Elizabeth City to Camp LeJeune- October 24 – 29, 2009

At the end of the Dismal Swamp route is the wonderful community of Elizabeth City where boaters are given a warm welcome by Sam the volunteer dock master at the Visitor Center. There is no charge for boaters to stay at the public docks in Elizabeth City. Sam will also arrange for rides to the grocery store or other places you might need to go shopping. Other volunteers organize a wine and cheese welcome party and provide information about their community. They have a supply of fresh roses for all of the ladies, following a tradition that was started over 20 years ago by some local gentlemen who became known as the Rose Buddies.

My “Rose Buddy” rose in an improvised vase.

There is a lot to do within walking distance of the docks and we had a sunny 83^o F day to go with it. We spent some time in the Museum of the Albemarle (free with very nice displays), had dinner and a movie at the Carolina Theatre and Grill with three other boating couples (saw Where the Wild Things Are – not really a children’s show) with excellent table service, bought fresh vegetables and pepper jelly at the farmers’ market next to the dock, listened to live music in the park, went for a long walk and still had time for happy hour on another catamaran, Jolie Julie.

The display in the lobby of the museum.

Dinner at the Carolina Theatre. The movie has not started yet.

Looking back at the Elizabeth City docks.

Most of the boats that travelled the Dismal Swamp with us left Elizabeth City the same morning we did. The parade out of town and down the Pasquotank River started before dawn. Boaters like to get up and go very early in the morning in order to find a good spot to spend the next night before it gets too dark to see where you are dropping your anchor or pulling into a strange harbor. As long as there is enough light to see the channel markers and the other boats around you (and the crab pot markers) you’re good to go. Retired on a boat does not mean no more alarm clocks!

Sunrise departure from Elizabeth City.

At the welcome party we had been told about some blimps tethered on the shore just south of Elizabeth City. They were still there when we made our early morning passage.

Blimps tethered on shore.

By the time we crossed the Albemarle Sound and reached the Alligator Bridge, at the beginning of the Alligator River, there were thirteen boats in front of us and at least ten visible behind. Everyone was lined up to go through the bridge. Automobile traffic on the bridge was lined up in both directions too so they would only be able to let a few boats through at a time. We were able to pass through on the third opening.

Line up for the Alligator Bridge.

Our turn.

The Alligator River runs through a cypress swamp that I found to be much more dismal than the Dismal Swamp. We anchored in the river overnight and and passed through the swamp the next day via the Alligator River and Pungo River canal.

A Dubarry Day in the cypress swamp.

After a couple of days of light drizzle in the canal and on the Pungo River we crossed the Pamlico River under sail at 6.5 to 7.5 knots in winds of 10 to 15 knots. Tom described it as our “best upwind sail ever” with Polar Pacer. We had been hearing stories about how difficult the Pamlico crossing can be. We lucked out. It only took about 45 minutes and we were greeted by a couple of dolphins as we entered Goose Creek on the other side.

We lucked out again the same day when we followed Kismet into a marina at Broad Creek just off the Neuse River a few miles from Oriental, North Carolina. The River Dunes Harbor Club and Marina is a planned luxury boating community under development. It is so new that it’s man made harbor does not appear on either our paper or electronic charts. When complete it will have 700 homes and 400 boat slips. See www.RiverDunes.com . Transient boaters have access to the well appointed facilities including steam showers, swimming pool, fitness center, laundry, and the central club building which has a beautiful restaurant that unfortunately is only open on weekends. This is the fanciest place yet where we have done the laundry and pumped out the holding tank.

Some River Dunes homes.

The swimming pool and club house.

The restaurant is on the second floor.

Polar Pacer at the docks.

River Dunes also has a courtesy car that we borrowed for the 15 minute drive to Oriental where I picked up a thermometer at the hardware store that shows both Celsius and Fahrenheit. I can now convert the weather forecasts! Tom tried to get his picture on the town’s web cam with the crew from Lily Pad but they got the timing wrong. It was a beautiful sunny day in Oriental with a temperature of 84^oF (28^oC). No Dubarry's , just shorts and t-shirts.

A shrimp boat at the city dock in Oriental.

Travelling down the coast of North Carolina took us through an endless maze of creeks and rivers that are sometimes connected by canals where the water was too shallow and to avoid going out into the Atlantic Ocean. When we dropped our anchor in Cedar Creek, off Adam’s Creek which is off the Neuse River that we got to via Goose Creek from the Pamlico River, Tom noticed that we were still moving after putting out about 80 feet of chain in 7 feet of water. Normally that would have brought us to a dead stop after the anchor settled into the muddy bottom.

When we pulled the anchor back up to try again this is what we found attached to the anchor!

Unmarked crab traps do not make good anchor holding. Good thing Tom noticed right away that we were dragging instead of having to get up and reset the anchor at 2 AM in the dark!

Adam’s Creek must be a good fishing spot. The fishing boats gave us a good wake up rock and roll when they passed through the anchorage on their way out to work early the next morning.

Brown Pelicans and seagulls looking for hand outs.

Fishing the shallows.

Travelling south from Morehead City and Beaufort (Bow-fort) the Intracoastal Waterway follows a narrow strip of land that protects it from the Atlantic Ocean. There are many shallow areas that keep shifting with the tides so the marked channel cannot always be trusted 100 per cent. The dredged channels are narrow and it is easy to make a mistake and end up in the shallows. Tow Boat US and Sea Tow are frequently hailed on the radio to get updates on the water conditions and boaters get together in the evenings to share information on trouble spots. Still, every day there are boats that go aground and need help to get unstuck. We were able to assist a boat that went aground while waiting for a bridge to open. It just took a little tug to get them moving and neither of us missed the bridge opening. Turned out it was a boat that we had met at the Seven Seas gam several weeks ago.

Many of the newer houses in coastal North Carolina are built on stilts to keep them safe from tidal surges. Instead of walk-outs they have walk-throughs.

This one was still under construction.

The ICW passes through the Camp LeJeune marine base and is sometimes closed down due to military exercises. All was clear for us to go through and we were also able to anchor in Mile Hammock Bay which is inside of the Camp LeJeune boundary. We had low flying military helicopters doing maneuvers over the anchorage until well after dark. At times it looked like they were trying to see how low they could go without touching the tops of the masts. Happy hour was pretty noisy.

Karen and Warren – This is where we met up with Sharon and Ian on Celtic Cross. They were also anchored at Mile Hammock and when Tom mentioned that we are from LSYC they told him that they had traveled with Sand Castle last year.