Swift

Alligator River - Pungo River Canal

We motored up the 20 mile long Alligator River - Pungo River Canal. It was much prettier than I thought it would be with tall trees and wildflowers on the shore. We had a lot of dragonflies, saw eagles, somehow adopted a family of frogs, and spotted wild turkeys. 

Sailboat, dawn, North Carolina anchorage
Departing our anchorage
Danger Sign, ICW, North Carolina
This sign says danger - what danger? A shoal? Radioactive water? Missiles? 
Wild Turkeys and Power Boat, ICW, North Carolina
Being passed, and passing wild turkeys
Frogs onboard, ICW, North Carolina
Frogs!
Dragonfly in sailboat rigging, ICW, North Carolina
Dragonflies in the rigging
We dodged submerged logs (which, with just a twig sticking above the surface, are very hard to see in the dark water).
Partially submerged logs, ICW, North Carolina
It got hot and still. The Alligator River bridge opened on signal - seems like ages since we’ve had a bridge opening! and the winds picked up to 15 knots. 

We anchored in the Little Alligator River rather than cross Albermarle sound with - you guessed it - the threat of afternoon thunderstorms.

It rained literally 3 drops, but we had a lovely night looking up at the stars. There’s a glow to the north, and it’s possible that we won’t be seeing stars like this for a while. We are going to miss coastal North Carolina!
He's such a sweet dog!

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8 comments

  1. I feel your pain. Logs are a big issue up here and we have to keep a constant eye out for debris in the water which can be pretty tiring, especially in the rain and fog when visibility isn't as good.

    Stephanie @ SV CAMBRIA

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    1. Straining your eyes to avoid destroying the boat kinda takes the fun out a little bit.... I'd hate to do it in rain and fog!

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  2. We saw plenty of logs on the GICW, luckily with all of the barge/tug traffic we didn't have many in our way. I'd almost take the logs over the barges, some of them were a pain. Hope to run into you next year! -M&M

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    1. Bridges might remain my number 1 enemy. The logs on the Dismal Swamp part were really bad! We definitely need to share an anchorage at some point!

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  3. It's really nice to read your ICW posts. Lots of people who do the ICW always seem to be disappointed by it. I wonder if that's because they're just trying to blast through it to get down south and jump over to the Bahamas?

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    1. We've been having a blast! I also imagined it would be pretty boring and dull- but we've had beautiful scenery and lovely anchorages. Of course, I'm not above being miserable- yesterday we were anchored in front of a secluded beach and I had a total meltdown. Apparently 99/ feels like 116 is my boiling point!

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  4. Nice to see you are enjoying the ICW. It is a fun thing to do, at least once, to pace yourselves along all the sights and ... bridges. :-) I love your hammock! For years, we were looking for a good spot to put ours. I wanted to do the same thing as on Independence, but Mark forbid it, thinking it would ruin the UV cover of the jib. Once, I put it between the hulls off the bows, underneath the cross beam. Difficult to get in, but to get out, I just twisted the cloth and fell in the water. :-)

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    1. Huh, it never occurred to me that hanging it would ruin the UV cover. We have also put the hammock between the hulls. I realized pretty quickly the only way out was to swim! Fun!

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