Solomons, MD to Morehead City, NC: 10/24/11 – 11/07/11

Entering the great Bridge lock.

We are at Morehead City Yacht Basin in Morehead City, NC enjoying a rare gale-free day.

Our stay in Solomons ended up being much longer than anticipated.  One front after another came through with strong winds, driving rain and big waves on Chesapeake Bay.  Even though the winds were from the north, crossing the mouth of the Potomac River was not something to do in these kinds of conditions.  So, we, along with all the other Krogens, sat and waited and waited  and waited.

Time was spent repairing the saltwater washdown pump (bad contacts on the switch), making fabric bowls, giving fabric-designs.com a fresh look, and watching the NOAA forecast.

Finally, after six days, the winds had abated enough that we were able to head out.  We made the run down to Fishing Bay on the Piankatank River.  The Bay was still pretty sloppy and the Potomac at Smith Point tossed some waves our way.  The Krogen “fleet” was all in place and riding the anchor by 5PM.  It was a delightful evening with cool skies and dying winds and we were happy to be headed south.

The next morning, we raised the muddy anchor and turned south towards Portsmouth.  We got an early start because we planned on fueling up at Ocean Marine before heading to our slip.  The run back from Canada, coupled with our “down-the-Hudson, up-the-Hudson, down-the Hudson” dance, meant we were only carrying enough fuel to get us to South Carolina.

We finished fueling just as the rest of the Krogens arrived and just before the skies began to darken again.  Some of us made plans to go to the Commodore theater  for a movie and dinner. The remake of “Footloose” was playing and we watched that while eating lite fare, drinking cheap wine and munching on popcorn.  We were having a great time until the movie was over and we stepped outside to return to the boats.  It was cold, windy, and pouring.  The next round of gales had arrived.  Our stay in Portsmouth was extended a day while we waited for the rough weather to move on.

With the Great Bridge lock up next, we decided that we should split up so as to increase the likelihood that no one would be left out of a lockage.  The early crew (not us) left the docks at 5:15 AM in order to get through the bridges before they went on rush-hour restrictions.  Our group departed at 8:30AM.  The first group later reported that they had to deal with fog but very few other boats.  In turn, we arrived at the lock with 13 other boats including a couple of  very large sportfish (who of course rudely pushed their way to the front of the line despite their late arrivals at the lock).  We were all shoehorned in the lock with no room to spare.

In short order, we were out of the lock and underway again.  By late afternoon, we were anchored on the North River just before the Albemarle Sound.  The rest of the boats were scattered around the river in several different spots.

The next morning, we left in the dark as we had a long cruise planned to Pungo Creek past Belhaven.  We arrived at the Albemarle as the sun was rising and enjoyed near flat water as we crossed the often very rough sound. As the day wore on, we passed numerous boats taking advantage of a nice weather day to make some progress south.  Besides having to dodge a lot of deadheads, the cruise was uneventful and we had the anchor down in one of the prettiest, most tranquil creeks in coastal North Carolina.

That was all scheduled to change, however.  The forecast for the next several days included gale force winds (yet again.)  We decided that we would head for the River Dunes Marina on Broad Creek off the Neuse River and hole-up.  We wanted to get there early in the day before the really high winds arrived.

We had the anchor up by 6:45AM and ghosted out in dawn twilight to the Pungo River.  It was as calm as could be.  Soon we were across the Pamilco River and in the land cut that connects the Pamlico to Bay River and the Neuse. When we emerged on the Bay River side, we were smacked on the beam by instant 25 knot winds and sloppy water.  The next few miles were a cauldron of confused seas and blowing spume.

When we got to the Neuse junction and Maw Point, we turned up the river and began to enjoy the ride on a following sea.  The apparent wind dropped and Piper started smiling again (she wasn’t happy for the previous few miles).

At Broad Creek we headed in and soon were in the completely protected basin at River Dunes.  The other Krogens arrived in short order and we all spent the rest of the day inside and out of the wind.

Dinner was a group outing at the marina restaurant.  Joining us were Jeff and Karen Siegel of ActiveCaptain fame.  They are on a Selene 53 headed south for the winter but agreed that doing dinner with 12 Krogen owners would be okay.  We all had a good time before heading back to the boats in the cold winds.

The next day greeted us with sunshine but the wind was still howling and we decided it would be prudent to stay in port another day.  All of the wives went to the grocery store in the marina courtesy car while the husbands pretended to be busy with engine room stuff.

We are now in Morehead City, NC after three days at River Dunes.  The wind has abated quite a bit but is forecasted to strengthen again in the coming days.  We’re also keeping our eyes on a late-season low pressure system that may become tropical.

Our group has dispersed with some folks in a hurry to get to Florida so that they can fly back to be with family for Thanksgiving.  We’ll do our annual holiday road trip at Christmas so we are moving a little slower than the others.  We usually don’t like to cruise in company with lots of other boats.  Having said that, we did enjoy getting to know some Krogen owners that we were meeting for the first time and to spend some time with others we know well but haven’t seen since spring.

I put the shorts back on today as we finally hit the mid 60s (and, don’t faint, did some post-surgery manual labor for the first time!)  Updates to follow.

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