Alligator River — Cupcake Afloat

It. Is. So. Hot.

Feeble measures have been taken to try to mitigate the heat: we have a piece of cloth blocking the sun that blasts in the main hatch (we still get breeze). We have reflect-o bubble foil covering the big fixed ports (deadlights to the sailors). We have the dinghy hoisted to direct massive amounts of air down the forward hatch. All three fans run on high, around the clock.

But it is still so hot. Hot hot hot hot hot hot hot.

And there is no way any of us is going in the brown water. Especially in a place called the Alligator River. No way.

Anyway, we passed a very pleasant two days in Elizabeth City, NC. It was only about eight miles or so from the Goat Island anchorage, so we took our time getting the boat ready in the morning and then had a short ride down the Pasquatank River to Elizabeth City.

The city is making efforts to become a welcoming stop for ICW cruisers. The city provides free dock space (with wifi and showers), Mid-Atlantic Christian University also provides free docks. Because MACU was a much better-protected spot and had water available in addition to the showers, we stayed there for two nights. Excellent choice.

Dan, our connection at the school, could not have been more gracious and friendly and helpful. The docks were in great shape, the school was lovely, he even loaned us his car so we could go grocery shopping. Fantastic.

The dock to which we tied up was a face dock (as opposed to a slip…always more challenging to enter and leave) so the approach was about as easy as could be. There were fender boards we could use for our stay. Really, it could not have been a more safe, calm, pleasant spot to stay.

Fender boards, by the way, are long boards (these were 2”x6”x12’) that go between the dock and our fenders (“bumpers” to the non sailors) so our boat is protected from the pilings or cleats or rusty bits protruding from the dock. (The MACU docks had nothing nasty, just pilings that can be challenging to rig a fender against.) The next time we have access to a lumberyard we will see about getting a pair of 6’ boards to carry with us.

Anyway, while we were in Elizabeth City, we walked around town, met our first fellow southbound cruisers, drove to Walmart and spent a whopping $350 on groceries (we should be set for a month except for fresh vegetables), hydrated hydrated hydrated, filled the water tanks, played a little soccer, and I even went for a run yesterday morning.

About that run. I thought I had a grasp of the layout of the school and the town, so I set off to circumnavigate the general neighborhood as my am 5k. But at a critical junction I got mixed up and instead of running down North Road Street (yes, the actual name of the street was “Road.” I was thinking that if all you have to name the street after is “Road” why not call it “Jonathan” at least?) I ran up East Road Street. Had I kept going, I would have ended up in South Carolina in all likelihood. Instead I asked for directions. (Let me repeat: I asked for directions!) Ended up going for a long long run in the heat (which started in the high 70s and was certainly in the 80s by the time I dragged myself back to the dock, dripping). Positive side: got to know the town a little bit better. Beautiful old homes on Main Street. I also now have a policy of carrying ID when I run in case I collapse so the authorities know where to deliver my carcass.

The cruisers we met were an interesting pair. The captain is a young guy (in his 30s…makes me seem like an old guy) with a friend who has never gone sailing before today. She and her chihuahua joined him this week and today they set off for Key West. He bought the boat two years ago in Erie, PA and sailed down the Hudson, took time off to earn money last winter in NYC, set back on his way south this spring. He had been single handing his Catalina 30 the whole way. No autopilot, no dinghy that we could see, no Ellen to do all the hard work. Ah, the energy of youth.

He told us that his anchor got fouled in Atlantic City and he had to cut the line and abandon the hook (I shudder at the though, we love our anchor too much to abandon it). When we read that the anchorage we are in tonight has a high chance of fouling an anchor, we buoyed the Mantus. That means we tied a line to the front of the anchor and put a float on that line. (The big anchor chain goes on the back of the anchor shank.) This way if the anchor gets stuck, we can release it by pulling up on the line tied to the buoy. Although in 6.5’ of mud, I don’t think we will have any problems. Still, best practices.

This morning we caught the 7:30 opening of the Elizabeth City bascule bridge (that’s a draw bridge to the non-sailors), motored the remaining 10 miles down the Pasquatank River (saw a blimp on shore…those things are crazy-looking) and then set our sails for a beautiful reach across the Albermarle Sound. It was a treat to be able to sail the majority of the day. Cupcake is a sweet and delightful craft. I took a nap and Ellen and Moss spent an hour talking about how much they miss the first day of school.

I love what I do in my non-sailing life but I do not miss it at all.

When we got settled in our anchorage at the mouth of the Alligator River (in East Lake) Moss did some boat school.

Incidentally, Moss used the term “school-sick” in her post today. We have been talking about how we sometimes get boat-sick. That doesn’t mean we are sick of the boat, on the contrary, it means that sometimes when we are away from Cupcake for too long (shopping, touring, whatever) we miss the boat too much and need to get back to her. There are a number of factors that determine when boat-sickness will hit…proximity to the boat, time of day, strength of the wind, quality of the anchorage, etc.

So the thing that has been on our minds for the past week or so is hurricane Florence. It looks like if it does hit the US, it will not happen until next week. That’s one reason we are not in any hurry to get beyond Moorehead City/Cape Hatteras. South of that region, the ICW runs very close to the coast. Up here it is relatively inland, protected (to a degree) by the Outer Banks and all that business. So we will be keeping our eye on Florence and may scoot up to New Berne to get more protection if landfall anywhere along the coast looks likely.

Of course, there are the two other tropical waves behind Florence to worry about. The optimist in me says that although we are at peak hurricane season (September 10, for those of you keeping score, is the peak of the peak) and we are at the spot on the coast most likely to be hit in any given year, once we are past the 10th it’s all downhill from here.

Speaking of downhill and foolish optimism, today for the second time ever, we sailed faster in knots (5.7) than the depth of the water in feet (5.5). It was not intentional like it was six years ago in the crystal clear waters of the Sea of Abaco. This time it happened in the chocolate waters of the ICW because we were skirting a little closer to the edge of a shoal than was ideal. But the wind was so nice, Cupcake is so stout, and now we have a great story. Don’t worry Mom, despite the hurricanes and the shallow water, we are being really safe.

Cruising tip of the day: Don't store Red Bull cans in the bilge. The combination of the salty damp on the outside and the nasty Red Bull on the inside will eat through the cans in no time. Then you will wonder why the bilge has a sweet-smelling green something in it.

We think it is a Coast Guard blimp. It's definitely somebody's blimp.

Moss spotted this deer when it jumped in the water at the MACU and then swam across the Elizabeth River.

Duck blinds at the mouth of the Alligator River.

Moss took this one. She thinks we look happy.

Very proud of this innovation. It's a pill bottle zip tied to a post. I use it as a flashlight holder. Genius.