their approach. If the bridge did not open again that day, we could not get to the north anchorages, there was little protection where we were, guess we could turn around and retreat to another anchorage.
Suddenly - JOY! They were going to do a test opening of the span, and boats there could go through. Six anchors pulled, six boats skeedaddled, and one power boat came charging up the river and we all get through! One amazing thing-this is an area well known for submerged logs/deadheads that can entangle an anchor, cause havoc, and maybe even anchor forfeiture. Not one of us ran into this problem.
By this time, we all acknowledged that the wind seemed to have calmed. We were only seeing 12-14 knots, not the earlier 20’s. Skip those northern anchorages, across the Albemarle Sound we charged. Not the calmest ride, but not horrible. Once on the other side, we were again seeing gusts over 20. Another windy night was predicted, so we opted to tie up at Coinjock Marina. Thursday could get us to the Norfolk area - we were getting close to home!
Thursday into Great Bridge, VA, just outside Norfolk, and Friday, thru Norfolk into Hampton, to visit with two sets of friends at the Hampton Yacht Club. Sixty miles from home.