Goat Island Anchorage NC to Miss Wanda mile marker 84

Moving right along south with the calm weather.  I understand New England is having a glorious Indian summer - cool with beautiful colored trees. Threats, but no real snow yet.  We can see the temperatures in different cities and are glad to be in 70 degrees during the day.
  Last night we did dinghy in to the camping dock.

It was a board walk over the swamp and Mazu jumped down into the mud anyway, though it was a high jump back up.  She got a shampoo out of the adventure.
  Shawnee at dusk

Awoke to mist on the water, a few bird calls, and glassy water.  Sleeping weather but we were off by 8:45 toward Elizabeth City. Now in North Carolina.

  A Mazu update:  She takes herself to the aft cabin now for comfort.  Still panting, but less shaking. She came up on the bow herself this morning and "did everything" as we say.  Easy to wash down and throw overboard.  Our 3rd time south, and I think routines are falling into place.
No sailing, but I'm resigned to that and looking forward to sailing my paddle board.  I'd rather go over Albemarle Sound in the calm than in the choppy waters of the past.  No need for the transderm patch for seasickness.
  Going through the Elizabeth City Bridge with construction all around and some delays.

 You can see the left side of the bridge is still down and there is a construction barge in the way on the far side.  The left side went up in time and the barge moved.

 We continued through the day down the Posquotank River.  Another nice thing about the swamp is that there is no need for red and green buoys, markers or nav aids.  It is just the natural landscape.  So pretty.

Out of the swamp and down the river.  This is the US Coast Guard Rescue Training station where they faked that it was an Alaska - named it Kodiak- station for rescue training used in the movie "The Guardian" with Kevin Costner.  They made fake snow for the winter scenes.

We arrived at Alligator River Marina at 3:00.  It's the place where Miss Wanda let us leave our boat (against rules) and drove us to the airport last year when Rhona was so sick.  We flew up to see her in Albany before she died in November. 
     This marina can be sucked dry or flooded when there is a hurricane since the tides are wind driven.  The channel is 5 muddy feet deep to get into the slips.  There are about 16 slips, fuel and dockside tie-ups.  Besides anchorages it is the last stop before the Alligator River Sanctuary where there are no services for many miles.

Miss Wanda's home on the ICW

 little fake lighthouse

 Gas station where they serve dinner and breakfast.  Mazu was very happy to run free.

Still have Belhaven, River Dunes, Moorehead City until the ocean crossing to Florida.
I want to remind myself about a tip a fellow sailor told me about:  Brookgreen Gardens in Myrtle Beach, SC a remarkable sculpture garden that I am dying to see, but may need to do it by car.