Passage Manteo Waterfront Marina to Coinjock Marina
7:49 AM Underway
1:26 PM Docked Port side to face dock
6.7 engine hours 37 Nautical Miles

Ok, lets make a run for it be fore the wind picks up this afternoon. South wind 5-10 will be at lease behind us going across the Albemarle Sound. It’s supposed to rain this afternoon. So, off with the lines and away we go.
And I go out the Manteo Channel with out and incident. I actually go around the entrance marker on the correct side this morning!
Now turning north the wind seems a bit out of the west. South by southwest I guess. out the harbor channel we Everything is going ok as we head up the Roanoke sound with the land blocking any wave action. Hum as we round the north end of Roanoke Island I get the feeling that the 9 miles of open water of the Albemarle Sound is not going to be fun. So, I plot the straightest shot to the North River on the north side of the Albemarle and things are still not bad. And, as we break into the Albemarle Sound for our 9 mile 1 1/2 hour crossing things get uncomfortable. We have what is known as confused seas. Waves hitting us broadside and a following sea hitting our stern. Ok weather, make your mind up, wind out of the west, or wind out of the south. Oh, did I mention crab pots? Well there were everywhere. Liquid Therapy’s autopilot is just drawn to crab pots. So, I’d kick the Autoplilot off. Dodge the crab pilot and re-ingage the autopilot only to have it take a bead on another. Susan I would get a rhythm going on our rolling boat that we could count on. Then I’d have to dodge another crab pot. But it really look liked I had the autopilot set on seek and destroy crab pot mode. Actually I reduced the sensitivity on the autopilot to the least sensitive position - allowing the autopilot not to try to fight the waves so much. It lets the boat do what the boat wants to do and then slowly gets the boat on track. The ride is much better.
We finally got to the northern end o the Albemarle, up into the North river and things got back to normal. That felt good. But I knew this was one of those days that you would still be bouncing when you went to sleep. And, for Peter’s sake, don’t close your eyes in the shower or you will certainly fall out of the shower.
We docked at Coinjock Marina without incident and then it started raining. Off and on. But we were glad we were tucked in at the dock as it might thunderstorm later. I thought I’d get a nap in before dinner. But somehow that didn’t happen. We both got baths and got ready for dinner at the marina restaurant. Dinner was great. Susan had crab cakes and I had surf and turf. The restaurant is famous for its steaks. It has a 32 oz steak. I got a 12 oz and I’m sure it was much larger than 12. I ate about 1/3 of that and we both took lots back to the boat from our dinners. It was pouring down rain and lightning flashing as we left the restaurant. We had our rain jackets and will sleep good tonight. We both were whipped today from the rough ride. Pretty sure we are going to make it to Chesapeake on Norfolk tomorrow.
Today’s picture is a peak through Liquid Therapy’s windshield at Coinjock Marina.