Coinjock, Elizabeth City

12 - 14  Sep 2019

We left Top Rack Marina in the morning, again having been the only boat there for the night. It was a pretty uneventful day getting down to Coinjock, but more weather was on the way, so we planned on staying two nights. We finally had the famous prime rib at the restaurant at the Coinjock marina. This is like Flintstones food! We got three meals for the both of us (or as they say in the South - bofus) out of this one prime rib, using the leftovers in grilled cheeses and omelets.

When the weather briefly broke we scooted down to Elizabeth City. It looked like the weather was going to keep us somewhere for a couple more days and there's not even a rental car place near Coinjock. It was a little bumpy once we were exposed to Albemarle Sound but then we scooted up the Pasquotank river, which became increasingly narrow so the water was calmer as we approached Elizabeth City.

The marina we were headed to in EC was really cheap. I assumed this was partially because the city maintains free docks for the folks passing through the Great Dismal Swamp, which is an alternate ditch route to Norfolk. Maybe that was partially true, but there were other things at work as well. 

We've been to some, shall we say, rustic marinas, but this was right up there. Not all the places we visit off the beaten path are going to be that impressive. This place was very cheap but for good reasons. The fixed wooden docks were ancient and decrepit, in keeping with most of the vessels tied up there. There was all sorts of wildlife on the dock, including some really big spiders, and this colorful little guy below, who's diet I'm hoping consists of said spiders.

The docks themselves were barely above the water line, but nonetheless the ramps to shore actually sloped down. When they talk about water levels rising 6 or 8 inches it doesn't seem like a lot, but it will eventually consume this place and a lot of others like it.

Some work had been done on the marina office and store, but the problem was it too was barely above the water level. We were told there was almost no tide here, and that appeared to be true, but a strong wind in the right direction blows water up the river, sometimes a foot or two, as it obviously had during Dorian. And this place was barely inches above the water in some spots. It was clearly going to eventually have to be torn down and completely redone, or just abandoned. We voted this marina to be most likely to be the actual site of a Scooby Doo mystery. It's only real competition was a marina we had been to on the west coast of Florida years ago. 

Not having a car again we walked to the place adjacent to the marina. A family at the next table said that the winds here during Dorian gusted to over 100 miles an hours, which explained some of the houses across the river without roofs. I'm glad we chickened out and stayed in Solomons for that.

I have discussed before about not swimming in marinas. To this marina's credit it actually had a sign. I'm hoping there is not a sad story behind it. I'm guessing old man Smithers put it up.

That weather did actually hit south of us, so we used the break to scoot up to Richmond to pick up the car. The most direct route had us going through one of the tunnels we had passed over in the boat. It was weird to approach the tunnel station at the end of the long causeway,  nothing but water to either side, and worse, ahead, then just drop down into the tunnel.

This gave us one more chance this year to go to Hot Chick for fried chicken, so we seized the day, or at least the chicken. We shuttled the car down to the Fayetteville airport, then trundled back to EC.

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