June 2-4, 2020 – The boat was in New Bern. It needs to be in Norfolk.
Go.
So we went, leaving at 8:30 when the Alfred Cunningham Bridge would open after morning ‘rush hour’. Back down the Neuse River 25 miles, to rejoin the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, that we would follow to its terminus, Mile Zero, at Norfolk.
Just as we approached that point, an AIS target showed sailing vessel ‘Fleetwing’, which belongs to Bob Scherer, aka Bob423, the guru for cruising the ICW. We had bought his book, we downloaded and followed his tracks through every tricky spot we have recounted over the past month, and anchored at his ‘special anchorages’ (except when we couldn’t, because somebody else who bought his book beat us to them!).
The Pamlico sound was pretty nice to us, and we soon stopped at a rustic seafood depot that sold fuel, seafood, and rented space on their big working docks to cruisers like us. A place with character – splinters, and a little smelly.
The next day we pushed more than 75 miles, all the way up the Alligator River. At the top, where it outlets to the Albemarle Sound, is a swing bridge, that has in recent years been notoriously trouble-prone. Sometimes boats have had to wait for days for a needed part to arrive and be installed, to allow it to open to allow transit. We figured that the sooner we were past it, the better.
We anchored near a point that we thought would offer good protection from a stiff and gusty southwest wind, but we pulled up the anchor after a few hours of a miserable swell, and moved around the corner to enjoy a much smoother night.
Thursday we crossed the Albemarle Sound, and continued on to dock at the Coinjock Marina, a popular stop for boats transiting the ICW. They are known for their prime rib – we got the 32 oz Captain’s Cut, and it was terrific.
One more day to go before we wind up back where we started.