A weather delay!
19 October 2007 | Coinjock, N.C.
Jim Lea
This is day 2 in Coinjock, where one day would be more than sufficient! From Portsmouth to the Albemarle Sound, there are two canals to chose from, the Dismal Swamp route and the Virginia Cut route. The Dismal swamp is a bit longer, but much more scenic, has no commercial traffic and only two bridges that need to open, and they are timed with the locks. But the Virginia Cut route is closer to the Outer Banks. When we were in Portsmouth, we were planning on going to the Outer Banks, as we did last year, so we headed down the Virginia Cut route. It is not a fun route. At first, there are a bunch of bridges opening either on the hour or half hour, and spaced such that you have to go top speed, something I don't like doing to the engine, as it is 20 years old, and then you wait. Toss in a few commercial tugs pushing large barges that make no effort to move to one side of the channel, and a fleet of fellow cruising boats all jockeying for position at each bridge, and it makes for a stressful morning. Fortunately, by noon, we had gone through the last of the opening bridges, so we throttled back a bit and relaxed... until we checked the forecast and heard that it had changed to gale warnings in the outer banks. So we motored on to Coinjock, and tied up at Mid-way Marina (Coinjock is mid-way between Portsmouth and somewhere, I guess) behind a boat from Newfoundland. Talking with Vic and Marilyn Greeley, aboard their C&C 30, Whisper, we quickly found we had many friends and acquaintances in common! So we decided that we were there for two days until the weather improved, and today, I spent the day on jobs that had piled up. In the light winds of the Chesapeake, we did a lot of motoring, so it was time for my least favorite job, changing the oil, and with the fuel filters, that is a full morning. Then I replaced a pressure switch on a pump, did a bunch of internet bill paying, and it was late afternoon. We invited Vic and Marilyn over (Vic re-built a water pump during the day) for drinks and stories... Vic loves telling a good story, and seems to have lots. Then a dinner of spicy coconut shrimp with basmati rice and a sauvignon blanc for a change! And I know I will sleep well tonight!! Tomorrow sounds beautiful, so we'll head down Albemarle Sound to Manteo and the outer banks. Whisper is taking the traditional route, across the Albemarle, down the Alligator River and through yet another canal to the Pamlico Sound. It is about 10 miles shorter than our route, but very boring.