Nanseann: Day 231 June 2 33 mi Elizabeth City NC

North Carolina boaters are grateful for an inland waterway. With a coastline known as the "Graveyard of the Atlantic," it would be ungrateful to slight the ICW. Without this 300-mile inland route, transiting the North Carolina coast would mean a long and dangerous passage around Cape Hatteras, Cape Lookout and Cape Fear.

North Carolina Waterway has dangerous inlets, shoals and capes. The towns along the waterway are smaller maritime communities. In some ways you leave civilization behind and there are places where you lose cell coverage.

Navigational concerns come with the territory. Rather than traffic and bridge openings, wind and shoaling take top billing. When you enter a river mouth from a sound you have to be aware of the combination of wind and river current. If the wind opposes the current, conditions can be treacherous.....especially the Neuse.

The broken barrier islands and the narrow passage of Bogue Sound create strong currents near the inlets. The sandy bottom shoals quickly to the edges of the waterway. It's easy to panic when you see wading birds standing in the water a short ways from your boat.

One tip they give you....is.....learn to drive like a tug. Since the waterways is maintained with federal dollars for commercial vessels, not for pleasure boaters, the channels are placed to accommodate the wide turns of tugs with tows.

There are two routes from the mouth of Alligator River across Albemarle Sound to Norfolk VA. One is the 79-mile-long Virginia Cut route and the other is the 82-mile-long Dismal Swamp route.

We depart today at 8AM.....will have 1-2 feet seas for our crossing....choosing the Dismal Swamp Route. We also have to watch out for Crab Pots, which we know all about, but are hard to spot in "brown" water. Once we get to the mouth of the Alligator River, and yes there are alligators, we have a 10-mile crossing on Albemarle Sound. Albemarle Sound is one of the sometimes-challenging bodies of water on the Norfolk-Miami section of the ICW. The crossing can be very sloppy because winds from almost any quarter tend to funnel either up or down the long, straight sound. Because of its uniformly shallow depth, even a light wind can quickly create rough, confused seas.

Well...Tim and Janice....you still rate number 1 for the rough Gulf Crossing but the Captain had to pick up speed so we didn't think we were in a bathtub.

Mouth of Alligator River

Our marker for the Dismal Swamp Route

Albemarle Sound....just sit down

Once across Albemarle Sound we enter Pasquotank River off of Camden Point. Life is much better. We have about 20 miles to Elizabeth City. The wind is from the Southwest....blowing about 15 MPH but we have land on both sides to protect us.

At day marker G5 we see this huge rooftop sitting back from the shore. What is it???? Well, it's the Blimp Plant. This immense structure was built during World War II for the manufacture of dirigibles. There use to be two mammoth buildings but the larger of the two....one of the biggest wooden structures in the world...burned in 1995. Now, the Blimp plant is in one building and are being constructed today.

Blimp Plant

Another view

Homes line the river

I like this part of the trip

US Coast Guard Air Station

Elizabeth City is the harbor of hospitality

We didn't stay on the Mariner's Wharf City Docks because of very short finger piers, wind and being able to get Saddi off the boat. This is a free dock w/o power. The city is known for their "Rose Buddie" golf cart. They meet you and give you a rose. When they have 5 boats docked they treat you to a wine and cheese party in the evening plus during the summer they have movies on certain nights.

We docked at Pelican Marina and again due to the SW wind we couldn't stern in and we couldn't get Saddi off the boat. We didn't walk the quarter mile to town because nothing was open on Sunday.

Maybe tomorrow morning!

Uncle Glen sent us some pictures that he took when we were in New Bern. I really need to wear a cap or get a wig.