Elizabeth City

7/7/07 – I woke up this morning and ate a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast. I weighed anchor and continued north on the Alligator River. I was very confused by some of the channel markers that had been moved since the publication of my charts but none of the water appeared to be shallower than my boat draws so I just went straight through the middle. I crossed Albemarle Sound but the weather was too calm to sail early on. I just set my autopilot on a heading and sat back to relax for a few hours. The wind finally picked up when I got to the Pasquotank River on the other side of the sound. I set both sails and continued for another few hours. In the afternoon, I passed a strange looking old building that I read was an old dirigible hangar from World War II that is currently being used by a blimp manufacturing company. I got to Elizabeth City in the late afternoon and was not exactly sure where to go. I had read that they have city docks that can be used for free but was not sure which ones they were. I was motoring around looking confused when I saw an old man waving me over and pointing to a slip. I decided that this must be the right place. I tied up to the four pilings with the help of the old dockmaster and a fellow boater. The old fellow was a cheerful old man who wore a baseball cap that read WWII VETERAN. He told me all the good restaurants in town and was very helpful. I walked around for a bit and stopped at a burger joint for dinner. I walked around for a little while longer and then headed back to the boat. As I was about to climb aboard, I began talking to the family on the boat right next to me. They invited me over and introduced themselves Tom and Karen. They and their two sons, Zack and Caleb, took a year to sail their 47 foot sailboat down to the Caribbean and back. They homeschooled the kids and have plenty of great stories from their past year. They are also keeping an internet record of their voyage at www.sailthalia.com. I learned that they had some difficulty with the same channel markers earlier in the day but it was a bigger problem for them since they draw much more than me. They told me all the best places to go along my route before I headed back to my boat. I called my dad to wish him a happy birthday and then walked over to a nearby bar where they had a reggae band playing.