Voyage 2002-2003: Chapter 7

14 May 2003, The final leg: Moorehead to Homeport, 38 43.529 N/ 076 32.599 W

Guess what? The weather? Still stinks. However, we decided to head for Hobucken and stay at the shrimp place (R.E. Mayo). Fortunately, there was enough room for the three of us. Ann got her ice and Bob got his diesel. Barbobasea got a few pounds of shrimp and made dinner for Paradise and us. Great dinner! Then the bugs came out. Noseeums,flies, and a kind of biting bug we never saw before. Ah yeah, I forgot, a boat load of mosquitoes. Bugs won that night as we all headed for our boats.

The next morning we headed for Deep Point at the headwaters of the Alligator River. Weather still nasty but no rain. In the Pungo River, Barbobasea had to furl their headsail as their jib sheet was fraying. Later that morning, Paradise's main alternator 'fell apart'. Both problems were under control so we did not lose any time. We entered the Pungo River Canal at 1205 and were greeted with 'deadheads' (submerged or nearly submerged logs). Ann headed for the bow to maintain a watch. We were all swerving to avoid them for nearly two hours. We all made it without collision because of Ann's excellent watch. None of the three boats had any problem with depth. We arrived at Deep Point at 1505 and were greeted with a nearly empty anchorage. S/V Humbug (we had been at many of the same place heading North) dropped the hook first, then Jule III, then Barbobasea. Paradise decided to head a few miles further up.

The next morning we readied the boat the for Albemarle Sound. At 0600, we noticed a bit of fog but visibility was well over one mile. Jule III again took the lead up the Alligator River. At 0700 the fog became more dense with visibility less than a quarter of a mile. Good thing that we had radar and a good chart plotting program. The fog lifted as we entered the Sound but visibility again dropped below a quarter of a mile. Great! We were entering the North River where the water would be thin.We navigated by radar for over an hour as we snaked through the river. At 1238, the fog finally dissipated and we had a clear shot to Coinjock. We arrived at Midway Marina at 1410 where we all tied up on the bulkhead. Nice marina and nice people. Our three crews met up with crew of Humbug at Crabbies, the local restaurant. We celebrated Dave's (Paradise) birthday (much to his surprise and embarrassment).

Saturday we headed for Portsmith (the end of the ICW) where we would encounter a lock and over five bridges in less than 10 miles. As it was a weekend, the bridges were more cooperative (no closures during local rush hour). We traversed the lock with ease, and headed for mile marker '0' at Portsmith. Barbobasea stayed at Great Bridge lock to meet some relatives. Our original plan was to continue up the bay through the night and arrive at homeport by the next evening. No way. Severe storm warnings were posted everywhere across the Bay. So Paradise and Jule III decided to head for Salt Ponds and hunker down at the marina there. Well, the storms did not materialize that day or the next. Paradise decided to leave their boat for a few weeks while they attended to business back home.

On Monday, we decided to leave Salt Ponds under a small craft advisory. They were calling for west winds at 20 kts gusting to 30 kts. Wow, we could actually sail under greatly reduced sail. We did for a while until the wind shifted to the NNW and then the wind was on our nose. Great! We passed Point Lookout at 2000 and decided to favor the western shore of the Bay. Not many crab pots and most of the commercial shipping were favoring the eastern side. We did have to avoid a couple of tugs north of Cove Point. We arrived at Herring Bay at 0300 and entered Herrington Harbour at 0315. Their range was not operational so we did the searchlight thing as we passed through the channel. Our son, Chris, was waiting at the dock to catch our lines. Good kid! At 0330 on 13 May 2003 we were again at homeport. We had been away for 207 days. We were glad to be back. So ends Voyage 2002. We have to thank all the kind folks who have send us emails of encouragement throughout the cruise and especially during Bob's mother's illness. See you on our next voyage.