We cruised for 9 hours to an anchorage in the Pungo River. Our day was uneventful, although we were passed by a lot of faster boats also going north.
On May 4 we left our anchorage and cruised up the Pungo River - Alligator River Canal. It was very quiet as we cruised along, though a bit windy. We saw very little wildlife. We arrived at the Alligator River Marina after 5-1/2 hours of cruising. Unfortunately, the weather was turning bad with a lot of rain and storms predicted. We stayed for 2 nights at the Alligator River Marina with is nothing more than some docks adjacent to a Shell Gas Station. But, the gas station also had a restaurant grill and we able to have some delicious North Carolina barbecue for dinner!
The morning of May 6th we left the Alligator River Marina and crossed the Albemarle Sound. We had crossed two other times last summer on our way to the Chesapeake and then back to New Bern. The Albermarle is a force to be reckoned with. The water is not deep, but it is a big body of water and can get very rough. Our luck was not with us - we had a very rough crossing! The Captain handed it well and we did make it across, but once again we had things flying round in the boat.
After a couple of hours of rocking and rolling we finally made it across Albermale Sound and then cruised on to Coinjock Marina where we could tie up for the night. We had a call from the dockmaster at Coinjock Marina while we were under way with the information that 2 of the swing bridges north of Coinjock were closed due to high water. Until the bridges opened up, no boats could go through. That meant that boats were rafted up to each other while waiting for the bridges to open. We were rafted to Robin's Nest for 2 nights while we waited.
Unfortunately, there's more to this story. While docked at Alligator River Marina (May 7), Nancy tripped while coming into the boat from the cockpit and took a hard fall into the boat, hitting the corner of the counter top on the way to the floor. Nothing hurt immediately, so she didn't even tell Carey about her fall until later that evening. Everything seemed fine until Saturday night at Coinjock Marina when Nancy was unable to lie down due to the pain in her side. Well, Coinjock is not exactly a metropolis. I's just a marina. Out in the middle of nowhere! So, the next morning, Carey talked to the dock master about how to get to an ER. A fire station a quarter-mile down the road was suggested where there were EMT personnel on duty. Carey walked to the fire station, talked to the nice EMT personnel who came back to check on Nancy and then offered her a ride to the nearest ER - by ambulance - which is in Elizabeth City. (Carey wanted to take a picture of the ambulance for the blog, but Nancy said NO!) After an exam and x-rays, it was determined that Nancy had broken a rib in the fall (not just bruised or cracked, but broken). There is no treatment for a broken rib except pain meds and rest. After the ER visit, we took a taxi (and we use that loosely) to Walgreens to get the meds and then we used Uber to make the 25 miles drive back to the boat.
We decided to leave Coinjock on May 8 when the swing bridges opened up. After several bridges and one lock, we made it to Ocean Yacht Marina in Portsmouth where we decided to stay at least a week so that Nancy could rest and recover. Carey has had to step up and do all of Nancy's boat chores for a while! It has been week and Nancy is slowly improving. One more addition to our list of adventures on the Loop!
On May 16 we will be on the move again. Destination: Annapolis MD via Deltaville VA and Solomons, Maryland. We will stay in Annapolis for about two weeks while we have a new powered dinghy davit installed. Sometimes it's better to spend a few boats units to make life easier, in this case, launching and retrieving the dinghy. (Reminder: One boat unit is $1000.)
HOPE NANCY IS GETTING BETTER AND HAD A GOOD MOTHERS DAY PLEASE SEND US UPDATES ON HER
ReplyDeleteDANIEL Simon
Hope Nancy is recovering quickly! Safe travels!
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