Day 36

From Peter Ver Ploeg

We slipped out of Coinjock, NC in the pale, morning sunlight, the boat once again coated in a silky fuzz of frost. The two dozen eggs we'd bought in Norfolk had frozen again overnight. Interestingly, not all the eggs freeze each night. The night before last, only eight eggs had frozen. Last night, six more. When eggs freeze, they expand and crack open, which isn't really a problem as long as you can eat them before they thaw again. Of course, you can't crack a frozen egg. You have to peel it, like a hard boiled egg, chipping off the shell bit by bit. Very quickly your fingertips begin to sting with the cold and it can be quite uncomfortable for a while until they go numb.



It was this morning, with its frozen eggs, that Pete and I learned a valuable life lesson about putting cold things in glassware and exposing it to heat. We have four cups on board, three of glass and one of metal, so we generally try to save the metal cup for special occasions. I had put the frozen eggs in a glass cup but couldn't scramble them until they'd thawed a bit so I placed the cup on the stove. A few minutes later I heard a soft "pop". I glanced over but, seeing no change, continued preparing breakfast. When the eggs looked thawed enough, I lifted the cup off the stove and discovered that the bottom of the cup had broken off cleanly around the edge. It stayed on the stove top along with all of the eggs. Pete and I were both very impressed but also very sad and we had a much smaller, later breakfast than planned.


The red and green channel markers of the ICW led us along circuitously all morning, through thick swamps and grassy marshlands, narrow cuts and wide open bays. For the most part, it was just us and the birds out there. No houses, no boats, just big flocks of gulls and terns, cormorants, pelicans, and even eagles. The only boat we saw all day was a tug and barge that appeared suddenly on our stern and veered away as soon as we entered Albemarle Sound.



The official Intracoastal route cuts straight across the Albemarle Sound from North to South and enters the Alligator River. After two days of tight channels and rivers, Pete and I were anxious for a little elbow room and so, being in no particular hurry, left the ICW and turned East to the coast to cruise along the West edge of the Outer Banks. We pulled in Manteo, on Roanoke Island around 1:30 and tied up at the public wharf, right below the signal tower. Two red, triangular pennants were flying. Gale Warning.



We wandered around exploring the mostly closed summer seasonal business district and made our usual pilgrimage to the grocery store, post office, and library. We were thrown out a couple minutes before closing time by some not very friendly librarians in a hurry, only to discover that the storm had arrived and we faced a long walk back to the boat in heavy rain. It wasn't snow though, so we must be getting further South! The forecast for Wednesday is calling for winds gusting to 55 mph, waves 5 ft in the sound and up to 34 ft out at sea. Glad to be safely docked.