TIS A SAD DAY

July 7, 2012  Dateline:  Coinjock, VA USA

Rich and Carol got back to me yesterday morning.  My props were mounted and the master head installed so we were ready to go.  We left the dock around 11:45  AM for the 80+ mile journey to Belhaven, NC.  Rather than take the Intracoastal Waterway (the ICW) Rich decided that I should swing down the Neuse River and then up the Pamlico Sound to Belhaven.  The trip was uneventful and I covered the distance in about 5 hours.

Dowry Creek Marina, where I stayed last night, was a rather interesting place.  There were few other boats there and I spent the night on the fuel dock, there were no other transient boats.  The dock hands are live aboards and help out the owner of the marina when transits come in.

By 7:30 this morning I was on my way for the 80 mile run to Coinjock, VA.  The trip took me along the Pungo River, the Pungo Alligator Canal and finally the Albemarle-Chesapeake Canal.  The dock master at Dowry told Rich that he might see some bears along the canals.  As usual, neither he nor Carol saw any wildlife.  Rich did see an eagle fly overhead.  The Alligator Canal was straight and deep enough for me to move along at 18 knots.  The scenery was not very interesting.  The water in this area is not the aqua color that it is in Florida and the Caribbean, it is stained brown with tannic acid.  When I got out into the Albemarle Sound, I saw the dreaded crab pots.  They were surprisingly well marked and were easy to avoid.  I finally entered the Albemarle-Chesapeake Canal and there was a tow in front of me who was pushing two barges.  A sportfish and a large motor yacht passed me and then called to the tow and asked permission to pass.  Since I was close to my final destination for the day, I stayed behind the tow.  At one point my depth gauge said I was in 4.5 feet of water, there is no way that tow pushed the barges through 4.5 ft. of water.  Rich slowed me down any way.  I arrived at the Coinjock Marina and Restaurant at about 2:30 in the afternoon.  I was tied up outside the restaurant where they will have a band this evening.  Given how hot it is I will likely feel sorry for the band playing outside.

“Tis a sad day” came because the Coinjock Marina is the last marina that I will stay at on the Great Loop trip that I had not stayed at before.  Tomorrow evening I will be in the Chesapeake and staying at York River Marina which  I had visited on an earlier trip.   In over a year I have not stayed at a marina that either Rich or I previously knew.  Starting tomorrow afternoon I will be back in waters that I’m familiar with.  There will be nothing new till I leave Canyon Club for yet another adventure.

People often ask what was the best part of the trip and I have already answered that the people.  The nicest marina that I stayed at was Atlantis on Paradise Island, but that is an unreal place.  The nicest marina is Canyon Club in Cape May.  The facilities are nice and the docks are great.  The best location was Northern Michigan, the cities and harbors there are beautiful.