We departed from Oriental this morning just as the sun was coming up at 0625. It was great to see the sun this morning compared to rain and fog yesterday morning. We would transit three fairly large open bodies of water today… The Neuse River, Pamlico River/Sound and the Alligator River. Northwest winds 5-10 increasing to 10-15 was the forecast. For the Neuse River and Pamlico this is a good forecast… Not the best for the Alligator River. We did have a favorable current most of the day pushing up to just over 8 knots at times. Our planned destination Alligator River Marina at the mouth of the Alligator River at the Albemarle Sound.

A few days ago I had hit a crab after leaving Price Creek north of Charleston and the starboard prop had become fouled to the pint it was vibrating heavily. We were in the process of stopping so I could dive and clear the prop but suddenly the vibration stopped and we could see pieces of what was left of the crab pot float. I increased the RPM and no vibration so we continued on. Today running up the Neuse River I was feeling a vibration in the starboard engine/running gear… we must of still had some line from the crab pot on that prop. The vibration was not bad and decreasing the RPM slightly the vibration stopped. We continued and decided that I needed to dive and check things out when we docked tonight.

The Neuse was choppy but no issue at all…. Same for the Pamlico… The Alligator river was quite a bit rougher… 3 foot was and they were piled up on top of each other so it was a rough ride with spray hitting the pilothouse windows every so often. It was more an aggravation than anything else… now I am going to need to wash the pilothouse windows in the morning.

We cleared the Alligator River Bridge at 1800 and were securely docked at the Alligator River Marina at 1815. Beecha was anxious to get to land and Susan was off with her for a walk right away. I pulled out the dive gear and jumped in the water… ICE COLD!!! The dive was totally by feel… it was pitch black under the boat... the sun was setting and the stern was away from any sunlight and the water here is not what you would call clear. I did find a long length of line. It was really twisted up from being on the running gear for a few days.

Our position at the marina N35°54.330, W076°01.722. We traveled today for 11 hours and 50 minutes covering 84.7 nautical miles averaging 7.12 knots.