Our goal for today was to make perhaps 30-40 miles further down the Intercoastal from Belhaven. Depending on how far we got, our route would take us down the Pungo River, across the mouth of the Pamlico River into Goose Creek, through a connector canal to the Bay River, up the Bay River into Pamlico Sound and finally, make a right into the Neuse River -- it sounds a lot more complicated than it actually was. We also planned to stop briefly about halfway to get fresh shrimp and fuel at the Mayo Seafood Company, a seafood processor on the Goose Creek canal.
We did have a small mishap leaving the dock -- the space in front of us was very limited, so Jack did a hard turn off the dock, miscalculating the room needed to clear the outboard engine and dinghy hanging off the stern -- the outboard's control arm got snagged the piling, causing some load scraping (and cursing) noises. No real damage was done, but it was a harsh reminder that careful planning off the dock is always a requirement.
It was a sunny day with the wind out of the SE at about 8-10 knots -- the trip down the Pungo and across the mouth of the Pamlico was uneventful save for a significant chop during the crossing -- the SE winds were kicking up the sound, something the cruising guides went out of their way to warn us about -- prolonged SE winds, the sound's wide open expanse and relatively shallow depths is a recipe for short, steep waves.
Things settled down once we turned into Goose Creek, and we arrived at the Mayo Seafood dock by about 12:30. The company's wharf, lining the creek for perhaps a football field's length, had just one Shrimp Trawler on it -- in its heyday, it must have been quite a site to see it completely lined with boats. The company is a processor/distributor -- basically, it buys the shrimp from boat owners, cleans, packages and distributes them -- they also sell fuel. We bought some shrimp and topped off our fuel tank and were ready to go.
At this point we had to decide where we were going to stop for the evening -- after examining the guides and charts, it appeared that the only "forward" option we had was the first creek up the Neuse river, Broad Creek -- this meant we would have to venture up the Bay River and around the "infamous" Maw Point, a large shoal area at the mouth of the Bay -- and, we would have to do this directly into the wind and the chop that had been building all day -- it was going to be a long afternoon.
We motored down the creek and started out into the Bay River when wham, we ran aground at full speed -- I was at the helm and watch, horrified, as the bow dipped way down absorbing our forward momentum (and wondering "what the hell just happened?"). Fortunately, we had hit a soft sand bar and we were pointed "into" the wind (which was now blowing 15 or so) and against the current, so we basically "bounced off" the bar -- the wind and current rapidly pushed the boat back and off the bar, and in a moment's time we were on our way (the "right way" -- I had misinterpreted where the channel was, that's why we hit in the first place.)
We had to go about 7 Miles upwind to get up and around Maw point (you gotta love a name like that -- it evokes an image of the point eating your boat, which is probably how it got its name). The wind and the current were against us; My Weigh slowly clawed its way upwind -- at times we got as low as 2.5 Knots forward progress -- hobby-horsing up and down the frequent 3 foot or so waves that had built over the day -- painfully slow but steady progress to our turning point. When we finally did turn down the Neuse, we had a beam sea and My Weigh started rolling side to side, occasionally "wildly" -- indeed, we adjusted our course some to limit the rolling, and happily (the current was now with us), headed up the river to the entrance to Broad creek, our home for the evening.
The creek's entrance was sinuous but well marked and, after spending the last few hours being "rocked and rolled" on the boat, we were grateful for its quieter waters. We found our appointed anchorage, dropped the hook and spent the rest of the day enjoying the quiet serenity of this lightly populated creek.
We did have a small mishap leaving the dock -- the space in front of us was very limited, so Jack did a hard turn off the dock, miscalculating the room needed to clear the outboard engine and dinghy hanging off the stern -- the outboard's control arm got snagged the piling, causing some load scraping (and cursing) noises. No real damage was done, but it was a harsh reminder that careful planning off the dock is always a requirement.
It was a sunny day with the wind out of the SE at about 8-10 knots -- the trip down the Pungo and across the mouth of the Pamlico was uneventful save for a significant chop during the crossing -- the SE winds were kicking up the sound, something the cruising guides went out of their way to warn us about -- prolonged SE winds, the sound's wide open expanse and relatively shallow depths is a recipe for short, steep waves.
Things settled down once we turned into Goose Creek, and we arrived at the Mayo Seafood dock by about 12:30. The company's wharf, lining the creek for perhaps a football field's length, had just one Shrimp Trawler on it -- in its heyday, it must have been quite a site to see it completely lined with boats. The company is a processor/distributor -- basically, it buys the shrimp from boat owners, cleans, packages and distributes them -- they also sell fuel. We bought some shrimp and topped off our fuel tank and were ready to go.
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| A fuel dock that also sells fresh shrimp, right off the boat -- All Right !! |
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| The factory floor at Mayo Seafood |
We motored down the creek and started out into the Bay River when wham, we ran aground at full speed -- I was at the helm and watch, horrified, as the bow dipped way down absorbing our forward momentum (and wondering "what the hell just happened?"). Fortunately, we had hit a soft sand bar and we were pointed "into" the wind (which was now blowing 15 or so) and against the current, so we basically "bounced off" the bar -- the wind and current rapidly pushed the boat back and off the bar, and in a moment's time we were on our way (the "right way" -- I had misinterpreted where the channel was, that's why we hit in the first place.)
We had to go about 7 Miles upwind to get up and around Maw point (you gotta love a name like that -- it evokes an image of the point eating your boat, which is probably how it got its name). The wind and the current were against us; My Weigh slowly clawed its way upwind -- at times we got as low as 2.5 Knots forward progress -- hobby-horsing up and down the frequent 3 foot or so waves that had built over the day -- painfully slow but steady progress to our turning point. When we finally did turn down the Neuse, we had a beam sea and My Weigh started rolling side to side, occasionally "wildly" -- indeed, we adjusted our course some to limit the rolling, and happily (the current was now with us), headed up the river to the entrance to Broad creek, our home for the evening.
The creek's entrance was sinuous but well marked and, after spending the last few hours being "rocked and rolled" on the boat, we were grateful for its quieter waters. We found our appointed anchorage, dropped the hook and spent the rest of the day enjoying the quiet serenity of this lightly populated creek.
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| Our anchorage did have a high-end home cum marina development in it |
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