From Bald Head Island to Norfolk

We stayed two days at Bald Head Island and just loved it. There is no bridge connecting it to the mainland, so the only way to get there is by boat, either a private boat like ours or the passenger ferry, which arrives every hour throughout the day.

There are no cars allowed on the island, so everyone travels around on electric golf carts.

The local grocery store, which also has a cafe attached, appears to be the place where locals meet to shop, have lunch, or just chat.

Bicycles are also a popular way to get around, which is how we toured the island.

The first stop we made on our bicycle tour was Old Baldy, North Carolina's oldest lighthouse, which is actually within walking distance of the harbor. I was anxious to check out the view from the top, but as luck would have it, the lighthouse was closed at that time. So, we just walked around, took some pictures, and enjoyed the view of Old Baldy itself from ground level.

The southern end of the island is rimmed with miles of beautiful pristine beaches, aptly named East Beach, West Beach, and South Beach.  Although the ocean temperature was too cold for us to go swimming, we did enjoy a nice walk along the East Beach before continuing our bicycle journey.

We saw some pretty impressive homes along this stretch of beach, nestled in behind the sand dunes.

The south end of the island is where the homes, nice beaches, and golf courses are located, but a huge part of the island is covered with marshes and creeks which can be explored by kayak.

The harbor where we docked our boat, which is also where the ferry comes in, is a beautiful community itself, with private homes, bed and breakfast inns, and a wharfside restaurant.

We were reluctant to leave, and almost stayed on for another day, but we knew that the clock was ticking and we needed to move on if we wanted to get to Norfolk for the America's Great Loop Cruisers Association (AGLCA) Rendezvous, which would begin on May 14th. So, on Sunday, May 8th we left Bald Head Island and headed up the Cape Fear River, past Southport, NC and toward Snows Cut, a canal which would take us to Myrtle Grove Sound toward Wrightsville Beach and beyond.  Shortly after entering the Cape Fear River, however, a Coast Guard boat hailed us, wanting to board and conduct a safety inspection.  Well, since you don't say no to the Coast Guard, we said, "Welcome aboard!"

Although we passed the inspection with flying colors, we were distracted from our navigation while they were on board asking questions and checking our documents, etc., so much so that we missed our turn off for Snows Cut.  It wasn't until after we bid them a fond farewell that we realized we were way up the Cape Fear River and would have to turn around and retrace our route, losing an hour of time and wasting fuel.

Oh, well, it's only money (argh!). After that, we just chugged along and enjoyed the scenery, checking out our various options for an anchorage that night. We decided that Wrightsville Beach was too close for a stopover, so we continued on.  We had two other options, either Topsail Beach or Mile Hammock Bay at Camp Lejeune.  One determining factor was the timing of the bridge opening at Surf City (just north of Topsail Beach) which happens every hour on the hour.  We just missed one opening, and didn't want to wait for another hour, so we headed for the Topsail anchorage.  After dropping the hook in a couple of spots, we finally decided that the best spot was already taken, so we pulled it up and raced on to make the next Surf City Bridge opening just in the nick of time.  Finally, at 6:00 p.m., we very thankfully secured our anchor at Mile Hammock Bay as guests of the Marine Corps.  It's actually a lovely spot, with plenty of room for several boats.

The next morning we descovered the only negative feature of that anchorage, very thick mud which mucks up your anchor and chain and is very difficult to wash off while raising the anchor.

Our next destination was Oriental, NC, which we had heard was a great place and very cruiser friendly.  We were torn between a marina in downtown Oriental or another one eight miles north of the area where most cruisers go.  We opted for the northernmost marina, at River Dunes on Broad Creek, off the Neuse River.  This turned out to be a good decision for us for a couple of reasons.  First of all, it's a lovely place, and second, they were offering dockage for just $1.00 per foot, which is cheap. 

While we were traversing the Neuse River, which is quite impressive sizewise, we lost control of the throttle on our port engine.  Although this caught us by surprise, by this time in our cruising experience we had traveled on one engine several times already, so we knew we would have no problem reaching our destination for the night and docking at the marina.  In fact, I was still able to use both engines at idle speed, so we followed our normal procedure when entering the marina channel and pulling in to the dock. The marina staff contacted a mechanic, who arrived early the next morning, fixed the problem in a matter of minutes (loose cable connecting lower helm controls to upper helm controls) for a total cost of $68, and we were on our way, right on schedule.

Lucky for us, the weather conditions had been very favorable for cruising, and the forecast was for more of the same, since we were going to be crossing some more large bodies of water which can be treacherous when wind and current are at odds with each other. Neither the Neuse River nor Pamlicao River presented any problems, and we arrived without incident at our anchorage on the Pungo River, a little bit north of Belhaven, NC.

Wednesday, May 11th, just one week after our departure from Charleston, was probably our most interesting, but eerie, cruising day so far.  At 7:10 a.m., we pulled up anchor (muddy again) and then entered the  twenty mile long Alligator River-Pungo River Canal. At this point we were heading due east, right into the morning sun, which made it rather difficult to see ahead without being blinded by the sun's light reflecting off the water. The shores of the canal were lined with cypress trees, with exposed stumps extending out into the channel, along with various bits of debris, including tree branches.

Once again, as we had seen on the Wacamaw River in South Carolina, the water was brown with tannin.

Forest fires were burning out of control in surrounding areas, which made for smokey air and very poor visibility for several miles along this route.

In fact, we were almost upon the Highway 94 bridge before we could see it.  Here it is barely visible ahead of us.

 
In a different section of the canal which had grassy shores and no smoke, we saw a black bear and three wild turkeys, but those sightings occured so quickly that we were not able to get pictures of them.

This canal finally deposited us in the Alligator River where we encountered a north wind and moderate chop for the next twenty miles.  We could have continued on to the mouth of the river and on across Albermarle Sound, but both the wind and chop were picking up, so we decided to stop overnight at the Alligator River Marina and save the Albermarle Sound crossing for the next morning when conditions would probably be more favorable.

That turned out to be a very good decision.  Light chop turned to moderate chop as we entered Albermarle Sound at the break of day with a light NE breeze and favorable current, allowing us to make the fifteen mile crossing without any weather worries.

Our only problem turned out to be dodging crab traps all along the route, most of which we couldn't see until we were practically on top of them.  Then, to add insult to injury, as we entered the North River after crossing the Sound, a crabber brazenly darted across the channel in front of us while tending his traps.

Oh, well, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em! Upon arrival at the Coinjock Marina, we both feasted on crab for lunch.  Mine was a delicious soft shell crab sandwich, with the legs sticking out on each side of the bun. Yum!

Docking at the marina was very easy, just pulling up to the bulkhead with a starboard side tie up. First we fueled up, and then pulled up behind the only other boat there, a large sport fisherman.

About three hours later, other boats began to arrive, and by the end of the day, the entire 1200 ft. long dock was full, with the exception of a small space left open for fueling purposes.  In fact, we were so squeezed in that our bowsprit was hanging over the transom of the aforementioned sport fisherman, and the Kady Krogen ("Avalon") that pulled in behind us was almost touching the dinghy that hangs off our stern, which would make for a challenging departure the next morning.

We were anxious to get an early start, so by 6:30 a.m. we were ready to go, just chomping at the bit, standing on the dock with the folks from Avalon and other boats, discussing our options. Captain Mike suggested that we release our stern line, keeping the bow line tight to the dock, then thrust out the stern into the oncoming current, which would catch the stern and push it out further into the channel, thus moving away from Avalon, at which point he would release the bow line, and we could put the engines in reverse and back out into the channel.  It worked like a charm.  Thank's, Mike.

This was the last leg of our cruise to Norfolk, where we planned to stay from May 13th through the 17th, attending the AGLCA Rendezvous, but we were not there yet.  We still had many bridge openings, plus our very first lock to contend with before our cruising day would end at Norfolk.  We tried to time our arrival at each bridge near their scheduled opening time, but it was impossible to avoid some wait time before.

Then, finally, we would be rewarded for our patience with a welcome sight ahead of us.

Of course, we had dealt with bridges many times before, just not so many of them in one day.  However, we had never been through a lock, so we were nervous contemplating our first time as newbies.  Would we disgrace ourselves in front of the lock keepers and other cruisers?  Captain Mike, from Avalon, who had helped us with our departure from Coinjock, had gone through the Great Bridge Lock many times before, so we discussed the procedure with him to help us get prepared.  Following his advice, plus the instructions from the lock master upon our arrival, we entered the lock and tied up with no real difficulty. 

First, I pulled the boat over to the lock wall, allowing Ken to loop the bow line around a cleat on the wall.  Then I shifted both engines into neutral and ran down from the helm station to loop the stern line around another cleat.  Then we just held on to both lines, keeping the boat in place until another boat entered the lock and struggled to gain control.  They only had one engine, which makes this operation more difficult.  Anyway, they finally got tied up, and there were no other boats waiting, so the gates closed and the lock did its work.  When the gates in front of us opened, we asked permission to leave, and that was it.  No big deal.
We know that some of the other locks we will encounter on our trip will be much more challenging, but at least now we have successfully negotiated our first one.

The few miles remaining to Norfolk were ugly industrial as we traveled along the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River, and to make it worse, it was very cloudy.

But then, all of a sudden we were there, approaching the Waterside Marina, where the Southern Branch and the Eastern Branch of the Elizabeth River converge.  The entrance to the marina is off the bow of the tripple masted schooner pictured below.

We were instructed to delay entering the marina while another boat docked, which gave me a chance to take a few pictures of the area adjacent to it.

Then, it was our turn to enter the marina and pull up to our dock space.

So, here we are, 1,105 miles north of where we began this northern migration in early March. We are looking forward to an informative and enjoyable few days, meeting fellow "Loopers" and gleaning helpful information about our route ahead.