Next stop, Florida…once this storm passes

Thanks to the advice of a couple of the folks we met on the Dismal Swamp, we chose to push it a couple of days to avoid some nasty winds. The first push was 47 miles on Monday from Elizabeth City to the south end of the Alligator River, followed by a normal 30 mile journey through the Alligator River-Pungo River Canal on Tuesday anchoring in Upper Dowry Creek just before Belhaven, NC that night to ride out the first wind event. (I believe I’ve mentioned before how much I love our new Rocna.) This early-week push allowed us to land at Town Creek Marina in Beaufort, NC a day ahead of schedule and while they still had dockage available. This turned out to be a very good thing, because as I type there is a nastier storm blowing through. It started last night and continues through tomorrow night with rain and, as of today, sustained winds of 25-35 mph gusting up to 50-60 mph! 

We took full advantage of Thursday afternoon’s fine weather to avail ourselves of the marina’s laundry facility, and courtesy car to provision for the next leg of our journey offshore. Friday’s weather wasn’t all that bad, so we borrowed the courtesy car again to pick up some items we forgot on Thursday, cleaned the boat’s interior, made up the other cabins for our on-coming crew, and Dave did some “boat stuff” including installing new thermostats in our fridge and freezer and working on our single sideband radio (sadly still not functioning properly despite his efforts).

The wind picked up overnight. I awoke at 2:15am to the sound of one of our fenders banging against our hull. It had been keeping me on the edge of sleep all night and I couldn’t take it anymore. I went on deck to straighten it out (fortunately not raining) and it was so much quieter after that; I could finally sleep! 

I am so much more tuned into sounds since we started living aboard more often. I’m also tuned into smells more. A few days ago, underway, I was in mid-sentence talking to Dave when I stopped and said, “I smell smoke!” After a quick scamper through the boat to determine there was no smoke or flame on board, we grabbed the binoculars and saw that someone was burning something on shore. Phew!  

If all goes well, our crew (Dad and his two cousins) will arrive at the New Bern airport around noon today and Dave will safely retrieve them in these big winds. (Huge thanks to Town Creek Marina for letting us use the courtesy car for this extra distance!) Indigo Lady is no small boat, but she’s about to feel a lot smaller for the next 48 hours with 5 adults stuck inside her salon. Ah, but it is good company 🙂 . 

Hopefully the storm winds down as predicted and we will be able to head out Monday mid-morning for our offshore trek to Florida. Dave loves long offshore transits. I find them tiresome, partly because the scenery doesn’t change much and also because I’m not a fan of standing watch; it messed up my already tenuous sleep pattern. At least with five on board, watches will be short. During the day I will busy myself with sewing (for pleasure, not boat sewing) and reading, and inevitable socializing with five people on board. I am certainly looking forward to temperatures warming as we progress south. I knew temperatures in North Carolina could range widely in November, but there have been far too many mornings with frost and daytime highs only in the 40s, and low dew points. Lady’s interior is dripping with condensation each morning, and our windows have been foggy for two days now since we’ve had to keep her closed up with this storm. 

At the moment it looks like a good weather window from Monday through Friday, which is the time we need to get to our destination. With any luck, I’ll be posting from Florida next weekend Fingers crossed! 

Author: Indigo Lady

I am a retired educator married to a retired chemist/engineer/educator. We will be living aboard our solar electric catamaran for as long as possible. View all posts by Indigo Lady