North Star on the Great Loop Journey: Elizabeth City North Carolina

Preparing for the trip

Captain Jerry has been making the final preparations to North Star, our 32 foot Cape Island down east trawler. We are anxious to leave our landlubber lives behind and begin our long awaited journey around the Great Circle. Join us as we travel 10, 000 kilometers: through the historic Trent Severn Waterway; the pristine waters of Georgian Bay; the North Channel of lake Huron; and hop from beach to beach on lake Michigan. We will visit Chicago and begin our trek along the rivers: Illinois; upper Mississippi; Ohio; Cumberland: Tennessee; Tenn-Tom Waterway and the Black Warrior. We will have transited through 68 locks at this juncture. We have chosen the inner route from Mobile Alabama to Tarpon Springs Florida and the shorter Ocheechobee Waterway to reach the East coast of Florida. We will skip over to the Bahamas to wait out the winter before heading North on the Atlantic Inter Coastal Waterway.
The 10 years of researching and planning are finally at an end and we invite you to come along on our adventure.

Friday, April 20, 2012

Elizabeth City North Carolina

Long Shoal point anchorage

We had a peaceful night at anchorage on the Little Alligator River at Long Shoal Point (35 56.8 and W76 02.5) last night after a rough day on the Alligator River. We got up at first light to cross Abermarle Sound, the biggest sound yet on this trip. It turned out to be a calm and pleasant steam on the 20 mile wide body of water. It was like a sheet of glass.
We are at Elizabeth City where all the docks are free. We were at a rocky dock earlier but with south winds, we decided to move and are now at a much better spot beyond the 4 foot bridge. There is a lock up the way that has restricted hours so we are at a better vantage point to get through it.

Albermarle Sound looks like a great lake

They have the Rose buddies here who are a group of volunteers who help boats dock during the day and then put on a wine and cheese party in the evening. They give the ladies a rose, I did not take one since I don't have a vase. Very accommodating place. It was nice chatting with our fellow boaters.
We went to the Abermarle Museum this afternoon to get a sense of the history of the place and to see the civil war and coast guard exhibits. Very well done.
We found a nice pub and restaurant for dinner, a Key West Grill with a Margueritaville theme and had some nice food.
The weather is supposed to deteriorate tomorrow evening so we will most likely stay put until this weather system passes.