The theme for today is “accidents”….. but luckily not ours (knock on wood). More on that later. We started the morning with omelets and ham cooked by Captain Mark. Sidekick Sue had trouble getting up after the first 8 hour sleep in a VERY long time. Being isolated from all noise has its benefits. We also felt comfortable running the generator because there was no one to disturb.
Once again, we got an early start. We had a little bit of river travel (Pongo River) this morning, but it was fairly calm. Like most mornings so far, we had an early bridge crossing, but it was a tall fixed bridge that caused no obstacle. As we approached, we were hailed on the radio from another boat requesting to pass (as we mentioned earlier… we never pass anyone). Their captain commented on our hailing port of Lincoln, NH (painted on the side of our boat) because he knows Lincoln well (spends time in Lancaster). We chatted for a while. We don’t run into many people down here that know anything about New Hampshire. In our travels, we’ve found that very few people outside of New England have any idea which state is which and how they are organized. LOL
After the bridge we were in a nice calm canal for the majority of the day. At first, the scenery was like the previous days… tall trees and thick foliage. The guidebooks said to be on the lookout for deer and bears, but we were not lucky enough to spot any large wildlife today. As time went on, the riverbanks took on a swamp-like appearance, with stumps sticking out dangerously out the water. The navigation advice was to stay as close as possible to the very center of the canal to avoid deadheads (logs or trees hidden in the waterline) or snags (fallen trees, limbs or bushes). We made it through fine… but this brings us to the first accident. We passed a guy who was not so lucky. He was already being aided by a tow boat, so there was nothing for us to do but sympathize and move on, carefully. He clearly had hit something because there was water being pumped out of his boat and someone was diving around in the water to assess the damage. We were thankful to make a safe passage through the canal into the Alligator River
When you hear the name “Alligator River”, your first question might be “Are there alligators in the river?”. We didn’t see any, but we wondered the same thing. Today was a day without cell phone service for most of the trip, so there was no Googling until the end of the day. What I found out is there ARE alligators in the river, in fact, the river adjoins the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. However, it is believed that the river was named for the shape of the river long before any alligators migrated this far north. You be the judge:
At the mouth of the Alligator River was a swinging bridge (you can see the crossing for Route 64 above). The clearance was only 14′, so we needed to ask for a bridge opening. From far away, Captain Mark, with his eagle eyes, noticed that the cars did not seem to be moving across the bridge. As if the bridgetender had heard him, the radio came alive with a warning that there was an accident (the second one we encountered today) on the bridge and that the bridge would not be opening until the accident was cleared, since there were cars on the “swinging part”. So we bobbed around for over an hour and a half, watching from afar as the emergency vehicles and tow trucks arrived and left. Three more boats queued up behind us during the wait. Finally, the traffic started moving again, and as soon as the swinging portion was clear, the bridgetender stopped the traffic again and let the boats pass.
The first anchorage we were considering was too rough, so we decided to move on to a second recommended anchorage, which was just right. So we are anchored for the night, in the middle of nowhere with a sailboat in the distance and what looks like big tankers or container boats further out in the body of water we have to cross tomorrow…. Albemarle Sound. It may be our largest open water crossing so far, but the weather and wind predictions are looking good. Tonight we have more research to do; coincidently, there is a cell tower near the bridge we just passed so we have cell service for the first time since we left this morning.
Had to laugh at your comments about NH. When we moved from New Orleans to Delaware, two different people in Louisiana (including a bank employee) asked us what state Delaware was in!
I was surprised to hear there are alligators that far north. And yes, I think the river looks exactly like a gator!
Sounds like a cautious day with a lot of waiting – like you said, at least the accidents didn’t involve you!
Catching up –
Sue