We're HOME again!

We had a great run from Great Bridge, VA, getting into Coinjock early enough to get the boat cleaned up a bit and then enjoyed another great dinner at the marina restaurant.

The next day (7/15) we left Coinjock even though the NWS was predicting thunderstorms. By 8:30 am, we had DRIVING rain in white out conditions. I turned on the radar to try to avoid hitting anyone else on this stretch, but because the rain was so heavy, it just destroyed the image altogether. We had met a big barge shortly before the heaviest rain started at a critical turn at marker 118 (read, shallow). Had we met him there 20 minutes later, it would have spelled disaster for us. We went all the way down the Alligator River at 8.3 kts. surfing down the waves and 80 miles later arrived at Dowry Creek Marina and ducked in there for the night. We were beat, wet, tired and cranky.

While speaking to Dowry Creek via VHF, Sean from Arwenstar hailed us and as it turned out, he and his dad were anchored in Pantego Creek just off the coast of Belhaven. We met up with them the next day for a few hours and got caught up on all the news.

We then went on to the River Rat Yacht Club on the Pungo to visit my friend Melinda (Celerity) and her little dog Molly. We had such a great time and the weather was wonderful so stayed for 2 days and even became "Rats". We joined the Yacht Club. The reciprocal privileges from other yacht clubs should help us when we cruise south again.

We left the Rats Nest on 7/18 and made it into Oriental where we spent the night visiting friends and saw the progress on their new "green" house.

Yesterday, we left Oriental early to avoid the tropical storm which had formed off the coast and for the most part, we beat the rain home. We managed to get a little wet, but behind us, Oriental was getting drenched.

We're back at Bridgepointe Marina and we'll decide what our next plan will be. Stay tuned!