October 31, 2011.

Boo.

We were up and off the dock at Midway Marina in Coinjock just before dawn. We had to be out early as we wanted to knock out an 80 mile day. Its not that easy at this time of year with the days being so short.

After the trip down the North River we entered the Albemarle Sound with 10 to 12 knots of breeze from the east. We sailed through a 2 inch wind chop with the occasional rogue 4 incher thrown in. The Albemarle can kick your ass in a heartbeat so it was a welcome change to head out in such lovely conditions. Of course with 3 miles to go the wind kicked up over 20 knots, the seas instantly grew and we dove into the Alligator River just in a nick of time.

With the breeze kicking a bit we rode a perfect beam reach down the length of the Alligator River. We arrived at the northern end of the Pungo Canal at 1415 so it was a no brainer to continue on.

The Pungo Canal is about 22 miles long and is pretty much always a motoring experience. True to the norm we powered down the waterway and had the hook down by 1745. We shared the expansive anchorage with 9 other boats all attempting to hide from the nights 35 knot wind forecast.