19th July Portsmouth Virginia

We left Coinjock at 6am on Tuesday 10^th July closely followed and soon overtaken by a tug pushing a barge, in the wide but very shallow Currituck Sound I deployed the jib refurling when we reached the narrow and winding North Landing River, anchoring just south of the Pungo Ferry Bridge at 11.30 am in 2.2m of water and raining. 

Currituck Sound

Another Osprey

Tug and barge passing at Pungo Bridge

Fauna at Pungo Bridge

 When I woke up on Wednesday it was raining so I rolled over and went back to sleep; on Thursday left just after sun-up, we encountered two swing bridges, the first opening on the hour and the second opening on the hour and half hour, which I missed and had to mess around for 20mins, and one railway lift bridge tying up at the free dock in Great Bridge at about 11.30am, just behind a Polish American who has been plying the intracoastal for many years, lots of stories.

Living Wreck

North Landing Bridge

Abermarle and Chesapeke Canal

Centerville Bridge

Norfolk Southern Railroad Bridge

Tied up at Great Bridge

It was very pleasant in Great Bridge but time to move on again so up and ready for the bridge opening at 8am on Saturday 14th and into the lock, with a fall of about a foot! After which we had three lift bridges and three railway bridges (which are usually open) once again I missed the second bridge unfortunately this one opened hourly, so we had about 40mins to waste pottering about, fortunately all by ourselves, finally anchoring off Hospital Point Portsmouth at 12.30pm in 4m in mud which has patchy holding, doing my best to avoid the inevitable pot markers.

Great Bridge

Steel Bridge

Last three bridges

Portsmouth from anchorage

Close by in the anchorage is a very friendly American couple who have just bought their cat in Florida and are sailing it North, with whom I have spent some pleasant evenings. 

Portsmouth

Light Ship museum

USS Wisconsin

Sunset over Hospital Point

Portsmouth

 Portsmouth is a nice old town but all the churches seem to be locked, while Norfolk on the other side of the river is a modern city with its own charm.

One useful contact here is Robert McBride of Mile Marker 0 Marine Supplies, who will source anything and get the best price and quickest delivery.

8th July Coinjock North Carolina

On Monday 25^th I got up at 6am (having paid up dues on Sunday) and finding no wind and little current let go lines and backed out of my slip, managed to get away without damaging any of the pretty plastic boats, and made my way round to the bridges and Adams Creek Canal (Intracoastal Waterway) being overtaken by sailboats, speed boats and trawlers, oh what it is to be slow. We made it into the Neuse River at 1pm and to our chosen anchorage in the South River by 4pm, where a thunder storm passed us during the late evening. Here we were anchored with another boat for a while (he left to go further downriver). By morning the wind had come round to the North so we moved to the eastern bank off a cemetery of an abandoned town accompanied by dolphins. I went ashore for a look around but got eaten by mosquitoes so left rapidly, and cleaned Snow White’s boottop which was getting green and furry.

Traffic on the ICW

Fishing in the ICW

The Neuse River

Sunset on South River

Up at sunrise on Thursday 28^th raised anchor and left the South River by 6am, raised the sails in the Neuse River and had a lovely sail for a while, but the wind eased so decided to go for the Hobucken cut, I considered anchoring at the North end of the cut, but there was a fire in the forest and we were making good time so continued across the Pamlico River and into the Pungo River, motor sailing most of the time, to our chosen anchorage in Slade creek in 2.7m of water, with no neighbours except the occasional dolphin, osprey and seagull.

We left Slade creek in the morning of Friday 29^th creeping into the deeper water of the Pungo River, where sails went up for a lovely sail for about ½ hr when they had to be doused for the entrance to Belhaven, anchoring at the far end of town by 9.30am again without neighbours, although the guide book says this is a popular cruiser stop! Having decided to stay here for the July 4^th Independence celebrations, I went ashore to restock my supplies and having failed to find the supermarket I asked a couple where I could buy a loaf of bread, they gave me a lift there (it was well out of town) and back to where I had left the dinghy! On another day I was wandering around town and stopped to ask what events were planned and ended up being invited to lunch on the 4^th which was a wonderful experience sharing in a family get together, these really are welcoming people. The bay filled up with small boats as the sun went down for the impressive firework display.

Young ospray on ICW marker

sunset in Slade Creek

Belhaven from Anchorage

Belhaven

4Th July Parade

Sunset on 4th

Some of the fireworks

 Next morning I was up sunrise and headed North through the Pungo River to Alligator River Canal, encountering a small amount of traffic, mostly alone bumbling along at 3knots finally anchoring at the Southern end of Alligator River by 3.45pm; after a very hot night even with the hatches open (spraying self liberally with mosquito repellent) up again at sunrise and we headed up the Alligator River and through the swing bridge (opening just for me) and across the Albemarle Sound, mostly motor sailing in the light breeze, and avoiding the many crab pot markers all over the place, into the North River where we anchored on the South East side in the entrance to Broad creek in 2.6m of water. Waking up at sunrise on the 7^th it felt so peaceful I decided to rest up for the day.

Alligator River Pungo River Canal

Bridge over Alligator River opening just for me

Sunset in North River

Ospray hunting

 Left Broad creek at dawn on Sunday 8^th and motor sailed up North River motoring the windy bit through the land cut to Coinjock 11 ½ miles north where we tied up at the marina at 10am to fill with water and fuel.

20th July Beaufort North Carolina

Having talked to a few people, I ascertained that I could get up to Wrightsville with care; the couple on the sailboat next to me also gave me a phone number to call for a free mooring in New York!  We left Southport on the morning of Monday 11^th in the hope of hitting the right tide in the Cape Fear River and current in the Snows Cut, both of which I failed I was too early and had tide and current against me but not enough to worry about and cleared under my first bridge in the cut,

Snows cut

Wrightsville

 arriving in the anchorage at Wrightsville beach at 3pm On the Intracoastal we met everything from army boats to jet skis towing kids, here I found the next stage is notorious for shoaling so will have to go out and sail up to Beaufort, however with the wind blowing from the North I had to wait. Wrightsville is a holiday town with loads of restaurants and beachwear shops and about 5miles of beach!

Anchorage

Wrightsville Beach

The wind finally changed, it started coming round to the east unfortunately it also died to a light breeze, but I decided to go for it especially as another nasty storm was forming off Bermuda, so we left Wrightsville at about 5pm to catch the high tide at the entrance, unfortunately I made too good a time and the tide was still coming in as I exited, leaving the entrance channel into a short swell on the nose, which eased to a normal long Atlantic swell on the starboard bow neither of which was too uncomfortable; the wind blowing between force 0-3from E to SE to W to N, but for all that was a pleasant trip doing 3-4 knots and not fighting current, until entering the Beaufort Inlet, timing our entrance at midtide  slowing us down to 1-2 knots and ploughing through two sets of overfalls, however once inside things eased a bit and finding the right channel was not difficult. The marina put me on an inside berth, leaving the big plastic fishing boats on the outside, which was a bit hairy with wind and current (from different directions) but got in without mishap.

The historic town of Beaufort is very similar to Southport, with plenty of places to eat and buy clothes and food shopping about 3 miles out, although the marina does have courtesy cars, I did not trust myself to the metal monsters and pulled out my bicycle, once forgetting the key so had to walk back to the boat and back to the supermarket to free bicycle!

Beaufort Village

Beaufort Village

Beaufort Docks marina

7th July Southport

Had to replace my autopilot steering pump (which had started leaking) as Raymarine do not sell replacement seals! and weld up the starboard side cross-tree bracket. So with everything working again, I paid my marina dues and left Fort Pierce at 8am on Saturday 2^nd into light to moderate winds, which soon built up to a brisk sail, so I took two reefs in on the main, which I shook out again about 6hrs later, as the winds eased. The winds were mainly from the NE to NW with bursts of SE to SW, making our track of NNE a hard one to keep to. 

Avian company for one night

Dolphins foretelling the next storm

On day one we managed an excellent 132n miles in winds from NW to SE force 1-5, day two saw 115nm in winds from NW to SW force 3-6, day three 126nm in winds from NW force 2-5 and day four 44nm in winds from NW to NE force 1-5, the last day was spent forcing my way against wind and swell into Cape Fear even with the engine we were only making 1-3knots! The first buoy on the entrance, about 12nm out, was unlit and thanks to GPS and accurate charts we missed it, as I could not see it, in the dark and rain, until we were close. The rain was on and off for most of the voyage, ending up being on in Cape Fear making it difficult to see the ranges and other shipping (again AIS saved the day) and nearly missed the entrance to the river housing the marina; all in all I think that was the most tiring leg we have done!

Southport Marina

Salt flats around marina

Southport

 Southport seems to be a nice restful backwater, where I hope to spend a few days recuperating, and trying to find out about the Intracoastal north of here.