Running for Cover

We rose at 5a and didn't leave until 7a.... I hope to figure a faster get-a-way soon but there is a lot to do before we could crank up the engines. Breakfast dishes must be washed, dried and put away and as they say we needed to “batten down” the hatches. Sandwiches must be made... all lunch prep because you never know what the weather/water will be like.... who wants to be holding on in the Galley while trying to make lunch?!

One thing that took awhile was learning to use the new anchor washing system. Walter has made a niffy wash down & put it in the Port deck box along with its motor. He walked me through it from the helm....Love the headsets! One end of the hose goes into the water overboard so that we don't use our fresh water but draw up the sea water into the hose by a pump. We had about 60 ft of anchor chain down and as it came up it brought the worse smelling mud but it all washed off until the anchor itself came up and didn't want to give up the mud! I put it back down a little ways and we started off dragging it through the water until it was clean. Then I stepped on the button to finish drawing it into its place....and we were off.

It had rained during the night and a light shower was still coming down. But it soon cleared and we were out on the waterway with beautiful sunny skies above us.  Although, I understand now why they say when doing the all night gulf crossing not to arrive at Tarpon Springs or Clearwater before 10a.m. The reflection of the sun on the water made it very hard to see the crab pots which were EVERY WHERE!  It took both of us to watch for them.  Getting your props caught in them could cause lots of problems.  But the sun was so nice after the day before and we were enjoying the cruise.

We had lots of company.... many sailboats, a few trawlers and fishing boats...most asking to pass us old folks who were going slow & saving fuel. :-)  Going about the same engine speed as yesterday we were making better time because the water was smooth.  

It looked like we might have our first barge/tow passing experience in a narrow creek as we could hear other boats calling him asking which side he wanted to pass them on... One time the barge captain said it would not be able to pass this boat... barge too wide!  Uh! Oh!  I was thankful that he came out of the creek just as we were about to enter it.  Whew!  

It was fun and interesting listening to the radio calls and the sometimes funny boat names. One discourse went this way: “Go Slower Go Slower Go Slower Second Chapter”.... HUH?  I thought someone was telling another boat to SLOW down but that was the name of a boat and the “second chapter” (name of other boat) was trying to get him on the radio.

The water did kick up as we crossed the Pamlico River into the Pongo River... once up the smaller river a ways it became a bit smoother.  As we went along we would also watch behind our boat to see what traffic might be coming up from that direction. We were heading for Pungo Creek near Belhaven and would be on the hook tonight (anchored out). This time when looking behind us we noticed something more threatening than traffic... huge black clouds all the way down to the water level. But they looked far off so we kept on our course planning to exit the ICW into our creek very soon. 

While I was below deck I thought I heard Walter call me but it is so noisy inside salon with those twin diesels are running.... seconds later I was right under the helm standing at one end of the salon when Walter stomped hard on the floor! I ran up the stairs to the bridge. Walter pointed to the clouds/storm which was almost upon us as he yelled: “Get your foul weather gear on now and get out there and release the anchor in case I have to put it down”!  I skipped the coat and just put on my life jacket and got out on the deck. I hung on the rail as I removed the chain cover and untied & removed the pin and came back inside . From the bridge I notice our poor little Looper's burgee flapping so hard in the wind and rain and couldn't believe I forgot to bring it in.... but the storm was upon us now with no time to figure out how to get into our creek so Walter ran for the break water in the Belhaven harbor. He had to stand up at the helm to control the boat... we circled around (anyone see that on the satellite?) trying to keep the nose of the boat into the wind...watching to avoid the shallow water. It blew us every which way!! We heard the frantic calls from all those sail boats...most ahead of us and looking for creeks to run up... later we were happy to hear that they did find shelter. THEN an alarm went off! The loudest alarm I have ever heard! We immediately thought it was the shallow water alarm but we had 6 ft under keel according to the gages...we kept checking & after a whole 60 seconds it finally did stop and the emergency weather station came on our radio.. telling about the approaching storm...Thanks a lot... good to know! Ha!

Finally, it was over... like most thunder storms quick to arrive and quick to dissipate. We checked the chart and it seemed that Pungo Creek that we had passed two miles back was a good anchorage and had been in our plans. So that is where we are for the night... two other boats have come in also in the last hour. A sailing catamaran and a trawler.

I expect another good night's sleep... swinging on the anchor is pleasant. I was surprised that I didn't even worry about the anchor dragging. However, I knew Walter was going to check it during the night... perhaps that is why I slept so well....Oh! Captain My Captain!  And the God of Heaven is our strength & our shield!  

Tomorrow we head for East Lake, an anchorage about 48 miles away... we are traveling just 40 to 50 miles a day... I love it! And after two thrilling days it would be nice to just have a calm day... but nothing like getting your heart pumping for good health, eh?