Onward

 11/6- The anchor was on deck by 7:30 this morning and we were in the Alligator River/ Pungo canal almost immediately. This is a straight cut canal that goes for 20 miles through this wilderness. As boring as it may sound the canal (and swamp) have a beauty all their own. This was some really open marshland interrupted by copses of pines and cypresses. The banks of the canal are constantly being eroded by boat traffic and you can see trees tottering on the edge. There many rotted stumps along the side of the channel to remind you where the bank once was. We were somewhat disappointed that we didn’t see much wildlife even though it was early in the day. There were very few birds except for a bunch of vultures. 

    We finally exited the canal and entered the Pungo River. Like all the water around here it is an extremely wide and very shallow body of water. Again today we never saw more than 15 feet of water under the keel. One of the axioms around here is this is half land and half water. Any kind of rise in ocean levels will have a devastating effect. 

    We anchored in a large bay called Slade Creek. We were in 9 feet of water and that was one of the deeper areas to anchor. I still feel like I’m in the middle of the ocean as shore is more than a mile away. There are very small to nonexistent tides here. The lunar tide is only a couple of inches but they have what is called a wind tide  if the wind blows strong enough and long enough it pushes water either in or out of the river. That’s why they have height boards on all the bridges so you can tell the actual height of the water. 

It is another dark evening though there are lights from the various communities along the shore. We made it to Mile 140 today.