Day 52, Sunday, October 25th

Somewhere on the Pasquotank River to Entrance of the Alligator River - Pungo River Canal

Track on ViewRanger

The night had been incredibly calm - the boat was steady as if on land. The morning revealed a surface flat like a mirror.

By the time I finished breakfast a slight breeze had sprung up and I decided to try to sail as much as possible - thanks to my start yesterday I didn't have to rush.

Yesterday's sail had been an obstacle course through the crab pots, but thanks to the calm surface today they were easy to spot and avoid.

Sailing south over the sound was a pleasure. The wind was just strong enough to make me go at a comfortable speed of 4-5 knots. Other sailboats started appearing behind me and on my port side (these had taken the other route via Coinjock). Not one of them was sailing, though, all were just going with their engine. I didn't get it, the wind was good, but here these 'sailors' chose to be lazy and leave the sails furled.

On the other side of the sound begins the Alligator River, and here is where I found a gas station for diesel. Total diesel used since Tarrytown on the Hudson: 23 gallons.

I continued my trip first though the opening bridge

Then sailing (and motor sailing when the wind briefly almost died). I was continually being passed by a procession of sailboats that were just motoring.

By the time I reached my planned anchorage I found that there were another dozen boats here already - almost all of them the ones that had passed me through the night. The mosquitoes were very bad here, I dropped the anchor as quickly as I could and fled below without even checking if it held properly.

During the night the wind shifted and started blowing from the North, like the weather forecast had predicted. The anchor held well, as always.