Yesterday while Bud and Rick were crossing the Albemarle Sound, they were hearing conversations on the VHF radio that sounded like boaters in trouble with shallow water in the parts of the ICW they would be crossing today. As it turned out, they had no trouble at all. They had to watch the chart and buoys to make sure they stayed in the channel in both the Alligator and Pungo Rivers. The channel was generally 100 to 200 yards wide and about 15 feet deep. Another 50 yards outside the channel, it was 1 to 2 feet deep.

Because of the narrow channel it was another day of motoring, but they did fly the staysail in both rivers, although not in the cut between. The engine continued to run well, the staysail gave them an extra knot and they arrived at Belhaven at about 3 PM after racking up another 50 nautical miles.

They must have crossed some sort of line, because Bud called me at about 4 PM to ask me where the screen for the hatch was. They were having trouble with both flies and mosquitoes! Flies and mosquitoes when Friday morning they'd woken up to ice on the dock. Bud said it was about 70 degrees out.

Tonight is crew change night. Rick Sampson is coming in this evening. The guys are planning a good seafood dinner at a local restaurant, then tomorrow Rick Sindoni will take the rental car back to New Bern, NC, and after washing the only pair of jeans he brought, fly out Monday for Buffalo. Bud and Rick 1 did really well, pushing south almost 300 miles. And now when it's finally getting warm, Rick gets to go back to Buffalo. Fine reward, but thank you so much, Rick.