Friday, May 10, 2013 – Oriental (Mile 173) to Alligator River (Mile 85):

The little church at River Dunes

            Well, we had to say good-bye to River Dunes this morning.  What a great place, but the sun was shining, the wind was calm, the water was like glass, and it was time to move on while the weather was good.  We left at about 7:30 a.m., with the sun right in our eyes, but it glinted off the water like sparkling diamonds as we headed north again.

            Once out in the Neuse River (which seems just like the Chesapeake Bay, but bigger) we traveled 13 miles and then entered Gale Creek, which takes you into the “ditch” to Upper Spring Creek, which takes you into Goose Creek.

            It’s warm and I can smell the sweet musky scent of the pine trees that line the shore.  There are colorful crab pot floats everywhere that you have to be careful of lest you wrap one of them around your propeller!  Goose Creek is a beautiful stretch of the waterway, and I don’t know why I didn’t write more about it on our way down here.  That’s when we were having the water heater problem, so maybe I was concerned about that.

Scenery along the waterway

            This creek takes you into the large Pamlico River.  We seem to have lost the dolphins, and I don’t hear those pesky boat-munching shrimp anymore – well, I may have heard the snapping of a couple of little die-hard hangers on.  I never saw a bear, and the alligators have all disappeared.  Unfortunately, I did see a couple of lazy, floating jelly fish this morning.

            From the Pamlico River we head into the beautiful Pungo River and into the Alligator Pungo Canal or the “ditch” for a twenty mile stretch.

Going through the Pungo River

While we were in the Pungo River we were passed by a couple of boats that wanted to go a lot faster than we were going, and that, of course, upset the depth sounder as their prop kicked up whatever from the bottom of the river.  We knew we were in plenty of water, but again, it is disconcerting to hear the depth sounder start beeping at you.  I guess she is just trying to tell us she doesn’t like mud in her face!

There is a price to pay for so little wind – bugs!  We were attacked by a large swarm of strange looking black flying things.  They weren’t flies, or lady bugs, they really didn’t bite, but they just came in everywhere – like they just wanted to take a break from flying and the boat seemed like a good place to hitch a ride.

            The “ditch” here is long, straight, lonely, and desolate-looking.  There are dead cypress trunks sticking up out of the water helter skelter everywhere on both sides of the ditch just waiting to “snag” you and dying cypress trees in the adjoining swampy areas waiting to join their dead cousins in the water.  This canal is in the middle of nowhere, but I guess in a way it has a beauty of its own.  There is no development here – only the high-up nests of eagles and osprey.

Dead cypress in the "ditch"

Waiting to "snag" you

            The Alligator Pungo Canal finally takes you to the Alligator River where we traveled for twenty miles and through the Alligator River Swing Bridge then to the Alligator River Marina (which if you will remember is a gas station!).  But very nice people, and we are tired and glad to be tied up for the night.

            We have traveled about 90 miles today – a record for us except for one other time, and we are exhausted.  And…we may do it again tomorrow!

            So, goodnight everyone – more tomorrow!