When I first rejoined this group, Don on Moonstruck invited me to post about cruising in NC since we had just retired to Oriental. We just got back from a week's cruise from Oriental up to Edenton on the western Albermarle and then over to Manteo on the upper outer banks and down to Ocracoke on the southern part of the outer banks. So here is the report.
We went slow at first, 7 kts average speed, so it took two days to get to Edenton. Our first stop was an anchorage in the southern end of the Alligator River just after you exit the canal. Deer flies, greenheads or whatever were horrible passing through Hobucken (same thing last year at this time) and it wasn't until we got in to open water on the Pungo River that I could get them all with a fly swatter. Fortunately no more after that.
There are several places to anchor on the Alligator depending on wind direction but since it was out of the north we anchored up against the northern shore and spent a quiet night at anchor.
The next morning we headed up the Alligator River in to 10+ kts of wind on our nose that probably built to 15-20 by the time we turned west in to the Albermarle. It was pretty rough for a few hours with the wind on the beam and at least 5 miles of fetch for the waves to build. But we finally got further in to the sound and the waves abated.
Edenton was the jewel of the trip. We tied up at the town marina which is free for the first two nights except for power which was $3.00 for 30 amp. The marina is right in the heart of town and a pretty one it is. There is a courthouse built in the early 1700s that is worth a look. Also the Cupola House and gardens. A couple of good restaurants are on Broad Street a block or two from the marina.
The town marina has a truck that you can borrow for shopping so we picked up a few forgotten provisioning items.
After a couple of days exploring the town and eating good food we headed east to Manteo. You go all of the way to the eastern end of the Albermarle and then turn south in to Roanoke Sound and around to Manteo.
Manteo has enough free docks that I suspect they never fill up. Probably room for a dozen boats and we were the only cruiser there. We tied up at the pier that ends at a gazebo. The town is right there similar to Edenton but much smaller. The downtown has been redeveloped and it all had the same architectural theme- nice but nothing like Edenton. There were shops, a couple of restaurants and a nice pub with an on premises brewery.
We left Manteo the next morning and then faced 15 NM of tight channel navigation. Depths were ok, nothing less than 7' but you had to pay attention, particularly when the red/greens switch at the Oregon Inlet.
Having had enough of that stuff once we broke in to the open Pamlico we goosed the boat up to 14 kts for then next three hours to Ocracoke. Moderate wind on our stern helped.
This was our 3rd or 4th time to visit Ocracoke, but we were disappointed that the National Park Service had closed their docks for repairs. I suspect that they are open now. No problem, Silver Lake has room for dozens of anchored boats (which there were) but every one seemed to have room.
The crowd this Memorial Day weekend seemed to be lighter than last year for some reason and the bars/restaurants were a bit subdued but we enjoyed ourselves. Like last year there were three bars with bands going at the same time so we could do a pub crawl, but we just focused on one this time.
We hung out on the hook for two days and then headed home to Oriental. The horse seemed to smell the barn so we opened her up and made it home in less than 3 hours.
The only real boat problem was that the Raymarine GPS fix packed it in on our chartplotter half way through the trip. So I propped up my Nexus 7 with MxMariner on the helm and didn't miss the Raymarine at all.
As a postscript it will cost about double to replace the defunct Raymarine GPS than the full cost of the Nexus. Oh well, it is installed on a boat isn't it.
Edenton, Manteo and Ocracoke are out of the way for ICW cruisers. If you are going north on the ICW it isn't that many miles out of your way to go to Ocracoke, then Manteo and then catch up with the Coinjock route going on to Portsmouth. But you miss the prize- Edenton which is 30 miles off the ICW track any way you cut it. But worth going there at least once.
David
We went slow at first, 7 kts average speed, so it took two days to get to Edenton. Our first stop was an anchorage in the southern end of the Alligator River just after you exit the canal. Deer flies, greenheads or whatever were horrible passing through Hobucken (same thing last year at this time) and it wasn't until we got in to open water on the Pungo River that I could get them all with a fly swatter. Fortunately no more after that.
There are several places to anchor on the Alligator depending on wind direction but since it was out of the north we anchored up against the northern shore and spent a quiet night at anchor.
The next morning we headed up the Alligator River in to 10+ kts of wind on our nose that probably built to 15-20 by the time we turned west in to the Albermarle. It was pretty rough for a few hours with the wind on the beam and at least 5 miles of fetch for the waves to build. But we finally got further in to the sound and the waves abated.
Edenton was the jewel of the trip. We tied up at the town marina which is free for the first two nights except for power which was $3.00 for 30 amp. The marina is right in the heart of town and a pretty one it is. There is a courthouse built in the early 1700s that is worth a look. Also the Cupola House and gardens. A couple of good restaurants are on Broad Street a block or two from the marina.
The town marina has a truck that you can borrow for shopping so we picked up a few forgotten provisioning items.
After a couple of days exploring the town and eating good food we headed east to Manteo. You go all of the way to the eastern end of the Albermarle and then turn south in to Roanoke Sound and around to Manteo.
Manteo has enough free docks that I suspect they never fill up. Probably room for a dozen boats and we were the only cruiser there. We tied up at the pier that ends at a gazebo. The town is right there similar to Edenton but much smaller. The downtown has been redeveloped and it all had the same architectural theme- nice but nothing like Edenton. There were shops, a couple of restaurants and a nice pub with an on premises brewery.
We left Manteo the next morning and then faced 15 NM of tight channel navigation. Depths were ok, nothing less than 7' but you had to pay attention, particularly when the red/greens switch at the Oregon Inlet.
Having had enough of that stuff once we broke in to the open Pamlico we goosed the boat up to 14 kts for then next three hours to Ocracoke. Moderate wind on our stern helped.
This was our 3rd or 4th time to visit Ocracoke, but we were disappointed that the National Park Service had closed their docks for repairs. I suspect that they are open now. No problem, Silver Lake has room for dozens of anchored boats (which there were) but every one seemed to have room.
The crowd this Memorial Day weekend seemed to be lighter than last year for some reason and the bars/restaurants were a bit subdued but we enjoyed ourselves. Like last year there were three bars with bands going at the same time so we could do a pub crawl, but we just focused on one this time.
We hung out on the hook for two days and then headed home to Oriental. The horse seemed to smell the barn so we opened her up and made it home in less than 3 hours.
The only real boat problem was that the Raymarine GPS fix packed it in on our chartplotter half way through the trip. So I propped up my Nexus 7 with MxMariner on the helm and didn't miss the Raymarine at all.
As a postscript it will cost about double to replace the defunct Raymarine GPS than the full cost of the Nexus. Oh well, it is installed on a boat isn't it.
Edenton, Manteo and Ocracoke are out of the way for ICW cruisers. If you are going north on the ICW it isn't that many miles out of your way to go to Ocracoke, then Manteo and then catch up with the Coinjock route going on to Portsmouth. But you miss the prize- Edenton which is 30 miles off the ICW track any way you cut it. But worth going there at least once.
David
