Tuesday November 5th.

We set off early again and Ron didn’t plan things very well.  9.5nm into the trip we had a bridge that opens every half hour.  3.5 nm beyond that was another bridge that opens every hour.  Waiting for the first bridge to open and passing through takes about 10 minutes, so there was no way we could get to the 2^nd bridge in ½ hour, which meant that we needed to be at the first bridge on the hour.  And, (did I mention that Ron didn’t plan things very well), we needed to do about 7 knots for an hour to make the 8am opening.  We initially had a little wind and tide assist, but the wind soon died so we steamed with the throttles wide open for an hour and just made the 8am opening.  Then we had a leisurely trip to the 2nd bridge and went through at 9am.  So all’s well that ends well, and we had a great start to the trip. 

For most of the rest of the day we had no winds at all and motored at about 5 knots.  Tides were occasionally with us and occasionally against us.  On one part if the ICW, we went past an opening to the ocean.  Approaching the opening we were doing 5.5 knots through the water and 4.5 knots over the ground, indicating that we had a foul tide of 1 knot.  Just as we passed the opening to the ocean, we were suddenly doing 6.5 knots over the ground (and 5.5 through the water.)  The tide was obviously rising, and water coming in from the sea was turning left and right up and down the ICW. 

The trip was uneventful until we were about 2 miles from our destination in Wilmington.  Then the heavens opened and we found ourselves in a thunderstorm.  The wind was suddenly howling and visibility was limited – not the time to try to find a new marina and dock.  We had just passed under a bridge, so we turned head to wind and hovered under the bridge waiting for the thunderstorm to pass.  

While we were hovering a bolt of lightning hit nearby, probably on the bridge, so it was lucky we were underneath. 

The storm passed and we docked at Sawmill Point Marina, 34° 43’.150N 076° 42’.809W, around 2:15pm.  Happy to be here with 25 knot Northerly winds in the forecast for tomorrow! 

Well that’s it for the Quinita blog.  After 10 years of adventures with Quinita, it’s time to look for a different source and put Quinita on the market. 

Ships Log: 7366.3nm, Trip: 38.6nm, Trip Total: 706.8