Weapon of Choice

We have discovered in traveling the ICW at this time of year the most important weapon you can carry on board. Hands down it has saved our hide from nasty biting flies!!

Fly Swatter, can't live without it.

Today, Sunday, we had planned to stay in Dowry Creek Marina to do some boat keeping...but the call of the sun and fair winds had us rethinking our plans. The locals were telling us at their happy hour of stormy weather to come Mon. through Wed. so we high tailed it out of Belhaven at 6AM this morning. The best thing about moving northeast for so long is having sunrise a little earlier. We had to cross 2 open bodies of water that can get nasty in stormy weather...like being in the open ocean....so plans were to travel 80 miles today. We did 10 miles in the Pungo River, 20 miles through the Pungo-Alligator Canal, 20 miles through the Alligator River, 15 miles across the open Albemarle Sound, and 15 miles up North River to Coinjock Marina on the Virginia Cut canal. There we will stay the night and decide where to go next.

One sail up

 Our journey today took us 11-12 hours thanks to some good wind speed and direction. We were able to move along under full sail and engine in the Alligator River and across Albemarle Sound reaching speeds of 8.6mph. Overall we averaged a little over 7mph over the 12 hours.
There was a clear lack of interesting things to see. There were no dolphins or pelicans, only few osprey flying about and a few deer spotted on the river bank, very few houses and absolutely no recreational boats. There were very few cruising boats traveling with us during the day. To pass the time Peter chatted on the VHF with the other cruising boats and Jane made bread. This was the longest day we traveled since our overnight to Charleston....but every mile under the keel is another mile closer to our destination. Today's cruise was an easy one though., perfect weather and no stress about tides, inlets, or even depths. We don't blink an eye anymore with 4' under our keel.

Notice our course heading?

Finally...heading north at last.
We have been going E or NE forever!



Crab pot floats were everywhere!
Getting us ready for lobsta pots!!

As we came to the end of the canal into the Alligator River we remembered our friends from the trip south in 2009. Bob and Connie from s/v Meredith spent time with us on the Dismal Swamp Canal and in Elizabeth City. We then traveled to the Alligator River where we anchored for the night. They are cruising friends we stay in touch with and see every so often. We wish them well in their cruising adventures now in the Mediterranean.