Sailing Mystic Hearts

Day 4: Coinjock, NC to Alligator River, NC; 46.3 Nautical Miles

After a night at the marina in Coinjock, we got a move on for a long-ish day to the Alligator River. The Albemarle Sound was the calmest we’ve ever seen it. Upon arrival, we were greeted with not one, but TWO rainbows as we dropped the hook outside the channel. This was one of the first anchorages we ever visited that we felt “off grid.” We couldn’t use the internet on our phones and had no light pollution as we could look up and watch the stairs at night and pick out constellations. (Now, of course, we have Starlink and can always stay connected.) We can’t say enough good things about the Alligator River. We love this anchorage!

Day 5: Alligator River, NC to Belhaven, NC: 30.5 Nautical Miles

We woke up to mildly foggy conditions on the Alligator River, but felt comfortable continuing our cruise as we ran our radar and checked AIS for any boat traffic up ahead in the Alligator River-Pungo River Canal. We didn’t have any boats pass us heading north, but we did leap frog our friends on SV Moondrift in the canal. One of our favorite parts of the day was seeing a bald eagle perched high up in a pine tree while transiting the canal. Last spring, we counted a half dozen of these beautiful birds as we passed through. The passage to Belhaven was a relatively short one at 30.5 nautical miles and we arrived before sunset. It was New Year’s Eve, but we were so exhausted from the last few days of cruising that we were in bed before “cruiser’s midnight,” which is generally considered 9 pm. Cruising one day after another is physically and mentally exhausting. We were grateful to get good rest in an overall calm anchorage.

Day 6: Belhaven, NC to Oriental NC; 40.9 Nautical Miles

After a slight departure delay (heavy fog was present in the anchorage in Belhaven), we spent New Year’s Day cruising to Oriental. We arrived in the afternoon with enough time to drop the dinghy and head into town to fill up our diesel jerry cans and take a short walk before returning to the boat for dinner. The last time we anchored in the Neuse River outside Oriental (last spring), we woke to uncomfortable, bouncy waves rolling down the river. While the river wasn’t expecting such conditions, apparently wind/waves coming from Pamlico Sound had built up and made their way down to us. We were determined to not experience this again and were able to confirm that the conditions in the sound would not affect us down the river. Our stay this time was much more comfortable and we’d definitely anchor here again. For those familiar with Oriental, there is a tiny bit of room to anchor next to the bridge just outside of the channel. It appears that there is a boat permanently anchored there, not leaving room for much more than another small boat or two to safely anchor. We generally like to anchor well outside of any channels and weren’t comfortable with the amount of space there to anchor, which is another reason we chose the river.