Day 5

Today was a stay at home day.  We spent the night at Coinjock Marina and decided to stay an extra day.  The winds were pretty strong last night and if you weren’t tied up well, you could get bounced around and into the dock with the gusts.  We had no problem, fenders deployed, spring lines nice and tight, and with little or no tide in the area we tightened up the bow and stern lines as well.  No banging and no moving around.  You can hear the lines groan now and again, but that would be considered normal.  Just did some poking around in the engine room checking on the status of things down there, found a couple hose clamps needing replaced, so I did that, and in the process ripped a shirt on a bolt that was sticking out, and got my pant dirty.  So, I threw away the shirt, it was old anyway and tore way too easy so it was probably time to say goodbye anyway.  I put some laundry detergent on my pants to “pre-soak” and then took all my dirty clothes to the laundromat here at the marina. I hadn’t planned on doing laundry yet, but as the situation presented itself I did what I had.  The dirt on my pants came out and all is good with the world.

I think the high temperature here was either high 40’s or very low 50’s.  It is expected to get pretty cold tonight and tomorrow, around freezing.  I’ll be using that little portable heater again in my stateroom.  I used it last night and was very comfortable.  Rick on the other hand didn’t use it last night, but he said he was fine.  Tonight might be a different story.  Taking advantage of having 110 volt power when you have it.  Tomorrow, however, will be different.  We will be anchored out so using a 110 volt heater will be out of the question.  It should be interesting.

It is expected to be windy again tomorrow, but not as bad as today.  Since we will be crossing the Albemarle Sound I expect it to be rough and choppy.  I suppose we will be navigating mostly from down below at the lower helm which is enclosed rather than from the flybridge in the cold and the exaggerated pitch and roll motions as a result of the height of the bridge.  There is also a 14 ft. bridge we have to go through, but can’t unless the tender opens it for us.  The bridge doesn’t open if the winds are above 25 mph.  Hopefully, it will open and we can continue onward.  If not, we will have to hold up somewhere short of our destination.  Hope to be at Cherry Ridge Landing Anchorage just off the Alligator River tomorrow.  As I recall, there is no internet or phone access at that anchorage, so I will update when I can.

Until Tomorrow.

Coinjock Marina 1

Coinjock Marina 2