Return to the Outer Banks Day 9

I awoke early as usual and looked out the companionway. Thick fog. I had planned to strike out for Bath early but had to bide my time and wait for the sun to burn it off. Bath is a small historic town up the Pamlico River to the north.

A Core Sound 17 and the 'dock boats' in the fog

The sun at work

When the way was clear so that I could make out buoys I set off down Bay River toward the Pamlico. My plan included going out to the sound, tacking north to Jones Bay and catching the ICW into the Pamlico River. I leisurely tacked for an hour or so and once in the sound the day brightened up with a light wind out of the NW. The weather report was for clear all day with wind increasing to 15 in the afternoon. There had been no red sunrise. I wanted to keep going east. I decided to head for Ocracoke.

Just sky, clouds and water... in every direction

A dolphin escort

For the next few hours I motorsailed at 1/2 throttle and full sail. Was making good time utilizing the apparent wind. We crossed the middle shoal and made Royal Shoals by 1400 hours. We caught an east wind, cut the motor and sailed 4-4.5 knots around the shoal. The lighthouse came into view. A lighthouse is such a welcoming sight. Continuing through Nine Foot Shoal Channel we reached the approach buoys after another 2 hours . They were a bit complicated and I needed to proceed south past the entrance and double back along the shore.

The approach was a test for my marker navigation

I sailed into Silver Lake and anchored in the middle of the basin. Doused the sails and motored over to a slip at Anchorage Marina. Would have preferred to stay at anchor but without a dinghy I had little choice. They did give me a break on the dockage and a hot shower. It had been 5 days.

Looking small

I had a nice dinner and listened to a bluegrass band that were young and had good energy. The weather is predicted to pick up overnight. Annie and I had had a good day... 45 miles at 4 knot average.

Sleep came easy