Voyage 2008: Chapter 4

03 Jun 2009, 'Home' at Elizabeth City, 36 18.00 N/ 076 12.69 W

Yesterday, we left Belhaven and continued our trek north on the ICW. The winds were OK out of the SW for motorsailing but the Pungo canal greatly attenuated the wind. It was getting hot so it was not the best of days. Plus the canal can be pretty boring, which it was. We left the canal and anchored shortly after near Bear Point in the Alligator River. By then the wind had built to 15 kts so the wind generator was more than keeping up with our electrical needs. Not bad.

Today, we were all excited as they (NOAA) were calling for SW@10-15 kts and building to 20kts. We should be able to sail the Albemarle Sound without the motor. Not so. Winds through much of the day were under 10 kts. About 5 miles the Pasquotank, the winds freshened a bit so Bob decided to work the whisker pole. It took him a while and by the time he was ready the wind had veered nearly to our nose. So down went the pole. Not too good but it taught us a bit about the pole.

As we entered the Pasquotank, the crab pot population increased dramatically. Also the wind picked up to nearly 20 kts. With all of our dodging and weaving, we had to douse the jib. Plus a big squall was coming our way. The 'toy' said it would probably miss us and the 'toy' was right. Billy was there to get our lines and, as usual, our accomodations were perfect. We were glad to be here!

07 Jun 2009, A Great Place is Elizabeth City, 36 18.00 N/ 076 12.69 W

It is hard to explain this place. We think it is more Pelican Marina than EC even though EC is great by itself. This weekend was the Carolina Cup which included racing of hydroplanes and Jersey Skiffs (we didn't know what they were either). But we had two great days of entertainment from the stern of our boat, the T-head, and the back porch of the Pelican.

Jack, the bridge tender of the EC bridge invited us to use his car and view his facilities. We were a little nervous borrowing his car but were excited about visiting the bridge station. We talked for hours about the operation and adventures, and boredom of the job. Not bad!

But the soul of our visits is the people at Pelican. Billy has been around since we first started visiting the Pelican in 2005. He has always been there when we needed a slip. In the early years, he kept his big Irwin at the Pelican but now he keeps it across the bridge.

The dockmaster, Josh (and his girlfriend, Lorelei), made it a point to always find us a slip, even when the Pelican was full. He would cajole his friends to anchor out for a couple of days so we could use their slip. He has been instrumental in making the Pelican a very popular stop on the ICW.

Mike and Lisa, are permanent fixtures on the end of our dock with their 51 ft Morgan (SV Defiance) and are always helpful and informative. Their stories on raising two kids aboard is quite interesting. iDoesn't look like the will be leaving any time soon.

We recently met 'Cotton', a Coastie who will soon be a married man. We swapped some stories about boating, his USCG involvement, and other stuff. There are many other people who made our visit here most enjoyable. Sadly, Cotton will be deplayed to Florida the next time we pass through EC.

At 0615 tomorrow we will leave for the Dismal Swamp on our way to Norfolk. However, we will be back here in October for our trip South to who knows where. The Dismal is one of our many 'fun' places as it is calm, peaceful and really green (in the Spring).