TripSailor.com® Sailing Blogs

5-16-08

We left Belhaven early Thursday morning with threatening skies, but a weather report that indicated no rain until the early morning hours of Friday.  We had a pretty good day traveling to Belhaven albeit a long one.  I was really exhausted by the time we finally got the boat docked.  We were able to run out the head sail in Pamlico Sound, and could have had the main up, but we didn’t have the sail cover off.  The wind was on our nose coming up the Neuse and Bay River, so there wasn’t a chance to sail there, nor on the canal leading to Pamlico Sound.  We actually covered more than 50 statute miles, but we were docked by 4:00.  We had to wait in the channel going to Dowry Creek Marina for the fuel dock to open up.  Once we got to the fuel dock we had to wait for several other boats to fuel before it was our turn.  I think we got about 8 gallons – always a good thing with the price of diesel – even higher at marinas than at the regular gas pump.  Then we made our way to our slip with the cowboy pilings prevalent in areas that don’t have much tide variation.  We had a hard time getting in the slip and kept having to adjust lines on the stern cleats about 20 times (or so it seemed).  Finally, we were all set and were rewarded with a cold beer.  Jack and Dianne dropped by for awhile, but I was honestly so tired, all I wanted was a shower, a quick dinner, and the V-berth.

The night before the expressly ordered sheets from Waygo in Canada had a melt down and I was once again sleeping on the bare mattress, which meant I was awake from about 3:00 a.m. on, so I was really tired.  We both had good showers at the marina, dined once again on Dinty Moore and salad, and turned in.  Before leaving Oriental I had furiously re-attached the sheets with garter belt connections (how many of you remember garter belts?) in addition to the drawstrings on the sheets, which are worthless for the most part.  My hard work paid off and we had a great night’s sleep with the sheets staying in place.  This may fall in the category of TMI, but tucked in sheets is a major concern of mine.

Bill woke early on Thursday morning (about 6:30) much to my chagrin and popped his head in the V-berth to say “good morning.”  After trying to go back to sleep to no avail, I also got up, and we got Cool Breeze ready to leave the dock, which we accomplished a little before 8:00.  Leaving the dock was almost as hectic as arriving, but we were soon on our way, dodging the crab pots, and once again entering the ICW.  After a few miles we entered the Alligator River-Pungo River Canal, a fairly narrow, but adequately deep canal that stretched for 20 miles.  Bordered by cypress swamps, the canal is home to only a few houses, but many cypress stumps that line the banks.  Finally we exited the canal into the Alligator River with the roar of jets from the Cherry Point Marine Base practicing maneuvers overhead.  Shortly after we entered the river we were able to raise our sails (the first time on the trip to have both sails out) and we had a pleasant trip for almost another 20 miles, making 5-6 knots under sail with a SW wind at 10-17 knots as we headed NE.  Within sight of the Alligator Swing Bridge we furled the sails and passed through the “open on request” bridge and immediately swung west into our marina.

We had another adventurous dockage with help from our dock mates, a Nauticat named “Grizella” and their dock mates, “Pao Hauna.”  Grizella is actually featured on the cover of our Claiborne Young Cruising Guide to North Carolina.  Nice people who will travel the Dismal Swamp route to the Chesapeake.  We’re going the Virginia Cut route.  We had showers and then walked to the Shell 7-11 where they had a grill.  Crab cake sandwiches were our choice for dinner, and now we’ve retired for the evening.  Bill is nestled in the V-berth and I’m about ready to watch the season finale of “ER.”

We woke fairly early and were alert to the weather forecast.  We had a nice breakfast at the grill at the 7-11 and then debated about whether to go or stay.  We wanted to continue our journey, but all the reports were questionable, so that finally at 10:00 we made the decision to stay here another day.  Of course, as soon as we paid for another night, the sun came out, but one of our fellow cruisers called it the “sucker” sun.  It suckers you in to leaving the marina and then when you’re out on the open water, everything closes back in and you’re in bad weather again.  Anyway, we made the best of the day, reading, researching marinas, and spending another afternoon at the Laundromat.  I took advantage of the opportunity to get in some aerobic exercise by walking the long docks here.  As I was leaving for my walk and chatting with our dock mates on Grizabella, I spotted a five foot snake on the rocks in front of our boat.  I shrieked, scared my companions and Bill popped his head out of the companionway.  There, in all its evil splendor, was a really big water moccasin.  I left the snake to the gawking sailors, told the marina owners that there was a water moccasin poised to jump on Cool Breeze, and proceeded on my seven trips up and down the dock.  I noticed a large crowd gathering to view the snake, but I had no desire to rejoin them.  After my 30 minutes of exercise, I returned to find the son of the marina owner standing in front of our slip with a mallet and shovel in hand.  I said, “I hope I’ve been away long enough for you to kill that snake.”  He said he hadn’t killed it, but thought it was mortally wounded.  I certainly hope so!  We had a brief conversation in the afternoon with Beth to wish her a happy birthday and then I talked with Ann later on.  It’s always a good day when we talk to the girls.

Tonight we dined at home, forgoing another crab cake sandwich in favor of potato and ham casserole and salad, and we’re off tomorrow for Coinjock and then, hopefully to just before the Great Bridge and the lock that leads to the end of the ICW.  Chesapeake Bay, here we come!  Maybe by Monday evening!