Days Events:

Wx - beautiful sunrise - see photos. Forecast sunny, 71/89, 88% humidity, wds W @ 5-10.

Travel - they either lied, or we misinterpreted the forecast; or the hand of God wanted to teach us another lesson in humility! And, needless to say, 'fetch' is indeed important!

We left at 07:10, light wind, mild overcast sky. Water was great until we left the protection of the point after half an hour and entered the main Sound; and we could see the line of waves, whitecaps, but it didn't look that bad. A half hour into 2-3ft waves 45 degrees off the port bow, with more than a few bigger rollers, we decided to alter course from due North [360 deg.] to 320 degrees [~NW], to take the waves about 15 deg. off the bow,; the ride became much smoother - it was choppy but less rolling [fewer waves on the beam]; followed that heading for 9 miles then altered to 60 degrees to head for our original track on the North shore, but which put the waves on our port stern and the ride, as we hoped, became terrific. We now had more protection from the North shore and the waves and wind were behind, helping our progress. We had been somewhat prepared for a rough ride anyway but had hoped to avoid it. 'Tacking' into the waves/wind was a prudent move which then allowed us to later cruise with them behind us pushing us along, until we got into the protection of the Pasquotank River up to Elizabeth City. It was only an hour of relatively rough riding and we would still have gone knowing that, but had hoped it would have been better.

We traveled for 4.8 hrs, 40 miles [the necessary side trek in the Sound only added 3 miles], averaging 8 mph.

Lamb's Marina - this is a no-frills and downtoearth spot, tightly tucked into a narrow channel off the main river, completely surrounded by woods, with channel depths down to 4 ft, and a narrow channel between the 2 rows of slips, which we traversed all the way to the Fuel Dock/Store/Office/Restaurant, pivoted VERY tightly 180 deg. with the keen eye of the Admiral watching the stern which prevented me hitting a small pontoon boat, and docking on a face dock with the bow toward the exit channel - good to go, as it were. They have a gas station, grocery/convenience store, ships store, Mexican grill restaurant - similar multifunctional business as the Alligator R. Marina - do whatever it takes to provide service and make a buck. Friendly folks, helpful - every marina we've been at [except maybe 1] has been just like that too.

Humor - from Duane McCartney's Jokes that can be told in Church: Attending a wedding for the first time, a little girl whispered to her mother,   "Why is the bride dressed in white?'' The mother replied, "Because white is the color of happiness, and today is the happiest day of her life." The child thought about this for a moment then said, "so why is the groom wearing black?"

Photos - one showing the evidence of Margarets fly/moth killing spree - dead bugs in the Keurig Coffee container - Hell hath no fury like the wrath of a pixie-haircutted woman with dead bugs stuck in her hair!! Several of sunrise at Alligator R.Marina - I wonder if some of the color is enhanced by the Sahara Dust Plume? There is one while we were in the 2nd leg of our trek across the Albemarle Sound which really shows the Sahara Dust 'Cloud'. A couple of Lamb's Marina - the restaurant is on the right side, the grocery/convenience & Marina store around the front.

MECHANICS:

Throttle - no real problems; I loosened the PH handle clamp and rotated the handle back to be even with the port side and everything worked fine. Will still look for a hydraulics mechanic likely in Norfolk.

Monitoring - all good. [will add coolant to stbd in Norfolk]

Fender repair - HEADLINE - Admiral to displace Captain in repairs!! We were trying to get the deteriorating line remnant out of the fender tunnel [the line had already separated once - it is rapidly disintegrating] before it broke again and we lost another fender. The Admiral, took my pick and noted that the knot had worked its way closer to the end of the fender and she was prying at it and said it had fused within the tunnel plastic. So, I, using the advantage of a flashlight, poked the pick into the knot which was indeed now within 4 inches and was able to break up some of the melted nylon rope tip, then pulled and removed the offending item. I had planned to deflate the fender to make removal easier, but Margs solution was better and worked almost immediately. So inserted a new 10 ft line with a larger knot! Back in business. The woman is indispensable!! :) Who said a pixie cut wasn't a good thing!!

That's all folks. It was an eventful day on the water, with the 'rough' part only lasting an hour, and otherwise a good time was had by all.

Tomorrow, we travel up the Dismal Swamp Canal to Norfolk, VA and the Waterside Marina - 47 miles.

We continue our distancing. Will order Mexican takeout for tonight. Stay in touch with everyone.

Comments:

jon - 30 Jun 2020: Rotary was great passing gavel from black president Dot to black Pet. Jim T would have been so proud.

Jerry - 1 Jul 2020: We have stainless steel O rings at bottom of fender: they never rust and never pull through the fender. Prevents problem of line pulling through and loss of a fender