Started: Bonner Bay, 35°09.61′N 076°35.65′W, ICW mile 159.
Anchored: Alligator River, 35°40.49′N 076°03.50′W, ICW mile 99.
Log: 50 mi. Time: 9¾ hr. Engine: 9¾ hr.
The day started with an odd squawking or shrieking. Likely a bird in the rigging, pooping on deck. Right? Wrong.
Here’s how you know you’re in North Carolina. Mud.
Anchor Chain Plastered With Mud
The bottom in Bonner Creek is shown on the nautical charts as SO: “Soft”. That means a wet concrete-like concoction that has to be carefully hosed off the chain so it doesn’t get into the anchor locker and create unique, new kinds of smells below decks on Red Ranger.
Note that each link is thoroughly painted with mud. It took CA over 30 minutes to bring up the chain while hosing it down carefully.
While today’s winds were forecast to be a bit heavy (20-25 knots) with thunderstorms and showers, we missed most of that. The winds we got were 10-15 knots and one little rain shower was more pretty than serious thunderstorm material.
This part of the journey North involves the Pungo River to Alligator River canal. It’s 4 hours of staring at a ditch.
But after yesterday’s Sporty Day on the Neuse, it was a pleasant respite.
The gentle motoring along the canal allowed us time to locate the sqauwking noise. Since the noise was intermittent, it took a while to see what was causing the ruckus. It wasn’t a bird.
The squawk was a tiny green frog.
It had been blown aboard with yesterday’s “Wrath of God” rainstorm.
After removing one frog, we heard the squawk again. It took a few hours of poking around to find frog #2 hiding on deck.
How many more can there be?
After a few hours, we joked about the frog count. “Red Ranger 2, Frogs zero”. Ha ha.
Then we heard another squawk. This took a lot of searching to reveal no additional frog. Just a squawk every half-hour or so.
The third frog was in one of the deck cuddy’s where we normally keep winch handles and off-shore tethers and other hardware.
We haven’t heard any squawking since. We think we’re frog-free. No more joking, however. We don’t want to find desiccated, dead frog three months from now.
Last night, it seemed like we’d merely try for the head of the Pungo River. This morning, however, with a pleasant breeze helping us along, our chart plotter showed that we would easily make the Pungo by 13:00, allowing us to make the Alligator by 17:00. Cool. Why not press on?
And once through this stretch, we’re counting down the legs.
Tomorrow is likely Coinjock, NC.
Then Great Bridge, VA. We’ll probably stop there for a few days because there’s a good fabric and sewing store a short walk from the canal.