It’s not ALWAYS sunny…

June 25th dawned partly sunny, and after some coffee, we got the boat ready to continue our journey north.  

Today’s plan was to cruise up the Neuse River, cross the Pamlico River and anchor on the Pungo River at Deep Point Anchorage.  The day rapidly became overcast, but that’s ok – it was also cooler.  

The trip up was uneventful (which is also not a bad thing).  The landscape is much more remote, with groves of pine trees and large swatches of grasslands being much more common than signs of human habitation.  

When we reached our intended destination to turn off of the ICW into our anchorage, we were foiled from traveling too far into the cove by hordes of crab pots.  These are the bane of most cruisers’ existence.  Crab pots are placed by local watermen, each marked by a color coded buoy floating on the surface.  They are not to be taken lightly, as the lines can foul a prop or get caught on a stabilizer fin necessitating a dive under the hull to free.

We ended up anchoring just off the main channel, again in deep silence.  Once the anchor was set and the engine stilled, we noticed that fog had settled around us, and a soft drizzle of rain was falling.  Not to be deterred, we still swam in the water (no jellies here!) and noticed how much less salt was in the water.  This makes sense, as we are now quite a distance from the ocean, but it’s been a long while since we’ve been in relatively fresh water, and it’s the first time since we’ve been on the boat.  The fog lifted, the rain stopped, and now we hear the terns and gulls calling to each other as the sun sets.  Being here calls to mind what it must have been like for the Native Americans and first European explorers. The vast stillness and beauty of this area can transport you to another time.  We never knew North Carolina had all this to offer.