April 20

Bellhaven (River Forest Marina to Alligator River Marina On side of Albemarle sound)

A good day today.  Woke up early had coffee and a bagel for breakfast.  Then a problem arose with the backup tablet and I had to reload all the maps and upgrade the charts.  Apparently during the night the account was lost for some reason.  This makes me mad as I know I have now paid for the same program 3 times.  Anyways we fixed it and started off.


The canal at River Forest was tight but this little boat turned around and we left with no problems at all.  The first part of the run was easy wind to our backs and wide channel.  Then we entered the Alligator River Canal and the channel became very straight and narrow.  For some reason I guess the wind the boat would slow drift to the starboard side.  The water would get shallow and I would move over.  But regardless how I set it up always after about 10-15 minutes I would have bear left.  Given how  boring this run was, I had to really focus not to miss the side of the channel on the sonar readings.  The scenery was great a lot of marshland and some pine forest.  


All of the above was very pleasant smooth ride with not much bumping around.  Once we got onto the lower Alligator river things became “sporty”, a local term for rough.  My guess is about 3-4 white caps.  Even more bothersome to me beam on.  It was rough ride for the last 2 hours.  Again the boat kept course and I had to do was hold on.


The job of the whole crew is to watch out for Crab Traps.  They mark them with buoys that are hard to see and when rough even more hidden.  These are like sea mines once you hit them they wrap around your prop and you are done for a while.  

 


Stuff seen

-old barge stuck on shore with big trees growing out of it

-2 egles

-5 old canals that appeared to run nowhere (my guess to very old docks for plantation days)

-1 boat under sail

-3 boats going our way

-2 boats going the opposite way.

-three bridges and one old railroad bridge support only






Side of Canal NOTE the stumps Need to watch not to get too close

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
More Practice and Still Living Aboard March 14 to March 20   Monday March 14 2020 Had a lot of fun today.   The morning was dead calm and had good coffee then Dianne started driving.   The goal was to travel to a new marina about 30 miles out and stay for a night.   The marina we selected was Harbor Village Marina 25 miles north. We plotted the route on two   different GPS systems and checked them against each other to make sure it was safe.     Jay the boat dealer said he would drop by and see the boat so I texted him our plan.   Jay texted back it was a good practice ride and very nice marina.   After we passed a south bound Barge Dianne said she was done driving.   I though she did a great job and even used the autopilot.   I took over and everything worked.   Even fired up the generator and had a hot cup of coffee during the ride.   The scenery was great. From the boat underway Picture of us in the docked   And me...
Read more
  Nov 1 A short trip to have the wasted pumped out and back but no mileage. We were up late as it was all scheduled as a cleaning day and packing. So we have eaten most choices for breakfast so today we just had cereal.   Then the waste pump out that was bust due to broken stations.   Back to the dock.   At the dock we started cleaning.   -Shook out the rugs -Oiled all the teak -washed the floors -cleaned the bathroom -emptied the closets and washed them -Put away equipment that I used   -packed my personal tools for home Then had the boat salesman in and discussed the trip with him and the cost of storage.   Turns out it will be about 550 per month or 450 her with added cost.   In the end dry storage might be cheaper but what if we sell.   Now he agreed that the boat might be worth $110,000 but that is tough price point and makes searches hard.   He feels $1 less than 100,000 would be a good price.   we agreed so now the boat is be...
Read more
Image
July 7 Mackinac Island to Petoskey MI 49 Miles Woke early to a calm day so we were eager to get a good start as we knew it would be a long day.   On mornings like this Dianne is always eager to start so it is only a granola bar breakfast the second day in a roll for such a treat.   Off before 7:15.   Bumped the a post on the way out which turned me backwards to I had to a 360 degree turn, I accomplished this without using the bow thrusters a great feat is a small channel.   The day was calm but misty so I fired up the radar and ran all three screens.   Lots of chatter on the radio as we left harbor this boat ferry boat leaving harbor that tug coming up.   Of interest to me was the Arthur Murrey a laker approaching the same bridge as I was.   Lakers are even bigger than the freighter on the Chesapeake.   I could see her but did not believe how far away she was as looked huge to me.   The Marine Control that hailed her only wanted to know her a...
Read more