Day Nine – Tuesday, 27 November

Cruising on the ICW is as much a social activity as it is an adventure. We’ve found ourselves a full-fledged member of a small floating village consisting of up to seven boats. Yesterday evening, there were seven of us at the Tuckahoe Point anchorage at the head of the Alligator River – Pungo River Canal. All of us left at about the same time…she slower boats first and the faster boats a little later. Tonight our “village” consists of three boats…Marisol and Dream Quest tied up to the R.E. Mayo shrimpers dock about two miles back…and Windreka alone at an anchorage on Bear Creek about a mile off ICW mile marker 160.

The itinerary for today was:

• Tuckahoe Point anchorage west to the mouth of the Alligator River - Pungo River Canal
• Twenty-two miles southwest then south into the Pungo River
• Twenty-one miles southwest into the Pamlico River
• Two miles south into Goose Creek and the mouth of the Bay River
• Bear Creek anchorage to west of "27"
  

The Good Side of Commercial Traffic

Woody, Don and Nancy are eating fresh shrimp at the R.E. Mayo dock and we are eating tacos. We have too much food aboard to buy any of the local seafood…a lesson we will remember next time through. But, no worries, mates! We’ll have plenty of time to buy and eat inexpensive, fresh shrimp when we return after the Christmas holidays.

We made over 55 miles today starting at 0730 under a sunny sky and light winds. Later in the morning the wind rose to 25-35 knots from the west…on our nose of course as we motored along the Alligator River – Pungo River Canal. By the time we exited the canal, the wind was getting lighter, the sun was still shining brightly and we were in short sleeved shirts in the enclosed cockpit of our boat…altogether a very enjoyable day in phenomenal weather.

Sunrise at Bear Creek Sunset at Bear Creek
After we crawled our way back into the secluded, protected anchorage…thanks to our new Garmin chartplotter…we settled into our routine of sitting for awhile in the cockpit enjoying the scenery and relaxing as the afternoon turns into evening and the sun gets low on the horizon, By sunset, we are down below and planning our next day’s route. Dinner is cooked and eaten by 7:30 PM and we are settled in to bed early most nights. Sarah usually by 9:00 PM and Joe posting our web log and trying to finish up before the evening news. We have satellite radio, CDs, DVDs and television to entertain us. TV reception varies from very good to barely acceptable. Cellular telephone…so far…has been very good with a couple of exceptions. Broadband access is the big surprise. With the exception of last night, we’ve had internet access at every anchorage and marina we’ve stayed at for the past month and a half.

After a pleasant couple of days, it’s starting to get cooler again. Tomorrow is supposed to be fair and mild and it will get cooler toward the end of the week…but then we hope to be at least 200 miles further south, so we’ll see how much warmer weather we can gather to keep ourselves warm. We’re planning on being south of Morehead City, NC tomorrow evening this time. We’re trying to be a bit more aggressive without disrupting the pleasure of this trip since we want to be home for the holidays and not be too rushed either getting to Hilton Head or getting ready for the holidays…no small balancing act, but we're doing our best!