Buck Island to Alligator River Anchorage

Day 8, Sunday, April 23, 2017

You can monitor my trip at the link: Little Star's Progress Live

I awoke at 5:00 and shook Jim out of his sleeping bag so that we could check the weather forecast and make a decision regarding staying put or heading out into Albemarle Sound.  Once past the sound, we will be traveling in mostly protected waters and so high winds will not be as much of a problem.  After consulting three different weather predictors, we determined that Sunday’s weather is bad, Monday and Tuesday’s are worse so we decided to head out at first light.

Albemarle Sound as I remember it from last year

The winds are predicted to be blowing from 20 to 30 knots from the northeast. Our course across the Sound will be a southerly so the wind and waves will basically be behind us.  The crossing is about 25 miles long so we should be able to make it in about 4 to 5 hours.

We headed out in a nasty blowing misty rain at about 6:30.  We were well bundled up with multiple layers of clothing and so physical comfort was not a problem.  Out on the sound, we encountered winds that topped out between 25 and 30 knots with occasional waves reaching 6 feet.  Although the boat rocked and rolled as we surfed down the waves, it was not the uncomfortable pound that we would have encountered and we been slogging into the wind. 

Crossing the Albemarle Sound

While we were underway, Janine fixed a hearty breakfast of cheesy eggs, Bob Evans sausage and toast with coffee and V-8 juice.  Jim and I took turns leaving the helm for the breakfast table. 

We made it across the Sound in probably less than 4 hours but encountered more rough water once we entered the Alligator River.  The waves were still following us and the fetch (the distance of open water over which wind can blow to build waves) was much shorter so the big rollers were not there. 

Jim and I took turns piloting the boat.  He expressed a love for steering in following big rolling waves so it was a pleasure to handle the boat in those conditions.  Little Star is a most seaworthy craft and handled these conditions with ease. 

The Alligator River finally turned and began winding through the salt mash where we were able to find a suitable place to drop our anchor.  As before, we put out 75 feet of steel chain in relatively shallow water so with the boat’s new generation anchor, we felt quite secure in the predicted high winds that are forecast for tonight.

The actual miles we traveled today was quite short.  Having made it across the Sound, we now have plenty of time to travel on to Oriental in protected waters.  That being said, we did not feel bad about dropping our hook at 2:00 the afternoon. 

The anchorage on Alligator River

We spent there remainder of the afternoon reading, repairing, discussing and napping. For dinner, it was too cold to grill out so we fried some burgers on the stove with instant mashed potatoes and refreshed ourselves with a nice box Merlot wine.  For dessert, we made a blob brownie cake with chocolate icing.