We spent last night at the Marina in Coinjock, NC where we enjoyed their signature prime rib dinner. We left Coinjock at 7:15 am and started across Currituck Sound just as a Thunder storm moved through. It rained hard and the lightning took out my masthead weather station. The storm didn’t last long but now I was without my wind speed and wind direction instrument. At 9:50 am we passed under the Pungo Ferry Bridge, the VHF antenna on top of the mast was doubled over and the mast just cleared by no more than an inch or two. The river was definitely high, low tide was predicted at 9:28 am but the local depth soundings were close to 2′ above charted depths. This is the last bridge that I have to worry about as all the bridges North of here are a good 65′ or higher above the water. We raced ahead to catch the scheduled openings of each swing bridge and passed through the Lock in the town of Great Bridge. We arrived at the Hospital Point anchorage in Norfolk at 2:20 pm. It had started to rain again but Demian and James wanted to get off the boat and visit the Naval Museum so I lowered the dinghy into the water and shuttled them from our anchorage across the Elizabeth River to the museum.

May 30th, after spending a month in Vermont, I flew down to Baltimore, rented a car, picked up Demian and James at their home in Arlington and drove back down to the boat at River Dunes. After spending a day provisioning the boat we were ready to continue our trip North. We had a slight delay this morning after discovering a bird’s nest with 6 baby chicks nested about two feet up in the boat’s exhaust pipe. We very carefully slid the nest and young birds out and moved them to a secure location under the nearby dock steps. We were careful not to touch the nest or birds with our hands and we hope their Mother, who was watching us closely, will accept their new home. We could now start our engines and pull away from the dock, leaving River Dunes at 11:20 am. It was 70º and sunshine as we headed up Pamlico Sound. We arrived at Gull Island and anchored at 7:15 pm, just in time for dinner.

We spent last night at Caspers Marina in Swansboro, NC and left at 7:28 this morning. We arrived at River Dunes Marina and Harbor Club at 2:38 pm. I’ll leave the boat here until the first of June while I drive my car back to Vermont, dropping Demian off at his home in Arlington.

Demian flew into Myrtle Beach yesterday to help me move the boat North. We left Barefoot Marina this morning at 7:10 am timing our passage to arrive at the Little River Highway Bridge at low tide. We cleared the bridge with at least 6″ to spare. We arrived at the Midnight Range anchorage on the Cape Fear River at 1:54 pm.

The high water finally crest on Saturday at just over 18′ ( 3′ above flood stage ) and it is now just beginning to come down. Demian and James left for home on February 14th as it became clear it would be awhile before the water was low enough to allow passage under the bridges. It was really great having the two of them on board and spending a whole month together, we had a lot of fun. I will likely spend the rest of the Winter here and put off sailing to Florida and the Bahamas until next Winter. The weather here is warming up with some days in the low 70s. This is a pretty nice spot, close to everything I need. The beach is only a mile and half from here and there’s plenty of places to ride my bike.

We’re stuck in the marina waiting for the water level to drop below 12′ so our mast will pass safely under the Socastee Bridge.

It could be a while, if historical data is any guide. On any given day, there is less than a one in three chance that the bridge will be passable. Once the water rises above 12′, it typically takes a month or more for the waters to fall back below 12′. The good news is that we are close to the line and it has been a month since the bridge was passable. The bad news is that it’s raining.

Demian, James and I arrived at Barefoot Marina in North Myrtle Beach and found the water level was too high to allow our mast to pass under the bridges South of us. I decided to rent a car so the three of us could explore the area while we wait for the water to recede.