On Saturday we left Coinjock at the cold hour of 7 am and headed out to the Pamlico Sound. The crossing was very uneventful with the exception of seeing a tug pulling the longest load we've seen yet - he had at least 5 barges in tow, like a marine version of a train.
We had not tried anchoring yet so far on our trip, in part because the nights had been very cold, and we only had an electrical heater until we were finally able to find and buy a propane one in Annapolis (anchoring = no dock = no electrical connection from the dock to the boat). We were now finally ready to try anchoring, and the anchorage on the Alligator River looked promising. So we tried to anchor around 2:30pm; however, after numerous attempts we were not successful, which was very frustrating. We decided to continue on to the next marina. This was a difficult decision, because we now had to travel in the dark for a few hours. On getting to the head of the next canal we realized we did not want to go through that canal in the dark - it was unlit, narrow, and going through swampland with tree stumps along the shore. Luckily, there were two other boats that had caught up to us and were anchoring in a bay just beside the entrance to the canal, so we decided to try anchoring one more time near those boats. The first time we were once again not able to get the anchor to set (the anchor was not holding). So we called one of the other boats, which did not appear to have any problems anchoring, on the VHF radio and asked what they had done. It turns out that they used a different type of anchor than we were. Our spare anchor is of that type, so we switched anchors and had success the first time! What a great relief. For the sailors: our Fortress did not hold in soft muddy ground - even after a dozen tries or so, but, much to our surprise, our CQR held immediately.
Sunday was a cold, grey, drizzly day. We motored for about seven hours to the next anchorage we had picked. No problems anchoring this time. We spent our second night at anchor sitting in a field of small, colourful crab pot buoys, so we needed to be careful using our engine when we arrived and again when we left so we didn't snag a line with our propeller. The anchorage was beautiful, though - a marshy shoreline with trees in the background and (outside of the crab pot buoys and a couple of navigational markers) no signs of civilization.
