- 38.2 miles
- 4 house 50 minutes
- 7.9 mph average speed
- 3-15 mph winds
We had planned to leave Alligator River Marina early for our Albermarle Sound crossing but there was quite a lot of fog so we delayed our departure about an hour. It was still very foggy (our first time traveling in foggy conditions) but we decided to leave and travel with a couple of other boats, one of which did not have radar so they really needed to follow someone who did! We all kept about a quarter of a mile between us and there was only one time that we could not see the boat in front of or behind us for a short distance. Crossing the Albermarle Sound definitely needs to be done on a good weather day as it can get quite rough. Our crossing was very smooth but there were a lot of crab pots to dodge. It was so much better than our trip on the Alligator River the day before.
We got directions to the grocery store and set off on our bikes. It ended up being about twice as far as we had thought and bike lanes and sidewalks would just randomly end in places and leave us on a highway. That ride was a lot more dangerous than any of our boat trips thus far!
We had planned to only stay one night at Lamb’s Marina but decided to stay an extra day so we would have a better weather day for transiting The Dismal Swamp Canal. Two other Looper boats arrived, Four Pikes and Nowhere Fast, and we hosted cocktails on our flybridge. We had the best time exchanging stories and the other couples did not leave until 9:00!
We were up and out of the marina by 6:00 am in order to make the first bridge opening and lock for the Dismal Swamp Canal. After we had left we realized we had not paid for the extra night we stayed there. This was by far the least expensive marina where we have stayed at $35 a night, including electricity. Ellen called the owner later to make payment and his wife answered and said, “Oh, don’t worry about it.” Ellen insisted that we wanted to make payment to which Mrs. Lamb replied, “Honey, one time I walked out of Belk’s with a blouse on my arm because I couldn’t find pants to match”. So the cheapest marina just became even cheaper at $17.50 a night!
We saw a beautiful rainbow followed by a gorgeous sunset.
