ICW Days 2 - 3

Mon Nov 12. We were up about 5 am and ready to set sail by shortly after 6, as soon as it was light enough. The river was really quite beautiful that early in the morning - calm and peaceful. We had a few options for travel this day, stop at the opening to the Albemarle Sound, or continue through the sound (about 15 miles), and get a full days travel in. The weather was lovely, if chilly, but the winds were good, so we decided to do the extra miles and go across the sound. A great decision as it turned out, as the wind was perfect for using the new sail (you pretty well always motorsail in the ICW) and we got up to 7 knots/hr at one point (I told you we don't go fast!). We decided to treat ourselves to a marina again that night, as a reward for the push! We stayed at the Alligator River Marina, North Carolina, along with the huge cruiser yacht 007! We think that it is owned by the movie company, but no Sean Connery or Daniel Craig on board (I asked!)LOL. We had an uneventful night and again by 6 am were getting ready to kick off the dock.

Tues Nov 13. Left the Alligator River Marina at 6:20 am to continue down the Alligator River and then through the Alligator River canal...a 20 + mile man made canal which is narrow and full of dead trees, stumps and dead heads. It is not the most beautiful thing to transit thats for sure! There were lots of power boats which zoomed up behind us and then passed us. Some are really polite and slow down before reaching us, and then calling to ask which side we'd like them to pass on. This gives us a chance to prepare and move quickly into their wake to minimize the amount of rolling around we do . Not everyone is polite though, and today we sure had our share of jerks who just push a huge amount of water at us, zoom past without so much as a how do you do and then leave a major wake for us to battle through. Creeps! Anyway, no sailing today, the wind was strong, but on the nose, and as the canal is so narrow, there is no opportunity to tack. While on the lookout for deadheads etc, we noticed something moving across the channel, and thought it might be an alligator! We continued to watch and it turned out to be a white tailed deer swimming across the canal!! It was still in the water, but standing when it caught a look at us, and before we could get a picture, it took off in leaps and bounds for the dense woods at the edge of the water! That was cool! Once we were out of the canal, we had about 10 more miles to go to get to Belhaven. The water opens up and it was quite lovely out - warming up, the wind had dropped and I was down to 1 shirt and no coat! Then we saw it! Dolphins ahead of our bow! Now THAT was awesome! We watched them surface a few times and then they fell back to entertain the trawler behind us! We knew the ocean was close by, but this was the first time it really hit home! Way cool! We anchored out here in Belhaven (much to Graham's dismay, he likes marinas!), and were able to take Beau for a good walk before settling in for the day. An early night for Larry (he didn't sleep well last night) and I'm close behind him. Tomorrow we head for Oriental NC, and may spend and extra day there as a rest day. Time for bed!