October 18th, 2009 Alligator River to Broad Creek, NC
The wind continued to howl all night from the NW. The alarm didn't go off so we weighed anchor closer to 8 than 7am. It was cold. Our new wind gauge has a wind chill calculator and it didn't hit 40 degrees all day. Some of you know that I don't believe in wind chill, but I must say that living outdoors day after day in damp, cold windy conditions begins to make a case.
We motored through the Alligator Pungo Canal, hoisting the staysail a couple of times to take advantage of the few open areas where some wind was present. Mostly we motored. After 20 miles we hit the Pungo River and were able to sail along nicely. Kathy and I had discussed stopping a Belhaven for a day to get off the boat and walk to the store, but it was too miserable to go anywhere out of doors.
Turning the corner we checked the time and decided to cross the Pamlico and continue south for a while. The winds were at 20 but mostly behind us so the trip across relatively open water wasn't too bad. Coming out of the Pamlico and into Goose Creek we met a shrimper. We were under sail maneuvering through a narrow spot when we decided that a game of chicken was in order. As I moved to the starboard... out of the channel he aimed right at us and matched every move I made. Finally, he backed off when we were about 50 feet away and I had no more room.
We were aiming for Bear Creek just out of the canal and into the bay river, but when we arrived there it was still daylight so we motored out into the Neuse for a couple of hours, finally turning into Broad Creek for the night. The Neuse was rough and winds were at 25 to 30kts with higher gusts. At times the wind was blowing spray off the breaking waves. On bare poles and with the engine idling we ran at 8 knots for an hour before making our way into Broad Creek to get out of the wind.
The engine keeps our cabin reasonably warm, but we like to cook in the oven when it's this cold. I tossed in a sweet potato and later some ham which we had with the last of the broccoli. It made a very nice dinner after a long cold day.