6 November 2016 – Alligator River Marina – Dowry Creek Marina, Belhaven, NC
We were up and on our way early today as the time change brings sunrise an hour earlier.
The wide Alligator river was calm this morning as made our way down.
We then made the turn in to the more narrow Alligator Pungo Canal connecting the two rivers.
Many folks have asked us if we have seen many new hazards due to last month’s hurricane (Matthew). On the radio today we heard about multiple sightings of non-moving pilings or logs in the channel further down the way. The navigation app we use also reported a new large pole sticking out of the water inside the channel. We kept our eyes open and sure enough there it was off to the side, but still in the channel, and a definite hazard for the unwary.
It was during this portion of the trip last year that we had seen a deer swimming across the canal. Amazingly again today at about the exact same spot a young deer swam across from one shore to the other in front of us. Once it got to the other side it shook its coat dry, much like a dog does, and proceeded to prance up and down the shore apparently having fun. (A half hour later boats behind us talked about seeing a stag do the same — now that would have been a sight.)
It was a quiet and peaceful day on the water.
We always seem to get the same slip at Dowry Creek Marina, always seem to arrive when the wind picks up, but with excellent dockhands assisting, we were safely tied in our slip without incident and enjoyed the peaceful sunset.