October 22, Thursday... Alligator River to Slade Creek, (Pungo R.)


It was cold as Sapphire left the Alligator for the 3 mile run to the entrance to the Alligator Pungo Canal, a nearly straight shot through the wilderness of North Carolina. Other than the canal itself, there was no sign of mankind for about two hours. We saw a pair of eagles but that was about all the wildlife.

Leaving the canal for the Pungo River we hauled out the jib and turned off the engine for a nice sail west across the Pungo and then south. We bypassed Belhaven which isn't the best anchorage in the winds that seem to persist, and sailed down to Slade Creek which is unmarked... we eased through the shoals at the mouth and were pleased to find more water than the charts indicated. We motored NE about a mile to the first bend and anchored with only crab pots for neighbors.

"Perseverance 2" and "Third Star" joined us shortly. I rowed our new dinghy over to visit and we decided to meet on "Third Star" for snacks at about 5pm.

We had a nice time but had to row back before dark. As usually is the case, we had enough snacks that supper was unnecessary.