Coinjock, NC to Mile 100 in the Alligator River

Another early start, 7:30. We knew we might have a rough time crossing the Albemarle Sound with the predicted 10-20 (gusts to 30) kts winds, but we had "miles to go before (we) sleep." Andiamo took the lead inspite of the first thing we faced was a fixed bridge (vertical clearance 65'). Andiamo's mast, plus antenna is 64'! She hung back yesterday at each bridge and crawled through at idle, but felt a bit more confident today. As we entered Albemarle Sound, our suspicions were well founded. The winds were strong and the chop was sloppy, luckily the West wind allowed us to roll out the jib and that helped steady the ride.
We were across and zig zagged through the channel leading to the Alligator River Bridge by early afternoon. The wind abated a bit and gave us a pleasant reach down the river. We arrived at the turn in the river that leads to the Alligator River/Pungo River canal around 3:30 pm and chose to go around the bend before anchoring because the wind is predicted to strengthen and come out of the North by morning.
Dan and I spent quite a while working on setting our new riding sail. I think we have it worked out. We'll get a picture of it next time we set it. We were treated to another gorgeous sunset. Tomorrow should be an easier ride. I've been meaning to explain that some pictures are cut off by the format used to post them, if you click on the picture, the full image will appear.*
~~~_/)~~~M&D

*ed. note: Minor layout glitch that should be fixed now. My apologies to the photo editor (M) for truncating her work.

Andiamo takes the lead as we leave Midway Marina and Motel at Coinjock, NC. John and Betty are more confident about making it under the 65' vertical clearance fixed bridges that are all along the ICW.

Crossing Albemarle Sound was a little rough for the first half, but it quieted down and we were across in a little over an hour.

We were thankful to "Skipper Bob" for accurately describing the circuitous route we needed to take to enter the Alligator River on the other side of the AR Bridge, we watched one boat (probably reading an old chart) run hard aground. Once through the bridge we had a nice sail down the river.

Evening at the bend of the Alligator River. We were joined by other boats in our tiny anchorage for what turned out to be a quiet night.