Pungo Creek

Monday October 8, 2012
35 31.058 N
76 38.608 W

It was pretty windy last night but the anchor held fast. Anchoring in windy weather is probably the most stressful part of our lifestyle. Overall, we have not seen much bad weather (compared to the stories we are told) but have dragged twice - once in Georgia near Savannah and once at Block Island. Fortunately on both occasions we were awake and could "see" the problem and able to take action before we "grounded".

Nice umbrella

We now have two tools that help prevent us waking up with the boat bumping and leaning over. They are alarms that sound off when the boat moves "too far". I usually watch the GPS closely from the moment we anchor till we go to bed. If the anchor is holding then it typically makes a nice umbrella pattern. I have included a photo of the GPS from last night - it was perfect! In addition we have an "app" on the Ipad called "Drag Queen". The instant I drop the anchor Deidre hits the set function, and it measures our movement from that point. If we move too far (200') then it shrieks.

On the canal

We took it easy today, maybe about 40 miles. Tomorrow another 40 to Oriental (where I have reserved a slip) and then just 12 more miles to the boat yard. We have anchored in a wide creek in 10' of water, our nose edged up to the northern shore. We are expecting 15-20 Kt NE and N wind tonight. The shore seems heavily forested, so the protection should be pretty good. Most of today was man made canal, pretty boring.

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