Day One
After being delayed for four days due to high winds and foul weather, 2-TAC-E and her crew cast off from our home port on Wed. morning 5/9 at about 0830. Weather was mostly cloudy and 65. The Albemarle Sound was running a light chop at about 1 foot. About an hour into the voyage the skies started to darken and it soon seemed like late twilight rather than 0930. We caught a brief thunderstorm cell with rain and higher winds that caused the chop to increase to about 3 feet for about 30 minutes. Although we continued to have light rain for another hour, the winds and seas settled considerably. It was nothing we hadn’t handled on previous voyages and the only actions we had to take were to slow to about 6 knots to decrease the pounding into the waves (wind was on our nose from the East), and to close all our hatches. We were once again very appreciative of being able to steer and relax within the cabin. Our only mistake was not to brew a thermos of coffee before we left.
For the next few hours we traversed eastward through the Albemarle Sound, seeing only 2 crab boats along the way. We reached the Alligator River around noon and turned south, traversing the swing bridge after a very brief wait. It was when we made the turn for the Alligator that we started to see a lot of northbound boats, both sail and power. During our trip down the Alligator over the next 3 hours we saw over 100 northbound craft of all shapes and sizes. We assumed that many of them had been holed up at anchorages or marinas for the past few days and were anxious to make it across the Sound while there was good weather.
We arrived at our planned anchorage (at the bay right where the Alligator River makes a hard turn to starboard) round 1500. When we arrived we were the only boat in the bay which is close to a mile in diameter. By sunset we had been joined by quite a few other power and sailboats.
After dropping anchor and making the boat shipshape, we both relaxed for a couple of hours and then cracked our sundowners under the cockpit canopy, listening to Kenny G and enjoying the late afternoon play of light and clouds. Although we had several brief light showers, we were well protected. We then prepared a light repast of roast chicken, mashed potatoes, sorrel chutney and a tossed salad washed down with a very nice Spanish red wine straight from the 3 liter box.
After being delayed for four days due to high winds and foul weather, 2-TAC-E and her crew cast off from our home port on Wed. morning 5/9 at about 0830. Weather was mostly cloudy and 65. The Albemarle Sound was running a light chop at about 1 foot. About an hour into the voyage the skies started to darken and it soon seemed like late twilight rather than 0930. We caught a brief thunderstorm cell with rain and higher winds that caused the chop to increase to about 3 feet for about 30 minutes. Although we continued to have light rain for another hour, the winds and seas settled considerably. It was nothing we hadn’t handled on previous voyages and the only actions we had to take were to slow to about 6 knots to decrease the pounding into the waves (wind was on our nose from the East), and to close all our hatches. We were once again very appreciative of being able to steer and relax within the cabin. Our only mistake was not to brew a thermos of coffee before we left.
For the next few hours we traversed eastward through the Albemarle Sound, seeing only 2 crab boats along the way. We reached the Alligator River around noon and turned south, traversing the swing bridge after a very brief wait. It was when we made the turn for the Alligator that we started to see a lot of northbound boats, both sail and power. During our trip down the Alligator over the next 3 hours we saw over 100 northbound craft of all shapes and sizes. We assumed that many of them had been holed up at anchorages or marinas for the past few days and were anxious to make it across the Sound while there was good weather.
We arrived at our planned anchorage (at the bay right where the Alligator River makes a hard turn to starboard) round 1500. When we arrived we were the only boat in the bay which is close to a mile in diameter. By sunset we had been joined by quite a few other power and sailboats.
After dropping anchor and making the boat shipshape, we both relaxed for a couple of hours and then cracked our sundowners under the cockpit canopy, listening to Kenny G and enjoying the late afternoon play of light and clouds. Although we had several brief light showers, we were well protected. We then prepared a light repast of roast chicken, mashed potatoes, sorrel chutney and a tossed salad washed down with a very nice Spanish red wine straight from the 3 liter box.
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