Pulled up anchor...sounds so easy but this morning our anchor float ball was buried in the mud but anyway we pulled up anchor and left Belhaven at 8:03, through the breakwater. Another beautiful day but wind came up steadily and continues to blow around 22 knots tonight. I was able to do a couple sun salutes and warrior twos on the aft deck before we left the anchorage. Challenging.
We motored along with another half dozen boats going north...The Pungo River then the Pungo/Alligator Canal that connects those two rivers.
The south end of the canal is so beautiful. This time of the year, actually both fall and spring are similar in the colors. The tall grasses in spring have the cream colored stalks supported by green shafts of new growth. Last winter I noticed stumps with tall grass hats or hair styles. Makes me giggle.
Today when we were leading the pack of boats we saw a pair of geese, maybe nesting, and three deer feeding at the edge of the water. Photo at right was taken about 3 seconds after they left. One is glimpsed on the hoof. When we were passed and, thus, in the middle or end of the pack all the wildlife had fled before we got to it. No Pungos, not even bears today. But beautiful vegetation on the southern end of the canal.
The photo is of the chart page of the Alligator River meandering around and across the ICW (straight white with pink dashes).
We moved the gps outside and "drove" from the aft deck, it was so beautiful and warm. We also put the Bimini top back up...protection from the sun when on the aft deck. We had a little scare when David twirled the wrong button and sent Grace zooming toward the bank. Same sort of thing I did in the Rock Pile. We recovered and I took the helm for a bit...for a long time until he recovered. The only negative about the Pungo/Alligator Canal...it is soooooo long and you have to NOT get too far toward either shore as there are nearly submerged tree stumps. Passing or being passed is a bit nervous making.
More to the northern end of P/A Canal, there are many duck blinds - housing for hunters. They are rather well-structured stands with lots of marsh grass.
The day continued...a very long day. I forget how long the Alligator River is, even the short-ish and broad section we travel on the ICW.
Power boats that passed us started gathering near the Alligator River bridge. Listening in on the radio we learned that the bridge is STILL under construction, one side is open and the wait can be long.
As we made our way to the bridge these shrimp boats came through heading south. When I first saw them they were so close together I could see no space between them.
Four sailing vessels and one smaller power boat gathered at the south end of the bridge to....wait. Only about 15 minutes which was a blessing. We all struggle to maintain control of our boats at low rpms. Grace had to make a little circle as we didn't want to stress our "backward" gears given the growl from several days ago when backing at low rpms.
Amelia was NOT happy. Neither were Nancy and David but at least we had tasks to do to keep us moving forward through the water.
I had the helm for the Sound, so to speak, crossing. I dodged 73 crab pots, similar to our lobster pots and managed to not run into 3 navigational aids. I didn't run into anything but I was only in charge as we passed three. Dodging the crab pots was a sweaty armpit exercise. In the rough seas they were hard to see.
Somewhere during the day I stubbed or broke my toe. I think I hit it on one of the hard plastic "milk" crates we use for deck storage. That toe is purple and hurts.
We were tossed and tumbled in the not-quite-following seas and high, high winds for about 3 hours. I'm prepared for that but I forget that the transition from Sound to North River is forever. And today it was especially forever.
David took the helm after we turned into the North River. At last the seas abated (not the wind we were just more protected from wind).
We agreed upon two possible anchorages, following a catamaran we were at the bridge with. We circled our place like a dog turning round and round before settling down for the night. FINALLY, David was ready. We had a little snit argument because I wanted to anchor farther from the weir and David wanted to be close to the navigational aid.
What a long day we had, 7:30 - 8 PM. We were whipped, Easy dinner. A toast to a friend of ours who'd had some good news.
Some jazz on the radio. And I'm ready to be down for the count. We've perhaps abbreviated our plans for tomorrow. Will see.
More nature jewels.
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