Last night was very interesting evening... when we anchored winds were already whipping up with the approaching cold front... about 2030 the winds increased significantly... going to the pilothouse and checking the wind speed I saw 33 knots and gusts to over 40 knots... it was pitch black outside except with each lightning strike... oh yeah... there was lightning and with each flash I could see the clouds of the approaching front billowing down all the way to the water... looked as if there was a wall approaching... we saw on the weather earlier that there was a tornado warning in effect until midnight... sure did not like seeing the clouds hanging so low... anyway, the wind continued until the wall of clouds was on top of us... literally hanging maybe 100 feet above the water... rain and hail... lightning... it was a little dicey for about 30 minutes and then wind subsided to 20 knots and the lightning was moving away from us... only the rain remained.... by 2200 it was pretty much over... the anchor had held so we did not end up in the swamp land behind us... LOL.

We went to bed and hoped to see the sun in the morning... 0600 alarm went off and the winds were calm and you could hear the birds outside... I took a photo of the sun rising up over the swamp. It was a beautiful morning... although it was COLD!

I was off in the dinghy with Beecha to the Gum Neck Landing for her morning walk... this trip was much nicer than the one from the previous evening when we arrived... glass smooth water... the canal going back to the boat ram was very pretty... cypress trees lining each side and old cypress stumps protruding above the surface on each side... there were signs warning of submerged hazards and to use caution. It was very beautiful.

We had one bridge to deal with today... the Alligator River Bridge at the mouth of the Alligator River at the Albemarle Sound... as we approached there was sailboat hailing the bridge for an opening... we were still 15 minutes away... thought for sure we were going to miss the opening... we were still 78 minutes out when the bridge swung open allowing the sailboat to pass... I hailed and asked if he would hold the opening... surprisingly he agreed and held it open for us... this rarely happens... very nice!

Albemarle Sound can be a bear with high winds... winds were still up 15-20 knots out of the NNW... reports from boats out on the sound already were mixed from less than 2 feet to 4 footers... different people's perspectives I guess... anyway, we headed out and saw typically 2 foot waves and towards the end of the crossing some swells that were maybe 4 foot... did not expect them... must of been some residual from the cold front passing...

We soon were in the North River heading to our destination for the evening... Coinjock Marina. We arrived and were securely docked by 1530. Our location for the night N36°20.920', W075°56.941