Dowry Creek Marina - A wild ride out of Alligator River Marina

 

Sarah, my granddaughter is with us on this trip south. She taking her Freshman year of college remote with Zooms, tests, the whole thing. She will have the first paragraph in the blog when studies permit.

I'm back! We had a very adventurous start from our departure of Alligator River Marina. Had a 30 minute bridge delay because of the high winds. We were sent off with about 4 other people who had been also eagerly awaiting the time to leave as we all have been stuck there for 3 days. It felt like the beginning of a movie were I imagined them saying " will they make it" while watching from the end of dock. It was a daunting view to watch as we quickly creeped out of the safety wall of the marina to see huge waves.The Bridge tender luckily decided to open the bridge while 30 knot winds were blowing and the current was against our port side. Water was splashing high above the bow, but once we got through it was a smooth ride. With the tide in our favor we headed to our delayed destination of Dowry Creek. Along the way we took turns at the helm with 30 minute shifts. Our one later excitement was when a barge came down through the canal passing us on the port side. From an exciting start to a restful night.

Whenever one passes through the canal, you always report on the clearance under the Wilkerson Bridge

The winds died to around 15 to 20 in the marina so we decided to push out and get south. On the first attempt, we called the bridge first to be sure it would open when we got there. They do not open in winds higher than 34 kw. We though we were safe with winds of 15 to 20 in the marina but the bridge operator reported that he was seeing 40 kts and wouldn't open! Call back in 1/2 hour, he said. 

How many marinas have a Mercedes as a courtesy car?

So I called back and after some give and take, he said he would "try" to open when we came out. We barrelled out and immediately saw 30 kts of wind just beyond the entrance to the marina. Somehow, the winds were higher outside the breakwater. The one mile distance to the ICW and the bridge was the longest mile I've ever experienced. We bounded like a cork with the wind and waves hitting us broadside. I had to turn into the wind to buy time for the bridge operator to open the swing span. The fun part was doing a 180 to turn the boat back towards the bridge to pass through. Once again I was broadside to the 30 kts winds and waves. It provided some excitement...

The propane refill station is right on-site

Once headed downwind, everything calmed down. Things perked up some at the bottom of the river when we had to turn to starboard to reach the Alligator-Pungo Canal entrance - once again broadside to the wave action. 

The famous water height gauge at Dowry Creek Marina,
the top mark is 62 feet, the next one is 63. It looks like it reads
about 63.5, just what I saw in the photo at top

However, we survived all that and tied up at Dowry Creek Marina. I rediscovered what a great place it was. Where else do you have three free washers and dryers, three courtesy cars (one a Mercedes), a propane tank refilling station, pumpout at your dock, and a 7/11 type store for odds and ends. We were met by two dockhands as we came in, a great improvement over Alligator River Marina when many boats had to come in without help.

This is also the location of a water height gauge that correlates to the Wilkerson Bridge clearance but you have to call them for the current status. 

We will leave tomorrow morning for RE Mayo and stock up on some seafood. It should be a much calmer day than today.