Day 2-149 to Alligator River Bridge near Columbia, NC

We departed the Dowry Creek Marina just about 8:05 pm and headed north for 49 miles to the Alligator River Marina. The forecast was for winds of about 8 to 10 mph out of the north, but you guessed it... We spent much of the trip in the Alligator (artificial) cut, but when we entered the Alligator River for a run of about 18 miles north, the wind had freshened to 18 mph with gusts reportedly up to 24. Just before entering the Alligator River there were three sailboats anchored in the lee of the shore with about 5 more coming along behind us who were also planning to anchor until the wind died down.  We decided to go out into the river to see what the conditions were really like. Believe it or not, this was much better than our last long on in fairly open water (see Day 2-146).  The waves less than 2.5 feet, and we cut through them with hardly any fuss.

At the end of this run we approached the Alligator River Swing Bridge at the mouth of the Alligator River. Also, during the last hour before the bridge, the wind died back down to 8 or 9 mph, which was like the original prediction for this afternoon. The bridge had a 14 foot clearance, but we had to call for an opening since we are about 18.5 feet high with the radar mast up. Just after we passed through the bridge, we turned to port (left) to follow the bridge for about a mile until we reached the Alligator River Marina on the mainland side.

Alligator River?

Well, we did see a poorly reproduced picture of a gator posted on the wall inside the marina lounge building, and the Admiral took this picture of what she thought to be an alligator???



By now you might have gotten the idea that we did not see many spectacular sights today, and you are correct. Pretty much the same view all day - pine trees on the slightly higher (but well drained) areas and coastal swamp for the rest of the "land" area.

After we had been in the marina for several hours, 4 of the sailboats that had been at anchor arrived at the marina. You can barely see two of the sailboats across the channel behind Lucky Us.

I guess that they were listening on the radio and heard that we had successfully transited through the bridge. One of the reasons that they were waiting was that this bridge, like most swing bridges, will not open if wind gusts are 35 mph or higher.

Well, time for some sleep before we head 32.5 miles to Elizabeth City, NC in the morning.