After two nights in Elizabeth City we were ready to move on, but the weather hadn't quite. We went anyway and it was pretty bouncy in the sound, with occasional 4 footers. One of these soaked me with precision, leaving Heather right next to me dry and laughing. When we anchored at the base of the Alligator River we tried to hide from the wind and waves behind a small point but it didn't buy us much. It was a rough night on the Alligator, with only enough cell service for a few texts to randomly squeeze through. To be fair, the wind made the water rough but also kept the bugs away, which had been just apocalyptic on our way up.
This being our first night at an anchorage we kept the electronics on all night and ready to go in case the anchor slipped. This included the VHF radio, which I turned down, but in the middle of the night we could still hear clearly enough. It was an even rougher night for anyone out on the Atlantic side, with the strong north wind piling up big waves on the gulfstream.
Here's one of the things you don't want to hear the Coast Guard say on the radio - well, do you have another life raft? Apparently a boat was taking on so much water they inflated their life raft, but the wind caught it and snatched it away. After I fell asleep Heather continued to listen. Apparently the only local helicopter the Coast Guard could raise in the storm was not equipped for Search and Rescue (with a winch and such). She didn't hear how it ended. Never be in the gulfstream in a wind with any north in it. The picture below of the Alligator was the next morning when it had calmed down some.
It was better once we were in the canal at the base of the Alligator, which in retrospect we should have anchored closer to. Being so narrow it was calm and the wind was welcome until we got to the other side of the canal at the Pungo river, which was wide enough for the wind to make it rougher.
The waves calmed down a little inside the breakwater at Belhaven, then a lot once we approached the dock with the wind blocking by the trees. We had just anchored out here on our way up which was apparently a mistake. This was the friendliest, nicest place ever. Like, Twilight Zone friendly. They had golf carts for dock cars, which we took almost two miles all the way to the grocery store.
We had dinner at the highly recommended art place. Again, suspiciously friendly people all around, including the owner, who came out to talk to us at length, and apologized with a delicious cheesecake desert when something on Heather's order actually turned out to be fine, but not exactly as she had requested. This then prompted a visit from the head chef, an interesting discussion of his background, and how tonight's menu had been arrived at.
Having expended most of our emotional and financial reserves at the art place the night before, the next night we dined at Farm Boys across the street, on picnic tables outside, munching on fairly tasty deep fried bits of something. We managed to get in a couple of loads of laundry at the marina's very nice (and free) laundromat. We seem to be doing more and more laundry as we find ourselves needing fewer and fewer clothes. I've apparently been wearing the same three pairs of shorts since March. I worked a little bit on the taxes. The wifi was so strong that that evening we actually watched a movie on Netflix. Like I said, suspiciously friendly and accommodating. But we'll be back.
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