Carolina in my Mind

After departing Norfolk, our stay at Atlantic Yacht Basin (AYB) was only one night as the part I had ordered for delivery there had arrived on the previous Friday.  We used our morning there to install the part, retrieve some clothing we had left at the local dry cleaners the previous month, visit the grocery store and buy a few items at the marine store.  We had fueled the previous afternoon, for the first time in a month, so were ready to depart before noon. 

Our plan had been to take the Great Dismal Swamp canal to Elizabeth City rather than the Currituck Sound route to Albemarle Sound, but taking that route would add a day as it is very slow.  The swamp canal is narrow, and only a 6' depth so travel is restricted to idle speed.  The canal was dug in the early 1800's by hand, by slaves.  The weather forecast was telling us we had two good days though to make time so given our experience so far on this trip, we decided to pass on the canal.  

The afternoon trip to Coinjock, thru Currituck Sound was as good as it could get, with light north winds and sun. Just a few miles into Currituck, we crossed the Virginia / Carolina state line. We departed at daybreak the next morning for a long day run thru Albemarle Sound, Alligator River, the Alligator-Pungo canal (20 miles with one bend), to get to Bellhaven.  That was two large open bodies of water behind us that can be difficult, but the day was beautiful again with light winds. 

The following day we crossed the Pamlico river and down the Neuse River, with stronger north winds, but fortunately they were behind us so at least we weren't punching into it.  Our destination was Oriental, which is just a short crossing of the Neuse to the beginning of the more protected ICW waters.  Getting those 5 larger water bodies behind us was a pleasing result.  

We were into Oriental early enough to get on our bikes and visit the Piggly Wiggly, a grocery store that Judy loves, mostly for the name I think.  There were 6 Canadian boats at the small marina, out of 12, and 4 were Quebec based sailboats headed for the Bahamas and Caribbean on extended trips.  

From Oriental we headed to Beaufort to spend the weekend prior to heading to the local Cat Marine Power dealer for an engine service.  That was the plan anyway.  We were planning to move to their docks Sunday afternoon so that the engines would be cool for a Monday morning start.  The forecast for the weekend deteriorated though with forecast of very strong winds and I didn't relish the prospect of moving the boat and docking in those conditions.  Just to put some perspective on the forecast, this is what NOAA was saying for Saturday.  Sunday would be worse. 

NE winds 20 to 25 kt with gusts up to 35 kt, increasing to 25 to 30 kt with gusts up to 45 kt in the afternoon. Waves rough, increasing to very rough in the afternoon. A chance of rain in the

morning, then rain with a slight chance of tstms in the afternoon.

We made use of the Marina golf cart to visit the Beaufort Piggly Wiggly, the closest grocery store.  With the cold north wind blowing, it was a cool trip, but a novel experience.

We departed Beaufort Friday afternoon, in only moderate winds and moved the 5 miles back up the river to the Cat Marine docks, and got secured in a reasonably good spot, with a 6 point tie to prepare for the weekend.  The downside of all this is that the dock is in a relatively remote location, with not even a grocery store within biking distance, so we spent a quiet weekend, except for the wind noise of course. The wind was so strong we lost internet service and couldn't even watch a Netflix movie to entertain ourselves!  Pretty slow weekend. 

For you boaters who might be interested in the engine service, this is the 1000 hour interval after-cooler service.  I have been making plans for this service since last spring, honing in on the timing for it as we got closer.  The huge advantage of using this spot is they have a waterfront location, which is very unusual for a Cat Marine franchise.  Typically it is a service truck coming to you at the marina, and paying for travel time etc.  And they have been very accommodating of our uncertain schedule.

The Cat location is part of a larger boat yard, that might be one of the largest I have ever seen.  The boat yard itself covers about 75 acres within a 175 acre marine industrial park with associated services such as the Cat and other engine dealers, marine store, canvas, upholstery etc.  So it makes for an interesting walk around seeing the variety of boats.  One of the most interesting here is docked right beside us.  It is a 70' sport-fish that is the test vessel for a new series of Cat engines.  The boat has just been launched with the new engines, and will be tested for about 9 months before the engines are released to the market.  The twin 2400 hp engines are expected to propel this nearly 100,000 lb boat in excess of 50 knots. 

So not much exciting in this update for history or scenic sights.  This week demonstrates that cruising does require work to keep a boat and all its systems ready to go.  We expect to be done here Wednesday and resume our travel south.  The forecast for the latter half of the week is very good, and we will make the most of the good days to get to some our of favourite spots upcoming.