Oct. 6 – Columbia, NC

Alligator River Marina

Today we started our duel trek south…me in the car and Stan on the boat. Stan made his way through the Virginia Cut and Albemarle Sound. It was a long day, but he seemed to do fine on the boat alone and the Sound was nice to him. I made my way south through the Outer Banks. The ICW doesn’t take you close to the neat little places on the shore, so I thought I would check them out. I drove through Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hill and Nags Head. I stopped at the Wright Brothers National Memorial and went through the museum, walked the grounds of the first flight airstrip and visited the Wright Brothers Monument. 

I didn’t make it to the beach…but I did drive along the beach road. The homes are built right on the dunes. I wasn’t too impressed with these towns…lots of traffic and surf shops. The town I was impressed with was Manteo on Roanoke Island, a wonderful little town with quaint shops, restaurants, nice marinas and full of history. Definitely a place I would like to come back to with the boat.

I could see Stan and The Pearl as I crossed the Alligator River to the marina. It was perfect timing…I was at the marina and ready to help with his arrival. This is a well kept marina with a convenient store, café and all the amenities a cruiser needs. The only drawback…it’s a long way from anywhere else. We had dinner at the café, and spent the evening visiting with other boaters and getting things ready for another long day tomorrow.

It was a weird feeling watching Stan leave without me

The Wright Brothers National Memorial

This is the spot where the first successful airplane flight took place on Dec. 17. 1903

This 60' monument atop Kill Devil Hill honors the Wright brothers and marks the site of the hundreds of glider flights that preceded the first powered flight. Grass stabilizes the 90' sand dune.

A view of the flight strip from the monument

This is a huge kite I spotted while driving along the Outer Banks

The cute town of Monteo

Manteo Marina

The Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse is modeled after an 1877-1955 screwpile lighthouse that once guided mariners along a narrow channel connecting the Pamlico Sound to the Croatan Sound, at the south side of Roanoke Island in an area known as Roanoke Marshes. Today’s lighthouse is the fourth incarnation of the Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse, and uses a fourth order Fresnel lens.

Stan arriving at the Alligator River Marina