ICW week 2

As expected, Hurricane Noel brushed past Virginia Beach Sat. Nov. 3rd. We heard the winds howling in the rigging all night long but sustained no damage to the boat. In the morning however we were shocked to find that water levels in the canal had dropped by more than 4 feet! The strong counter-clockwise winds had pulled the water out and into Albemarle Sound and we had to wait an extra day for it to rise back to normal levels before we could safely continue along the ICW. When we had tied up at the wall here on Thursday, we could easily step up off the boat and onto land. But after the water dropped we were trapped onboard and had a terrible time trying to get off. The land was level with my shoulders and Vince had to boost me up off the boat to enable me to throw my upper body over the edge of the wall and pull myself up. Vince stood on a stanchion and then sprung up and over the wall to solid ground.

We spent the day provisioning and browsing through a military surplus store. Here we bought a package of obviously purloined army ration “Meatloaf with Gravy” clearly marked: “U.S. Government Property, Commercial Resale is Unlawful”. According to directions we don’t even have to cook it since it comes with its own “flameless heater” chemicals which combine within the wrapping to “cook” the meal! We’ll keep this as a dinner of last recourse should we find ourselves adrift with no propane or anything else to eat for that matter. We also purchased a can of “mace” which we can squirt into the faces of any intruders should they dare to board the boat “uninvited”. This is currently stored in a handy shelf over the bed. But since an emergency flashlight, foghorn and cell phone also share this space at night I can foresee a nasty “incident” happening if, groggy from sleep we should grab the wrong item and press the button…

On Sunday morning everyone cast off their lines and began moving south again. This time the pace was leisurely and there was no madcap race. We motored past lovely wooded shorelines and were able to raise a sail as we crossed the wide expanse of Albemarle Sound. When winds are wrong, some of the meanest waters in the ICW can be found here, but the day we crossed it was smooth and gently rippled. Four hours later we entered the broad and easy Alligator River and stopped for the night in a little bay at its southern end just shy of the mouth of the Alligator River/Pungo River canal. The next day was overcast and threatening rain. A big blow was beginning and boats were warned to stay away from Albemarle. We were very glad to be on the other side and able to easily nip into the sheltered security of the canal, only a short distance away. This 20 mile stretch of water was calm and lovely to travel through with mature forests and tall waving water grass lining the shoreline. At its end it spills into the Pungo River—a wide swathe of water which empties into Pamlico Sound. But a cold front was moving in from the north before we could get there with waves building behind gusty winds so we pulled into Slade Creek—a completely sheltered and absolutely gorgeous tributary off the Pungo. Here we spent a comfortable afternoon and evening cooking, writing, reading and listening to the CBC on the Sirius.

We got off to an early start the following morning in order to cross the Pamlico and Neuse Rivers in relatively calm conditions. But as the day wore on a strong northerly blew up at our backs and we found ourselves flying along at 8 knots on a beam reach. We made the crossing in record time and entered calm and sheltered Adams Creek mid-afternoon. Our anchorage here was just off the channel at a bend marked not only with a buoy, but with the slanting mast of a sunken sailboat that had fallen on “bad times”. It had been a long day and as I prepared dinner, Vince decided to give the engine a thorough check. To his horror he discovered that the bolt supporting the alternator had sheared off sometime during our crossing and needed to be fixed immediately! We called a marina 10 miles further on and made arrangements to stop there first thing the next morning. When we arrived however, all the technicians were out on other calls and they were unable to help us. Vince purchased some bolts for a temporary fix and once again we were on our way. An hour later we reached Morehead City and the Atlantic coast. The wide, deep, and easy to travel water of the North Carolina sounds were behind us and a new stretch of the ICW with completely different cruising conditions was about to begin.