Oriental (Grace Harbor at River Dunes) to Coinjock

The largest of the Fleming Yachts, more than twice our width

 

March 16, 2021

We left at 8:00.  It was cold and rainy and we have 135 miles to go.  As soon as we entered the Neuse River right outside the marina, it was rough.  4' - 6' waves and close together.  This is Rosemary and Parker's nightmare.  Sandy had to really pay attention to every wave,, this was much worse than we had anticipated from the weather forecasts.  

                                                                Sporty Beam Sea  Too Busy when

                                                                conditions were the worst to film  

For quite a while we could not start the generator because a switch had been flipped, eventually Sandy figured it out.  This made things more manageable because the windows were all steamed up and it was cold inside!  The rain was heavy and consistent but when we left the Neuse River, the conditions became tolerable and the Alligator Swing Bridge opened.  

The four Fleming yachts behind us, rainy cold March day

We passed the four trawlers in the Abermarle Sound that we had passed yesterday near Oriental.  We are sure they continued onto Belhaven or somewhere near there, like we should have.  They travel much more slowly but are very comfortable inside.  We arrived at Coinjock at 2;00 and refueled and tied up an hour and a half before they arrived.  

We have no plans except to get take out from the restaurant on site, walk Parker and check the weather.  It was suggested that we leave on the hour tomorrow morning for bridge and lock openings, I think we should be safe to say we will leave by 8.  We left at 7:00 after talking to the Fleming group so we wouldn't have to pass them in a narrow channel.

Tomorrow we hope to get out of the ICW and transit the Lower Chesapeake bay to Deltaville where we will leave the boat to have it serviced.  Our really good friend Joe will be spending  the night at a nearby hotel and will take us home!