Stuck in Coinjock

Sunday September 11

40 nautical miles south of Midway Marina is the Alligator River Bridge. This strategically located swing bridge closes when winds exceed 35 mph.  If you want to go south…you need to have this bridge open! Hurricane Ophelia was still offshore, and no one knew when or where it might make landfall. 

Here’s our dilemma. If we continue south and the bridge closes before we get through…we have a problem. If we get through the bridge and Hurricane Ophelia comes ashore nearby…we have another problem. Prime Time wasn’t the only vessel rethinking float plans in Coinjock. Just across the way, 8-10 mega-yachts were having weather days also.

We monitored the weather all day Sunday. Hurricane Ophelia was still powerful and unpredictable. The conventional wisdom was that she would minimally bring LOTS of rain and winds of up to 80 miles per hour to the surrounding area (Chesapeake Bay to the Alligator River Bridge). Late Sunday we made a VERY sound decision. Monday morning we would return to the Atlantic Yacht Basin.

What took us so long to make this decision…Duh?