Passage National Park Service Docks to Manteo Waterfront Marina, Manteo, NC
7:01 AM Underway
4:16 PM Docked port side to.
9.8 engine hours 67 miles

Bye OCRACOKE! We might be back soon for the Ocrafolk Festival in June. In reality, our household duties we’ve neglected for six months will keep us from going back that soon. As I type this, we are on a 30 mile stretch across the Pamlico Sound. It’s 7:40 AM, as I start today’s blog entry, and the chart plotter says we have 31 miles, (4 hours) on this same course. Thank goodness for the autopilot. I would go nuts steering the same course for 4 hours. I still have to watch for crab pots, however. I’m going to clean the vinyl windows and straighten up the fly bridge some, as we go.

There is a big forest fire on the western shore of the Pamlico Sound. I certainly see the smoke from it, as we pass by that area. There is also a very unnatural, gray color cloud from the smoke. Check the news to see if it is out yet. Fourteen thousand acres have burned so far.

As the day progressed, we neared the Outer Banks of North Carolina (OBX) and saw the Oregon Inlet bridge, the Bodie Lighthouse and Jockey’s Ridge, all from the sound side. This is a much different view than when you drive down Highway 12. This is also true of visiting all the port towns by water instead of by car. You actually see why these towns were important, through time.

The weather changed all day long from a slight northerly wind and waves hitting the bow, to a calm and very nice ride. Then, suddenly, the wind switched to the south and started picking up. Of course by the time we got to Manteo the wind was about 20 knots. Turning into the very narrow Manteo channel, it was tough getting the bow to turn through the wind. I was blown out of the channel with full rudder and moderate power and the depth dropped to almost 0 feet. I didn’t feel the boat touch the bottom and we finally started down the channel for our destination marina. Our radio might be on the blink, as the dock master never heard us and we headed for an open spot on the T dock. Lots of people, even a couple of Harley riders, were ready to help with the windy conditions. Not sure if tomorrow will be a travel day or not.
Today’s picture is accumulated smoke from a large North Carolina forest fire, which appeared above us as a totally detached, hazy, dark gray cloud.