Started: Newport News Point 35°40.45′N 076°03.34′W

Anchored: ICW Mile 154 Campbell Creek 35°17.11′N 076°37.18′W

Log: 48.0 nm. Time 7¾ hr. Engine Hours 7¾.

Anchored next to Motu. Again. And also next to Casa Blanca. We met them in Deltaville earlier this year.

We had a delightful trip down the Alligator River & Pungo River Canal. It's an exercise in patience. We motored part way down the Pungo river.

At the turn, near where we sat out Hurricane Sandy last year, we fell off to close hauled. It was cool watching the sailboats in front of us make the turn and start raising sail.

We made the turn, pulled out the Yankee and motor-sailed down the Pungo river for all of an hour. Then we had to put the Yankee away to motor across the Pamlico river.

The hour of motor sailing was good.

Now we're tucked into a creek surrounded by open marshland. Good in settled weather. No protection to speak of. The creek has some locally maintained marks: some crazy dilapidated PVC pipe jammed into the banks to show the fairway.

I'm slowly convincing myself that our fuel lift pump is struggling. Occasionally — infrequently — Mr. Lehman will lug like he's not getting enough fuel. Filters are clean. Switching to the spare filter has no effect. That might mean the fuel pickup in the tank is clogged, but we sloshed in 40 gallons of new fuel, which tends to rinse out any clogs.

What's left is the fuel lift pump. Other boaters have suggested that the diaphragm gets old and starts to leak a little letting air into the system. I have a rebuild kit of unknown age. I think I'd rather get a new pump and use the rebuild kit to refurbish the old pump.

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