June 1, 2014
We got a late start from Dowry. The plan was to cruise about thirty some miles and anchor at the south end of the Alligator River. Today was not the day for plans to work out.

We had one exciting event coming through the Alligator-Pungo Canal. We sighted a pretty good sized black bear. He was near the water’s edge when he spotted us. He turned and raced up the bank and back in to some tall grass and trees. Boy could he move. Don’t think I could out run one of these guys.

The wind never made the forecasted shift so we had wind on the nose in the canal. Actually we had two foot roller waves meeting us head on the last couple of miles in the canal. When we exited the canal, it was immediately apparent that we were not going to use any of the several anchorages there. Anchoring meant we would have endured a miserable night on the hook so we continued up the Alligator River toward the marina just on the north side of the bridge. Phone service is almost non-existent in the area so we waited until we were almost there to contact the marina. Fortunately, they had space for us.

 
When we arrived, we met several other cruisers who had been at Dowry Creek the night before. We decided to do a group dinner at the little restaurant there. We dined and Miss Wanda (owner) stopped by to say hello and chat with us. The food was good, the company excellent and a good time was had by all.
 
We retired for the evening with cool temperatures, the wind still out of the NE, a forecast for light ENE winds in the morning. Hope the forecasters are better than the ones we had today.

Start: 0800

Stop: 1600
Distance Traveled: 58 miles
Avg Speed 7.2 mph
Location: Alligator River Marina, NC, MM 81