After leaving New Bern, NC on Wednesday, May 21, we traveled down the Neuse River, around Maw Point and on up to Belhaven, NC and Dowry Creek Marina. Mary runs the marina alone after loosing her husband a few years ago. She has some great help from the liveaboards at the marina. Dowry Creek is a great stop with a beautiful pool, boater’s lounge, laundry and a Dodge Durango courtesy car to take into Belhaven. We stayed here three days and took the car to town twice for groceries and lunch at O’Neal’s Snack Bar.
On Friday night, May 23, Mary organized a potluck supper for any boater on the docks. The folks on “ADNIL” (we’d first met John and Linda at Harbour Town Marina on HHI) 
grilled “Beer Can Chickens” and everyone brought a dish to pass. Yummy dinner!
At Dowry Creek we saw our first jellyfish of the trip. Another unusual sight at Dowry Creek is the “bottle tree”. It was built by a fellow cruiser along with a handmade sign to explain the legend behind the tree.
Saturday, May 24, we departed Dowry Creek on a cloudy, drizzly morning and head
ed up the Alligator River-Pungo Canal followed by a flock of seagulls. The birds obviously thought TOM-KAT was a shrimp or crab boat! It was a little scary, like the movie, The Birds! This was the day for bird sightings. At 9:40am, we spotted our first bald eagle sitting high up in a tree. That was a thrill to see one in the wild.
As we were entering the canal, we passed “Safari of Howth”, a sailboat that had sailed across the Atlantic Ocean from Dublin, Ireland. What tales they must have to tell.
At 1:45pm we pulled into Alligator River Marina to spend the rest of the Memorial Day Weekend. We had planned to fuel up here, but the marina wouldn’t quote us prices over the VHF or the cell phone. We discovered that the diesel price was $4.62.9 a gallon, so we decided to wait. We were pretty sure that we could get fuel cheaper once we were in the Chesapeake. We were able to get several loads of laundry done though.
On Memorial Day, May 26, we left Alligator River Marina very early (6:05am) in order to cross Albemarle Sound before the wind picked up. It’s only 59 degrees, but it’s fairly calm and the waves on the Sound are less than 1’. In the afternoon the winds are supposed to pick up to 20 knots with higher waves.
By 8:30am, we were safely across Albemarle Sound and on the Pasquotank River. We passed this unusual looking building on the river’s western shore. The building was used to make dirigibles in World War II. Today they make blimps in this facility. About 10:30am, we pulled into the free
docks in Elizabeth City, NC. also known as the “Harbor of Hospitality” and for the “Rose Buddy” program. The city goes out of its way to make boaters feel welcome, including free dockage for 48 hours, free rides to the local grocery store, a wine and cheese party (if more than four boats are present) and a rose for the lady on board, delivered by one of the “Rose Buddies”. The mayor of the city also pays a visit to the town’s waterfront to welcome boaters to his city. When we met mayor, Steve, he mentioned that he and his wife would like to do some
boating on the ICW and to the Bahamas, so we invited him aboard to see TOM-KAT. Later in the evening, Steve returned with his wife, Joan and granddaughter, Gabrielle for another boat tour. Elizabeth City is fortunate to have such an enthusiastic mayor and one who recognizes the value in the city’s waterfront location!
Elizabeth City is home to a beautiful brand new museum called the Museum of th
e Albemarle. The lobby’s centerpiece is a restored 1904 Albemarle Sound Shad Boat (North Carolina’s State Boat). You can wander through six historic
districts and learn of times when Blackbeard sailed these waters to a visit by the Wright Brothers to reprovison on their way to Kitty Hawk on the Outer Banks just before their famous flight.
We stayed three days in EC due to inclement weather. On Wednesday we called the local “Farm Fresh” grocery store and they came and picked us up, so we could shop in the store and then they brought us back to the boat……Great Service!
Stay tuned for our journey through the “Dismal Swamp”!
Best Wishes,
Sue and Bob
grilled “Beer Can Chickens” and everyone brought a dish to pass. Yummy dinner!
ed up the Alligator River-Pungo Canal followed by a flock of seagulls. The birds obviously thought TOM-KAT was a shrimp or crab boat! It was a little scary, like the movie, The Birds! This was the day for bird sightings. At 9:40am, we spotted our first bald eagle sitting high up in a tree. That was a thrill to see one in the wild.
docks in 
boating on the ICW and to the 
e 
districts and learn of times when Blackbeard sailed these waters to a visit by the Wright Brothers to reprovison on their way to 
