Gum Neck Creek

On Thursday we departed Elizabeth City NC at 0630, along with 6 other boats. Down the remainder of the Pasquotank River and then 12 miles across Albemarle Sound, where the predicted 5-10 knot SW wind and 1 ft waves was actually 15 knots and 3 ft steep chop on our starboard beam. That made for 2 hours of no fun.

Conditions calmed down as we entered the Alligator River on which we cruised 18 miles south, then hooked westwards. At the top of the Alligator-Pungo Canal we diverted from the ICW, continuing a mile along the Alligator to anchor off of Piney Point. Total distance traveled was about 48 miles.

This was a very remote and beautiful anchorage. Zero AT&T coverage and intermittent Verizon coverage. Surrounded by scrubby swampland that made landing the dogs impractical, EXCEPT that we happened to be across from a little hidden creek that snaked into the swamp to end at Gum Neck Landing, a state boat ramp.

Taking the dinghy up there was kind of magical. Here are some pix.

First the creek entrance. Without those markers it would be impossible to find.

The dogs are excited. Note that they are wearing cold weather garb and that Riggs is leashed in case he tries to bolt after some critter.

As we enter the creek we are warned about submerged stumps, etc. We proceed very slowly.

We motor up the creek, which is perfectly still.

At creek's end is a half sunk boat and a small dock, which we tie onto.

Yes this is civilization. There is even grass for the dogs.

We walk inland a bit and discover we're in farm country.

So we visited the landing Thursday afternoon and again Friday morning. Then we pulled anchor, cruised back to the ICW, and entered the Alligator-Pungo Canal, a 20 mile ditch through more swampland and forests.

The canal put us in the Pungo River and in another hour or so we pulled into Belhaven NC and dropped anchor. We had time for a walking tour of the town, took the dogs back to Spray, and then we humans spent some Yankee dollars at a new tavern and then a new fancy restaurant. Sweet.

Today we cross Pamlico Sound and cruise on to Oriental NC.

 

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