A short trip from Seagate Marina to Oriental, where we once again put down the hook in the very nice anchorage there. Just a short trip to the dinghy dock and we were all three ashore for a nice walk in this pretty town.
Next day, NOAA called for 50% chance of showers and East winds 5 - 10 knots. Now, remember we sat out a day recently when the forecast was for 90% chance of rain and thunderstorms, and nothing happened, except for a quiet day at the dock! So we set out, and within minutes, it was pouring and the winds were 15 -20, from the wrong direction, of course!! And fog. Sure were glad we had that enclosure and the Garmin! Well, the rain didn't last long, and the conditions improved, and we increased from 3.8 mph to 6.3 mph in the afternoon. We were glad to arrive at Dowry Creek Marina, just outside Belhaven. We had spent 5 days here in the fall when Ida passed through. This is a beautiful spot and Mary is a wonderful hostess! Our friends John, Linda and Roscoe on Triton's Trumpet have wintered here and it was great to see them again. They are the folks who helped us out so much the first time we headed south a year and a half ago. We stayed an extra day here, to clean the boat and use the loaner car to go to town for provisions and propane.
Off the next day for the 50 mile trip through the Alligator River-Pungo River Canal and through the Alligator River Bridge. The Canal passes through a beautiful, remote area. We had heard reports of bear swimming across the canal! We didn't see any, but we did spot some deer. This time we opted for the Alligator River Marina, just past the bridge. A great spot, and helpful dock hand! An alligator had been swimming in the marina within the past year, so no swimming for Colby! We saw some turtles floating around off our stern. Colby had a chance to run and play it the open space here.
Today, the trip up the Abermarle Sound has been completed. This large, shallow body of water is an area to be crossed carefully and not in high winds. Even today with 5-10 knots from the east, it was really bouncy for a while. Then it got calm, so we couldn't sail, and then the breeze picked up just as we were coming in! Tonight we are tied up in Elizabeth City at the free docks. Looks like a full house tonight! Still a bit bouncy right now, but forecast is for a calm night tonight. (We'll see about that!)
Tomorrow we start through the Dismal Swamp Canal and we hope to be in Norfolk by Monday night.
2 comments:
Looks like y'all are making good progress. A bit of rain tonight and tomorrow, but nothing abnormal. We had a good daysail today. We plan to be anchored out off the Choptank somewhere Fri. and Sat. nights. Y'all may want to duck in and raft with us
Spend awesome east winds inn holidays and have great fun for our holiday vacation.
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