Pungo River Anchorage to Broad Creek Anchorage
We were up
early and had a leisurely breakfast before weighing anchor just before
0800. It was a beautiful day for our 22
mile ride through the Alligator-Pungo Rivers Canal. A slightly overcast sky and light breeze kept
us cool in the morning. We didn’t see
any alligators this time; however, we did encounter a bear swimming across the
canal. This is a very remote section of
North Carolina. We traveled for most of
the day without cell phone coverage.
Upon leaving the canal, we entered the Alligator River which meant
another roughly 25 miles to travel before reaching Albemarle Sound. We encountered a barge heading south on the
river. So much for an exciting day.
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| Carla: "I Don't Like This" |
We were
feeling pretty good about entering Albemarle Sound as the sun was shining
bright and we had a favorable wind to make the 15 mile crossing. We were thrilled to once again be sailing
rather than motoring. About half way
across the sound, a large squall appeared and it was headed in our
direction. We dropped the main sail as
soon as we felt the temperature drop and the wind pick up some. We reefed in the genoa some as well. It was soon obvious, the squall was not to be
avoided. We altered course in an attempt
to get to the squall’s eastern edge to reduce its impact upon us.
Shortly thereafter, we had to significantly
alter course again when we spotted a water spout not far off and headed in our
direction. We were hit with high winds
and heavy rain but survived as we avoided the water spout’s path. We turned north again only to be confronted
with a second squall which was worse than the first.
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| Waterspout |
Once again,
we tried to alter course and minimize our exposure to the squall. This time we were not very successful. The winds nearly took off the bimini as one
of the zippers came undone and the support pole fell into the cockpit in front
Dwayne at the wheel. Lightening was
flashing all around us. We heard the
loudest crack ever and in a bright flash all our navigation instruments went
dead except the depth sounder. If we
didn’t have a direct hit from lightening, it was close enough to kill some of
our electronic gear.
Dwayne was
able to keep Foreign Affair from
broaching despite the wind laying her over on her port side as if we were
sailing overpowered and close hauled. It
all was all over in less than a half hour.
We spent time getting the bimini back in order and checking systems for
damage. Soon after, we were using our
iPad for navigation and resumed making our way to the anchorage for the
night. Besides the storm, we had to work
our way through hundreds of crab pots which could have stopped us dead in the
water if one were to foul our propeller.
The Albemarle was not good to us today.
We got our butts kicked. Albemarle Sound is noted as being one of the most dangerous bodies of water.
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