Captain's Choice blog: The Migration South

The migration of boats heading south was clearly evident as we left Top Rack Marina and headed to Coinjock, NC, 40 miles away. We locked through Great Bridge with a tug and the sunrise over the lock was amazing. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture because I was on the bow of the boat getting ready for the lock. Right after the lock is a lift bridge and several sailboats that had been staying on the free dock got in line behind us and waited for the opening. There are several bridges that we have to wait for as they only open on the hour and 1/2 hour. This stacks all the boats up...go fasts, trawlers and sailboats all heading south. Once you get past the bridge everyone lines up...the go fasts take off, the sailboats lag behind and the trawlers just move along in the middle of the pack until you get to the next bridge where the go fasts are waiting and the sailboats are trying to get there so they don't have to wait for the next opening.
We decided to stop at Coinjock because they have laundry, a good prime rib and the winds were suppose to increase as the day went on...therefore the Albemarle Sound which we needed to cross would be rocking and rolling. After the laundry we sat on the bridge and watched the boats pile into the marina. This is the spot...we have everything from 40' sail and power boats to yachts of 100'...always interesting! We like watching the yachts but we think it's just a captain and crew moving them, occasionally we can tell it's an owner and friend because they handle them with care. There is seldom any females on these boats and they just move them from north to south in as short a time as possible. Sounds like too much work for us! The captain and I like to move at a more leisurely pace...get to our destination with sunlight left so we can fill out our log, take in the scenery and have a cocktail!
When we got to Coinjock, NC we had traveled 1,029 miles since leaving Buffalo...it's 1,050 miles to Chicago from Buffalo by boat and that is the reason we decided on going south via the east coast and not doing the loop again.

The reason why we are suddenly seeing more boats is because some of the larger yachts run outside in the ocean and then come in at Norfolk (pronounced Nofick) to take the intercoastal to Beaufort (pronounced Bo-fert), NC to avoid going around the Outer Banks.
Everyone was leaving Coinjock early Tuesday morning with a forecast of sunny skies and 42 degrees at 7 am and promises of high 60's in the afternoon, winds W - NW at 12 mph which would make the Albemarle crossing tolerable. After 79 miles we anchored in 10' of water, mud bottom in the Pungo River along with 4 other boats. It's so quiet in this anchorage...hopefully the other boats didn't mind when we ran the generator to heat up our left over prime rib! What a spectacular display of stars at night along with the milky way, it reminded us of the North Channel in Canada.

The sunrises on this trip have been fantastic and Wednesday morning as we left the Pungo River and entered Pamlico River we were treated to another. We stopped at RE Mayo Seafood along the canal and picked up some "fresh off the boat" shrimp and scallops and then continued on to an anchorage at Broad Creek 48 miles away. We anchored in 6' of water, good holding mud bottom with good protection. It was such a nice afternoon that we did a little exploring by dinghy before heading back to the boat to clean our shrimp. We enjoyed some for dinner and have some in the freezer!

Wow! That's the best way to sum up Thursday as this was one of those perfect boating days. We were treated to another amazing sunrise as we left Broad Creek and headed 33 miles to Beaufort, NC. Just as we left the creek the dolphins welcomed us into the Neuse River and the water was like a mirror for several miles. We fell in line with a bunch of other boats that are using the intercoastal and like to get an early start. With the promise of temperatures in the high 70's for the day we were in our glory. We saw shrimp boats lowering their nets and pelicans flying around. We entered Adams Creek and it was so serene, so beautiful and we commented to each other that it was just 2 months prior that the people here were bracing for Hurricane Florence. We are seeing some damage to docks, a few trees, and roofs as we make our way to Homer Smith's Marina. The captain gave the boat a good cleaning instead of just a salt rinse and once we were done with that we headed into the little town of Beaufort. As we walked we saw houses with plaques showing they were built anywhere from the late 1700's to 1910. Once we were in town we were delighted to find a boardwalk with a town marina where some of the heavy hitters (yachts) were docked. We anticipate they are here to wait out the winds that are forecasted for Thursday night and Friday before they head out to the ocean. Mark had hoped for low winds so that we could make another run in the ocean but the forecast is not favorable for that so we will continue in the intercoastal when we leave Saturday. After walking the boardwalk and enjoying a cold drink we walked the main street and found several businesses still closed from the hurricane with signs that promise to reopen soon.