Leg 3 of Transit South to KW
28 October 2014 | Dowry Creek, NC
We raised anchor at 0715 after an uneventful night with excellent holding and little to no wind, and I retraced my track out of the creek to ensure I had enough depth. Once clear of the creek entrance, Stu took lookout watch on the bow to spot and avoid crabpots and so we could rejoin the AICW in the quickest manner right at the entrance to the Albemarle Sound. The challenge was that the glare from the sun off the water was exactly the direction that we were headed. If it were poor visibility or at night, I wouldn’t recommend this approach back to the AICW given the great number of crabpots but with Stu on bow watch, it worked great and allowed us to progress and not waste time since the anchorage was a few miles off the AICW.
Once we entered the Albemarle Sound, the wind picked up to about 12-18kts and was right on the nose. We were lucky that there wasn’t too much chop so we still made comfortable progress. The Albemarle Sound reminded me of the Chesapeake’s Eastern Bay albeit a little shallower, only about 15-20ft deep. Here, the traffic seemed to diverge and converge – at the northern Sound most of the fast-moving powerboats went east to take the Roanoke Sound path, and near the southern Sound the Virginia Cut and Great Dismal Swamp ICW routes converged right before maneuvering to line up for the Alligator River Swing Bridge. Also, when we entered the Sound, cell coverage and internet access went away and pretty much disappeared for the rest of the day – at best, we had spotty, low data-rate comms.
The Alligator River was picturesque and moderate depth with not too many crabpots, allowing us and two other sailboats to spread out a bit after being bunched at the Swing Bridge opening. All of us were making about 6.5-7kts. Occasionally, we were passed by motorboats (sportfish, trawlers and tugs mostly). We even saw someone under full sail shooting across the river who obviously didn’t have much of a schedule to keep.
All that changed when we entered the Alligator River-Pungo River Canal. Here, the canal is narrow with obvious, and not-so-obvious, stumps sticking out of the water near the shoreline. It also got much warmer. Previously, we all had a couple of layers on, but now we began shedding the high-tech undergarments we had to keep the cold from biting down to our skin. It was actually pleasant here with bright, sunny skies and comfortable temperatures!
At this point, we were hailed on the VHF by S/V NautiPleasures who had joined up behind us at the Swing Bridge and kept station there down the Alligator River. They were curious as to our mast height since the Wilkerson Bridge marks the southern end of the canal and is the shortest bridge on the Mid-Atlantic portion of the AICW at 64ft. I told them that our critical mast height was 63.5ft although the VHF whip antenna extended to just above 64ft. They responded that it was the same for them. As we were talking, S/V NautiPleasures spotted a bear in one of the trees lining the canal so we all began scouring the shoreline for wildlife. We saw several turtles on logs and also deer on the shoreline, but no bears. We did have a passing southbound barge and tug pass us going the other way, making the tight canal interesting as we gave way to the shallower stbd side.
Near the lower end of the canal, a large 50ft Jeanneu passed S/V NautiPleasures and was between the two of us. As we passed under the 65ft Fairfield bridge, we cleared fine not even touching the VHF whip, but the 50ft boat’s VHF antenna tickled the bottom so we and S/V NautiPleasures began speculating about the Wilkerson Bridge and what was going to take place there. The 50ft sailboat never came up on VHF even when hailed.
At the Wilkerson Bridge, the tide and height signs showed about 64.5ft available and we crossed underneath with only our VHF antenna glancing the bridge girders. Whew! Stu and Heather both picked up binoculars to watch the scene unfold behind us. The 50ft sailboat stopped in front of the bridge and began inching its way underneath – you could see the shadow of the bridge slowly make its way up the genoa furler – and someone onboard was leaning out over the side looking up, obviously advising the helmsman. At one point, the sailboat tuned to stbd slightly, likely to miss the mid-span light that hangs down a few inches. From Stu’s binocular viewpoint, it appeared that the mast was bumping underneath but the boat finally emerged on the other side. S/V NautiPleasures, like us, had no problem either but reported from their vantage that the 50ft boat also hit the girders with its mast. (Later, Stu looked up the mast height for that model and it’s listed at 64.5ft). Yikes, too close for comfort!!
After a couple miles past Wilkerson Bridge, we pulled off the AICW into Dowry Creek and dropped anchor across from the marina there in about 9ft of water at 1715. A ten-hour transit today. We watched the sun go down with “sundowners” in-hand, beer for Heather and Stu and a Dark-and-Stormy for me. We went over our “Goods and Glums” for the day, agreeing that there were way more “Goods” than “”Glums.” I also learned Heather’s new nickname – Heather Finnski – for her much-appreciated, frugal options that she always has at the ready!
In all, we’re ahead of schedule, which is good. Our goal tomorrow is to get to Beaufort, NC so we can fill-up, pump-out and provision. Then, we’ll assess the upcoming weather and finalize plans for the next Leg. Stay tuned!