ICW Mile 57: Buck Island in North River, North Carolina
Cruising the Long, Straight Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal
It was a long and winding voyage today. And cold. I’m beginning to think the “IC” in ICW stands for icy. Well, I guess we waited a little longer than most but it seems a bit colder here than it should be. The good news, we are getting further south! Traversed about 45 miles of the waterway today and it took about 7 and a half hours. Went through two swing bridges and under three more low 65 foot bridges.
We are continuing to find that the waterway is kind of a traffic nightmare. We’ve met some very friendly, helpful boaters as well as total jerks. The jerks have all been in power boats. Not all power boaters are bad, but there are definitely bad apples who pass you with big wakes and don’t signal. Much of the waterway is a narrow dredged channel so passing has to be done in close quarters. When a power boat zooms up to your stern and then slows to pass, they usually throw a wake wave which knocks your steering off. This is not a legal maneuver but there’s always a power boater willing to piss everyone else off, including other power boaters.
It Became Sunny but Windy as the Day Progressed
We swapped steering duties every hour so that we wouldn’t get too tired. Keeping in a narrow channel, even those that are straight-line for miles, is more difficult than it sounds. Wind, currents and waves constantly mess with your course and you have to correct. Lots of winding through rivers as well.
We finally arrived at our planned anchorage near Buck Island. It was pretty windy when we arrived but has subsided a lot. No worries about the tide in the waterway here, but the wind can push water in and out. We’ve had north wind most of the day but the depth here is 10 feet, great for anchoring.
The AIS data is apparently working well in this area and this is where we are.
Our Lonely Anchorage for the Night
Posted in Sailing by Mark with comments disabled.