Ablemarle Sound

 This morning dawned bright and sunny with virtually no wind. Of course it was later than we thought because of the clock change. We successfully backed out of our slip (always a challenge) and headed down the Pasquotank River. We passed by the largest Coast Guard air base. We met a passle of Coast Guard flyboys last night at the bar. They were on liberty before the final push to graduation in 2 weeks so we waved when they flew over us (ha ha).

   We then passed by the place where most of the blimps in the world are built. They had used blimps as submarine spotters during the war. 



We had gone to the Ablemarle museum in town yesterday. It was very informative as they displayed the artifacts chronologically. This is why we can point out some of these sights  

    We had hoped to do a little sailing but those hopes were dashed by there being no wind. Still it was a very pleasant day and we were cruising down the river at 6.5 knots. We crossed the Ablemarle Sound with barely a ripple on the water. This is a notoriously rough body of water. We crossed through the Alligator River bridge by noon and said what the heck let’s keep going. We cruised all the way up the Alligator River and anchored just around a point where we gained a little protection from the waves that were starting to kick up. This is all very shallow. We are in 9 feet of water and I don’t think I saw more than 12 feet of water all day. This is one of the first places we’ve been that has no lights on the shore. Most of the shore is a wildlife preserve and it’s just one big swamp. The tallest things are the cypress trees. It’s very dark and there are lots of stars out tonight.

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