day fifteen - north to Belhaven

In the middle of the night, the hum of mosquitoes. Reach up on top of the centerboard trunk, find the Thermacell bug repeller. Click the starter button a couple of times, wait til I see the glow of a flame the size of a pinhead, the quiet hiss of the repeller. Soon mosquitoes are gone. Back to sleep.Wake to the calmest of mornings, the sounds of birds in the marsh. Look over the side to see jellyfish below, one hosting a small crab for a ride.Sail off anchor at 7:00 with just the hint of a breeze out of the south. A slow pleasant slow drift, less than a knot, just off the marsh. A favorite kind of morning. 7:30 out on the open water of Southward Bay, 1.9. 8:10 across Mouse Harbor, making 3.4 rounding Pamlico Point.8:25 on the Pamlico River, 4.1 with wind aft of port beam. 9:10 less wind, 1.8.9:35 cross the sailing track from two weeks earlier, and just north of that enter the Pungo River. Making 2.0. 10:40 sailing at 0.8 with Persimmon Point just ahead. Motor sailing. 11:05 under…