The Magenta Line

Tuesday, April 11, 2023

Stuck in Belhaven – again – for four days: Gale-force winds, poring rain, and bitterly cold temperatures!  Why did we ever leave the Bahamas?  

For our regular readers, you might remember that Belhaven is where we stayed waiting for hurricane Nicole to pass in November. A cute little town of 1600 with a great gourmet restaurant, good pizza and breakfast places and a fantastic Mexican restaurant. We enjoyed all of them again. 

Sunrise photo

First sunrise we saw in four days – the fog in front should have been a clue as to the trip ahead!

Anyway, we finally headed out at 7:00 am this morning to Coinjock, VA. So we dropped the lines and headed out into the Pongo River, then to the Alligator-Pongo  Canal and it was a whiteout. The temperature was 34 degrees but the water was warm so the the fog in the river and canal made visibility almost zero. At one point, Rod asked me to look for debris in the water (sometimes you’ll see a floating log) and we couldn’t even see the water. Thank God for Radar and a chart plotter and the Magenta Line!

The Magenta line on the charts and plotter is the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway) and Rod has to keep the boat on the line and watch the radar for boats ahead and behind us. The canal is narrow but we could hardly see the banks on either side. Here’s a shot of the screens he is using the drive the boat. 

The left screen is the chart with the white area where we can drive the boat – the very faint magenta line in the center is the ICW. The right screen is the radar that tells us where the river banks are and if there is anything in front or back of us. Rod is driving completely on electronics. ….

….. because the was the view off the front of the boat.

Here we are approaching a bridge about 50 feet ahead. 

This went on for about 30 miles when the sun finally burned off the fog. We finally got to the Alligator River ( it really is shaped Ike an Alligator) and if it’s too windy, the bridge won’t open – it was closed the last three days. 

Next, we crossed the Albemarle Sound. This was the area that can be rough and treacherous when the winds are blowing. It’s only one hour but can be miserable. It was calm and beautiful today. 

It cleared up, the sun came out and it’s now 70 degrees.

So we arrived in Coinjock at 1:00 and hear on the radio that the locks ahead are closed!  There is some repair going on and they aren’t sure when they will open.  So on to Plan B. We will head back south in the morning and up the Dismal Swamp Canal to Elizabethtown. Rod has never been through here but at dinner the other night, one of the guys was telling us he hit a dead cow floating in the canal on his last trip. We will be sure to take pictures!  

Hopefully, this hasn’t put us too far back on our return. We plan to visit friends on Thursday night and weather permitting, run up the Chesapeake about 100 miles on Friday. Stay tuned!

TTFN