All 7 boats left the Welcome Center early Sunday morning, heading south for the 8:30a opening of the Deep Creek Bridge and Lock. It was a spectacular but cool morning, with steam coming off the canal and sun rays streaming through the trees.
Traveling 23 miles, we arrived Elizabeth City at noon. Known as the Harbor of Hospitality, the City provides free boat dockage for 48 hours, and ambassadors who treat cruisers to a wine and cheese party each night, hosted by the Rose Buddies.
Ninety-one-year-old Fred Fearing started this tradition in honor of his wife, and is there each day to greet boaters, and offer to the women on board a pair of scissors to clip a rose. Maggie chose a pink bud.
We stayed 48 hours, along with Mary and Bob Leonard, on Stonington's First Light, and Patty and Ray Mooney on Cool Breeze, who rafted with us at the Welcome Center.
On Tuesday morning, we left the dock - a full moon was setting in the west, and sun was coming up in the east. What a fabulous sight!
The Albermarle Sound was choppy, with short period waves, winds up to 22 kts, and lots of crab pots that we had to dodge. We pulled into Alligator River Marina for fuel, and as we were approaching the dock, Bob went to shift, only to find their was no reverse only forward. He quickly thought to turn off the engine, and we coasted to the dock. After a few minutes to breathe, Bob checked the problem and determined the gear shift cable had broken. He tracked down a mechanic who came right over, and after a few hours trying to remove the broken cable, ordered the new part. We felt fortunate that it happened at a marina, and an experienced mechanic was nearby to help.
On Wednesday, we took advantage of the water and electricity and cleaned the boat inside and out. The marina is in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do or see, so we caught up on our chores.
Thursday morning Sharon and Bill Bell from Silver Lining called to say they were making the crossing; they stopped at the marina for diesel, so we got to say a quick hello.
Chuck, the mechanic, returned Thursday afternoon to install two new cables (it's best to replace both the gear shift cable and throttle cable -- heck if you have to open the compass pedestal to rig cables, might as well do both).
The work was done by 3:30 and we immediately took off up the Alligator River and made anchorage just at dusk. Little did we know the Bells were right next to us. In the morning, we worked our way through the fog and down Goose Creek.
That afternoon we saw something swimming
in the creek. Maggie thought it was a pig and quickly got her camera; Bob suggested a cow or a dog. It turned out
to be a small black bear; it was so close we could have run over it.
We anchored that night in what we thought was a beautiful little
anchorage
only to be awakened with a violent thunderstorm, high winds, and dragging anchor past other sailboats, who were not exactly happy with us. It rained so hard we had 2" of water in the cockpit that couldn't drain quickly enough. It was a rough 2 hours, with Bob standing barefoot in the water as he tried to steer the boat back to anchor. He thought he would be toast since every few seconds lightning was striking all around us. Maybe our lightning arrester really does work.
From there it was on to the historic town of New Bern, 23 miles northwest, and off our route, to ride out Hurricane Wilma. We caught up with the Leonards and the Bells (who came in later), all waiting for the hurricane to pass. We stayed three days visiting the bars and Maggie's favorite store, Mitchell Hardware, where you can find almost anything. It was a wonderful place to layover.
We got an early start on Wednesday, and did 78 miles to anchor at Camp LeJeune. We watched a beautiful sunset and had a mild evening.
Another early start on Thursday, we passed 2 boats aground at New River Inlet, and we cautiously made our way through the next 36 miles and timed the 3 bridges perfectly, to arrive at Wrightsville Beach at 2:30.
Maggie's sister, Mary McElwee, and her two children Chelsey and Ian came to visit from Clemmons, NC, a 4-hour drive.
Maggie was like a kid at Christmas! We were grateful for Mary's taxi services, driving us around for more provisions and supplies. We got our third car ride since leaving Mystic, and our first at high-speed - it was terrifying to go 55 mph when we're used to less than 8!
It was great to visit. Mary kept the tradition by bringing Krispy Kreme donuts, and we had a three-way speaker phone call with Maggie's two other sisters, Ellen and Clara; everyone giggled all the way through the call.
And Rosie is adjusting quite well!
