Elizabeth City

Woke to a beautiful sunrise in Babbit Bay, and then saw the rainbow behind Mystery Girl. Got an early start as we left our anchorage around 6:45a. We had the Albemarle Sound to cross, and thought maybe earlier would be better as the winds seem to pick up more as the day goes on. It was choppy again continuing out the Alligator River, along with rain, and dodging Crab pot floats. I don’t like to spend a lot of time crossing open or larger bodies of water, so I left Bill and Mike behind as I pushed C-Traveler up on plane crossing the Sound. Fortunately, nothing worse than the 1 foot chop. Before leaving the Alligator River, we go under the Alligator River swing bridge. Because of the size of it, they will not open it whenever the winds are gusting more than 34 mph, or any other time the bridge tender doesn’t feel it’s safe. Didn’t matter for us, as the bridge has a clearance of 14’ and that was about 6” higher than I need for my VHF antenna’s, which I can put down if necessary. Bill also can put his antenna down, and Mike’s is not that high. As I was entering the Pasquatank River on the ICW track, there was a sunken sail boat with about 30’ of mast sticking up. I reported it to the USCG, but I suspect they were already aware of it. I continued dodging all the crab pot floats, passed the Weeksville Airship Hangar (during WW II blimps were a key part of the US defense against German U-Boats and this building could house a dozen of the armed airships!), then passed the USCG Air Station Elizabeth City base. I was never stationed at E City, but seeing the planes brought back fond memories of flying the C-130 in Sacramento and Kodiak! Finally passed under the Elizabeth City bridge and then found space on the dock in front of the Mid Atlantic Christian University. Bill and Mike arrived two hours later and rafted off of me. Before they arrived I walked downtown to enjoy the Potato Festival. 50 miles today.Read more