We arrived in Beaufort expecting to anchor, but the Taylor Creek anchorage was filled with mooring balls!! As we were trying to figure out what to do, we got a call on the radio from Catalina Sunshine, one of the boats at the marina on the shore. We had seen that boat anchored in the Waccamaw River and along the ICW over the previous few days. He told us that there was a “free” mooring ball whose owner was off in the Caribbean. He had used it the night before, and suggested that we could pick it up rather than anchor. We were very happy to hear this, and picked up the mooring ball and had a very relaxed evening, not having to worry about the anchor in such a tight spot. It’s always nice to have strangers help out!!
The next day we headed off early into the ICW, and started off with the 20 mile journey down the Pungo–Alligator canal. This is a fairly narrow channel that connects the Pungo and Alligator rivers. On this trip, we saw three bald eagles, and a little black bear swam across the stream right in front of us!! We also had many bugs along for the ride, needless to say lots of green heads and black flies, but we also had two beautiful bugs, a golden tortoise beetle (it is not a ladybug, as I found out on the internet) and a huge dragonfly.
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| Bald Eagle |
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| Little black bear swimming across the ICW |
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| Golden Tortoise Beetle |
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| Dragonfly |
Today, we started early, as we had a busy day to get through Norfolk. The passage in the last 10 miles of the ICW through Norfolk is packed with bridges, and lots of boat traffic. We also planned to get 500 gallons of diesel for the return trip home at a marina just along the ICW. It is now 1 pm, and we have been through all the bridges but one, fueled up, and were excited to pass the last opening bridge and be on our way to the Chesapeake, when, the bridge has failed to open due to “mechanical problems”, and is not expected to be fixed until 2:30 pm the earliest. The railroad bridge that precedes it, which is normally open, just closed for a train, and it apparently also has failed!!!!!!!!!!
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| The "broken" railroad bridge is stuck in the down position just to the right of the large red boat on the left of the photo |
After jockeying for position with about 10 other anxious large power boats, we have left the area and are anchored about a half mile from the problem, outside the channel.
Who knows how long we will be stuck here! Hopefully they will get it working so we can be on our way. In any case, we won’t make the bottom of the Chesapeake tonight, and will most likely stay at Old Point Comfort just north of Norfolk, VA for the night if they get the bridges working.
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