Wednesday, May 29, 2019

We planned to depart Belhaven Marina at 8:30, do a quick pump out and be on our way. However, after talking with the dock master about doing a pump out at the city docks (which the marina also operates), there was a problem. Turns out there was a sailboat tied up to the dock that was preventing us from getting to the pump out station. Rumor had it that the sailor on board had a late night and was not moving along as planned. No big deal, the dock master made a quick phone call to another marina in the harbor (River Forest Marina) about helping us out. No problem, if we can wait until they get someone off their dock around 9am. We waited, did our pump and were on our way by 9:50 (everything moves at its own pace around here). 

The trip from Belhaven to Alligator Marina was relatively short (52 miles) and only required one bridge lift, so the day was quite manageable. It was 99 degrees and humid with little breeze as we went through a 24 mile nearly straight canal between the Pungo and Alligator Rivers. We were relieved that the flies of several days ago were nowhere to be seen!  

Alligator River marina is about the only place to pull in for the night on this section of the ICW, plus, how can you pass up staying at a place called Alligator River. It is actually a truck stop near one of the few bridges crossing the ICW in this area and they just happen to have a marina in the back. The people running the place are very nice and the “dock master” was there to help us get into our slip. 

Bo was especially pleased with this marina because just off our boat was a large grassy area where he could do his business. However, the marina had many colorful dragonflies, so whatever time we picked up from the short walk to the grass was taken up by the constant distraction of dragonflies buzzing about.

The truck stop also operates a small grill known for their fried chicken, but you need to place your order by 5pm, so they have it done before they close at six. Two other looper boats were also at the marina, so docktails were organized for 5:30pm. We ordered our 2 two-piece chicken carry-out dinners even though the counter girl strongly encouraged us to get the 8 piece meal (comes with 1 side, we could order one more if the two us us were going to share) because two-piecers were really just snacks. Guess we just don’t eat fried chicken like a southerner. We left the docktails group a little early, picked up our order and got back to the boat for dinner. The reviews were correct, this was some of the best fried chicken we’ve come across during our travels.

The next morning was warm and sunny. We did not see any alligators during our visit, but we did get to meet a very brightly colored frog. He was clinging to our power cord plug at the shore power outlet and seemed quite willing to join us. We encouraged him to jump back onto the dock before we continued to roll up the power cords and move on to our last stop in North Carolina.