That night we had more than a dozen little bugs make their way into the boat. Maybe I do need to put the seals around the edges of the hatch screens. They didn't seem to bite so they were just annoying. I guess around here they are called blind mosquitos or midges.
Well, in the morning I went up top and realized how a few got past our screens. It was a numbers game. The top of the boat was blanketed with these things, I mean like drifts in spots. Again, they didn't bite, which made it somewhat tolerable, but echh. As I've said before, not all of nature is awesome.
I don't know what got into me, but I wanted a shower, and taking one on the sugar scoop with my thousands of new buggy friends did not sound appealing. I broke out the plumbing parts I had found in Oriental and got to work. After a couple smelly hours and many swear words the shower finally worked again, at least on the second try after I tightened up a few hose clamps. Afterwards a shower felt really great.
Next on the list was taking down the new dinghy. Heather had still had never been in the thing. It's certainly a little heavier than the first one, but I was able to roll it over and hitch it to the spinnaker halyard and we got it over the side. We tied it to the sugar scoop and hoisted the outboard over. The outboard crane tackle worked better, but still not good enough for us to handle a motor that weighs twice as much, which is what we are looking at replacing it with. More work to be done.
It took a couple dozen pulls to get the outboard started, but this was only the second time I'd started it in a year. We went into the marina about a quarter mile away, and with the two of us the dinghy was practically planing. The only other time I had it in the water it had seemed very sluggish, but later we discovered it was leaking water between the hulls from a poorly tightened drain plug. Maybe keeping the old motor won't be so bad for a while longer.
The dinghy ran like a champ to the marina. We spilt a double cheeseburger and fries in celebration of our 34th anniversary. I know how to treat a girl. We're saving our actual anniversary dinner out for Coinjock, famous for their 32 oz prime rib.
When we got back to the boat it was getting rougher, but the dinghy did well, much drier and faster than the old one. As we approached our boat it looked so lonely out in the river all by itself. We eventually got the outboard loaded back on the boat again, but that was it, it was too rough (for us) to bring the dinghy aboard, so we will have to tow it for a while. That night the 1-2 foot waves became 2-3 with an occasional four because wind had shifter to the south and now had miles of fetch.
The anchor held tight that night despite the wind and waves. In the morning as we were getting ready for departure we were also looking for a calmer place along the way to Coinjock to load the dinghy on the foredeck. We did just that on the north end of the river just to the west and out of the wind. After Heather got the thing up over the life lines I remembered I had bought another block and tackle for this very purpose. It was actually a deer sling from Tractor Supply, but it had a clutch to lock the line in. Next time.
We crossed the Albermarle with a substantial number of bugs still following us, including some even bigger flies, now all black except for some tiger striping on their abdomen. Some of the dragonflies were the size of small birds (below not the biggest one on a black 5/8" line). It's somewhat acceptable to hear the whine of the beating wings of an insect, but when they are big enough for you to hear them bump into things, especially when that thing is you, then it's really just too much.
As we went up the river on the other side of the sound the engine changed tone, then when we slowed down it almost stalled. The diesel tank was as empty as it has been this year and the Alligator river was very bumpy so it could have stirred up any crap in the tank and already clogged the engine fuel filter. I will swap it out again in the morning.
We made it up to Coinjock, which we learned is an indian word for mulberry. Heather docked well again, this time a side tie to the fixed wooden docks. We had dinner at the restaurant, but after a hot day I just couldn't go for the 32 oz prime rib I'd been thinking of for so long. After an early dinner we had an early bed time enjoying the chill of the air conditioner.
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