Crossing the Albemarle

We cast off at 8:00 from Coinjock into another beautiful day, the sun was shining, the wind was 7-10 from the NW, the water was calm

In about 2 hours we were at Albemarle Sound where we raised sail and motor sailed across..it was glorious.

In about 2 hours we were in the Alligator river heading for the Alligator River Bridge (a swing bridge that opens on request) but as we approached the Bridge Tender announced on the radio that a car had just hit one of swing-up barriers that blocks car traffic and he couldn’t open the bridge till it was repaired. A crew had been called for, but it would probably take an hour till repairs could be made..and he was true to his word.

The bridge is closed...should be open

As we started milling around I noticed that now the other half of the alternator was failing. Not all together unexpected, but annoying none the less. 

Most of the other boats dropped anchor to wait out the hour, but not wanting to waste battery power on using the windlass to lower and raise the anchor till I had to later, we burned about 1 gallon of diesel just drifting with the engine running – adjusting position from time to time. 

After about an hour the bridge swung open and off we went. It was another 3 hours to our anchorage – Deep Point – a smallish cove just off the ICW channel. When we got there 4 boats were already at anchor, and by the time the sun set another 8 showed up. It was not at all crowded.

Sunset was spectacular, as it often is at anchor, and we were serenaded, first by Hayden trumpeting his Conch shell, but he was soon answered by no less than 5 other boaters blowing their Conch shells. To be honest, it sounds much like a shofar, even including one or two who had the same problem blowing a clear note. It seems to be a Bahamian custom to blow the Conch shell at sundown..I expect it goes great with a wee bit of rum!

 Hayden, leaning out of his enclosure, announcing the sunset with a trumpet on his conch shell

Sunset at Deep Point Anchorage

Just past sunset 

Its supposed to be cold tonight (temperatures dropping into the 40’s). If push comes to shove we can huddle around the engine, which will likely stay warm till morning. 

Our main concern is whether we’ll have enough battery power left to start the engine in the morning, given that we weren’t charging much as we were motoring…We’ll see…stay tuned for tomorrows blog