"When I think of all the fools I've been it's a wonder that I've sailed this many miles." -Guy Clark

Saturday, June 12, 2021

day nine - a seam in the sky


Anchor up at 6:30.  It's cold.  Wearing thermal shirt and dry suit, under power out the winding channel to the Alligator River.  On the river at 6:50, rolling in waves being pushed by a stiff northeast wind.


Mizzen and jib at 6:55, add the double reefed main and by 7:30 shake out a reef.  Grey skies but it looks like it might clear.  


Full sail at 7:40.  Newport News Point at 8:30 where we jibe to the west, 4.0.  Sails down at 9:00 at the northern entrance to the Alligator River - Pungo River canal.  Looking south I can see several power boats coming up the waterway.  In the canal at 9:20 as skies clear.  Glad to have the NE wind on the stern.


10:20 warming up and I take off the dry suit.  At 11:30 friendly waves from the Scow Schooner NINA out of Baltimore, we photograph each other as we pass by.  12:25 see the first eagle of the trip as it flies across the canal.  I'm surprised that it has taken over a week to see an eagle.


Out of the canal at 1:00, full sail.  2:15 making 4.6 on the Pungo River towards Belhaven.


Wind out of the north and there is a dark seam in the clouds overhead.  Rain ahead so I slip on the foul weather gear.  A light steady rain off Lower Dowry Point that moves on quickly and skies begin to clear.


Making 4.4 as we pass through the breakwater to Pantego Creek at 3:15.  I tie up at the town dock see an "WE'RE OPEN" flag fluttering in the breeze at the marina next door.  Maybe an early dinner??  I walk over and ask about food.  The guy tells me that they only have "beer, wine and cigars."  It makes me laugh.  "How about a coke?"   He rummages around in a refrigerator and finds a single can of Pepsi.  "A dollar ok?" he asks.  So they don't have food but they do have fuel, a new gas and diesel system that they opened a few months earlier.  I am happy to be able to top off the gas can.


 Only one place open in town for dinner, the Fish Hook.  Crab cakes and fries with a glass of wine.  I push off from the dock, anchor down on Pantego Creek at 6:10.


39.79 NM for the day

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