Voyage 2007-2008: Chapter 5

24 May 2008, Enjoying Elizabeth City, 36 18.000 N/ 076 12.729 W

We ventured to the 'free docks' on the other side of the bridge after we had a great lunch at the Marina Restaurant (best food in town). We saw a bunch of folks, including friends of Moony and our old slip mates from Mona Black Marina, MV ETC. Wolfgang and Gabi on SV Rasmus (Hamburg), had met up with Wolfgang and Denise many times on Moony's current circumnavigation and their past one in 1997. They are a very nice couple who are exploring the USA, due in some part to Moony's encouragement. We invited them accross the bridge to Jule III and had a good evening. They left by car on the next day to pick up their brother so we did not see them again.

We also met up with Ron and Linda of MV ETC at the free docks. They invited us to a pot luck where they provided all of the luck. It was great. Three other trawlers were also invited. Wow, motor boat guys are actually nice. Go figure! Actually, two of them are former sailors so maybe it is not so surprising after all. Anyways, we had a great time with them and hopefully, we will meet at the NC Visitor's Center (Dismal swamp Canal) tomorrow.

25 May 2008, Pasquatank, South Mills, and the Dismal swamp, 36 30.429 N/ 076 21.356 W

Our trawler buddies left at 0730 while we decided to have a last shower and say goodbye to the Pelican crew. We opened the Elizabeth City bridge at 0915 and started our leisurely trip for a 1100 opening of the south Mills lock. Though it was cloudy with an occasional rain drop, the trip up the Pasquatank was lovely. This is one of Bob's favorite stretches of the ICW. God, he started to sing. Not a pleasant experience but he was happy.

We had an effortless locking at South Mills due in large part to lockmaster, Frank. He makes it look easy. The Dismal Swamp Canal had about 1 foot more water than last fall. Moony would have liked it. We arrived at the DSC Visior's Center around 1230 where MV ETC had saved us a space rafted with them. They are such nice folks! Of course, they used to be sailors! They sponsored another pot luck where they provided much of the luck. In addition to the trawler gang, we had a couple of sail boats. We found that we had more in common with the trawlers. This could be a bad sign for us!