Elizabeth City

Our anchorage early Wednesday morning

I enjoyed being on the hook last night and after our disappointing marina experience today I will probably always prefer anchoring out! Right now I am sitting in the Laundry room at the marina... one washer that only worked after Walter fixed it! And a rusty old dryer! Hope the clothes come out okay....

Washing down the anchor as it comes up

About 820a we left our lovely spot where we were all alone surrounded by water and far away woods. Here I am in my “office” washing down the anchor as I hauled it up. You know I really like this part cause I can do it... I feel confident. Will I ever feel this way about working the lines on our boat??? And tomorrow will be a new challenge: Locks... first mate on deck has this duty... I wonder, should I have had more piloting lessons and let Walter do the lines and me the helm? He is all for it but sitting in the pilot seat might just be scarier than cleating lines and roping (like a cowgirl!) tall piles!

Our Albemarle Sound crossing was fairly smooth not even what some cruisers call a light chop. It did pick up a little bit by the end of the morning. But by then we were very close to the entrance to the Pasquotank River which would lead us to our early stop, this time at a marina. The ICW splits off in the Sound going to the coastal waters or heading for The Great Dismal Swamp. So we left several boats who were going the coastal route as we headed toward our River. We have now talked to other boaters that will also begin cruising the Swamp tomorrow.

We stopped early on purpose wanting to wash clothes, fill water tank and walk to town for groceries. This Marina is cheap, $35/night flat rate plus electricity..... that is probably the least we will ever spend on a slip but we didn't come here because of the cost but because it was recommended by Active Captain! This is a web site you can go to for lots of updated & good info on the waterways but we will never trust them again for a marina!

The slip we are in is awful and Miss gg suffered a big scratch on the hull from a piece of metal sticking out of a pile! I think this happened mostly because our “help” did the opposite of what Walter asked them to do! But at first I was so glad when two dock hands came to the slip. I threw one the spring line... but they kept pulling the boat wrong and tying it like they were not too familiar with docking. ??? However, one lives on an old Morgan sail boat next to where we docked! It does look like he had been in port a long time.....

Rotten Pile!

I was so nervous about docking again after the bad experience in Belhaven that I rigged ALL the cleats with lines...ready for where ever the wind might be blowing or the dock master might want us. Then when we were still about 8 min. out we started calling this marina. No answer... then again when we could see the place...still no answer... then we did circles in front of the marina all the while calling them... still NO answer! When we got close enough to another boat docked there, I yelled to the couple on the deck of their boat and asked them if the marina radio was not working....they called them and then the guy came back to us on the radio saying someone turned off his radio! Okay no problem... then we saw where they were putting us.. oh my! Some of the piles are rotten!  I later asked Walter if he thought at least one of those guys might be a little worse than me at doing the lines? He quickly said a loud YES!  He has also retied every line.

It will actually take us longer to get out of this slip than it takes to haul anchor and be on our way... I had so looked forward to this place... we have definitely been very spoiled by our wonderful home port marina, Northwest Creek in New Bern!

After we were finally secure Walter walked over to pay for the night and got a list of grocery stores... we were told that one will come and get you at certain times … 3p was the last pick up so we called them... they don't do that any more. We had wanted to walk anyway as that is our main exercise at home and we were missing it. So told that the store was just 2 miles away we thought perfect! After walking TWO miles we stopped and asked a man where any of the stores were on the list... he didn't recognized any!! We took refuge from the hot sun in a nearby laundry mat and called a cab.. got a great cabby who took us to a FOOD LION... for just $5 and then took us to P.O.  and back to boat for $6.

We have checked the opening time of the local swing bridge here and the times of operation of first lock on the Great Dismal Swamp... we will be overnighting in the Swamp..... hope to sleep tonight but the wind is really bouncing Miss gg all around.. had to put on my sea bands at the dock!

Oh, we have decided to wait for Norfolk for haul out and repairs since the bilge pump is brand new and is not staying on all the time... Walter had to replace the old pump because it was burned out by a little piece of wood holding the switch on all the time.

Praying for no wind in the morning and safe travels through the Swamp! It is shallow with lots of dead heads (underwater tree stumps).  See some of you here tomorrow night. :-) God Bless.