Alligator River

Tuesday, 28 October                                                                                    52.1 SM

“Ah, it’s a beautiful mornin’, ain’t it? Gus gazes out to the Pasquotank, the adds, “You won’t have no trouble crossin’ the Sound today.” This prediction comes in a soft Carolina drawl, his grizzled face etched by years along the river and sound. Gus takes seriously his role as a Rose Buddy, reporting for “duty” not long after first light. Now he leans on the bulkhead rail above the slip where Steadfast spent the night, courtesy of Elizabeth City, North Carolina.

The Antares 44 Two Fish turns down the Pasquotank into a rising sun.

Little Red idles in readiness for an 0800 departure as Gus bends his lanky frame to cast off a stern line, then standing by to fend off, explains the basis for his forecast.

“Mah fatha use-ta say ‘For evera unch awn tha rivah, thah’s a foot o’sea on tha Sound.’” A broad grin fills his face. “Ah doan see no rupples this mornin’.”

No ripples, indeed, the river surface all glassy swirls as Steadfast gets underway. For a while, there is enough west in soft southerly to encourage an attempt at motor sailing but that’s brief. The genny’s unfurled just long enough to provide the illusion of sailing before she flaps in futility and is coiled again.

Little Red , though, keeps pluggin’ along, pushing Steadfast at an easy 5-and-a-half knots, farther south by 6-and-a-half statute miles every hour. The broad span of the Pasquotank opens gradually to the even broader horizons of Albemarle Sound, neither offering much in the way of depth. A reading of fifteen feet seems like a lot.

A Navy blimp heads toward her hangar on the Pasquotank.

The heading turns to 192 magnetic toward the mouth of the Alligator River, the entrance channel snaking among shoals before running four miles straight to where the highway bridge swings open to allow three more Snowbirds to continue their flight south.

Dream Catcher catches up to Steadfast crossing the Sound.

One is the Cape Dory 36 Dream Catcher, a boat and crew first encountered two summers ago in Tenant’s Harbor, ME. Much of this day, she has been traveled in tandem with Steadfast. Small world, as they say. She slowly pulls a half-mile ahead and, as the Alligator narrows, drops off the channel to anchor off Deep Point. Steadfast continues a mile more and drops the hook in seven feet off Bear Point, just in time to visit again with Gail and Jason who’ve anchored nearby on Two Fish, their Antares 44 catamaran.  It’s been a fine day, Steadfast now more than 100 miles down The Ditch.

Steadfast lays to her anchor just outside the channel off Bear Point.

It’s just after 1900 hours. The sun leaves a pink glow on the horizon. It’s quiet. That 15 knot southerly has laid down to a whisper. Rowing back to Steadfast is a whole lot easier than the trip over. In fact, the whole transit, all eight-plus hours, is just as Gus predicted this morning. No trouble at all.

Steadfast out.