Mosquito Madness

Mosquito Madness   ...   Friday 21 June 2013

We awoke to find the cockpit covered in small mosquitoes.  All we could imagine was an overnight hatching from some pool of water on the boat, most likely the cockpit drain.  Not having a bug spray on board, we decided to try spraying the area under the dodger and the cockpit with Mike’s Famous Fish Killer (vodka).  This seemed to kill off some of the insects.  Shockingly, when Mike stepped out to wipe up the dead he found the whole cockpit covered in small green dots.  While the speckling was bad in the cockpit it was also present on the side decks and very bad at the stern of the boat.  We frantically tried to find something to remove it.  In the end we managed to clean the cockpit itself using ‘Softscrub with Bleach’. The area under the dodger and the cockpit took about an hour to clean.  We still need to tackle the side decks and stern. We have no idea what caused the green “speckles” – does anyone have any ideas.

We finally set off at about 10:30 am.  We travelled out of Belhaven Harbor and encountered a barge before we had gone half a mile.  We overtook that one and carried on up the Pungo River to the Alligator River-Pungo River canal.  The trip along the canal was uneventful with the exception of the last half a mile.  Just as we could see the open water at the end of the canal, our view was blocked by a barge entering the eastern end of the canal.  We slowed down and scooted over to starboard.  Keeping one eye on the depth, one eye on the cypress stumps at the edge of the canal, we watched the barge approaching.  They shot by us after many tense moments.  I find myself wondering how it’s going to work out when this morning’s barge meets this afternoon’s barge in that narrow canal.

We are now anchored in the Alligator River, battling more insects. This time it’s the horse-fly variant known as greenheads.  These biting flies are the most persistent little devils.  The boater’s lot is a tough one….  

Gloria

Position: 35 40.443N 76 03.408W