Tuesday, May 29, 2012

This is the second Trumpy we've encountered.
Someone said they are timeshares on the water.
You buy weeks of use that include the professional
crew.

Diane, Brad and Karen, Coinjock's Restaurant and Marina

Tropical Storm Beryl was predicted to bring heavy rain and wind Wednesday afternoon, but when we checked Weatherbug early on Tuesday, there was a severe flooding warning beginning Wednesday morning. We had planned to go to Alligator River Marina which is a little more than halfway to Coinjock. With the weather now predicted to begin earlier in the morning, we decided to go 85 miles to Coinjock where we could sit out the storm on Wednesday. We left the dock at 7:20 a.m. It was a long day that started out OK, but we encountered numerous rain squalls as we crossed Albemarle Sound. Albemarle Sound is the largest open body of water going up the Intracoastal and we were hoping to avoid heavy winds. The winds were reasonable, but we had a following sea that the autopilot didn't handle that well. The limited visibility during  rain squalls and the crab pots didn't help the situation. We arrived at Coinjock at 5:10 p.m. and we were definitely ready for a break. Coinjock is renowned as one of the least expensive places on the Intracoastal to buy fuel, so we added 150 gallons. That is the second time we have put on fuel. We added 100 gallons in Charlston for a trip total to date of 250 gallons. Coinjock isn't that fancy, but it is well-kept and the store is well-stocked. Earlier on in the trip we were hard pressed to find staples like tonic and half and half. Coinjock had all the essentials including bacon and eggs. The restaurant is rustic inside, but the food was very good and reasonable. Tomorrow will be a rest day and we plan to arrive in Norfolk, which is only 50 miles away, on Thursday.