Life in the Slow Lane (The Pearl): Oct. 4

Bonner Bay - Anchorage

A big part of our day today was spent in the Alligator-Pungo Canal. This man made canal is twenty-one miles long. It connects the Alligator and Pungo Rivers, which in turn connect the Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds. It provides a protected waterway between these two large bodies of water which are known to be quite rough at times...today both were very calm. When the canal was dug in the 1950's its main purpose was to improve drainage for local farmland.

The canal is 200 to 300 feet wide, running dead straight with only a slight bend in the middle. At the speed we go we can look down to the curve in the middle and know that we won't be there for hours. There is nothing on either side of the canal until you get close to the Pungo River and then there are only a few homes. There is also very little wildlife to see, although we did spot two bald eagles as we entered the canal. Boat traffic this year has been very light, we only saw two trawlers, two sailboats, one large yacht and one tug all day and we traveled over 80 miles. Maybe we're a little ahead of the crowd this year.

We planned on stopping in Belhaven today, but it was early when we came close and such a nice day, that we decided to push on. The next few days look nice and then we will begin to get the remnants of tropical storm Karen...rain and stronger winds. So we want to get some of the big water behind us. Once we cross the Neuse River tomorrow we'll mainly be in the ICW and smaller bays...easier to handle in the wind and rain. Our anchorage tonight is a lot like last night's...quiet, dark and full of little bugs. I think they're mosquitoes this time, so maybe I won't have to spend the morning washing the decks off like I did today. The scenery in this part of North Carolina isn't very impressive, but our sunsets have been spectacular.

This was about it for boat traffic today.