Brrrrr....Sunday morning in Mile Hammock Anchorage and it's only 51 degrees.  Fog low on the water and everything outside is wet.  Still, as you can see, we were treated to another beautiful sunrise.  It's uplifting and makes us anxious to start another day.  We're close to home at Mile Marker 244 and ready for another long day. 

Saturday's travel was a little tough once we got through the Cape Fear River and past the Wrightsville Beach area.  There are lots of small inlets in this NC stretch and we seemed to hit them all at low tide and foul current - bumped bottom a couple of times but our training in the Chesapeake Bay has taught us well how to recover quickly when the keel hits bottom.   We kept pushing on and managed to put another 60 nm behind us.  Our payoff was anchoring in Mile Hammock Anchorage near Camp Lejeune, NC.  It was a peaceful spot and good holding so our evening was quiet and short.

Sunday was another mile-buster -- this time 80 nm.  Current was a bit kinder and we managed to motor-sail for a little extra push -- past Swansboro, and The Salty Sheep (my second-favorite yarn shop), Moorhead City/Beaufort, Adams Creek, and into the Neuse River.  Sails up and we were in Hobucken Cut (Goose Creek) in no time.  After motoring close to the north end of the creek we tucked ourselves into Campbell Creek, another new stop for us -- shallow but good spot as we found space between all the crab pots.  It was close to 7pm, so a quick meal and to bed.  One of the highlights of the day was to talk on the radio with the captain on the sailboat Tommy Dundee.  We first spoke with him at about 2am somewhere abeam of Hilton Head as we both worked our way north in the ocean.  Today we learned the family (mom, dad and 2 teenage daughters) are returning from a one year cruise to Maine, Canada, and the Bahamas.  They were very excited for home was Oriental and they probably pulled into their slip around 5pm.  Such fun to hear their story.

By now we're getting used to being up at 5:30 (unlike our 7:30 wake-ups in Marathon), so Monday we left Campbell Creek just before dawn -- only .5 m back on the ICW so it was an easy departure.  We motored out of Goose Creek into the Pamlico River where water was choppy and winds at 16.  It was raining and nasty, but we knew the storm was much worse south of us so we wanted to get north as quickly as possible and away from rain moving across the state. With the jib reefed we crossed into the Pungo River; about five miles up, winds and chop settled and the skies cleared. We continued to motor-sail up the river and into the Pungo-Alligator Canal.  Deep water made transit easy and it was a beautiful day.  We watched a powerboat slowly come up from behind; they caught us as we both entered the Alligator River.  Waves picked up quickly and current was against us so the boat, Carried Away, moved ahead.  In the last 10 miles of transiting the river, winds picked up and waves increased -- wind out of the NE at 12-16 k; Here we were again, just like 2 years ago, watching the winds kick up 20-25 with gusts to 30.  The bridge we needed to open for us doesn't open when winds exceed 34 knots.  About 5 miles out we heard Carried Away contact the bridge tender and offer to wait for his opening until we could catch up.  What a nice gesture!!  We got through the bridge with minimal nail-biting, turned 90 degrees west, and motored into the Alligator River Marina where we managed, with the help of a super dock hand, to land the boat in 15 knots, blowing us onto the dock.  Whew!!  Good to be tied to the sturdy dock.  

We had the pleasure of enjoying cocktails on the motor vessel Carried Away and meeting Bill and Joyce.  They are just finishing the Great Circle Loop, heading home to the York River.  An enjoyable evening of sharing travel experiences and called it a night.  Back on the ICW at 6:10 am this morning; we just passed Mile Marker 40 -- if all goes well, on the dock in Reedville tomorrow evening.