Beaufort to Coinjock

Apr 10 thru Apr 12

—Blogpost written by Bob

Beaufort to Goose Creek

We departed from our slip at Beaufort Docks at 8 AM on Wednesday, April 10. The eastern half of the sky was overcast while the western half was clear. We had the help of a dock hand leaving our slip. There was about a 10-knot breeze out of the north. The water was calm as we traveled through the channel out to the shipping channel to/from the ocean. As we turned north on the shipping channel the wind picked up significantly—our wind instrument was showing 22 knots and it got even stronger as we went under the old railroad draw bridge and the high fixed bridge near Beaufort.

The entrance to the Adams Creek Canal.

A boat yard on the right side of the Adams
Creek Canal while motoring north.

Before we entered Adams Creek, we discussed the possibility of anchoring in Adams Creek for the day instead of motoring north on the Neuse River with this kind of wind on our nose. As we got into Adams Creek we were sheltered from the wind. I then checked the wind forecast for Oriental which is along the Neuse River—the wind forecast was not quite as strong there, 12 knots gusting to 20 knots but tapering off throughout the remainder of the day. Consequently we decided to continue with our plan to our original anchorage on Bay River.

A sunken sailboat is a casualty of the
weather during this past winter.

We had the tidal flow against us through the entire 15-mile long canal. While the wind and waves were not nearly as strong in the canal the tidal flow made up for them both. We passed a pretty light blue sailboat (maybe 45-feet long) named Atalanta that was in the Charleston City Marina over the winter and just recently at Beaufort Docks while we were there.

I just about hit a substantial green buoy in Adams Creek—I never saw it until it was about 6 feet away from the cockpit on the wrong side of our boat! I have to be more careful!

The Adams Creek Canal led to the Neuse River, a much bigger body of water. Here, the wind had a long fetch and the waves were growing larger. We considered turning back into Adams Creek and anchoring since the ride was becoming uncomfortable but we soldiered onward.

Motoring into 18-knot winds and 6-foot seas with our boat speed about 4.5 knots was not fun. Lola came out into the cockpit with us about half way up the Neuse River. By the time we entered Bay River we were shielded from some of the wind and we could move faster. While we originally planned to anchor in the Bay River, we continued further and entered the Goose Creek Canal. 

Motoring along the Adams Creek Canal.

Three shrimp boats docked along the ICW
just south of the Hobucken Bridge.

We followed the Goose Creek Canal almost to the Pamlico River and anchored about 1/4-mile off the ICW (MM 149) at 4:30 PM in 11 feet of water. (We anchored in the same spot on our way south on 10/17/16. This anchorage is exposed to an easterly wind but protected from all other directions.) The wind had died down considerably (to about 8 or 9 knots out of the southeast) and the sun was nice and warm as we had happy hour drinks and dinner (leftover chili) at anchor.

Today was a rough day on the water but we made a lot of progress, 54 statute miles.

Goose Creek to Alligator River

We were up before sunrise—today is Thursday, April 11. It was cool last night but not cold by any stretch of the imagination. The breeze was less than 5 knots out of the south southeast. The sky was perfectly clear from the get go and the water was calm—a perfect day for making some distance on the ICW. There was a swarm of (harmless) May flies gathered on the outside of our cockpit enclosure in the early morning. 

Sunrise from our Goose Creek anchorage.
Note the ICW day marks leading
into the Pamlico River,

I noticed an improvement in the battery voltage remaining in the morning. I think this was because the charging was improved by the improved ground connection. I suspect that the ground connection was not perfect from the beginning and got worse over time. (The ground for the solar panels was at this same point.)

We raised the anchor at 7:15 AM and got underway early. We had to maneuver around several crab pots in our anchorage, getting back to the ICW. Once on the ICW, we motored diagonally across the Pimlico River (a distance of less than 5 statute miles) and then up the Pungo River (about 15 statute miles). We made 6.7 knots of boat speed in the smooth water—what a huge difference from yesterday!

Lola sleeping in the cockpit as we motor
through the Alligator River-Pungo
River Canal.  She was a real
champ for spending time
in the cockpit!

At 10:30 AM we entered the approximately 19.4 nautical mile-long Alligator River-Pungo River Canal. This canal runs primarily in an East-West direction and has only a 5-inch tidal range. We we’re still on our one-hour watch system and Maggie started her watch as we entered the canal. The banks are heavily forested most of the length but there are a few homes here and there. The new buds were just coming out on the deciduous trees as we came through. While in the canal we only had one bar of cell phone coverage (not that we expected any phone calls) which rules out our blogpost updates.

The Alligator River-Pungo River Canal is long
and boring--it pretty much looks like
this the entire length.

At 1:40 PM we exited the canal and anchored for the night (in 11.5 feet of water) at the head of the Alligator River, about 1/2 mile off the ICW. (We’ve anchored in this area three times previously.) About 100 yards away from our anchorage, a dead Cypress tree stood in the water like a sentinel with several Cypress stumps surrounding it. 

This is a lone dead Cypress tree that stood
in the water near our anchorage
at the head of the
Alligator River.

We traveled 44 statute miles today and we could have traveled further except protected anchorages along the Alligator River are not that frequent. The wind was gusting to 13 knots when we anchored. Like last night, we were the first (and only) boat in the anchorage.

For dinner we grilled thick boneless pork chops that I have been marinating for several days with a great salad that Maggie put together. We tried out a new hot sauce (Captain Mowatt’s Canceaux Sauce) on the pork chops—it was a delicious blend of sweet and hot!

Alligator River to Coinjock

We have lots of relatively open water (the Alligator River and the Albemarle Sound) ahead of us today and one bridge, the Alligator River Bridge, that has to open for us. (We expect 12 knots of wind out of the south.) I usually review the travel plan before getting started each morning as I’m having a cup of coffee. This morning, clouds in the east prevented a beautiful sunrise like we had yesterday.

Again we got an early start, raising our anchor at 7 AM on Friday, April 12. We made it to the Alligator River Swing Bridge by 9:30 AM and out into the Albemarle Sound by 10:15 AM. Crossing the Albemarle we had 22 to 24 knots of wind (out of the south) on our starboard aft quarter—it made a very rough ride for over 2 hours!

The sea state on the Ablemarle Sound--this
shot was taken off our starboard stern.
Of course, this photo doesn't really
show how high the waves were.

We arrived at Coinjock Marina at 3 PM.  After refueling and docking for the night, we took much needed showers--it has been three days since we've had a shower!

Even though today was rough going, we made 55.3 statute miles.

Because we didn't have cell coverage for the past three nights, this blog was written day-by-day on my iPad and then published from Coinjock Marina.  From here we will go to Great Bridge, VA, then Hampton, and then into the Chesapeake.  Stay tuned for the end of this year's trip north.

Thanks for following our blog!