Great Bridge to Midway Marina in Coinjock NC

Day 21, Tuesday, October 18, 2016

You can monitor my trip at the link: Second Winds Progress Live

Rafted together at the Great Bridge Bridge

Today was a really great day.  We knew that we had a 40 mile trip ahead of us so all of us who were moored above the Great Bridge Bridge cast off our lines and amassed awaiting the opening at eight o’clock. As soon as it opened, we all made a mad dash to get underway.  It was quite a confused mess for a couple of miles until we got strung out. 

We traveled through swamp country for probably 23 miles.  A stretch called the

Preparing to pass through a swing bridge

Albemarle Chesapeake Canal travels about 8 miles and is a perfectly straight man made ditch through the swampland.  I find it interesting and beautiful.  I saw almost no wild life except for a lone bald eagle that came winging by.

Leaving the Canal, we wandered another 15 miles along a serpentine path which ended in a large lake that the charts call the North Landing River.  I was traveling a course of south southeast and the wind had increased to between 10 and 15 knots from the south southwest.  I noticed the few sailboat that were still within my

This old beauty followed me through the swing bridge

view were raising their sails so I did the same.

It was exhilarating sailing.  I was able to stay on course in the Waterway as I beat along.  The wind was strong enough that I kept knocking down so I partially furled the jib and comfortably cruised along between 4.5 and 5.5 knots.  I was able to continue sailing for about 10 miles.

The wind finally swung towards my nose so I had to drop the sails and continue on

And so did this one!

motoring.  Passing out of the North Landing River, I passed between a couple of islands and entered Coinjock Bay.  From there we entered the little Piney Bay and finally the North Carolina Cut.

The NC Cut is a narrow river like passage that has housed and two marina across from each other. Our destination was the Midway Marina located on the right hand shore.  I called them on the radio and they said that since I had a shallow draft I would be pulling into a tiny harbor.  I located the entrance and was amazed that it was about 30 feet wide

Sailing in North Landing River

with big boats from our group nosed up to the edge of the passage.  The skippers of the two boats heard the call that I would be passing so they both stationed themselves such that if the wind carried me off course they could help control the situation.  Luckily, I was able to maneuver through the opening and up to the dock where the wife from one of the boats in our group helped catch me and secure my lines. 

Midway Marina is an old rundown facility that has seen better days.  Their docks

Moon rise over Midway Marina

are in really bad shape and they have little to offer the passing boaters other than a place to tie up for the night.  They have gas pumps but I inquired about fuel and they said that they don’t have any.  The power pedestals all steel and rusting however, they obviously work because I saw many members of our groups with power cords attached.

One of our group suggested that there was a gathering of folks heading for a restaurant across the river that specialized in prime rib. So, I put the little 2.2 Honda on the Dink and headed across to join the party.  We filled one end of the restaurant and enjoyed a fine meal and interesting interaction with the group. 

One of the hazards that the biggest boats of our group is encountering is the height of the fixed bridges.  The advertised height of most of these bridges is a bit above 63 feet and several of our boats have mast near or at that height.  A couple skippers elected to go up the mast and take down their masts head instruments.   

One boat was unable to pass under one of the bridges so he enlisted some young folks from the shore to hang from his boom that he swung out to the side.  He also enlisted some other boaters to stand along the rail. All of this caused the boat to heal enough to allow him to pass. 

At the dinner, it was agreed that for the next bridge that we will be passing, he will pass a line from his masthead to me and I will travel alongside holding him over as he passes.  I will report how that all works in the next installment of the blog. 

I did make it back to the boat in time to get into bed by 9:15.