To the Dismal

          We crossed into North Carolina on May 5th and we’ve been traversing its coastline for a week.  We made a stop in Southport for a late lunch at Fishy Fishy, after a walk around town.  Dan got his shrimp & grits fix.  We moved from their dock to the Carolina Beach anchorage - no overnights allowed! In fact, the manager came out to tell us we couldn’t hang around at all once we’d eaten. Good thing we did our walk first… 

From there it was a good cruise through the Camp LeJeune marine base to their Mile Hammock Bay for a quiet night with a small handful of other boats.  No war games that night.  We kept our cruising around North Carolina and up to one of our favorite towns - Oriental.  On the way we made a stop at RE Mayo for Dan to pick up some shrimp so he can try to duplicate the shrimp & grits meal he enjoyed at Fishy Fish.  We took advantage of Oriental’s free docks for two nights while the wind blew hard from the east.  Unfortunately, most of the things we tried to visit were closed on Sundays and Mondays, the two days we were there.  Our bad luck streak continues!  

From Oriental we pushed on to Belhaven, another sleepy little town very friendly to boaters.  We’d never been there before, and found it very charming.  As we approached their breakwater, the River Forest Marina hailed us on the radio and offered us a slip.  How could we turn down such warm hospitality?  Their dockhands met us to help tie us up and we got the grand tour from Henry, who has come out of recent retirement to ‘help out’ while the marina is in transition to new owners.  I don’t know the future of this place, but we were charmed by their friendliness and amenities - free laundry, good shower facilities, free use of golf carts to explore the little town.  And we were happy to be protected at the marina when the line of thunderstorms came through later that evening.  Dan did try his hand at shrimp & grits with andouille sausage and okra, and though I didn’t share the meal (seafood allergy), it looked great and he was very pleased with his results.  

        In the morning we snagged one of the golf carts and went on the self-tour of historic homes, beginning and ending with the River Forest Manor, situated across the street from the marina.  

After Belhaven we spent one very quiet night in pretty little anchorage all by ourselves and then moved on to Elizabeth City, gateway to the Dismal Swamp.  We had actually considered taking the Virginia Cut route instead of the Dismal this trip, as we’ve never cruised that way, but the bridge on that route is being powered by generator while they try to fix it, and due to limited openings (every two hours) the USCG is encouraging people to use the Dismal Swamp instead if they are able.  We really didn’t mind coming back through here.  We love the Dismal Swamp.  We arrived at the North Carolina Welcome Center dock around 2:00 pm and spent an hour or so walking the boardwalk in the Swamp Park.  We plan to spend a second night here in the Swamp before moving on to the Portsmouth/Norfolk area.  

Leaving Elizabeth City for the Dismal Swamp