12/11/07
There was no rush this morning to head out. It
was foggy and there where fifteen m.p.h wind coming into the marina. The weather
report explained that the fog would let up around 9:00 a.m. BY Eight thirty you
could see well enough to be able to navigate through the Nuese River. The Nuese
River is a very large river,and it is also known as the Pamlico Sound located in
the mid eastern part of North Carolina. There where swells of about 2 to 3 ft,
but since the boat has a deep hull and is very heavy, there was a slight bit of
rocking for about 10 miles until we entered back into the Intracoastal Waterway.
Later on that afternoon we crossed through the Pamlico River. The Pamlico River
is a large windy river as well. It wasn't quiet as rough as we thought of it to
be; but at times it was pretty rocky. Our goal was to make it to Wilkerson Creek
to anchor for the night, but we found a marina called Dowry Creek Marina about
five miles before the anchorage. It was definately a better idea to pull in
there for the night so we could do laundry and take showers. We got in at 3:30
p.m. it was a short day. In the Marina they had a boat house or club house where
you can watch t.v. or just hang out so we watched a movie that night and ate ice
cream before we went to sleep.
Today? Oh, yes! Today is the day that Cpt. Randi has been entising us with the
promise of a 16 oz. prime rib that is in Coinjock, North Carolina. Its said to
be the best prime rib in the eastern United States; many boaters stop there to
have a tasty dinner. Today is the day we will be making an 85 mile trip through
the I.C.w to get there and have a go at it. Our motivation was high today to get
to Coinjock as quickly and as safely as possible. The Albemarle Sound was our
half-way point of the day, and also the point where we started counting down the
miles to prime rib instead of counting up. The Albemarle Sound was humongus and
at the beginning we discovered something really important that could have been
bad if we hadn't discovered it. Two markers where set in totally different areas
than they where supposed to be on the charts and g.p.s due to shoaling. That
just shows you to keep your eyes open and always confirm what your looking at
before you make your decision on what you're going to do. Out in the middle of
the Albemarle Sound there was no land in sight. After a little over five miles
you could start to see the North river entrance and that was our last 10 mile
stretch until Coinjock. The water was deep in the middle of the channel and
shallow on the sides. We were doing a port side tie to the dock. Robert and I
got our lines and fenders ready, then I took the helm while Cpt. Randi showed me
how by just using the port and starboard engines you could make all your needed
maneuvers to get into the dock. There was an older young man who caught our
lines and was telling us all about Coinjock and how many people come by boat to
have some prime rib. By the time he was finished we were hungry and went to the
restaurant to have a taste. OOOOOHHHHH, that was some good prime rib let me tell
ya! And we were stuffed! Our tummys where full of that goodie good stuff, and
there's nothing like a good nights rest after a big plate of prime rib."You
haven't had good prime rib until you've come to Coinjock!" exclaimed the young
man who caught our lines.
After a good nights sleep and with lunch waiting in the fridge from left over
dinner, we where ready to go through Norfolk, Virginia today. The beginning of
the day we had a really light fog around us and open water. There were not alot
of boats going south today; it seemed like we where the only ones out there. As
we came nearer to Norfolk we started to come into a stretch of bridges. There
were very few fixed bridges and a whole lot of lift and swing bridges. Ten of
them were swing and the other two where fixed. We also went through the Great
Bridge Lock and that was a very cool experience that alot of people don't get to
encounter. The bridges held us back a little, most of them opened every hour and
half hour, and you can't catch them all right when they're opening, only some.
When we entered Norfolk there were tons of ships, most of them were Naval. We
also saw lots of industrial plants and tugs. Cpt. Randi told us that it is the
biggest Naval port in the United States and that more ship traffic comes through
here than anywhere else. As we were coming out of Norfolk a heavy fog was
starting to overtake us. The fog was too heavy and we would have had to navigate
at night to the next marina so we decided to go back to Downtown Norfolk in a
marina called Tide Water. We docked before sunset,had showers and ate dinner.
Wellll, today was a nice day and it was too bad we had to turn around but it was
for the best.
