Day 7, Year 10: ICW—Alligator River, NC to Bay River, NC
Date: Friday, October 17, 2014
Weather: Sunny and Warm (70’s F daytime), Winds SW 2-12
Latitude: 35 11.761 N
Longitude: 076 35.523 W
Total Miles Traveled: 547 Nautical Miles
Miles Traveled Today: 50 Nautical Miles
Location: Gale Creek Point, Bonner Bay off Bay River, NC, ~Mile 160 on the ICW

Evidently Tropical Storm Gonzalo turned into Hurricane Gonzalo and gave Bermuda a bit of a pounding. That system is keeping a high pressure system stationary which is giving the mid-Atlantic area (where we are) dry, absolutely beautiful, sunny weather with almost no wind. Normally having very little wind is not a good thing for a sailboat, but when you are motoring on the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway), it is great. Tomorrow we will travel to the Beaufort-Morehead City area where only a thin strip of land will separate us from the ocean that will be pounding the outer shores due to Gonzalo. But we should feel no effect from that at all—just continued lovely weather for transiting the ‘ditch’.

Today I felt like I was in a parade. We slept in and didn’t get started until after 7:30 am. There were no boats left in our anchorage, but there were three boats right in front of us as we entered the canal and four boats right behind us. And it continued that way all day. But some boats went faster and some went slower and tonight we are in a lovely anchorage with only one other boat. This anchorage is totally exposed and wouldn’t be so lovely with stronger winds, but we are enjoying the settled conditions and the last of swamp land scenery. We spent this evening trying to figure out the best way to proceed from here. The places with good anchorages are few and far between, so we are going to think about the choices overnight and make a decision once we get started in the morning. Wouldn’t want to plan too far in advance!

141017 Day 7 Passage to SC, USA–Intracoastal, Alligator River to Bay River