Freezing on the Nuese River

“The Nuese River is another large body of water that can be as bad or even worse than Albermarle Sound in a blow”.

Thus spake the cruising guide, and today it was blowing hard and cold (the high was about 45F (7C)) not bad if you are in the backyard, but standing on a pitching boat, not fun. We made about 60 miles altogether across several other open stretches that were not photogenic. Just as soon as we ducked into a narrow man made channel around lunchtime we came up on a tug towing a whole menagerie, a dredge and seven barges followed by about a mile of bundled dredge pipe. A polite request to “Squeeze past on your port side” was answered with “Sure, come on up captain, there’s lots of room for both of us”
Lots is a bit of an exaggeration.

But we pushed past at our top speed (a blistering 10 knots).

Just to prove the point you can count ’em if you like.

We are into Dowry Creek this evening, wet and tired (did I mention the rain?). Small craft warnings all around us so we shall play it by ear, especially as Albermarle Sound is on the list for tomorrow.

Author: Low Wattage

Expat Welshman, educated (somewhat) in UK, left before it became fashionable to do so. Now a U.S. Citizen, and recent widower, playing with retirement and house remodeling, living in Delaware and rural Maryland (weekends). View all posts by Low Wattage