MV SERENDIPTY Larry and Erin

Monday, October 7, 2019 South of Great Bridge enroute to The Alligator River, NC

What a beautiful day. Sunny and light breezes and traveling with another trawler whose owners Doug and Donna we met at Great Bridge. This part of the ICW is what I call “boring” as there is little to see but a long waterway called the Virginia Cut, except trees on one side and wetlands and standing deadwood on the other.

The sun however was bright and there seemed to be welcoming warmth to the trees as they made the rustling noises of the light breeze. We had to wait till 9:30 for the North Landing swing bridge to open. It opens on the half hour when water traffic is present.

Our accompanying trawler is a plaining hull vessel and has greater speed that we do. They cruise at better than 10 knots, we cruise at 7-8 which quickly put them ahead of us. Other vessels were astern of us and had to wait for the swing bridge to open. So we had the Virginia Cut to ourselves all the way to the Currituck Sound in North Carolina. As we cleared the man made Virginia Cut we found large expanses of tall marsh grasses with an occasional tree. The tops of the golden-green marsh grasses seemed to be dancing happily as they swayed to and fro in the freshening breeze. It was pretty evident that a weather change was coming although the warm breezes felt good on our faces at this point. We continued to motor south into a SE zephyr.

All day long the weather forecast had been predicting the passing of a cold front which would bring us significantly different weather. Winds were expected to increase to 25 to 30 knots out of the Northeast as the front approached. In addition there would be the possibility of thunderstorms and widespread light rain. That front was destined to have a bearing on our travels today. We were hoping to reach the Alligator River Mile marker 84) and get through the bridge but this weather would probably hold us up so we started looking for places along the waterway where we could anchor for the night. That Anchorage would have to be in a pretty secure position so that we were safe through the night as the winds picked up and blew out of the Northeast. It is a fact that the open Albemarle Sound, and its short period rigorous chop as bad as the open Chesapeake Bay in a storm. Not a pleasant thought.

Erin and I discussed what it is that we wanted to do and we developed several options. Currently the wind was directly on our nose out of the southeast which meant that we would be traveling directly into. At mile marker 45 having the knowledge of the conditions across the North Carolina sounds told me that our speed would not allow us to cross the open 20 miles of the Albemarle Sound this afternoon. This option then came off the table. It was about 1:30 in the afternoon that we learned that the Alligator River bridge had been secured in the closed position because of failed mechanical and electric parts and those parts would have to be manufactured. This was going to be a real problem, not just for us but many snowbirds. This meant we would either have to spend a night at the Coinjock Marina, the only marina between our position and the Alligator River Bridge or anchor some for the night. We would rather been in the breeze than at a marina for the night.  Studying the chart Erin and I chose an anchorage near a small creek called Lutz Creek at the South end of the Virginia cut at the entrance to the Albemarle Sound. Erin studied the charts and agreed.

This location has good holding ground and we would tuck-in as close to the shores we could on the south west shore allowing us to be in the lee of the land when heavy winds and rain came. Because of our options changing we decided to stop briefly at the Coinjock Marina and restaurant. Because of the anticipated weather it was doubtful that we would get Abigail ashore. (Abby is a 14-year-old Standard Poodle and by default, the boat dog). Therefore we decided on a quick stop at the Coinjock Marina to give Abby an opportunity to go ashore and do her thing.

Abby, The Assistant First mate was in complete agreement! 

Feeling a little bit guilty because we didn’t plan on spending the night we asked the Marina to let us tie-up for a short time to order a take-out dinner. The Marina said to come on in. Erin took Abby ashore and I went and got a wonderful seafood salad some very tasty wings and some Coinjock clam chowder. We were there all about 25 minutes and then were off again to make the next 10 miles to our Anchorage around mile marker 60.

The winds for this evening were anticipated to be from the southeast until midnight. We could see the dark clouds were beginning to gather. Sunset was early because of the diminishing sunlight. We did get securely anchored in a protected cove and put out 75 feet of chain in 8 feet of water which was more than we actually needed but it helped to give us an extra secure feeling.  (When using anchor chain the rule is to use 5 times the depth of the water which would be 40 feet.) We secured the boat in for the evening, fed Abby and we settled in to enjoy our salad and some 15 being soup which Erin had made before we left. (Decided to save the wings and chowder for lunch tomorrow) We heated the Bean Soup on the stove and enjoyed dinner as the boat gently rocked in the southeast breeze. It was cool enough that we did not need air-conditioning so we opened the hatch on the transom and turned in for the night.

We did have a surprise we had not anticipated this evening though. Once it got dark outside our lights inside the boat had been quite an invitation to a hoard of flying insects. They were everywhere, inside and outside. They looked like mosquitoes at first but they did not land on us nor bite. They were on the overhead of the main salon where the lights were the brightest and when I went outside they were all over the sides of the cabin like the sides were fly-paper. This was incredible. I got out the safe-to use around the galley and animals (all natural ingredients) flying insect spray. Erin and Abby were in the master stateroom so I closed the door to the forward and after berthing compartments and started spraying the main salon. Trust me this was not expected and it was  a bit creepy These bugs must have jet engines for wings considering the increased velocity of the wind. Nonetheless we became a floating motel for these critters. (Later we learned that they are called fuzzy-Bills)  

The ones that died on the outside seemed to dissolve into green goo which left hundreds of small green spots on the sides and decks. Great another reason to swab the decks!

About 1 o’clock in the morning I was awakened by a wind shift as the boat swung around facing into the Northeast. It was accompanied by a brief rain shower and I went forward to check the anchor. We were definitely secure and in the same spot. To be sure I checked the chart plotter to verify we were at the position we marked on it. When Larry anchors a boat… It stays anchored, and we were! With that confidence we returned to a very nice sleep. The fuzzy-Bills were dead! YEA!

The morning was going to bring decision time and we knew it.