Alligator River & Albermarle Sound

I put my lifejacket on while on the Albermarle! 
Not sure why I’m smiling??!
Albermarle Sound
Albermarle Sound
Alligator River
Alligator River
             Leaving Alligator River into Albermarle Sound.
           Luckily we didn’t have far to go on the Albermarle.

 On April 24, we left Bellhaven, NC and headed to the Alligator River.  We crossed the Pungo River and entered the Pungo/Alligator Canal (ICW).  Initially, it seemed we were gonna have a good travel day - flat, calm water.  The canal was small and reminded us of the rivers back home - peaceful.  But the Alligator River opened up to a big body of water and boy oh boy, it got rough!  It was a lot of chop and we were slapping the water - not fun.  The wind had picked up and the current was strong.  The only thing good about this travel day, was that the wind was hitting us in the bow for the majority of the trip.  Finally, we headed into Alligator River Marina to tuck in for the night. Docking there wasn’t easy either.  There was nobody there to catch lines (our boat is small so we can manage), but the wind was terrible.  We spent the rest of our day, catching lines for fellow loopers, as they came into the marina. The marina wasn’t much, but had showers, a room to hang out in - and was the only place in town.  Later in the evening, we all enjoyed, much needed, docktails.  

The following day, we woke up early to check the weather/wind. To me, it seemed like the day before - very blustery even at 5am. I thought we would go lay back down and wait until tomorrow, hoping for better weather. Jeff said, “We should go.”  So, that’s what we did.  We were going into the Albermarle Sound. I had heard from other loopers about the Albemarle Sound - and it wasn’t good.  And just when I thought the Alligator River was the worst experience, we hit the Albemarle. Holy moly, roly poly.  I would much rather slap across the water than swirl around in it.  This was by far the worst.  At the beginning, we thought about turning around, but we really didn’t have far to go (thank goodness), so we powered through and of course we made it!  


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Boomerang - 09/13/2022

Image
      We've finally taken the plunge - that could be a bad play on words.  Let’s say, we’ve finally purchased our looper boat. We've been on a quest to find a boat, for a couple of months now. We've traveled more than 3000 miles in search of the perfect one. We had certain criteria (budget, seaworthy, dinghy, A/C, heat, trailer, electronics, bed, toilet, galley, tall ceiling for Jeff, etc.) and we located one in Webster, New York (near Rochester).  We traveled there twice to get this boat - once by plane and then by truck. It’s a 14 hour drive, but she fit the bill, so we had to go. It’s a Rosborough 246, trailerable, 25 ft., single, outboard engine (Honda 225) small, cabin cruiser.  She’s in great shape, clean and ready to go!  The previous owner took great pride in ownership and we were lucky to find her, just in time! She's a small boat; but it's just a vessel to get us from point A to point B and to have a view of the country from a different perspective.       
Read more

Ottawa Beach Marina, Holland, Michigan

Image
The small “Holland” village. A bridge on Windmill Island Gardens. Look at the size of that mill stone! A wooden shoe - very big! This is how they sent messages up and down the windmill, A pulley with a wooden shoe, of course! The wooden gears on the windmill. Carousel for children only! Looking down the flight of stairs I climbed to see the view from the top! Lake Michigan. The view from the top of the trail. You could see both Lake Michigan and Lake Mattawan (lake near Holland).  The lighthouse in Holland. Lots of “Holland” items. Beautiful grounds at Windmill Island Gardens. Nice marina. Taking a walk along the trails near Ottawa Beach Marina. 265 stairs to reach the top of the dunes. Sailboats entering the inlet. De Zwaan Windmill       Boomerang in her slip at Ottawa Beach Marina - all alone! We decided to stay at Ottawa Beach Marina in Holland. We had considered Eldean Marina, but after contacting another looper at Eldean, we decided on Ottawa Beach. Apparently, Eldean wasn’t a gr
Read more

Hammond, Indiana

Image
So much beach glass on found on the beach. Jodie and I had coffee after our haircuts! Bulldog Brewery- we spent a few days. Docktails Me, Pam (Sea the USA) and Jackie (Sidetrip) “AGLCA looper beer”       This is Sue from SunDancer. We finally met! At their  home port, they were on the same dock with  our friends,                                 Smile With the Risin’ Sun.                               Full moon over the marina.  We made it to The Hammond Marina in Hammond, Indiana. This is where we sit to stage our entrance into the river system again. This marina is at Horseshoe Casino - and they smoke in there. We’re not big gamblers and even if we were, I wouldn’t be able to stand the smell. The marina itself was nice. Great showers, laundry and lots of dock space for nightly docktails. We were told to go only one direction when leaving the marina - parts of the town in Hammond aren’t safe. A nice bike trail was close, that went along the beach  to the town of Whiting. We walked it s
Read more