After starting the day seeing another swimming bear, how
could the day get any better? We would
be fighting brisk southwest winds as we made our way towards the southwest
today, so we were prepared for a slow day of motoring into the wind and planned
to cover only 30 miles to Hobucken, home of the little commercial fishing dock,
where we stayed an extra stormy day on the trip north.
The day actually turned out better than we thought and we
were able to get in an hour of sailing, plus 2 hours of motor-sailing into our
5 ½ hour trek to Hobucken. The Pungo
River is shaped a little like the letter N, and the 6-mile middle part runs
east-west. The wind started out
southerly, so we put out the sails and killed the engine for a fast reach
across this portion. By the time we got
to the end, the wind had started to move toward the southwest, but not enough
to keep sailing. We started the engine,
and realized that the river was wide enough that we could motor-sail down the
last portion with a couple of short tacks to get back to our track, and make
better time than just motoring into the wind and current. So the sails were up for most of the time,
and that always feels better – putting the wind to work.
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As we entered Goose Creek, in the last 5 miles of today’s
passage, we encountered 3 pods of dolphins, intent on their fishing and
ignoring our boat. For this trip we have
not often encountered dolphins, so it was a treat to see them.
Upon arriving at the docks of RE Mayo Co., we tied up and
had lunch aboard Kite, then went to the office to check in and see what kinds
of fish we might buy for supper. They
didn’t have a very large selection this time, but we found some nice flounder
fillets and some frozen shrimp (for later).
We paid up for 2 nights at the dock (bad weather forecast for tomorrow),
plus our fish, and had change from a $50 bill.
This place is a great deal.
Great teamwork, operating in that fog! Looks very difficult.
ReplyDeleteAnd amazing to me that you saw another bear. Seeing two free roaming bears in daylight in a single season is very rare. I've seen it once in my life. Rare to see even one!
I looked at Josiah Mahoney's mapping of your locations and was impressed by his chart with anchors marking the locations. Great job Josiah! Makes an excellent visual of the trip.
Are you still considering the Great Dismal Swamp route? Sounds so interesting. Bet there are lots of birds there - and I enjoy your bird photos. Around here logging from previous centuries left logs that never rot on the bottom, a rare log will occasionally have one end rise to the surface. The original canal through the swamp was for logging, so keep a lookout for deadheads. I have read that there is something about the water in the swamp (tannin?) that kept it from spoiling in the barrel, making it a favorite in the days of wooden sailing ships for drinking water casks.
Well, I guess you need to spend more time in bear country... :-)
DeleteWe agree that Josiah did a great job. We're going to see if there is a way we can get a poster sized printout of his map to frame as a memento of our trip.
We eventually decided against the Great Dismal Swamp route. It would have had us waiting at the end of the canal overnight, waiting for it to open, while rafted to several other boats, maybe 6 or 7, in strong winds and t'storms. That is not my idea of fun, so we chose the Virginia Cut route, and waited out the strong winds in Coinjock tied directly to the dock.