[Rhodes22-list] Outer Banks trip report

[Mike Cheung]

Rick,

The trip down to the Outer Banks area from our part of the world wasn't bad
with Muireann in tow.  The "key" is to either miss the two worst
bottlenecks: the DC beltway and the Norfolk area, or time your transit
through them well.  Our experience suggests the former as the better
strategy; avoid them if possible.  This can be done, but "looks" like it
adds an hour to the trip when using Google Maps, however, all you need is to
be caught in traffic at either of these bottlenecks and the "hour shorter"
becomes hours longer quickly.

The northern part of the Outer Banks : Currituck Sound, Roanoke Sound,
Albermarle Sound, and Croatan Sound have more potential anchorages and more
marinas than the southern part : Pamlico and Core Sounds.  With the Admiral
aboard that was important, though I'd like to cruise the southern sounds
sometime.  The sailing is good with fairly reliable winds, usually light in
the morning and building throughout the day until late afternoon a fair chop
get going.  So, what seemed to work best for us was an early departure with
the goal of being tied up or anchored in time for an early happy hour before
dinner.  I do have to say that the thin water takes a bit of getting used
to.  It's a little unsettling to see single digit depths (in feet) when you
are miles from shore, but such are the Outer Bank sounds.

Having extolled the Outer Banks, I must say that we'd like to trailer
Muireann to the Chesapeake and explore some there and, of course, from our
part of the world, the Erie Islands are always fun and are quite close. 
They really do fit a "first road trip in awhile" situation quite well for
you.  We've launched Muireann out of East Harbor on Catawba Island and
Mazurik on Marblehead and both work quite nicely for reaching the Islands. 
While the ramps at Mazurik are arguably better (and there are two there to
one at East Harbor), I found myself more comfortable leaving our tow vehicle
and trailer unattended at East Harbor.  It's really off the beaten track. 
One "drawback" of the Erie Islands is that anchoring out is not really a
very good option though a good "simulation" of anchoring out can be had by
using the Put-in-Bay mooring field.  

  
 

Blue Heron wrote:
> 
> Mike,
> 
> Good read.  Just got new tires and lights for my trailer, so I'm getting
> in
> the mood for a caravan.
> 
> Rick
> 
> 


-----
Mike Cheung
s/v Muireann 1993/2008 Rhodes 22
-- 
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