We're now in North Carolina, the tenth of the thirteen states whose waters we'll pass through on our way to the Bahamas. Elizabeth City, where we tied up in one of the free slips they make available, has a beautiful new library where we're enjpoying having Internet access again.

We spent two nights tied up at Bert Jabin's in Annapolis getting some work done on Gorgeous Girl. Our Sea Frost refrigeration system was working fine with the engine drive but no so good with shore power or generator. Nathan Horton, son of cleave Horton who started Sea Frost, came by and found a busted capacitor and slightly leaking valve, fixed them both, topped up the 134, tested everything and charged $140. Not a bad deal. Dave Skolnick who posts here now and then came by to tell me what I need for a WIFI extendser. Jon Eisberg was next door at Port Annapolis after making a delivery and came by for a nice chat. Other old friends stopped in. It was like a college reunion where those who show up get to gossip about those who didn't.

We left Saturday morning and sailed around Bay Ridge to Harness Creek, home of my favorite hurricane hole. Sadly, there are no hurricanes this year to hide from. But it's a lovely spot anyway, bordering Quiet Waters Park. We sailed there through all the race courses set up for the Annapolis Yacht Club Fall Series. That brought back a lot of good memories of my racing days in the Chesapeake.

A strong NW wind arrived early Sunday morning and we started out with a fast broad reach until noon when it started going light and variable. We kept sailing to Little Cove Point at the entrance to the Patuxent River before giving up and motoring the last few miles into Solomons. After wandering around all the creeks and coves there we settled on Old House Cove for the night. The nice thing about Solomons is that everyone who wants can have his own private anchorage.

The wind went light and southerly on Monday. We had to motor most of the way to Deltaville, VA, where we anchored in the west arm of Jackson Creek. There were at least a dozen other anchored boats but many looked to have been there for some time and in no hurry to leave.

We, however, were anxious to leave the next morning. We had tenuous hope of possibly making it to the Gilmerton Bridge in Norfolk before the 3:30 closure. We were making good time with 10-15 knot west winds and would have made it had the winds held. When the dropped below 10, it was either motor the rest of the way, or keep sailing and spend the night in Norfolk. We kept sailing and were in the Lafayette River at 3:00. I love that anchorage but am nearly always the only boat there. Hard to figure.

The old Gilmerton bascule bridge has been replaced by a lift bridge. There's still work being done on it so it's on a very restricted schedule, open only from 9:30 to 3:30, once an hour. We went through at 9:30 along with at least 20 other boats. I lost count while maneuvering among them. Ten of us turned off into Deep Creek for the Dismal Swamp Canal. My old buddy Robert Peek locked us in shortly after 11:00 and played us a tune one of his conch shell horns. We didn't get out of the lock until 12:15 making it a race to get to the other end for the 3:30 locking out at South Mills. Gorgeous Girl was the only boat that tried for it, the others all stopping for the night at the Visitor's Center. We would have made it except for the old farm bridge being across the canal when we got to it. That made us a few minutes late and we were pushing the engine a bit too hard to compensate. It rebelled and we spent the night anchored in the canal near South Mills. After the last locking no traffic can't get in or out so you can anchor anywhere.

Today we motored and motor sailed the final 20 miles down the Pasquotank River through a lovely cypress swamp. We'll spend a couple of days here in Elizabeth City before sailing further down the Pasquotank, across Albemarle Sound then into the Alligator River. We have forecasts for nothing but West, NW and NE winds for the next several days so plenty of good sailing ahead.