Canterbury Sails by Chasseur: Coinjock to Alligator River, NC

November 4, 2012 Sunday

We arrived in Coinock, NC early afternoon Sunday. Larry and Rose Ray on S/V "IRAZU" were there when we arrived. Larry and Rose were our companions in Norfolk when visited the Chrysler Art Museum. We were hoping to see them again as we moved south. Larry broke the news to us that Coinjock was as far as they were going, that they were heading back home to Maryland on Monday. Mickey, their dog, was complicating travel. We were sad to part ways.

Coinjock, NC is a staging port for crossing the potentially notorious Albermarle Sound. We had a good forecast for the crossing with a chance of rain. Wind direction and waves were in our favor and pushed us along nicely for part of the day. As we moved down the North Carolina Cut , ICW, were were surprised to see cypress trees. The marsh was beautiful in the morning.
The "chance of rain" forecast turned into "rain" shortly after entering Albermarle Sound. The 5-10 kts wind predication did not hold true as well. We had gusts 15 - 20 and we made our turn toward the Alligator River Marina the waves were rolling us about. Yes the Alligator River does have alligators, we did not see any.