Oriental, N.C. – Alligator River, May 10, 2008

We left Oriental around 8 this morning after a much calmer night. Today’s travels took us on the Neuse River, Pamilco River, Pungo River and the Pungo River-Alligator River Canal. Some of the rivers were very wide and reminded us of when we were in the Gulf of Mexico. We could see land a couple miles away and only on one side.

We did a little work on the boat while we were underway. We sanded some areas of the bridge to repair the bad repairs the previous owner had made.

We passed a manta ray swimming in the water but couldn’t get the camera fast enough to get a picture.

Today was a very long day. The forecast for tomorrow talks of 10-15 knot winds increasing considerably in the afternoon. We need to cross Albermarle Sound and if the winds are greater than 15 knots we are advised to wait and not attempt the crossing. If we can’t cross tomorrow, we may have to wait till Wednesday because the high winds are expected to continue for 3-4 days. So, we wanted to go as far as we could today and plan to be underway at sunup so we can be across the sound by 10:00 a.m.

We dropped anchor at 6:15 and traveled 78.7 miles.