We still had around 275Nm to final destination in Annapolis where we needed to be by June 20.That meant a week with daily departures around sunrise and dropping anchor at sunset.

Departing our anchorage outside Oriental after sunrise we spent a day heading for next anchorage east of the village of Bellhaven. Some parts of the ICW you can relax and use autopilot but other parts demand total concentration on fly bridge and manual steering or you risk getting stuck on a sandbank. Some parts have lot’s of bridges while other parts are without for hours. Faster boats passing from astern will call on VHF and VHF Ch 16 is generally busy with all kind of boats communicating including US Coastguard with weather,securite`messages and emergency calls. For a non native in English it’s sometimes difficult to follow the fast pace not to mention all abbreviations. 

After a good nights sleep anchored just off the ICW we continued with early departure to be able to cross the Albemarle Sound before darkness and before winds of gale force expected before midnight.

The Albemarle Sound has bad reputation and our pilot book advised not to cross the infamous sound with winds over 20-25kts. Like all waters in this area it’s shallow and partly open to the ocean creating steep dangerous waves.

At sunset we were in Pasquotank river well protected from the predicted winds and dropped anchor just off the ICW. As usual the anchor dug in imidiately since bottom in these waters is mud.