High Spirits Great Loop Voyage: Alligator River Marina, Alligator River, North Carolina

Left Dowry Creek Marina at 8 this morning, beautiful calm morning. We travelled up the last couple of miles of the Pungo River, then entered the Alligator River-Pungo River Canal for the next few hours. This canal is just a fairly narrow channel with trees on both sides, few houses here and there but not many. Unfortunately there have obviously been forest fires over the years, and several areas have been burnt off and are at varying stages of re-growth. The current forest fire is several miles east of where we travelled today, so luckily the smoke was blowing away from us. We could see it rising into the sky as we travelled.

The trees along the canal are very fresh and green, a reminder that it is spring. The water along here looked dark and dirty to us, but it is tea-coloured from the tannin in the water, and we understand that when we are in the Dismal swamp in a couple of days, the water will be even darker. We exited the canal into the Alligator River which is quite wide. It was fairly breezy and the water was a little choppy, lucky for us the wind and the chop were both on the bow of the boat, so not hard to ride in. Docked at the marina, got settled in, and we had a very pleasant surprise. Jay Branch dropped in; he had business in the area, so made a point of checking to see if we were here. He took us, along with Jim and Gloria, to the outer banks (barrier islands along the Atlantic Ocean) for a tour. We went to the Wright Brothers National Memorial in the Kill Devil Hills; we stood where the first flights took place. There were 4 flights, and there is a marker for where the planes took off, and where each flight ended. The flights were 12 sec and 120 ft, 12 sec and 175 ft, 15 sec and 200 ft, and finally, 59 sec and 852 ft. There is a sculpture of the first plane, and in the visitor center, replicas of the plane. We also saw two buildings, one a hanger and the other living quarters and workshop. Sounds like it was mostly workshop, they slept aloft in burlap hammocks while they were there working on the plane.

We drove by sand dunes, Jay told us about stretches of the island where the ocean is encroaching on homes and roads. Every storm and every year, more houses are lost to the elements. Also watched people flying kites off of a sand dune. Stopped at one of Jay’s stores. His company makes and sells outdoor furniture, especially hammocks and chairs with hammock seats, as well as chairs, lounges with outdoor fabric. The furniture is beautiful, and very comfortable. I think we each found a particular chair we would like.

We came back across the bridge to Manteo, looking for a place to have dinner. Walked by a marina, and saw Muddy Waters sitting there. We had said good-bye to them at River Dunes, and it was so nice to see them again. Michael, Jennifer, Daria and Keenan joined us for dinner. We had a full and interesting day, and we are so grateful to Jay for showing us around yet again. He thinks he may catch up with us again further north, and I hope we can.