May-June 2009

Our trip north continued at maximum speed now as we had decided to get to Cambridge, haul and antifoul the boat and then drive down to Charleston for the wedding of Elaine and Jason. This meant long days of travel with early starts and a lot of luck with high tides through the shallow North Carolina inlets. We anchored in South River off the Pamlico River for a twenty four hour break and for the first time visited the old Lukens Cemetery which dates back to 1810.
Lukens is a contraction of the Dutch name Luikins and this may have been a family cemetery originally. The older graves have wooden head and foot markers but there are stones for more modern graves and one from the civil war. The cemetery is still used but not often and we were driven away by the voracious mosquitoes who appeared quite capable of picking you up and carrying you away if needed despite using DEET!

It is a long journey through the sounds and swamps of North Carolina and cell phone signals disappear frequently and for long periods. We really enjoy this journey and there is always wildlife and vegetation to view. Bald eagles and belted kingfishers are favourites.
The journey down the Alligator River to Albermarle Sound takes several hours along or just outside a well marked channel. North of the Alligator River Swing Bridge the straight channel takes a brief easterly detour.

This detour avoids a rocky bar which the US Army Corps of Engineers thought too problematic to remove. Beyond the bar the channel resumes its original course and many boats get into trouble grounding on the bar despite clear markers.
Before passing through Great Bridge bridge and the lock we took a couple of days off for maintenance and laundry. While at the marina we became aware of a sudden activity increase at the busy marina. People were rushing big pumps around and down to the southern end of the dock. We followed the trail and found a huge Italian style motor cruiser tied up.

The cruiser was clearly sinking rapidly and the bow was reared up high above the water. The stern deck was the destination for the pumps and they were spewing out massive volumes of water which cascaded down the stern decks and boarding stairs. Despite all the efforts it was not long before the stern of the boat was resting on the bottom of the canal.
We pieced together the story of all this from a friend who arrived at the fuel dock and the owner’s wife who we comforted on the dock.

It seems that the owner/skipper had come through the Alligator River Bridge and taken off at high speed to the north and Albermarle Sound. Unfortunately the easterly detour had not been honoured and the vessel ran hard aground on the rocky bar and was then backed off with damage.

At the last swing bridge before Great Bridge the vessel began to sink and it appears that the owner planed the vessel at high speed to avoid sinking in the channel. It was alleged that the resultant wake may have caused severe damage to a marina and boats just north of the swing