Ready to cross Albemarle Sound

Today was a good day of boating and our captain found us a perfect anchorage for the evening at the north end of the Allegator River.  The weather looks good for morning and we are ready to make the roughly 14 mile crossing across Albemarle Sound and begin our journey up the Virginia Cut.  We are still in North Carolina, but we are just a couple days from Virginia.  While we were sitting in Morehead for three days, we planned five straight days of travel and today was day three.  Our big motivation for the week is to dock at CoinJock tomorrow.  For Loopers, CoinJock is somewhat of a famous, must stop, if you choose the Virginia Cut.  If all goes well, we will be dining off the boat tomorrow night at CoinJock.   

To back up a bit, there are two route choices for the next leg of the trip.  The Dismal Swamp or the Virginia Cut.  The decision is easy as the Dismal Swamp is closed for several more weeks.  The Army Corps of Engineers is doing work on one of the locks so our only choice is the Virginia Cut.  We likely would have chosen Virginia Cut regardless as we've heard nothing but horror stories of boaters traversing the Dismal Swamp.  It seems nobody makes it through without bumping something under the surface and after already experiencing one "flat tire" just south of Snow's Cut, we aren't in the mood for anymore surprises lurking under the surface of the water.  The guidebook description is equally unsettling for the Dismal Swamp route.  We have agreed it is best to do the Dismal Swamp someday in the dingy, but not with Make Me Smile.

The most interesting thing today was a couple of Navy patrol boats that hailed us on the VHF radio notifying us of a pending passing and wow!, did they fly by!.   And they were silent.  It was really pretty cool to see.  The wake from the first one was horrendous because we couldn't turn the bow into it due to the 2nd one coming.  We turned bow into the second wake and that was much more tolerable.  

Our captain researched them once we got anchored this evening.  Combatant Craft Medium, Mark 1, (CCM) , US Navy patrol boats.  They are 60' long, draft 3', travel at 60mph and carry 19 troops.  These were serious vessels!

We were happy to have a rather mundane day of boating today with only the Navy patrol boats for excitement after the day we had yesterday.  

Yesterday morning was one of those very serious discussions of "go or no-go" based on weather conditions (wind, again).  The decision was made to "go".  HOWEVER, the multiple weather forecasts reviewed to make the decision were not accurate.  Shortly after we departed the marina, we found ourselves in 5' - 7' seas for about 90 minutes on the Neuse River.  It was unsettling to say the least.  We've never put Make Me Smile through such a rigorous outing since we've owned her.  She performed well and kept us safe, but boy she creaked as we've never heard before.   And she took many, many waves over the bow.  Glad the windshield wipers work.

The 90 minute adventure included an emergency tear down of one side of our canvas enclosure to be brought in all salty and wet onto the salon floor.  It also included an emergency lashing of two 55 pound Bow flex adjustable dumbbells that started pitching around on the bridge.  The two 55 pound dumbbells were rather creatively lashed to the post of the captains chair with a spare line by the admiral.  Mind you our captain was driving from the inside helm and the bridge cover was on so this activity was completed by the admiral in the dark, under the bridge cover, on hands and knees in pitching 5' - 7' seas.  Think top of a pendulum.  

The events also included an unloading of several cabinets, removal of all drawers, take down of cookbooks/shelving, etc.   And that was just in the main salon.  Below is a picture of how we ended up towards the end.

The Neuse River was hard on Make Me Smile and on her passengers.

Once we were docked we got everything put back together.  The marina had a courtesy car which we happily took advantage of to reprovision libations.  Libations are heavy and harder to bring home on the bike and scooter.  Once back to the marina, the decision was made to wash the salt off the canvas enclosure, let it dry and then stow it permanently for the remainder of the trip.  This washing activity was completed in 55 degree weather.  The good news is that after a few hours of work the canvas is clean, dry and safely stowed away until we complete our journey.  And as a side benefit, Hilary was barefoot and the activity did a good job of removing almost all of the staining from the paint incident in the boat yard back in Carolina Beach.

One other little discovery last night was the impact of 208 voltage vs. 240 voltage.  This will get a little technical for a minute.  Power should be 240 volts, but some marina's are industrial at 208 voltage.   We know that this messes with our A/C from when we were in Florida and don't run A/C when we are at a marina with 208 voltage.  As soon as we plug in at a new place, we check the volts.

After dinner last night we wanted popcorn.  Well, come to find out the air-pop popcorn maker is impacted by 208 vs. 240 just like the A/C is.  The kernels never popped!  The heating element in the popcorn maker didn't get hot enough to pop the kernels.  Just another little example of things you'd never think about until you experience it.