June 19 (Father's Day)

We are now in a beautiful anchorage on Pungo Creek (just off the Pungo River) next to Bellhaven, NC. Today we repositioned to a new anchorage for a couple of reasons: safer anchorage for a forecasted storm; to get cell phone reception; and to get internet reception. Well, the storm went south of us and we did not succeed in getting either cell phone or internet coverage. No matter though, we ended up with a steady 30 knots in the anchorage and were quite secure. Things have settled down tonight and, in my opinion, it is the best anchorage yet. Another riveting sunset. We will see how the night holds up as we sometimes have had some crazy storms and winds come in during the night. Ah, as I am typing this, the winds are starting to gear up again out of a new direction. Oh well, it will keep us cool and keep the bugs off.
As to heading north, we are debating whether to take the Dismal Creek route or the Virginia Cut. We have a couple more legs of the ICW before we must make that decision. This journey has been interesting. We must do some motoring in the canals but we also have opportunity to do some sailing in the sounds and big rivers. The other day we ghosted along under the jib, probably only making 2 knots average. We were in no rush anyway.
Several days ago at Bonner Bay, we had a thunderstorm come right over the top of us. We were at anchor and there was not much we could do, other than unplugging our electronics. Several strikes hit the land around us and started fires. One strike hit the water right near us. We thought we lost both sounders, but they finally came back. The wind and rain were deafening and we lost visibility. We just assumed the anchor was holding.
Between the storms, the winds during the night at anchor, finding markers and avoiding the shoals, I must admit that my prayer life has really increased. I am getting down to the most basic needs for which I am most grateful.
Happy Father's Day to all dads! Sorry to our dads that we could not get cell phone coverage to call.
Love to all,
Dena

{GMST}35|30.752|N|076|38.672|W|great sunset|Pungo Creek{GEND}