April 18

We left Belhaven at 06:03  in the dark

and continued down the Pungo River, here’s the sun coming up..

we  traveled for about 6 miles before turning up into the 20 mile long  Pungo-Alligator River Canal.    We reached  mile 125 on the the alligator river  canal at 7:30.

We continue up it for many miles and reached the Alligator River at 9:30

and passed through the Swing bridge at mile 84.6 at 11:47.   The Swing bridge was quite busy and we heard some of our boating friends Summertime, Emma Jane,  Remember when  pass through it 30 minutes before we reached it.   We had to traverse another 5 miles or so before reaching the Albermarle sound.

We had heard from Larry and Shannon that there was another loop called  the Albemarle Loop and we had decided back in March that it should be something we check out. This past Friday, April 15^th, on the AGLCA  radio show- it was the featured topic.  There are 9 marina participating in the program 7 are located in the Albemarle sound and 1 on the outer banks, and 1 in the dismal swamp. These marinas will give free dockage for 48 hours, electricity is extra  We knew we wouldn’t be able to hit them all up, but had decided that if we went west  when we reached the Sound we could visit about 5 of them before  reaching Norfolk.

Our first stop was Columbia Municipal Marina.

We had tried calling them over the weekend to book—but didn’t get an answer and finally on Monday got a voice mail message.   We proceeded westward along the southern shore, there was about an 9 mile span, which was marked as a danger zone which we had to avoid,  there was also several hundred crab pot- surprise, surprise!  It took us about 3 ½ hour to reach the Scuppernong River, and we proceeded  up another mile or two to the marina.  Once we were docked at 4:00 we went into the municipal office and signed in and paid the $3 for electricity for the night. 

We found out that they hadn’t got our message about coming as we were calling the Columbia marina, not the Columbia municipal marina—but there was no problem as we were the only ones there.  We were also there first Albemarle Loop visitors in 2016.

We walked around town, saw this mural and store, and water level  from Hurricane Irene.

 

We found a place for supper and returned to the boat and called it an early night once it was dark, as it had been a long day.

On Tuesday morning, we got up and went for a walk to the edge of town,  and saw this church– with Andy’s name on it. 

We continued looking for a place for breakfast, but many of the places didn’t open until after 9:00.  We went to the visitors centre ( saw these tapestry there and took these pictures)

and to the wildlife centre.

We were told the Winery cross the street did coffee and breakfast so we went there.

We returned to the boat and cast off at 10:05.  Next stop was historic Edenton.  We arrived at 1:30 after passing under a fixed bridge and through a line of power poles.  Since the dock master is not allowed to help with tying up the boat, we were helped by Mel and Ann from Morningstar II, fellow loopers from the next slip.  Once we were tied up to the captain’s satisfaction, we went and checked in.  The dock master gave us a welcome package with information about the town, as well as bottled water and peanuts.  Our next stop was the Penelope Barker Welcome Centre.

Here we learned about the Edenton Tea party, which occurred October 25, 1774—this was one of the earliest organized women’s political actions in the USA.  In downtown Edenton, a cannon with a teapot on top- marks the yard where the tea party had been held at the Elizabeth King home.

We also learned some of the history surrounding the Edenton Lighthouse.  The lighthouse was originally on the Roanoke river, when it was decommissioned,  it was  sold and moved so a  family could inhabit it.  In 2007 it was purchased by the Edenton historical society and moved to its present site in the Edenton harbor.

The lighthouse at night.

Once we were done at the welcome centre, we walked downtown, and stopped at a used book store—I’m running out of reading material, hardware store and the Edenton Beer Garden, where we sampled some craft brew.

We returned to the boat in time for docktails on  Morningstar II with Mel and Ann , as well as John and Marsha from End Game.  We had a great time and found out that Morningstar II knew  many of the people we had met on the loop, as well as Pat and Becky, who are apparently still in Osprey.  Mel is also a great story teller!