Though not in the forecast, we suspected the strong breeze would fill back in by sunrise, so we were up early and casting off lines by 6am.  We love wind to sail by, but we prefer it to be conveniently… Continue reading

Mission: Wanchese – the southern wild. But first!  A walk through the Roanoke Maritime Museum – more community sailing center and boat workshop than museum – and the replica of the second Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse.  Curiosity satisfied, we rode 7… Continue reading

The day dawned warm and clear, promising comfort (if you like 80-degree days like I do).  Grace’s cabin filled with the smell of coffee and bacon, pine straw and mineral air.  At the conclusion of breakfast, Dobbs commenced to assembling… Continue reading

Huzzah!  A wonderful sailing day! A rocket ride, really – 50nm in less than 9 hours.  SSW 5-10>10-15>15-20.  We left Columbia at 6am and had the docklines on in Manteo by 3pm.  Such an exhilarating sail into shoal water in… Continue reading

Morning scooter to Food Lion; turtle stroll before lunch.  Light on turtles, probably due to cloud cover, but two snakes today. After lunch, we put Agility in the water.  In search of a gunkhole, I rowed a mile and a… Continue reading

Two more days…as the strong northeast wind hangs on and then clocks east on Saturday before going southwest on Sunday (huzzah!).  I miss sailing our boat!  It’s 50nm to Manteo from here, with one, at best dubious, stop in-between.  Recall… Continue reading

One more day while the wind shifts NE and continues to gust to 25.  While blustery, these days are sunny, blue sky beautiful. We made a morning scooter run to Food Lion, where the lady at the checkout recognized us… Continue reading

When Dobbs checked us in yesterday, he learned that there’d be festivities today, beginning at 11am.  A long-anticipated passenger ferry service connecting the 5 towns of the Albemarle Loop was starting and each town was celebrating with a ribbon-cutting ceremony… Continue reading

We had one day to make a move and snug back down – by evening, the forecast predicted wind from the southwest gusting to 25.  Last night was chilly – 36° – and I was grateful for shore power to… Continue reading

The farthest west we’ll be going on the Albemarle, the town of Plymouth lies 5 miles up the Roanoke River.  We sailed over from Edenton – a 10 mile broad reach in 15+ knots of wind from the NW.  Grace… Continue reading