Oriental to Elizabeth City, NC

From Oriental, NC we put in a fairly long day which eventually took us up the Pungo River, the Alligator River-Pungo River Canal and finally to our anchorage just at the entrance to the Alligator River. We started to see a change in the scenery as the spanish moss disappeared and the hardwoods became more prevalent. We were also still seeing smoke from the fires.

The area is also notorious for floating debris - I wondered if the alligators in the name were a reference to the floating logs. We were glad to see these had been rounded up into a big pile.

Along the way, we've passed many "no wake" areas, and "slow for manatee" areas, but this is first time we saw one of these...at least there was no minimum speed!

When we anchored, we immediately turned on the air conditioner because the bugs were everywhere. After running for a while, the a/c pump quit pumping and the a/c shut off - HPF error. We turned everything off - except a fan or two - and went to bed, hoping that the problem was too many jellyfish clogging the water intake. There were almost as many jellyfish as bugs.

The next morning we started out hoping to visit with my sister and her husband in Hertford, NC. One of their neighbors lives on the water and has been planning to have us tie up at his dock for a visit. Unfortunately, there is a swing bridge that needs to open to get to his dock - and it did not want to open. So we headed a little farther west in the Albemarle Sound and tied up at the city dock in Edenton.

Edenton is a small town with many historic building and houses. Behind Carolyn Ann, you can see a light house that was moved there recently. They encourage boaters to stop there - offering 2 days free dockage. There are many good restaurants and shops within easy walking distance - which is probably why they give the free dockage. We did our bit for the local economy.

That Rocky - you just can't keep him out of the shops!

While we were there, we got to visit with my sisters and brother-in-law and also a couple we know from Park Police who have moved to Hertford. Rich, my brother-in-law, treated us to some of his fine wines!

And we witnessed another great sunset!

We left Edenton and had a short day getting to Elizabeth City. On the way we could see a large rounded building and made a few guesses as to what it might be. Once we finally reached it, we could see a blimp parked near it. Later we found out they manufacture small blimps there.

Elizabeth City also has a dock which is free for two days, so we decided to stop there before starting our trip up the Dismal Swamp. In the travel guides they describe being met by the town folk - women receive a rose and there is a wine and cheese reception. Around the time we might have expected the wine and cheese, the mayor showed up to chat with the boaters that were there. Turns out they have a camera on the dock and they only do the wine and cheese if there are five boats by 4:30 - we were short one boat!