Frugal spot #3! We have been to Elizabeth City twice before, but have anchored north of the bridge mostly due to the wind direction at the downtown docks. The city maintains 26 free slips for transient boats and the whole town seems to welcome the "boat people" that pass through each fall and spring. We decided to try the slips as the wind was forecast to be next to nothing and from the "safe" direction anyways. We arrived a little after two and had time to kibitz with the other travelers who were already here and to walk 1.3 miles to the Napa store (and back) to buy an extra engine belt. We also gathered with about a dozen of our newest boating friends for drinks this evening under a tent that Elizabeth City maintains for their Monday-Friday "wine and roses" evening greeting for boaters.
The day started quietly at the Welcome center - not a breath of air and lovely (if not all that warm) sunshine. Dan walked across the foot bridge to the far side of the canal to get the top picture. I liked the still reflection of the water and the mile marker reminding us we have 750 miles to go until we reach St. Augustine. Dan enjoyed the warmth of the sun in the enclosed cockpit to study the guide books for todays trip.
We agreed with Marie Lune (the only other boat at the center) to leave together so the footbridge tender would only need to make one opening. We offered to go first but our French Canadian friends said they'd take the lead. We were happy they did as we were only a mile down the canal when they alerted us to a submerged log that they had dealt with. We were able to slide by it without any thumps.
At one point yesterday the tachometer dropped to zero. Dan rushed below and checked several things and decided it was the belt. As things were very quiet (no traffic to worry about) we shut down the engine and coasted while he changed the belt. We thought all was well...but... as we headed out this morning the belt began to slip (and smell very hot) so we coasted again while Dan tightened it tighter than he has ever done before and it seems to be fine now.
Top: The footbridge opened for us as we left the Welcome Center. We then followed Marie Lune, a 49' Meridian, up to the drawbridge/lock combo at South Mills. We misunderstood the timing and had over half an hour of milling about (without any room for milling about) for the bridge to open and let us into the lock. I got a kick of the plants growing on the gate of the lock. It was an 8' drop to the Pasquotank River. The trip down the River was just as idyllic as the Dismal Swamp and we lazed along to Elizabeth City.
The little blue arrow point to Brunelle nestled in comfortably for the night.
After our gathering ashore this evening we had dinner aboard and worked with our son Sam to see if we could get set up to have our progress be displayed on the blog in real time. The wizard that he is... we think were are all set, of course that doesn't take into consideration that we are heading into the notoriously "dead" zone, especially for AT&T. "Can you hear (see) me now??"
We aren't dreading our trip across the Albemarle Sound as the weather predictions are for light SW winds....we'll see. ~~_/)~~~M&D
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