Rainy day at River Dunes

No SPOT, no track, no photos. A very relaxing but dreary day. Everyone (Andiamo, Pekabu III, Sevilla and Surprise) all came aboard Brunelle for Bloody Marys at 11 and we spent at least two hours swapping stories and sharing ideas. Some people did laundry during the afternoon, but we are driving home tomorrow and will save ours until we get home! We feel like college kids coming home for the weekend with all our dirty stuff! We all also opted to dine at the clubhouse again. You can't beat good food at a reasonable price and all the atmosphere and camaraderie availble there! We even had live entertainment tonight. A guitar playing singer entertained us during dinner. The rental car is slated to arrive at 8 tomorrow morning, so we probably won't write again until we return Sunday night or Monday. Until then....~~~_/)~~~M&D

Belhaven to River Dunes

Our goal, when leaving the Chesapeake, was to reach Oriental (River Dunes in this case) by Nov. 4th so we could leave the boat and drive north with the McElderrys. They have a wedding to attend and we have a delivery to make. Dan's mom, (Grandma, Peddie, Thelora) is going to drive back here to NC with us in our car and Dan's brother, Jay, will drive up from FL with Pegg and they will drive her and the two cars back to St. Augustine. The boat will stay here at River Dunes until next Tuesday when we will continue our progress south.

We have been pushing pretty hard to accomplish that goal, and exceeded our expectations and arrived here on the 2nd. River Dunes is an amazing place, with all sorts of amenities, so we hope the two boats not abandoning ship to go north will enjoy their respite. The trip from Belhaven was quick and only a little rocky. The Neuse River chose to be a nuisance and we had a roly-poly ride. We were glad that the turn into River Dunes cut the ride toward Oriental short by several miles. We arrived around two and were welcomed warmly by JC the dockmaster, Ed and Connie Dooley (CCYC and C-400 friends) and Dick and Jean (?) good friends of the McElderrys. They immediately all told us about the nightly dinner served at the Club House - how good it was and also how reasonable, so we decided to try it out. Still no AT&T service, but they do have wifi. We resorted to signing up (and paying) for a Skype phone number: 717-739-5845. It will ring on our computer whenever we have signal. Hopefully that will make reaching us easier when we can't use cell phones. It is a local Spring Grove, PA number. Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy, so we'll probably just hang out and relax!
~~~_/)~~~M&D

Dan prefers sunrises!


Saw our first shrimp/fishing boat working the river as we left Belhaven.





Catalina owners took over the Club House at River Dunes for dinner. DeFever 44 owners, Bob and Sue Hodes, who are traveling with Ed and Connie Dooley (C-400 Surprise) took the picture. We also met C-470, Onward's owner and crew (also pictured.) The McElderry's were dining with friends elsewhere.

Alligator River to Belhaven, NC

There were fewer miles planned for today, so we didn't head out until 8:30 am. Actually got to have a relaxed breakfast before leaving. Dan was up before dawn anyway and got a neat shot of a tug pushing a barge loaded with sand that slipped past our anchorage just as the sun broke the horizon. The ride down the canal was mostly uneventful, we did wander a little close to the shore at one point and ran aground. Luckily it was a "soft grounding" and we backed right off and were back in the "parade" heading south. The one excitement was the anticipation we and several other boats in radio range felt as we approached the Wilkerson Bridge. It is one of the two fixed
bridges on the ICW that doesn't meet the Army Corps of Engineers standards of 65'. It is listed at 64'. The VHF radio traffic was hot and heavy with everyone waiting for a report from someone who could tell us all just what the height of the bridge was today. Luckily it read 65' on the tidal boards at the base of the bridge and Andiamo made it through!
We rolled out the jib for the ride down the Pungo River and were debating whether to anchor in Pungo Creek or Pantego Creek. The wind is predicted to be NE 10-20 tomorrow. We decided that Pantego would provide more protection, so headed in there. Three of us anchored, but Pekabu III needed fuel and Belhaven's three marinas were dry, so they headed to Pungo Creek for fuel. They were back "in the fold" by 3:30.
We put the dinghy down, picked up Maureen and headed into town. We wandered a bit and found a few things we needed at the Ace Hardware store---some flashlight light bulbs and wi-fi. I was able to retrieve several emails on my iPhone, but didn't have time to send many. We also found an ice cream store and indulged. On our way back to the boat, we stopped at Andiamo and enjoyed a glass a wine while we borrowed John's Verizon phone that DID have signal to return some imortant missed calls. Tomorrow we head for River Dunes, just outside Oriental. We expect we'll have signal tomorrow.
~~~_/)~~~M&D

Early morning scene at the bend in the Alligator River where we spent the night. The sand barge was slow moving, but had enough of a head start that it had traversed the AR/PR Canal before we caught up with it.

Scenes from the Alligator River/Pungo River Canal. Not much shore activity, just lots of snowbirds heading south. We are seeing more this trip (a week later than 2 years ago) than last time... and we thought we were leaving late.

This time, we brought up the rear.

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.