Down Alligator River

With higher winds predicted today and a large shallow body of water to cross, we were undecided whether to lift anchor and go by 09:00 an hour later than usual. Well, by 09:00 we were on our way. We use several apps to determine our sail (motor) plan for the day: Intellicast for radar; Windfinder and Sailflow for winds; Wunderground for more weather; Navionics HD as a backup chartplotter, measuring distances, tides and water current; Garmin Blue Charts for current obstructions, shoaling and anchorage spots; Hurricane Tracker and a few paper publications, Most of these are also referred to throughout the day as we move...being aware of your surroundings is important when you only move at 6knts.

The night was so peaceful, that I was awoken each time I heard the bilge pump go on...actually, after the first two times I probably didn't go back to sleep. Every 2-3 hours wasn't a good thing and decided we need to have our keel looked at sooner than anticipated. I can now conclude that when we grounded last month, it caused more damage than first thought.

Coincidently, early this morning, we passed a sailboat that had run aground. Our chartplotter was indicating marsh where they were aground, but no grass was apparent...obviously they weren't following their charts. To get off the ground, they had rowed their dinghy back a distance, then physically dropped their anchor (probably their backup anchor) and attached the anchor line to their cockpit winch. Then using the power/leverage of the winch, they manually cranked by hand slowly inching back off the ground. They also should have had the boat in reverse gear for added thrust. This is the only time you would hope for a power boat to pass by throwing a wake to help lift you off the ground.

Well, the winds were not near as bad as predicted

Looking back in Albermarle Sound

and we had our jib out pushing us along at 7.5 knts. As we made our way across Albermarle Sound, we would still see the odd crab pot - miles off shore...so tempting to pick one up and grab the bounty. As we waited for the Alligator River Swing Bridge to open, I remembered it was here two years ago while helping deliver a club members boat from Belhaven, NC to Albany, NY, we had dolphins jumping at our bow...no dolphins this time. Our destination for today was the bottom of Alligator River...I should reword that...to the southern most end of the Alligator River...not the bottom 12 feet down.

Our data sources were telling us that when anchoring in Alligator River, we should use a trip line on our anchor due to obstructions and debris like tree roots on the bottom. So I tied a rope to the front bend of the anchor hook and the other end to an empty plastic jug to float above the anchor. I wasn't taking any chances with our new $1,000, 73lb Rocna 'bay boy' anchor. Fortunately, we had no problem the next morning lifting the anchor.

By the time it was dark, there were 20 boats anchored in the vicinity...crab pots to the left, crab pots to the right, and no wifi or cellular signal here tonight. Another 45 miles warmer today.

Sunset from Alligator River