We departed Elizabeth City and I thought to myself… I’ll be back.

We wanted to get ahead of the weather that was coming in two days. When you cruise on a slow boat, how far you get depends on how early and late you run. There is no “just crank up the throttle and double the distance”. That meant we were making breakfast while underway.

The cruise down the Pasquotank River was peaceful.

Buddy was working on the bow and the seas were flat.

A catamaran was slowing passing us. I could not quite get the name but wonder now as I type if it was the catamaran that hailed from Alaska that we would eventually tie up next to?

Buddy was quick to point out a dirigible hanger along the rivers edge. I had never seen one.

Soon we were crossing Albemarle Sound and making our way into the Alligator River. You must get through the Alligator River swing bridge before coming to the aptly named Alligator River Pungo River Canal.

The southern end of the Alligator River begins to narrow and you find the entrance to the Alligator River Pungo River Canal. This canal was an engineered cut through the land and you can set the autopilot and go for what seems like miles before you have to make a tiny adjustment to your heading.

In the canal and all along the ICW you pass what are called ICW statute mile markers.

You will almost definitely have to pass a tug & barge

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With the day coming to a close we decided to anchor at the southern end of the canal rather than push on to the town of Belhaven, NC.

Luckily for us it was not duck hunting season or I’m sure we’d be seeing shotgun barrels poking out of the grasses that line the banks.