Day Eight - Sunday, August 4

Another uneventful day, but we made a lot of progress toward New Bern.  We left the Alligator River Marina at 7 AM and traveled over 53 miles to the Belhaven City Dock.  

Traveling the Alligator River Canal was a different experience than the Dismal Swamp.  The Alligator River Canal is wider and has low banks with decayed cyprus tree stumps along the shore and cyprus swamps beyond. 

We actually saw more boats on this leg of the journey than we have seen on other legs of our trip.  We passed eight boats traveling the Canal in the opposite direction.  

We saw a bald eagle sitting in a cyprus tee on the canal's edge surveying the traffic and waiting to swoop down on an unsuspecting fish.  

During our trip through the canal we hit a submerged cyprus stump which scared the daylights out of us.  There two hard thumps to the hull.  The first one bounced the boat up and the second hit the keel and caused the boat to swing off course.  We were told that it is not unusual for the stumps on the bottom to get disturbed by larger boats and float off the bottom of the canal hitting the hulls and keels of other  boats.  

We arrived at the city dock in Belhaven at 4:05 PM after running aground on a sand bar in the inner harbor.  Jeff was driving, so Rich and Ed went to the bow and we were able to shake the boat loose from the bottom.

We drove over to the Belhaven Marina to ask where the town dock was and a man on the dock pointed us to the dock.  A woman on the dock knew where we were going and started waving to ust.  When we arrived st the dock the woman took our lines and helped tie up.  She was down at the dock walking her dog.  We all patted the cute little dog and thanked her for her help.

After we tied up at the dock a fishing boat pulled in behind us with four men on it.  They had been out all day fishing for tarpon.  We asked them where the closest gas station was and they said several miles away.  One of the men named Freeman said he would drive Ed to get gas.  These are really nice people here in North Carolina.  

Rich and Jeff took a walk around town to see what was open and found only one convenience  store open  Most of the stores here are closed on Sundays.

A young couple with their daughter drove over to the dock in a golf cart to ask if we needed a ride to the grocery store to buy provisions.  They were also cruisers and have been living and cruising on their Hunter 34 for the past 2 years.  Their daughter, Olivia, was cute and precocious.  They were from Wilmington, NC, and moved onto their boat and have enjoyed every minute of their cruising adventure.  They were staying here in Belhaven to make repairs to their boat after taking a knock down in a tornado on the Potomac River near Washington, DC.  It was a terrible storm.  

They are now shopping for a bigger cruising boat to live aboard.  They'd like to find a Tayana 37 because it is a solid blue water cruising boat.  They said that they would try cruising for one year and if they still liked each other after the year they would keep cruising.  They have just finished their second year.

After they left another golf cart came up to the boat with Ron and his wife, Heiki, who live in Belhaven.  Ron was raised in Belhaven and spent 20 years in the Army, 3rd Artillery Division, and returned because he loved the town.

After Ron and Heiki left a pick up truck pulled up with a fellow named Tommy Foster who chatted a while and wished us a save journey.

Earlier, when we came into the harbor we saw a boat anchored out in the shallow bay away from the docks.  After a while we saw the skipper coming into the dock in his inflatable with what we thought was a wheel chair.  Rich went over to the floating dock to talk with him and help him tie up.  Rich found out his name was Brice and he was on a Tartan 37 from Los Angeles.  He is sailing to Savannah, GA.  The "wheel chair" was really a collapsable bicycle that he unfolded and tied a straw basket on the back.  Brice has been here several times and knows the town  He took off on his bike to the farmer's market to buy provisions.

Ed opened a couple of cans of beef stew and sliced the fresh baked bread he had bought at the farmer's market in Elizabeth City.  We enjoyed a hearty dinner at the dock.

Lat/Lon = N 35 32.2 W 076 37.3