Flight at Alligator River Marina

Thursday 10-9-08
Following a pretty quiet night, we were up and had the morning chores squared away in time for a 08:00 departure. The quiet night could have been sort of exciting – just before we turned in last night Polly caught a glimpse of a reflection moving past our boat on the water way side. She finally realized it wasn’t a reflection at all, and stuck her head out of the door to see a barge, loaded with many tons crushed stone, gliding along about 20 feet from the side of our boat. Eventually, a very quiet tug boat slid by pushing the barge, with not much more than the running lights glowing. This sort of thing may be why it is not recommended to cruise the ICW after dark.
Morning chores aboard FLIGHT amount to stuff like disconnecting the shore power cord, topping the water tank and making a second pot of coffee for the road. Conditions were nice with just a little wind and a thin overcast, so off we went. Traffic amounted to the occasional fisherman casting a rod and a few professional watermen checking crab pots or tending their pound nets. The shore line in this area is WILD as in WILDerness, with scrub trees and bushes growing right at the water and some larger evergreen trees a bit farther back in the swampy areas. There is absolutely no sign of manmade development to be seen in these first 10 miles out of Coinjock. There are many narrow water ways that cut back into the swamp areas of the shore – it would be a super area to explore in a kayak.
After an hour and half or so of winding through these remote waterways, we began to see the open water of Albemarle Sound. By now, the light breeze we had started with, became absolute calm, and the surface of the sound was smooth. Polly commented that it was reminiscent of the sea conditions we had when we crossed Lake Ontario last summer and I suggested that hot sweet rolls would be nice to go with the second pot of coffee. Down from the bridge she flew, and about 30 minutes later we were munching on hot cinnamon rolls and sipping coffee on the bridge as FLIGHT guided herself toward the Alligator River entrance.
We plan to try to average roughly 50 NM on the days we travel, but after looking at the charts and guides for anchorages in the area that was that distance from Coinjock, there didn’t seem to be many options. We decided to stop at a marina located next to the bridge at the mouth of the Alligator River. It is only 35 miles from Coinjock and is called, The Alligator River Marina. We arrived at this very nice place at 12:00. It is very interesting in several ways. It is quite remote and looking at a road map of the area, it is really in the middle of nowhere along a road that serves as a main corridor from inland NC to the outer banks area. The business includes a marina with fuel dock, a gas station for cars and trucks, a convenience store / gift shop with a grill and a sit-down restaurant that opens at 05:00 daily for breakfast and has, “world acclaimed” hamburgers. It seems to be very well run and maintained, and all prices are very competitive. What more could a man ask for.
We used the afternoon to do some projects and chores. Polly did the laundry we accumulated since we left home and I made some modifications to some of our dock lines , tidied up some other boat storage things and studied the charts for the areas we will transit the next few days. Dinner was the left over crab cakes from Coinjock and a nice salad - perfect. Tomorrow will include the 20 mile ditch known as the Alligator-Pungo Canal which connects (you guessed it) the Alligator and Pungo rivers.