We called a marina in Elizabeth City but they don't open until noon. We don't wish to leave the canal unless we know we have space in a protected marina. The free dock at E.C. will likely be full and it gets no protection from the NW winds which will be blowing hard tonight.
We were rafted between two boats last night. The one on the outside was a mess. A real fixer upper that a guy had just bought and was taking it home to NC. The old owner was with him helping him get the boat down to New Bern. He was a piece of work. He didn't understand boat etiquette and put his dog "Cujo" onto our boat without permission. The dog, a Spitz I think, promptly jumped into our cockpit and peed on our rug. (We hope this may encourage Moose to use this in the future). This morning they could not get their engine started and so we assisted them in pulling their boat by rope around the others and up to the bulkhead so everyone else could leave.
The Dismal Swamp is an area according to the cruising guides and to our friend Ed-our historian-where George Washington purchased 40,000 acres of swamp land with some other investors with plans to drain the swamp, cut the timber and farm the land. He supervised the digging of the ditch. He ultimately became disenchanted with the project and sold his interest to "Lighthorse" Harry Lee,father of Robert E. Lee. The area is now a wildlife refuge and very beautiful.
At 10:30 we got a call from Pelican Marina saying they had a place for us. John had just completed the oil change and we took off. We entered the 2nd lock and dropped 12 feet to the Pasquotank River. The trip was uneventful and we passed through the Elizabeth City Bridge at 2:30 and headed for the Pelican Marina where Josh stood on the dock in the rain to assist us. We passed the free dock which accommodates 14 boats and it was full. It has no electric, bathrooms or wifi. The marina we found is only $35.00 per night including electric and wifi. It is totally funky. The boats here are pretty shabby and worn as opposed to the boats we have seen along the way. The bathrooms are clean but aging as is the laundry which by the way is free as opposed to the usual costs of $2.00 to $3.00 for a load of wash and same to dry. This evening the store/office is full of people visiting the dock master and drinking beer. It is like a gathering place. Usually a marina charges $2.00 to $2.50 per night per foot and extra for electric.
The winds will stay strong through tomorrow night so we will stay another night here and hope to leave on Sunday. On the next leg we cross the Abermarel Sound which is a large body of water that can get very angry in high winds or when the wind opposes the current.
Our friends Don and Jean who live on the Outer Banks, picked us up on Sat and drove us to their home to have a wonderful dinner, do laundry and sleep in a warm house. We returned to Spunky after provisioning for the week that Don and Jean will accompany us down the ICW to Wrightsville Beach, NC where they will rent a car and return home and we will continue on our journey.
The winds were very high again on Sat. night but John had secured Spunky and we felt she was safe while we were gone. Monday morning at 7 a.m. we cast off and motored across the Albermarle Sound in calm winds. We had a short day as we could not make it to the next moose friendly stop in one day without our genoa to assist and needed to break this leg into 2. We made our way slowly off the channel watching our depth to an unmarked area and anchored behind Durand Island and Don and John took the dinghy into shore which was pretty much marsh and cypress swamp to find a spot for Moose. They did find one and fortunately Don had high boots to get Moose through the marsh grass to solid ground. It is really pretty here. Very quiet with the banks lined with cypress and the water a nice blue. We spotted an eagle sitting atop a high tree and leaning into the winds.
This afternoon we ordered our new genoa from Mack Sails. It will be a few weeks before it is completed and sent to us. In the meantime we have a small stay sail that really is not large enough in winds less than 20 mph to do much for our speed.
Tomorrow we will leave at daylight for Belhaven, NC. It should be another pretty and calm day. We are about an hour northeast of the Alligator River Bridge. There is one marina on this stretch from Elizabeth City to Belhaven and it's entry channel is too shallow for us so we had to choose this anchorage for the night.
We continued on through the Alligator River Swing Bridge this morning and on to Belhaven, NC. This is a nice anchorage and we stopped for fuel along with 2 huge power yachts. One was 122 ft. long and was at the fuel dock for a long time. John took Moose in for his walk while I fixed dinner and we had a wonderful evening with friends. The next morning we were off to the Neuse River and the Whitaker Marina in Oriental, NC. On our way north this spring we anchored in South River 4 miles off the ICW and took Moose into an old abandoned cemetery where we were eaten by mosquitos. This trip we thought our travel companions would appreciate a hot shower and real bathrooms as did we. The marina is new and lovely but the entry channel is very shallow and we went aground for a few minutes but John was able to back us off. We used the courtesy car at the marina to make a run to the grocery store for more wine and to fill our spare propane tank and did a load of laundry so we were set for the next leg which took us to Moorehead City, NC. Here we anchored behind Sugarloaf Island. The winds were supposed to blow 20-30 mph that night and we had some trouble setting the anchor but after a walk through town (which was closed pretty much for the season) we settled in for the night. John got up in the night and sat on watch for over an hour to make sure our anchor stayed put which it did until 4 a.m. when I awoke to see that we were very close to another anchored sloop. We jumped up, threw on our clothes and went up top to pull the anchor up and move farther away. By the time that maneuver was complete it was almost 5 a.m. and we decided to run Moose ashore and take off with the early dawn light. It is always exciting to travel at night and there was just a hint of morning in the sky when we left. Up until now the days had been pleasant but this morning was cold. We knew this would be a long day. It was too far to try to reach Wrightsville Beach but we thought that the one anchorage along this stretch in the middle of Camp Lejune would not accommodate Moose (as it turns out it would have been fine for him) so we pushed on to south of the Surf City Bridge to a small marina that could accommodate only 3 boats on the fuel dock bulkhead. It was a run of 62 miles and that is a lot for us in a slow moving boat on these short days. There are 3 opening bridges between Surf City and Wrightsville Beach and they only open at certain times. If you are not there you miss the opening and have to wait for up to an hour for the next. We had to be in Wrightsville Beach early as we had mail forwarded to us there and with Friday a holiday our only shot to pick it up was Sat. morning before noon. We decided to get through the bridge at Surf City so we would only have 2 bridge times to make before getting to the Post Office the next day. The day was long heading down Bogue Sound and in a moment of inattention while Don was learning how to be the helmsman he ran Spunky hard aground and were delayed over an hour waiting for a tow to get us back into the channel. We anxiously raced to the Surf City Bridge's 4 p.m. opening and made it by the "skin of our teeth". The following morning we were up at the crack to race to the next bridge openings and Don and Jean, now veteran cruisers, ably assisted in our early morning cast off from our sandwiched position between one very large power yacht and some smaller boats. The temp was in the low 30's and there was frost on the ground. We arrived in Wrightsville Beach at the Seapath Yacht Club in plenty of time to get to the Post Office and now John and I sit below planning the next leg of our trip. We are so looking forward to some warmer climes.
Jean took some photos which I will forward when she sends them to me. Hope all is well with everyone. You are all in our thoughts.
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