We had a humdinger of a storm last night. It started just after we arrived at Dowry Creek Marina at 3pm. We were the only transients here and we were put on an inside slip for a little protection. The marina is very exposed to the east and north east which is where the weather was to come from. We trussed Rafiki up like a turkey and put out lots of fenders in this short, weird, diagonal slip. Anyhow, we bounced around and listened to the howling wind and the blasting rain. When it rains it drips or pours, in this case, off the canvas covering the cockpit right above my head in my bunk where I am sleeping! Sometimes I dream I am drowning! I have always loved the sound and smell of rain. It must be a result of my childhood growing up in Africa when you could smell the rain coming hours before it arrived and I sat on a verandah listening, watching and enjoying the cooling winds. The rain stopped at about 6am. It was good to start the day dry!

As we were leaving the slip we hit a bit of debris with a klonk, no damage done it was just the keel.

The passage was easy today no shallow patches up the Pungo River and into the very long and narrow Alligator Pungo Canal that joins the two rivers. The Alligator River gets ever wider out of the canal, it becomes quite a large body of water and with a following wind was quite bouncy. It was enough to make Otto our auto pilot (he was the school bus driver in the Simpsons, remember?) throw in his hand and we hand steered to our destination.

At the Alligator River Swing Bridge we had no reply to our request for an opening, nothing! The bridge just opened when we were close.

Entering the canal, between the breakwater for the Alligator River Marina was a bit boisterous. There was a only one other boat here, Pegasus out of Solomons, MD heading north. We are the Snow Goose leaders! We had a chat, mostly about the bridge keeper and the weather for crossing the infamous Albemarle Sound which can be uncomfortable in the wrong conditions. If the wind opposes the current there can be very short, sharp, chop. It's quite shallow which accentuates the problem.

We learned from the dockhand that the bridgekeeper had suffered a stroke and often does not respond, just opens the bridge on request. Transiting a bridge opening is an act of trust, one has to know that it will open, sailboats don't have brakes! One has to know that if the bridge has a mechanical failure (it happens, the bridge gets stuck) that it will be communicated. While I feel sympathy for the guy I think this is a dangerous situation. It was the same keeper that would not open for wind conditions on our way south. See blog 11/18/14 on our way down, now we know why we couldn't understand him and maybe his judgement about wind conditions was faulty.

We had a nice walk around the marina, we were welcomed by the owner, Ms Wanda and spoke with the crew of Pegasus.

Roast pork loin with white beans and couscous tonight.

Let's see what tomorrow brings.