Leg 59 - Snode Creek
We had another nice visit to Beaufort NC. I was up early yesterday to assist Marty’s departure from his slip. The current is very tricky in the marina at times. After he left, I went back and made half a pot of coffee so that it wouldn’t be cold when Sue woke up. She was up about an hour later and I made another pot and we had breakfast. Then we did some chores and headed out to do some shopping before the rain would come. While out shopping, we stopped for a late lunch or early dinner (linner) and then headed back to the boat. I topped off the center water tank and then hosed down the deck before the projected rain came. Sue took this opportunity to read below. Oh, the rain? It never came. We just love our weather apps. Ha!
This morning I was in no hurry to leave early as I wanted to be sure dockhands were around to help me out of the slip. When we went to bed last night we were surrounded by boats in all available slips in a narrow fairway. When I got up, all the boats in the slips behind me were already gone so that relieved lots of stress and the dock hand came over as I was recovering the lines and offered a hand. I jumped aboard (Sue was still down below cleaning up) and backed out of the slip without any issues. Then I headed out of the marina and turned into our journey. It was chilly (60s), so I went below and changed into long pants and long sleave shirt. We stopped at Homer Smith Docks and Marina for a pump out as the Beaufort City Docks pump out area was blocked by boats and the dock hand confessed that it didn’t really work anyway. It seems they deal mostly with vessels that go off shore and really don’t need a pump out. In fact, the first thing they asked me each time was “are you going off shore”? If the answer was yes, then we would just go out past the 3 mile limit and dump. But, we were not, so we could not. Anyway, the Homer Smith Docks was very nice, and cheaper than the city docks, so that might be a place to stay in the future. We emptied out and were back on our way. The weather called for temperatures in the mid 70s, partly sunny, and winds from the N-NNW at 8-9. Wrong. It was overcast all day – and not a light overcast but quite misty. The temperature maybe got to 70 and the winds were 12-15 knots. When we got to the Neuse River I was able to head more easterly and take advantage of the winds but only for a few hours and then I pulled in the sail and continued to motor into the winds. We had some power boats pass us and I just called them in advance and asked for a slow pass. We are done with being attacked by a strong wake. However, interestingly enough, we were doing a lot of passing of other boats today (we don’t leave a wake at 6 knots). We had some excitement in Goose Creek when we were head on with a tug pushing a barge in a narrow area, but other than that, all went rather well. We arrived at our planned anchorage in Gale Creek, but decided to push on to Goose Creek. About half way through we found our secondary anchorage in Snode Creek off of Goose Creek. It took a few times to catch the anchor but we finally got it and then relaxed for a drink. Winds are still strong, 15-18 steady, but the current is not very strong. Finally, a cool evening for anchoring out. Tonight’s dinner will be grilled steak, mac and cheese and salad.
Leg 60 - Alligator River Bridge Anchorage
We awoke in a blanket of fog so we waited for visibility to pick up before heading out. After a quick breakfast and general clean up of the salon, we prepared to get underway. The anchor chain and anchor were very muddy and I got quite muddy myself. I cleaned up the foredeck and the equipment but not myself – that would come later. Until then, we headed back onto the ICW for a trip into the Pamlico River, then the Pungo River, then 17 miles of the Alligator Pungo River Canal, and finally into the Alligator river. We were traveling nicely, enjoying the sights and sounds of the many different types of homes along the way, as well as the varied nature species we saw. With all the talk about alligators, we never saw one! I think it is called the Alligator River because of its shape and not the fact that there are congregations of alligators swimming all over. Since we made further progress yesterday, we arrived at our selected anchorage early and decided to push on. We opted for the other side of the Alligator River Swig Bridge just in case it wouldn’t open the next day due to high winds or mechanical issues. Sue was reading all the reviews of the many different anchorage opportunities and saw an abundance of complaints about bugs. We decided to anchor right after the bridge and then have dinner quickly to be finished before the bugs. The opening went fine and we found our spot and dropped the anchor and caught right away. I let out extra chain in case the winds increased over night and, well mostly, because I could as there was no one around. We had grilled ham steak, the rest of the mac and cheese and a salad for dinner. I kept checking the cock pit for those pesky little critters but, alas, probably due to the fairly steady 15 knot winds, there were no bugs. There was very little light pollution so I had the opportunity to study the stars in all their glory. We settled down to a slightly bumpy night secure in our anchorage knowing that tomorrow we would have a shorter ride into Manteo. But, there is a spot where there are warnings of significant shoaling and if we didn’t leave early, we would be there at low tide and if we left later, we would experience high winds. That forced us to bed early and set an alarm for 5 am.
Leg 61 - Manteo Waterfront Marina
As planned, we were up very early to get past the low water area before low tide. We had a quiet, although a bit bumpy, night and the bugs never did arrive. The temperature was quite pleasant in the low 70’s which made sleeping comfortable. Oh, and it also did not rain – which was predicted in 2 out of the 5 apps we consult. Once again a quick breakfast of cereal, hard boiled eggs, and coffee to get us moving. The anchor came up clean and easy and we turned onto the ICW. But, only for a little bit as after about 30 minutes we turned east off of the famed Bob423 ICW line and on towards the island of Roanoke where we will find Manteo. For a bit we were traveling due east, right into the rising sun making it blinding to spot crab pots. I wanted to raise the sails as the wind was a bit favorable but that would have added another challenge not needed at this time. Eventually we headed a little south east which made it easier to spot the pot floats and then, the sun was high enough in the sky that it didn’t matter. As we were nearing the island I saw a power catamaran trying to catch up and pass me. I called out to him and stated I would slow down and let him pass sooner rather than later if he would give me water depth readings as we got to the shallow areas. The good news was that he never reported low water but the bad news was that he didn’t turn down the channel towards the marina. So, we proceeded very slowly around the markers as recommended, and motored closer to the green markers as we arrived in Shallowbag Bay Club Channel. (I didn’t make that up). Of course, as we got closer to a possible docking (without dock hands as no one is here during the week) the winds were picking up – now gusting into the low 20’s. We did have a picture of the dock layout and could plan our arrival but when we arrived we saw that the docks were fixed with no cleats but just pilings. I backed in slowly, without hitting anything, and we rested against one of the pilings. A boat neighbor came by and I tossed him a stern line and he secured us to the dock as I went forward with Sue to secure two bow lines. Then we added some spring lines and another stern line and we were secure for the thunder storms predicted for the afternoon / night (spoiler alert – they never came). We both headed below to tidy up and get showers before our friends, David and Susan came down to greet us. They live in the Outer Banks and we came here to visit with them for the holiday weekend.