Morning comes cool and dry and with an unexpected north wind. Sail off anchor 6:05. It is a slow drift down to the main part of Bath Creek, making 2.8 when we catch the breeze. 6:30 Plum Point to port. 6:40 away from the trees and exposed to the wind, a steady 4.4 out on the Pamlico River.
7:10 gps shows 5.0 in a puff, wind on aft of beam. 7:55 Blount Bay to port and making great time up the river. Not another boat in sight.
8:35 Broad Creek to starboard, steady easy sailing. Begin to pick out channel markers to Washington and see the train trestle ahead.
I am caught off guard when I see the trestle is closed. I've sailed into Washington several times over the years and it has always been open. In fact I had thought the trestle, old and rusty with plants growing out of the bridge structure, was no longer in use. I call the bridge tender on channel 13. No response. Channel 16. No response. Channel 13 again. Silence.
Checking Navionics I see a review that says the trestle could be closed for a train anytime between 7 and 10 a.m. Just as I read this I see a train coming from the south side and crossing the bridge. It takes just a few minutes to cross. A man walks out of the small shack on the trestle, looks around, goes back in the shack. A few minutes later the trestle opens.
10:15 bring the sails down to motor through the trestle.
10:30 coming into the town docks just as a dockhand arrives in a golf cart. He helps me tie up and then fills out a form for my two free days on the waterfront.
A nice salad for lunch, then the usual chores of cleaning up the boat. Afternoon I sit a rocking chair on the porch at the visitors center catching up on the log.
Finally get that cold beer in what was once an old flour mill, then home to the local rowing club and now a brewery. Dinner at Ribeye's, with so much seasoning I can barely taste the steak. I come back to the docks to find that SPARTINA has become a topic of interest for a couple local photographers. How nice.
Late evening, gusts out of the southwest arrive. Bumpy at the exposed dock. I drift off to sleep.
15.12 NM
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