Sneads Ferry, NC to Oriental, NC
After our earlier false start today due to shredding our impeller, we were away by 11:40 AM. You can read more about that in our last post if you missed it called Wacca What? Sneeze Fairy? That's a pretty late start for a boating day. Our time to destination was showing anywhere from 7:00 to 9:00 PM and Heather wasn't so keen on boating after dark but it was a good weather day for crossing the Neuse River and the conditions were going to deteriorate. We had lots of open stretches on our course where we could go fast and make up some time so we did. When it looked like we would make it to our destination by 5:15
PM, we called Oriental Marina and Inn and made a reservation. Oriental was just beyond the Neuse River which was a pretty open section of water. The waves were a little more than we expected and we were taking spray over the bow regularly. We turned into a green marker about a mile in and started taking the waves on our beam. When we slowed down it was a bit swingy but more comfortable. Getting into the slip was challenging but Cam handled it like a pro and he even got an applause from some guests on shore!
When Heather registered and paid for our slip, the bartender recognized her Looper shirt and directed her to other Loopers at the Tiki Bar. She got Cam and we and joined Lisa and Tom from Hey Schlu! for a drink. While we were there, a woman came by selling quiche and pie. We all bought some. Cam got two Quiche Lorraine, a Brie Quiche, Pecan Pie, and Key Lime Pie, all personal sized and full of gluten. After dinner, we enjoyed a walk through the town enjoying the fishing boats and decorated vents. That was all we got to see of Oriental. We were pretty tired but the walk felt good.
Oriental, NC to Belhaven, NC
We departed from Oriental at 8:30 AM the next morning. The water was pretty comfortable so we decided to run at speed. For the most part, we were protected by the land mass as we transited the Neuse River. As we got further into the Sound, we turned to port and we started to feel the winds. About 1 hour 10 minutes into our run we were turning into the Bay River. We had a fairly sheltered run after that and by the time we got to the Pamlico River to complete our crossing of the Sound, the winds were calmer and the waves were barely one foot. Heather loves lighthouses, so she particularly enjoyed the Tow pictured here called Pamlico that looked like a lighthouse. They are usually just boring colours, that are purely functional. We went at normal cruising speed to cross the Pamlico Sound and it was quite comfortable.
As we were approaching River Forest Marina in Belhaven, we noticed that there were no boats there! We've never seen that before. The staff said that the boats were travelling. By the end of the day, there were five other boats in the Marina, which made us feel a bit better. We saw pump out was available at our slip and we were surprised because we were told that they didn't have pump out when we made our reservation. Oh well, we were happy to get a pump out. Later, Hey Schlu! texted us and said our boat name was on the calendar at Belhaven Marina. It turns out that we called the wrong Marina for our reservations so we had to call Bellhaven to tell them we weren't coming. They said they were just happy that we were somewhere safe.
We took advantage of the free golf cart at the marina to go to the Food Lion for groceries. It looked like a great grocery store so it was easy to buy lots of stuff. We also took advantage of free laundry. It was a nice Marina with a great dock master.
Belhaven, NC to Alligator River
We checked all the weather apps and it looked okay so we got up at 6:00 AM, did a visual check since we could see the Pungo River from our slip, and we pulled away from the dock at 6:50 AM. We took the Pungo River at speed and we were at the entrance to the Alligator River-Pungo River Canal in about an hour. The canal is man made and is about 22 miles long. It is narrow and you need to stay in the centre of the channel because there are stumps
on either side left behind from clearing for the canal. It's very straight and about 3/4 of the way in it turns east-north-east (ENE). The wind was ENE so it was just whipping toward us down the channel after we turned. Once we were out of the canal, we picked up speed and as we turned north, the conditions were getting quite rough and we started taking spray over the bow. The way it was hitting us, it was leaking underneath the eisinglass onto the dashboard so we had to stuff towels there. There is a bridge across the Alligator River just before the marina. If the winds are over 30 kts, they will not open the bridge. While it was blowing hard, we didn't think it was blowing that hard. As we got closer to the bridge we could see that the car traffic was stopping for a bridge opening, presumably for the two boats ahead of us. We thrilled to see it opening and hailed the bridge. They said they would hold it for us so we went as fast as we could and snuck through with the boat behind us. Once through, we turned hard to port and entered the Alligator River Marina. We were glad to be getting off the water but from the radio chatter we knew that a few of the boats were carrying on across the Abermarle Sound and up to Coinjock. Different boats and different people have different tolerances, but we thought they were crazy to go.
As we pulled into the marina, we needed fuel so we radioed and were told to pull up to the fuel docks. They said to tell them when we were ready and they would flip the switch to let us pump the diesel. We would not have help docking. We came in hot, but the rub rails took the hit. The marina told us that the dock master would come out later to tell us where we were docking. After fuelling, we waited at the fuel dock for two hours before Cam went in to get the dock master! By this point we had learned that the Marina was also a truck stop, gas station, and variety store with a restaurant where the dock master was the cook! He wanted us to take a slip on the opposite side of the Marina without any help as he had to go back inside. He wanted the fuel dock free as another boat was coming in for fuel. With the strong winds, we didn't even know how we were going to get off the fuel dock let alone dock in a slip on the other side of the marina without help! We finally inched our boat over so the fuel dock would be available.
Soon Hey Schlu! and Anna Dee were coming in and the dock master came out again. Hey Schlu! decided not to get fuel and docked in front of the most eastern boat on the dock face and Anna Dee was told to take a slip on the far side. Then the dock master left and it was still blowing like stink. We both ran around the Marina to the slips on the opposite side and helped Anna Dee in. It was a very challenging docking for all of us with that wind! That night we had docktails on the dock in the shelter of our boat. Docktails included Loopers Hey Schlu!, and Anna Dee, along with boats Polly P and Hippocampus. After, we bought our dinner from the Gas station/Marina/Restaurant where they serve great fried chicken.
Friday was rainy all day so we cleaned, worked on blogs, videos, and work. We made a nice dinner in the crockpot. We conferred with some of the other boaters on weather and it seemed that everyone was deciding to cross the Albemarle Sound in the morning. By this point, we had spent hours studying the weather and talking with other boaters to get their opinions.
Alligator River to Elizabeth City
For weeks we had been preparing ourselves for crossing the Abermarle Sound. The Abermarle is a very wide sound that is very exposed to the Atlantic. That morning we woke up to rain and the sound of two crab boats leaving. The good news was that the winds were calm! We reviewed the weather and waves again and decided to leave at about 8:00 AM. It didn't matter that it was raining. The waves in the Alligator River were about a half foot. They were the same when we reached the Albermarle Sound with the occasional one footer. The rain was light and we were dry inside the bridge. It started raining pretty hard in the middle of the Sound and the water started flowing in around the zippers onto our dashboard. At least the water was fresh this time instead of the salty waves that were leaking when we were in the Alligator River!
We left the marked ICW channel since we were going to Elizabeth City and through the Dismal Swamp instead of Coinjock. That meant we had to dodge crab pots. The crabbers aren't allowed to put their crab pots in the ICW channel, but they are allowed to put them in other marked channels. There were lots at the beginning and then a break before we were about three miles from the marker light at the Pasquotank River. We saw more crab pots than we had coming into Clearwater, Florida by far! They didn't dissipate until we neared Elizabeth City so we were driving slalom! Our friends on Polly P told us that there weren't nearly as many as when they came the last time! The waters calmed as we approached the Pasquotank River and they were essentially flat on the last stretch to Elizabeth City. All things considered, we had a very successful Abermarle crossing!
As we approached the Elizabeth City bridge, we could hear a band playing and we could see a Ferris wheel and other rides. We learned later that it was the local Potato Festival. The bridge operator lifted the bridge as soon as he could see us. We didn't even have to slow down. We were helped by a fellow boater on to the free dock at Mid-Atlantic Christian University. Not long after, the bridge opened again for Anna Dee so we nestled them in behind us. Then Polly P showed up. We were all greeted with a welcome bag and a rose, which is a tradition for the town and a lovely welcome.
We quickly got ready and headed over to the Potato Festival. They were giving away small containers of free French fries! Yum! That tided us over until we decided what we wanted for lunch from the many vendors at the festival. We bought Thai food and then sat down on a curb to watch the band play while we ate. There were different bands playing back-to-back all day. We walked through the whole fair.
Then we stumbled upon the Abermarle Museum and entry was free so we went in and explored for a couple of hours. It was very interesting. We went back to the fair to get Cam a funnel cake before returning to our boat. We were both exhausted and took a nap. Then we enjoyed the sounds of the fair from a distance while we ate salad for dinner.
We were happy to have the Abermarle Sound behind us. In fact, the Alligator River was much worse than the Abermarle from our experience. Click on the photos below to view the images in slideshow mode. You can also watch our videos on the Alligator River and the Abermarle Sound. Coming up next, we go through the Dismal Swamp and reach Norfolk, Virginia.
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