Crossing the Albemarle Sound: Elizabeth City to Dowry Creek Marina, Pongo River

The weather forecast for crossing the Albemarle Sound was going from bad to worse.  If we stayed in Elizabeth City for the extra day as planned, we would most likely have been forced to stay two additional days waiting for the weather to improve to make our crossing.  Initially, the decision was to stay put as there were “small craft” warnings for the Albemarle with winds in the 20s and waves forecast to be between 2 and 6 feet from the north/northeast.  

At 0730 the boats which stayed north of the Elizabeth City bridge came through the bridge and rather than taking slips at Mariner’s Wharf, they continued down the Elizabeth River to cross the Albemarle.  George, the skipper of Valiant, alerted us to this fact and we quickly got underway to make the crossing.  Two of the boats ahead of us turned back half way to the mouth of the Elizabeth River because they felt the conditions were too rough.  We kept going.  The crab pots were our biggest challenge as they were painted black and very difficult to see due to the glaring sunlight reflecting off the dark, tannin colored water.  The crabbers in this area are Vietnamese refugees and they believe black is a lucky color for fishing/crabbing.  Thus they paint their crab pot floats black.  Janet did a great job spotting under very difficult conditions.

We motored to a point near the mouth of the Elizabeth River to set our genoa while we still had some land to break the wind.  Winds were in the low 20s when we entered the Sound and waves were 2 to 3 feet in height.  The boat sailed well and punched through the waves with the genoa set as a 100% jib.  By mid-crossing the waves increased to 4 foot but stayed either astern or were on our stern quarter.  So, the ride was not as bad as it would have been if we had to take them head on.  The wind was also to our rear and did not feel as strong as it really was since we were running with it.  Overall, it was not as challenging as we expected.  We've been on much worse in the Chesapeake Bay.

Our major concern as we neared the end of our crossing was getting through the Alligator River Bridge which was a fairly narrow swing bridge and would not open if the winds and waves made passage through it dangerous.  Fortunately, the bridge continued to let boats pass and we went through without any problem.  We made a few more miles down the Alligator River before anchoring in and east/west orientated bend which provided us with great protection from the northerly winds.

The anchorage was not far from an Air Force strafing range.  We watched fighter jets make passes over the land in front of us for nearly an hour.  We are definitely in a remote, unpopulated area.  There is no cell service here.  The nearest town is about 15 miles away as the crow flies.