Another day closer to the warmth

We had been moving every day about 7 hours per day, today was no exception. I don't think I have seen so many sunrises in my life as I have this trip south. This morning was a beauty...in this sunrise picture, the little black dots on the surface are crab pot markers...we were only in 9' of water.

Sunrise from Alligator River

We were anchored at the mouth of a 21 mile long

canal, about a 5 iron away. Not being the first to lift anchor this morning we can see other boats disappear into the canal and into the mist, moving at idle speed. By the time we wiped down our windows and cleaned the mud from the anchor chain as it lifted, the fog had pretty much dissipated.

This canal that links Alligator River and the Pongo River is about 100' across and 14' deep. We passed a couple of dead heads sticking about a foot out of the water that would have surely caused damaged if hit. The USCG was announcing the location every hour of one of these dead heads. We didn't have cellular service until we exited the canal and got closer to Belhaven, NC. Based on responses from a post Julie had made on a Facebook sailing group, I called a few boat yards to enquire about their services. We decided to have the keel looked at tomorrow by Sailcraft Services in Oriental, NC.

The Alligator Pongo River Canal

A power boat travelling at 6+ knots will throw off a pretty sizeable wake, (they usually travel at 10+ knots). Proper etiquette along the ICW when a power boat passes you from behind, is to slow down so they can pass you at a speed that has little wake. Once they pass we both increase speed and continue on. There has been the odd power boat that is ignorant or just doesn't care...I think we have seen both. For a sailboat, the wake can have us rocking side to side so violently that things that are usually secure will fall off the shelves. If we have room to turn, we will so that our bow crashes through the wake instead of taking it from the side...thankfully today, we had room to turn. This 'Jackalope' just didn't care...anyone that said anything to him over the VHF he had a rude comment back.

Shortly after stopping in Goose Creek for the night, a familiar boat pulled in. It was Andy and Judy on Jacob's Ladder who we had met anchored in Spa Creek back in Annapolis. They were travelling with anther boat. They were long time friends both from Halifax. We invited both couples to our boat after dinner for drinks. Dave and Corinne were very nice people and strangely enough we talked about sailing south. 

 
 Jacob's Ladder in the foreground...does anyone else see the fire breathing dragon in the sky?