Hi All, Its Sunday night and we have internet for awhile. Yesterday we went up the Neuse River and the Alligator River. Long straight stretches. Very long - an 11 hour day, and scenic as well as straight. A long portion had been dug by the Army Corps of Engineers to join two other bodies of water - and the Army Corps would not dig a crooked river. It was very easy and we were easy targets for the stinging black flies. So a lot of the day I steered while Dennis swatted flies. Later in the day I did learn how to navigate by compass. That's how we found a place to stay off "Catfish Point" - we had to navigate into this tiny, shallow little spot full of submerged stumps etc. by following compass points, I think it might be like geocaching to find a place to sleep.
We had a neighbor at Catfish Point. He kind of spooked us because the boat was such a derelict - an old demasted sailboat with peeling paint and rusty gear. As darkness fell, he slowly paddled over in his dingy..... and asked to buy a quart of oil. Whew! We gave him the oil and he didn't even have to pull a pirate sword to get it. He was actually a nice guy with some bad luck.
Today, we have been on the boat a week, so we have graduated to intermediate level. That's why we had some really big choppy waves all across Albemarle Sound. By the time we reached Elizabeth City NC I was done. I just wanted to walk on land. Please. Any land. We needed gas so we stopped at the only marina in 50 miles. They drove a truck down to the dock to sell us diesel fuel. They were nice folks, it was a folksy little place with its own trailer park. One of the trailers was the local "casino" and they invited us over for entertainment later on.
As we settled into a spot right at the main pier there was a loud crashing sound behind our boat. It seems the owner/truck driver had not set the brakes on the fuel truck when he parked it back up the hill after selling us fuel. It came rolling down slowly, took out a piece of pier and landed with the front wheels in the water and the back side up hill. And yes, the crash caused the diesel tank to start to leak. Quickly assessing the situation as only intermediate experienced people can do, we decided we wouldn't spend the night in the middle of a diesel spill and just pulled up our lines, started the engine and drove off into the sunset. We left the marina believing that a tow truck, a barge, a crane, the sheriff and probably the EPA would be showing up any time and we would just be in the way.
Tomorrow we will go through the Dismal Swamp. A once in a lifetime experience I think. See ya.
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