Monday, June 4, 2007 - Hertford to Edenton, NC

We were up early to try to reach Edenton before the wind picked up too much. We took Sailor to shore, lifted tie outboard and dinghy topside, and pulled two anchors by 0830. When we first called the bridge tender in Hertford, he asked us to hold up because the bridge was broken. He called back a few minutes later and said he had called his boss and had gotten the OK to open the bridge swing for us and said we should “bring it on.”

Sunday afternoon. the wind forecast for Monday was 10-15 from the southwest. During the night the wind speed increased and by Monday morning it was blowing 20-30 mph from the southwest. The run up the Perquimans River was choppy but comfortable but when we got to Albemarle Sound it was getting rough. We had to go south to clear a large restricted area that we were told belongs to the CIA. The south course put the wind off our starboard beam which caused Seascape to roll uncomfortably. We finally could turn to the SW into the wind which improved the ride but we were pounding into the closely spaced waves. We found that we had a better ride at a slower speed so we reduced engine rpm to 1500 or about 6.5 mph.

After we had been running about three hours the Coast Guard announced an alert that the bridge at Hertford was closed to boat traffic because of mechanical problems. We were lucky that the bridge tender let us through because we were nearly out of fresh water and the holding tank was almost full.

As we turned north to head toward Edenton we were broadside to the seas and started rolling enough to throw a bottle of merlot out of a closed cabinet and it shattered on the deck, It was quiet a mess and we were still rolling although not as violently . We finally pulled into the Edenton Marina basin at 1400. The first thing we did after the dock lines were in place was to take the rugs out on the dock and scrub them to take out the wine stain.

The Edenton Docks Marina lets boaters dock free for 48 hours each month. Since we were there in May we were allowed two free nights again in June. We talked about going out for dinner but we were both too tired so we ate on the boat and went to bed.