By Rich

Brian flew in to join me for this leg and the two that followed it. It was great to have some company and YES – I did indeed get that hot breakfast I’d been dreaming about while standing a wheel watch! Afterward I went below and luxuriated in a hot cloth wash down and shave while Le Saberage kept making miles south.

Heaven! I can’t ever remember being so happy about something so simple.

The run from Coinjock to the Alligator River is easy  with widely varying scenery. It starts out in my least favorite ICW setting: swamp land. This early in the journey the swamp settings still held their novelty but later in the journey I came to find the swamp passages eery. Still, one can’t help but admire the scenery we captured in these photos!

As we experienced elsewhere on the ICW, the scenery changes can be abrupt and dramatic. South of the swamp lands we burst out into the Albermarle Sound. This wide open body of water can be rough in high winds but we experienced very benign conditions that even allowed us to unroll the jib and pick up a knot of extra speed for much of our Sound crossing.

Some of the man made elements encountered on the ICW trip can rival the natural, like the Alligator River swing bridge. It was very cool to watch it operate.

The Deep Point anchorage serves as a very convenient stop for the night before traversing the Alligator River – Pungo River Canal. Although it borders more swamp (ewwwwww) it’s far enough removed from the scene to make it, well, scenic – from an agreeable distance. We had a terrific late afternoon cocktail hour watching other sailboats arrive and set anchor. Although we experienced blustery winds over night, the holding was excellent and the anchor alarm stayed silent. One important note for the internet-dependent: cell phone signals here across three carriers were all zero to extremely weak, so be sure loved ones know you are safe and sound prior to reaching this location.