TwoGether

Friday 11/25/11   We departed Elizabeth City at 7:35A with clear skies and no wind.  South of Elizabeth City the Pasquotank becomes a W I D E river. 

Soon we got a view of the Navy Blimp Hangar.  My understanding is it is one of, if not the, largest in the world. Up until a few years ago there were two.  The one burned to the ground.  That must have been some bonfire.

Albemarle Sound was rather gentle and we made it into Alligator River dodging the well-marked shoals at the entrance.  Just after the shoals is a swing bridge. Just recently they moved the markers to go around the shoals and it put a dog-leg in the channel.  If you’re using old charts the markers are in a straight line. Some boats find themselves aground because they tried to make a straight approach to the bridge.

The bridge tender said they had 14 feet 9 inches of clearance.  With our antennas lowered we measure 13’6”.  That’s only a 15” margin.  One wave or the wake from another boat can eat that up in a hurry. There can be a fine up to $10,000 for making a bridge open if it is not necessary.  Usually this would be a situation where there was way more than enough clearance and you insisted on an opening.  Antennas that can be lowered must be lowered if you can fit under in that configuration. I’m sure the Bridge Tender would have never questioned us but, we had just passed two sailboats a mile or two before the bridge so we just slowed down until they caught up. With their 50 foot masts the bridge has to open.  Everybody’s happy.

 The Alligator is even W I D E R than the Pasquotank.  The area is picturesque but you’re so far from the shore you can’t get any pictures.   The south end the Alligator becomes narrow and shallow.  At this point you pick up the Alligator River-Pungo River Canal.  Since it was midafternoon and we didn’t want to be in the canal after dark, we anchored off Tuckahoe Point near the canals entrance.

You are really in a wilderness here.  It has Bald Eagles, deer and bear but no cell phone coverage.

Tuckahoe Point:       N35°40.385    W076°05.832.

Saturday 11/26/11 Alligator River – Pungo River Canal          This morning we set the alarm for 6:00A so we could get an early start and make a long day of it like we did yesterday.  When I climbed the steps out of the cuddy cabin and took my first look around it was a beautiful sunrise in a cloudless sky.  The cruising guides mention that there is frequent fog in the mornings in the area during the fall.  As I scanned the horizon the only place where there was fog was the entrance to the canal!

 There were about six or seven sailboats anchored a mile north of us and they all headed for the canal at 7:15A.  (sing…”I love a parade”) The first one disappeared into the fog…then reappeared a minute later coming back out. Then there were three who gave it a go and kept going.  A few minutes later there was a radio call from one of the boats… “Calling all boats, following the sailboats on the canal.  We are in the center of the canal going three knots.”  Another sailboat called back “How are conditions in there?” the answer was “We can see both sides of the canal but only a few feet, front and back.  We just didn’t anyone to rear end us.”      We just stayed at anchor until 8:30A when it burned off.

The AR/PR Canal is more than twice as wide as the Dismal Swamp Canal.  The project width (dredged) is 90 feet plus some wide shoals on each side.  This is punctuated with all kinds of snags Cyprus knees, and uprooted trees.  The depth averaged 14 to 16 feet. The farther south you travel the swampy area turns into savanna land with stands of pine.  Then by the time you reach Belhaven it is mostly piney woods.           This part of North Carolina was pretty devastated by Hurricane Irene on August 27, 2011.  As we pulled into Upper Dowry Creek to go for fuel at Dowry Cree Marina, there was a sailboat about 35 feet long lying on its side at least 100 feet on shore.  Many boats were lost here and several marinas were basically put into ruins.   Not knowing this, we lucked out since Dowry Creek Marina was the only one in the area to have fuel. 

Off the Pungo River, south of Belhaven, is Slade Creek.  It is about three hundred yards wide with an eight foot depth in the center.  It’s quite protected and surrounded with piney woods.   It looks like a good place to call it a day. 

Slade Creek: N35°28.406    W076°32.310

Sunday 11/27/11.    Linda and I both woke up at 5:00A (tinkle-time).  Whenever I awake and come up from the cuddy cabin it’s just habit to look around and make sure everything is where it’s supposed to be.  I went out on the weather deck and the air was so clear, the stars so bright, and the water so calm that the stars were reflected in the water as bright as they were in the sky.  I don’t believe I have ever seen this before.  You could actually see every star in the constellation Orion dancing on the water just to the starboard side of the boat.  We left Slade Creek at 8:00A with the water like glass.  The cruise down the remaining Pungo and across the Pamlico was quiet.  There aren’t as many boats on the water as we thought there would be.  However, we are going south later than most of the snowbirds.

I love to look at a dot on the map and dream what it would be like to go there.  On the way back from Florida, on a road trip with Linda’s parents’ years ago, I talked them into a few hours detour to see the town of Washington, NC.  It is a beautiful town at the head waters of the Pamlico with a refurbished waterfront, old buildings from the 1780’s and genuinely friendly people.  You just felt at home there.  At one time we thought Wichards Beach, just across the river from Washington, near Chocowinity, would be a great place to winter.  Wichards Beach Campground and Marina would have been the perfect spot.  A few years back the campground was sold to a land developer and all of the facilities except the main office were torn down.  The 300+ unit condominiums have yet to be built.  It appears the land is sitting idle.   With that idea down the drain I started looking at Aurora, NC, not as far up the Pamlico.

We arrived at Aurora at 11:30A.  We actually anchored out about a half mile down South Creek before getting to the town.  The chart showed shallow water and we didn’t want to chance running aground.  We took the dinghy to the town boat ramp and dock then walked the five or six blocks to the Aurora Fossil Museum.  It’s closed on Sundays. The fossils are brought here form a phosphate mine a few miles away.  They bury some in a digging bin across the street and you can dig for sharks teeth and the like.  The sign show a cartoon shark with a shovel and the words “I Dig Aurora”.

We went around the corner to the Piggly Wiggly Store.  For those of you not raised in the south, Piggly Wiggly is a chain of grocery stores that have been around for as long as I can remember.  They were kind of like the old IGA stores in the north.         We got back to the town dock and talked to some fishermen who had been fishing for speckled trout.   The father was once a trucker who used to make runs to the Harrisburg area for M&M-Mars, Hershey and Ralston Purina (all places that were customers from where Linda retired).              With high winds predicted for later in the week we decided to skip the museum and try to make more mileage south in the morning.  Aurora is not really a cruising destination.  The marina pier and wharf, that was there many years ago, is falling into the water and just the pilings remain.  However the locals say that it holds 6 feet of water to the town dock.  Maybe another time.

South Creek:                        N35°18.778   W076°47.065

Monday 11/28/11.    Today’s travels will be the lower Pamlico River for a few miles then down Goose Creek, Bay River and the Neuse River.  Goose Creek is ¾ mile wide at the entrance then in five miles tapers to less than 500 feet, leading into a man-made cut connecting to Bay River. Rivers in this area are very wide.  Actually all of the waters are so interconnected that there is less than a one foot tide. Bay River and Neuse River each have their own water shed but as they widen they become arms of Pamlico Sound.  It is a huge estuary.  Travel is like being on the upper Chesapeake Bay.  Shallow water (less than 20 feet most places) and a wind of only 15 mph can rise up some steep chop.  Winds in the morning were 10-15 MPH but after turning from Bay River into the Neuse the winds increased to 15-20 chop increased to more than two feet so we opted for the protection of Broad Creek. 

Broad Creek: N35° 05.371  W076° 37123