Albemarle Hideout for Florence

I’m Cruising in the Albemarle Sound area and am looking for a possible hurricane hole if Florence comes this way. Any ideas?

Do you want to tie up at a marina or anchor out and stay on your boat during the blow?

The towns of Plymouth and Columbia on the south shore both have free docks and are up a long and narrow inlet. They are fixed though and any serious hurricane will drive the tide up as much as 10' so you will need lots of tie off flexibility. Colombia has a decent anchorage that is quite protected.

Elizabeth City might not be too bad but it is exposed to the SE. The fee docks are kind of narrow and won't have much surge flexibility, but they do have high piles. You can probably also wait out the storm in the visitors center.


The visitors centers up the Dismal Swamp canal a little way past Elizabeth City would be a great hangout. Not much wind (surrounded by big trees) and no surge- locks on both ends.


The Little Alligator River west of the Alligator River Bridge is a pretty good hurricane hole anchorage but you will be isolated.

If you can head south a little further, the River Dunes Marina on Broad Creek off of Pamlico Sound is one of the few in the area with floating docks. Those withstood (by maybe a foot or two) the 9' surge of Irene. But everyone will be heading there and it will quickly fill up. Nice place to sit at the bar and restaurant and wait it out though.

Once chances of a SC/Va landfall hit 25% I think I would head to River Dunes.

David

Greetings,
Mr. m. https://www.waterwayguide.com/reviews/1-900/lambs-marina


Was our home port for 5 years. Good spot!

If you are near Elizabeth city, the Jennette food service dock just North of the drawbridge would be my 1st choice. Being North of the drawbridge eliminates the wave action coming up the Pasquotank river. If you prefer to anchor out, I might go up the river to one of the open areas such as by goat island. Most of the river is protected by tall trees, so wind would be less of an issue.

Ted

Mid-Dismal isn't a bad idea. I'd do Edenton rather than Elizabeth City though.
Or better yet, go back to Atlantic Yacht Basin in Great Bridge and either dock or get pulled. Here's a handy guide to storm surge levels:

https://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/GASCNCSurge.asp

Dismal is a great hidey hole if you get ACOE approval. No tidal or surge flux.

Not sure any town at the end of a long sound that confines down to a river mouth like ECity is a good idea. The waves and surge could be brutal.

psneeld said:

Dismal is a great hidey hole if you get ACOE approval. No tidal or surge flux.

Not sure any town at the end of a long sound that confines down to a river mouth like ECity is a good idea. The waves and surge could be brutal.

Click to expand...

Not necessarily so. Take a look at the surge maps I posted.

Greetings,
Mr.ps. I agree with you about EC. Really bouncy in a south wind. Lamb's marina is about 5 miles up the Pasquetank (sp?) river and the eye of Irene passed right over the marina. Surge was about 2'.

That's why you don't want to dock south of the drawbridges. Docking north of the draw bridges eliminates the wave action, night and day difference. There could be some surge, but generally it's calm at the dock when the free slips south of the drawbridges have 3 to 4' waves rolling up the river.

Ted

caltexflanc said:

Not necessarily so. Take a look at the surge maps I posted.

Click to expand...

OK....I can see that there may be enough open water to absorb any wind blown tide which that area does get some of..... Depending on direction and duration...it sure seems like there should be more ( couldn't get good resolution on the wunderground stuff).

Just looked again, doesn't the storm tide show 10 ft in ECity for s Cat 2? That would have water washing over the toad and north of the bride I would think.

But been beat to hell in E City below the bridge in 15 knots of wind, couldn't imagine 75 knots if more. Even north of the bridge I would want to be around at least the first bend in a cane.

The report about the Dismal being good and getting permission to be there came from Robert the lockmaster.

New Bern has some nice new marinas in the area and is well inland. Then there is always the option of contacting Jarrett Bay for a haul out.

I would rather find a landing or protected hole far up in a creek or river rather than be in a canal bordered by height limiting bridges & locks like the dismal or VA cut. If a hurricane does wallop the area, theres a good chance the bridges will be inoperable after the hurricane and there's no telling what condition the locks would be in! I would hate to be trapped in the Dismal Swamp canal long after the hurricane passed

boomerang said:

I would hate to be trapped in the Dismal Swamp canal long after the hurricane passed

Click to expand...

Yeah, then your life would be dismal!

I can se the concern about being trapped in the canal....last year some boats were trapped because of downed trees...but that can happen up some river hidey hole too.

The lockmaster reported in his 20 plus years of working there, he never thought that being in the canal was anything but a good idea for boaters. I can't personally guarantee that...by own philosophy is get as far from the eye as you can....not pick the perfect cane hole.

But given the choice of many places near Albemarle Sound, the Dismal seems as good as any place to me......depending how far you want to travel.

I would think by Monday we should have a definite path outlined....The waiting is so stressful though. Sorry guys. Be prepared.

Dismal Swamp canal was closed most of last summer ('17) to clear trees and damage from the hurricanes. They almost had it done when another storm came through an delayed things. They didn't open the canal last summer till about the end of October. You could get stuck there for awhile.

The Elizabeth City free docks are exposed to the length of the inlet you travel to get there. The docks are short, kind of narrow, and are fixed. Because of the exposure you probably want to back in.

The river above the 158 drawbridge is pretty nice and may provide protection if Florence heads that way. While the river may protect you from the force of the storm, any surge will probably still get through.

Well, we took the boat to Arapaho NC. We are now in Raleigh waiting it out.

Waferers Cove Marina is definitely a hurricane hole. I didn't think to mention it in my earlier post as it is in the Neuse River, not the Albermarle and is closer to the predicted landfall now than any place in the Albermarle.


But you should be fine there. I had my boat up on the hard there when Irene hit with 9' surge. Most boats in the water had no damage.


Good luck, David

We’ve heard that all the boats in the marina survived but don’t know if there was any damage

Hi Scott.
Kevin Smith ex-Matinicus
Monk 36, Camden, NC (Lambs Marina)
veet62@gmail.com