Great day to start; cool temps, breezy, but not over whelmingly so, boat running well. So off we went, out Slade Creek, into the Pungo River and north to the Alligator River -Pungo River Canal, a narrow, tree & stump lined canal running from the Pungo River , yep, you guessed it, Chuckie, the Alligator River. So, off we went, up the canal headed for the Alligator River swing bridge & an anchorage behind Durant Island to await calmer winds on Thursday for the Albemarle Sound crossing on the way to Elizabeth City. Plan was to be in the lower end of the Chesapeake by Saturday or Sunday, and Essex by the end of the week or so.
Great thing about plans: not many get to survive combat, or, in this case, real life. Just after we passed under the Fairfield Canal bridge we hit a submerged log that was apparently lying along the edge of the channel. One minute 12' of water, the next minute; THUNKety Thunk. Our Verizon network abandoned us, no one answered channel 16, we were stuck in more ways than one. We wiggled around, moved weight forward, drained the fresh water tank, and put the dink in the water. That seemed to lighten things up a bit, so we tried to idle off the log; Thunk, no dice! Altho' we had tried kedging earlier, only to lose that anchor, we decided to try that again. By some judicious use of passing boat wakes we were able to get Scooter floating properly again, and, joy of joys, recover that anchor. Unfortunately, when we powered up to start down the canal, there was a lot of vibration; possibly bent shafts, possibly bent props. In the interim, a kind hearted sailboater had managed to make contact with TowBoat US, our AAA of the waterways. Once we arranged the relays & made contact, we limped in their direction, picked up the towboat and were towed to what we hope will turn out to be a reasonably priced repair facility with the time & parts to get our work done expeditiously.
I guess the next few days will be interesting, possibly frustrating, but certainly part of our ICW
experience.
Have a great week, we'll send some pics & keep you tuned in to all the upcoming events. Be safe, dodge the logs, and keep the faith!
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