(FOUND THIS BLOG IN THE ARCHIVES AS A DRAFT SO I THINK IT WAS NOT PREVIOUSLY POSTED. SORRY FOR THE SLIP-UP)
The winds did not seem to be blowing quite as hard in the morning. Candy and I were up about 5:00. Still no luck on the swim platform.
Talked to the bridge tender before 6:00 and found out that the winds were not the problem but they had a maintenance crew working on the bridge. They could not project the time it would open but he would announce it on the VHF an hour before they were ready to open. Not much to do except clean the boat and do some reading. Candy finally had a “accident” about 9:30. She had held it for about 27 hours.
We finally got word about 12:45 that the bridge would be opening at 1:45. We pulled the anchorage and got underway. Took some time to get from the anchorage to open water but the waves were better and we were able to get on plane to make it to the bridge on time. The bridge finally opened about 5 minutes late and there were about 12 boats waiting to go thru.
We debated going on to Elizabeth City NC or stop at the Alligator River Marina that is just on the North side of the swing bridge. We thought if the water on the Albemarle Sound was like the Alligator River we could make Elizabeth City in about 2 1/2 hours. Everything was fine for the first 4 miles or so as we navigated thru a shoal area. Once out from behind the shoal area the waves were the worst we seen since Lake Michigan as far as height.. They were is the 4′ to 5′ range with some that looked even bigger. The real bad part is that because of the shallow water there is no space between the waves. It is like those shallow lakes, St. Clair and Erie.
We turned around and went back to the Alligator River Marina. The Marina is actually a gas station/marina on the side of the road. No place to walk to that is close. It has about 20 slips and a long dock for fueling and general tie up. Inside the store is also a restaurant that has a grill and a deep fryer and I must say the food was pretty good.
Needless to say Candy was happy with lots of grass to sniff and we were able to go for a nice long walk.
The winds are supposed to be less tomorrow.