At last blog post we were just inside the Dismal Swamp Canal with friends. From there the three of us, Hi Flite, New Song and Packet Dreams, moved down the canal to the visitors Center which is a combination of highway/canal visitor center and highway rest stop. The next morning we left continuing down to the South Creek Locks. After locking down we continued to Elizabeth City. Elizabeth City is very cruiser friendly with several free docks available. The three boats decided to stay at the Mid Atlantic Christian University docks. These people are very friendly, they gave us a ride to and from the laundromat, offer use of the showers in the gym, use of the cafeteria for our meals and a firepit for an evening fire, all of which we greatly appreciated. In the morning, after a breakfast in the cafeteria, we moved down the river, crossed the Albemarle Sound and anchored for the night at the Alligator/Pungo Canal. In the morning when the fog cleared we continued down the canal crossing the Pamlico River and anchored for the night in Goose Creek. The next morning we continued on to the Neuse River and moved up Broad Creek to tie up at the dock at our friends, Jerry and Donna on Bluejacket.
After picking up a rental car we started our projects. We made several trips to the storage unit swapping out summer stuff for winter stuff trying to get ready for the trip south. There were multiple trips to provision and pick up some boat parts we had ordered and delivered to friends. Cori got out her sewing machine and materials and worked on a couple of projects. After nine days at the dock we moved down to Oriental. We need to have the boat hauled out of the water to have an inspection, called a marine survey, performed to satisfy our insurance company. We made arrangement at one of the boatyards to be hauled out and have a couple of maintenance issues taken care of along with the survey.
At this writing the survey is complete with no major issues, the final report will arrive in a couple of days, and we are waiting on a part that should be here in the morning at which time we will be moved back into the water. There is a weather front forecast so we will stay in the area over the weekend and then head out on our next adventure.
The final numbers on our summer cruise 1576 nautical miles or 1813 statute miles. About the distance from New York City to Chicago and back.
Our plans, always subject to change, are to make several jumps down the eastern seaboard arriving in Florida. Once there we will wait for a weather window allowing us to cross over to the Bahamas. Most years we stay in the islands for six months but this year we are planning to only stay for three figuring mid December to mid-March.
