Today we faced the choice: Either cross Albemarle Sound in good conditions even though it meant a long day or stop short of it and hope tomorrows weather is okay.

In anticipation of this, we got started very early this morning: We were moving by 0600 despite having to re-bleed the fuel lines when the engine failed to start. We caught a few helpful currents, and were able to motorsail for about 10 miles up the Pungo river. We saved more time by refueling while underway in the Pungo-Alligator Canal (see picture). All these little things added up to our passing through the Alligator River Bridge at 3:30 in the afternoon...At that time, there was less than 10 knots of wind, a very small chop, few clouds, and no rain showing on the NEXRAD radar with 400 miles of us. In other words, the conditions for crossing the sound were almost ideal. Considering that the forecast for tomorrow is for 20+ knots winds with showers and thunderstorms, the choice was clear: We kept going.

The crossing itself would have been extremely dull if it weren't for the need to dodge thousands of crab-pot floats and we never saw any winds over 6 knots. We worked our way up the bay and around behind Buck Island where there is an anchorage with good protection from south winds. We found it occupied by six other boats, but we had no trouble fitting in. We even got here with a bit more than an hour of daylight left! When I finally sat down belowdecks and added things up, we had covered 97 miles today...That's a LONG day!

We'll probably get thumped by storms late tonight, but I plan to be asleep...

(36 16.054'N 75 57.426'W)