Hi NC C-Brats.
Thanks to all the C-brats that offered good advice, tips & etc to a couple of lost cruisers at the gathering. Our goal was to pick your brains and then do some cruising. It worked great.
We had intended to leave for Orcacoke on Monday, but there was an east wind which we had been told created a problem, so we waited until Tuesday. Had a great 3.5 hr run out and spent 3 days on the island. Rented bikes & ate seafood and had a good time.
On Friday we left and headed up the Pamlico River, stopped at Bath for an hour or so, then on to Washington. Arrived on Friday night, just as they got the High School Homecoming parade under way. We hung around and enjoyed that. Then the dock master found us and gave us a free berth for two days. The next day was the Saturday market and across the street was a Quilt Show, so Penny was quite happy. Later in the day we did the Esuarium and really enjoyed that. By then it was raining so we ate a big meal in "Down on Mainsteet". Penny ordered the Shrimp and Steak Kabob and thinks it was one of her top ten all time meals.
We left on Sunday and took our time going down the Pamlico River, across the Waterway to the Neuse side and then headed up South River. We anchored behind a point at a fork near the head of the river. Lots of birds but no people in sight. Great quite night. Monday we headed back to Whittker Point which took a while with the wind blowing up the River.
We had planned to load Two Bears on the trailer Tuesday, but it was raining, and why get wet? So we hung aroundthe marina for another day. Great folks.
We did load and leave Wednesday morning, drove north to Elizabeth City, launched and tied up at the City Docks. We were the 5th boat, so they held the "RoseBud" reception and we got a bit of goodies. We hung around Eliz City the next day doing banking, but mostly visiting the Museum of the Abemarle. Great displays and coverage.
Thursday we headed up the Dismal Swamp Canal at 5.4 kts. Took a while but we began to see all kinds of stuff, mostly turtles. We really enjoyed the floating algae that covers the river.
The dock at the visitor center was full, so the park people let us tie to the floating dock on the north side of the swing bridge. In the morning we got some great photos of mist through the trees. We headed back this morning, again at slow speed. On the way a black bear swam across in front of us, a cottonmouth swam through the green algae, and a squirrel missed his mark and fell into the canal just ahead of us. He swam like crazy to a bush with a limb in the water and climbed up on that. Back in Liz City by 3 PM, we loaded Two Bears and headed down the road. We're in a campground tonight (showers!) and will be headed south out of the state tomorrow. It was a great visit. Thanks for all your help and ideas. We enjoy meeting new boaters.