Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Closing in on Annapolis

We have had a great few days making our way north toward Annapolis.

We began Saturday morning leaving Carolina Beach. We motored up the ICW to Wrightsville Beach and went outside, straight to Beaufort. It was a gloriously clear day with smooth water. Although we had the engine running the entire time, we did get to put up the sails for the last 4 hours. We saw tons of wildlife. Pods of dolphin frolicking all around, bait balls being hemmed at the surface, a brief glimpse of a sea turtle, two sharks and Caroline caught her first fish by trolling are just a sampling of our encounters. We got in to Beaufort that night and anchored out in Town Creek just to the north of the drawbridge.

With an early start on the day, we had a pretty uneventful motor to Bellhaven. That evening, Alyson cooked an awesome dinner - sesame chicken with a wasabi salad. I awoke early the next morning and I couldn't see a thing! OH NO, I'M BLIND!!! NO, Wait, I can see the boat. I just can't see anything beyond the boat. As we slept, a thick fog had rolled in, enveloping our peaceful little anchorage. So, plan #2 went into effect. Sleep a little longer and hope the fog burns off soon. The weather radio said the fog would be gone by 8:30, but we still could only see about 100 yards. But, within 30 minutes , the fog began to dissipate and we could get underway. We made Alligator creek Marina that night and had one of their "world renowned" cheeseburgers. I must admit they were pretty darn good!

This morning, we were the only ones choosing to head north against the wind. Forecasts had the wind at 25 knots gusting to 30. I believe it was every bit of that. Our first leg we went straight across the Albemarle. I was rough!!! I began to wonder if I had made the wrong decision to go that morning. We had to fight to get off the windward shore. Once we had made it about 1/3 of the way across, the waves began to mellow but the breeze remained stiff. Did I mention it was unseasonable cool? I nearly froze at the helm. To make matters worse, the sun seemed to hide behind thick white clouds until we had nearly made our stopping point. At 1:30 we pulled up to the docks at Coinjock Marina.

We are currently 50 miles south of Norfolk and just below the NC / VA border. Tomorrow we hope to make Norfolk and visit with Chip, my brother.

1 comment:

Margaret said...

Just letting you know that I'm checking in with you guys daily. I miss you all and I'm thinking about you!

Margaret, Kenny, Brooks, and Owen