We crossed the Albemarle sound and passed the two boats we had been tied up with at the top of the Dismal Swamp Canal. Conditions were clear and light and we ran up the main and got a free knot to add to our speed but lowered sail to pass the bridge at the northern mouth of the river. It's about 12 miles to the skinny end where the Alligator Pungo Canal starts and we dropped the anchor for the night nearby. This was the remotest feeling spot yet with low scrub forest wetlands all around and total silence. Until just after dusk when the mosquitoes swarmed and shortly after we ducked in the cabin and began stalking those that got in the fighter jets began low altitude training runs overhead. Thankfully, they wrapped it up by 7:00pm and the rest of the night was very quiet once again.
The canal transit the next day gave us a more complete AICW experience. It has more traffic and less maintenance than the park's canal so we discovered some sunken debris as we made room for a northbound tug & barge. We may have been clear until I moved over just a bit more to allow a powerboater to pass us at the same time. The bow rose up and we stopped short while I was on the radio to to the powerboater, so he heard my reaction and my request to turn around and pull us off. Which he did, competently and graciously, while the tug slowed to a stop to wait out our little circus. Everyone parted company after the proper radio acknowledgements and we headed south once more. At the southern entrance to the canal is a road bridge that is plenty tall at 65 feet, but beneath it was another navigational issue. A sailboat with the main up and a dead diesel was becalmed in mid channel. More radio negotiations and his slight drift made room to pass. Two guys in a mid-sized cruising sailboat, blown waterpump, dinghy with no gas for the motor, looking for a marina that wasn't there, having passed numerous others out on the Pungo River, being blown downwind into the canal, with rain & squalls forecast within a couple of hours. They refused assistance from us and two more boats that hailed them on the radio after us. Good luck, Gents.
We took the public dock above Belhaven for the night as the breeze filled in. Most of the rain passed to the northwest of us while we chatted with Santa Claus in a tavern about a 20 minute walk into town. The locals spot a boater and engage with the enthusiasm of people in need of a fresh conversation partner. It's a really, really small town. On the walk back to the dock we spotted a storefront being set up with a major model railroad. We ducked in and met the two guys of appropriate age that were finishing it off, tinkering with the accessory pieces activated by doorbell buttons at the edge of the table. Big Standard Gauge trains for the most part. A very nice rig.
Belhaven to Oriental, NC was a 43 mile day. We left in 60 degrees with a drizzle and a forecast of clearing for the day, expecting cold air mass breezes and a drop in temps later on. Down the Pungo we found some quartering wind so for the first time we shut down the engine and sailed for two whole hours! A half hour deep reaching and we had to turn up the Neuse River into the building breeze. Once it got to pinching and punching into a sloppy sea we furled and picked up our straight line under power again. With mid 30's temperatures and 10-15 knots forecast for the next 24 hours we checked into Oriental Marina with the rational that it was laundry time anyway. Now that was one item not on the shopping list; detergent.
With none available at the marina we took a walk around town and after a detour through the Marine Consignment shop, the Inland Waterway Provision Company came through with a jug of the right stuff, and an excellent anchorage guide as well. We stayed through the next day for the farmers market and were offered a ride to the grocery store as well! Fantastic folks, thanks Pat.
Sunday the 20th was another Bluebird Day and we made the short hop down through Beaufort to a little keyhole basin called Spooner Creek, where we anchored in the middle of a gleaming waterfront neighborhood with nobody home. Expensive seasonal places for the most part. Just 26NM and some sunny naptime in the cockpit before sundown. Monday is Solstice Day and we crammed 53 nautical miles into the shortest day of the year, with some more ICW entertainment along the way. There's a shoal area a few miles north of Onslow Beach bridge that is documented and specially marked but it still snares a lot of captains and their keels. The radio chatter told us that a sailboat was aground and shortly after, a powerboat got stuck trying to go around them. Once we had them in sight there was another poweboat pacing back and forth above the mess and TowboatUS had been called, so we anchored to wait it out. The towboatUS captain sorted them out and sent them on their way, guided the last powerboater through and offered to do the same for us. We followed him closely but still had to power through some mud for a nerve wrackingly long few seconds. A few hours later, just above the Surf City bridge we heard the same power boater warn the same sailboat that he was stuck again on the red side of the channel. He called Seatow this time. It was a fairly large sportfisher, trailing black smoke exhaust each of the three times he passed us, named, appropriately, "Bottom Line". We had an anchorage from the guidebooks in mind but the sailboat ahead of us was heading in there and it looked tight so we took a night at the Harbor Village marina 3 miles further along, just at sundown. 453 total NM at the end of the day and the Solar Year.
A long line of colorful rain images greeted us this morning on the weather radar apps, so with the hope of stopping in a decent anchorage instead of a pricey marina we left about 7:30. Another transient boat pulled out ahead of us at 7:00 and their strategy was superior as we could see them catching the bridge openings a few miles ahead of us, and we had to circle and wait until the next. Until NC, the bridges had been opening on request. Now they are on the hour or half hour during the day. Once again, the plan had to change as we turned off the ICW to look for the chosen anchorage in Wrightsville Beach. Stuck in the center of the channel was another big sportfisher. We circled out and since the rain was due within the hour, opted for a tie up at the Dockside Marina, close at hand. An afternoon of rain, heavy at times and a nice restaurant meal later, the saga continues.
Here's some video of the Dismal Swamp Canal and South.
Juniata Lily's Youtube Channel
Enjoy
Its going to be 75 degrees at HPYC Wednesday 12/23. Keep persevering with the blog. Need more pictures but your narratives are priceless for rookies like me. Someday!
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