We left Coinjock this morning at 0615... this was our earliest departure time so far this trip... Left early because there is lot happening in the Great Bridge area... The Great Bridge Lock is operating on a reduced schedule... rather than every hour they are every 2 hours and with the amount of north bound traffic I wanted to be sure an be there early and guarantee a place in the lock.

We left earlier enough to allow us to arrive 1 hour before the 1200 locking we wanted to go through... all went as planned and we arrived in time for the Great Bridge Bridge's 100 opening. We had friends that were on the docked on the bulkhead between the bridge and the lock and they told us there is room for us to tie up there and wait... which was awesome since it gave us time to catch up with them and what was happening in there life... it had been over a year since we last saw them....we had a short but nice visit with them.

We made the 1200 locking with 6 other boats... we opted to go to the steel and concrete side of the lock (no rubber bumpers on the walls) so that all the boats could make it in... those plastic boats need "rubber bumpers)… We have a full rubber rub rail on SAILS.

We let all the other boats leave the lock first since they all run faster than us anyway... no need for them to have to pass us once out of the lock... they all rushed out... one even got chastised by the lock for making a wake as he left... they are all I such a hurry.

Well there rush got them no where any faster... we ran into them all about 45 minutes later at the Gilmerton Bridge... actually the railroad bridge that is directly adjacent to the Gilmerton was down... we waited for it to open about 40 to 45 minutes... then they all scurried away again.

We had a weather front approaching and with all the delays we did not quite make it our docking destination for the night before the winds and rain started... ran for about an hour with 20-30 knot winds and heavy rain as the leading edge of the front passed over us. Once the leading edge passed we still had winds 15 to 20 knots and intermittent light rain.

Just before turning into the Salt Pond channel I hit a crab pot.. did not see it int he waves and rain... but we sure felt it... it got chewed up by the prop but can feel some vibration so will have to dive to clean off the remaining line that is still left on the prop and shaft.

We arrived to Wayne McPhail's Dock in Salt Pond our destination for the day at approximately 1600... we were securely docked with power at 1615... our position for the night N37°03.544', W076°17.049’. We traveled today for 9.0 hours covering 58.4 nautical miles averaging 6.5 knots. Actual time on water today was 10 hours but we had a 1 hour wait at the Great Bridge Lock.

We will layover a day here to allow the Chesapeake Bay to settle down from this weather front passing and leave on Monday morning if weather and seas permit.

The remainder of our trip north is very weather dependent now... all large bodies of water that can be very nasty with any high winds.... Chesapeake Bay... Delaware Bay and the Jersey Shore (Atlantic Ocean)… finger crossed we have great weather.

We left Dowry Creek Marina before sunrise this morning at 0630... we had a longer day planned with our destination being Coinjock, NC.

We were again in a pack of boats all heading north and most likely to the same place we are heading... the marina will be packed full and they will pack us in like books on a shelf... no space at all between each boat... makes it tough getting out in the morning... we will be the last to arrive out of this pack of 20 so hopefully we will have some space either in front or behind us.

We arrived to Coinjock Marina our destination for the day at approximately 1645... we were securely docked with power at 1700... our position for the night N36°20.917', W075°56.934’. We traveled today for 10.5 hours covering 72.5 nautical miles averaging 6.9 knots.

We pulled the anchor at 0645 and were underway at 0700 bound today Belhaven. NC.

A lot of cruising boat traffic today that kept the VHF humming to the point that it became as annoyance... people hailing to negotiate passing one another... it got old real fast.

After the first 15 minutes we had a great boost in speed from the flood tide... carried all the way to the Neuse River... Even after that we had a favorable current just not one pushing us over 8 knots.

We arrived to Dowry Creek Marina our destination for the day at approximately 1515... we were securely docked with power at 1530... our position for the night N35°31.984', W076°32.122’. We traveled today for 8.5 hours covering 61.9 nautical miles averaging 7.3 knots.