June 29  Spent the morning cleaning.  Heating up quickly with temps expected in the 100’s today.  Packed up our gear, went to M&M’s for lunch (happily ran into our friend John and had a nice visit), and headed to Raleigh.  As we evaluated our journey, there were many blessings to reflect upon: our safety in some less than safe circumstances, lovely sailing the first 3 weeks, beautiful scenery, wildlife and historic sites.  Our long return trip under motor was tedious for sure and the stiff helm left John doing most all of the steering, which was tough.  We are thankful for the opportunity to go, the people we met and the time together. 

June 28  We are in our home waters today and while warmer, it is still quite pleasant.  Yes, we are again motoring head to wind – 8 more hours.  Pulled in to our slip about 3:45 p.m., high fived, plugged in turning on the a/c and tied her up.  Quite warm indeed so we rested, took showers and headed to Silos for pizza.  Seems good and odd to be home.  Readjusting to landside life!



Gorgeous blue green marsh grass



June 27  Seventy miles to travel between Buck Island (just south of Currituck Sound) and Pungo River anchorage (just south of Alligator River Cut. Leaving the anchorage before we entered the Sound, John felt he should check the bolt on the wheel (recall he loosened it since it has been horribly stiff).  We pulled out of the channel and took it apart to discover it was ready to drop off.  Losing steerage would have resulted and we thanked God for the “niggle” to check on it.  No favorable wind so it was a 10 hour day of motoring, first across the Albermarle Sound which had opposing waves so it was a sloppy 3 hours, then the Alligator River with its’ notorious snags and logs, followed by the “ditch” which was delightfully cool and relaxing for the last 3 hours.  I put on an oldie radio station and we bounced around in the cockpit!  We are happy to be safely in our last anchorage just outside the ditch before we make the final run to Oriental tomorrow.  We are still getting water seepage in the engine compartment, have a super stiff wheel and a broken freezer lid…..ahh, boat maintenance to ready us for fall sailing!



Norfolk Lift Bridge #1 at Dawn



June 26  Up at 4:30 a.m. and under way at 5:00 a.m. to try to run the bridges in Norfolk before they  shut  down for the rush hours.  A kindly neighboring boat owner appeared in the dark to help us get the boat out of the slip with a stiff breeze.  Thank you!  The area is well lit with the Navy and Commercial docks but it still required major concentration as we approached our first bridge about 6 miles down river at 6:00 a.m.  We ran the gauntlet of 7 bridges and 1 lock in 3 ½ hours and headed across the Currituck Sound.  Stopped in at Coinjock for fuel.  Wind behind us – motoring again.  Never can remember so many consecutive days of motoring.  Dropped the hook at Buck Island for a cool night of peaceful sleep with no noises or movement….heavenly.

Great Bridge Lock



Norfolk Railway Lift at Dawn