Down the Pungo River to Oriental, N.C.

There were three boats moored alongside of the quay near us.  We had met them all in the restaurant the night before.  So come 6:30 in the morning we all left within 15 minutes of each other.  One of the boat's crew had  told us about an anchorage on the Pungo River just after the Alligator Pungo canal which was a long 65 miles from where we started from.  This was going to be a long day crossing 14 miles of the shallow wavy Abelmare Sound and the down the long canal.  Going through Abelmre Sound we actually got to sail for a couple of hours.  At the end of the Sound is the Alligator River Bridge and the Bridge commander helps the bridge for our group and four other sailboats before he let us all go together. So after that it was just each of us following the other for four hours through the canal.  Just after sunset we all exited the canal and anchored in the Pungo River.

We had been having trouble with our alternator not charging the batteries, so on the way John wiggled some wires and found one of them was probably corroded.  After we anchored our handy John took the corroded cable off and cleaned and pounded it back together to solve our problem.  So we completed this task and went to start the engine to see if this solved the problem.  The only problem now was the engine wouldn't turn over.  So here we are in the middle of nowhere and no engine.  So 'Mr Problem Solver John' went to work and after two hours replaced another cable and, voila,  problem solved (it was one of those try everything and maybe something will work!).  So a good meal was had and off to sleep knowing the engine would start in the morning.

We were the last to leave in the morning but had a great day where we even got in a few hours of sailing.  We ended up at a marina in Oriental, NC.  The marina is part of a hotel and on our first night they had a band so it was quite fun...even though it was Halloween the Halloween party wasn't until Saturday night.  We decided to stay until Sunday since there was going to be high winds and rain.  So John worked on the boat while I walked about the town.  The Halloween party was interrupted with high winds and cold so there wasn't a huge crowd but we met other boaters heading south and some of the locals so a good time was had and the band was very good.

Toady I watched football while John again worked on the boat...I sound pretty lazy??  Tomorrow, Monday we are off for Beaufort/Morehead City which is an easy 20 mile trip.