After two weeks of being tethered to a slip at New Bern Grand Marina and Yacht Club, we were raring to get Scout back out on the water and continue our adventure. Tuesday (8/27) morning we released our lines, called the bridge tender to request the Cunningham Bridge be opened, then headed north.

We decided to make our way to the Outer Banks before heading to the Chesapeake Bay. Our first stop was an anchorage called Broad Creek #2 outside Oriental, NC. We dropped the hook about noon. Again, we were all alone in a beautiful, quiet and secluded anchorage. Our view was a sprinkling of waterfront homes, lots of greenery and a couple of private marinas with a few boats (mostly sailboats). We lowered Scout-About and took a little tour of the area. Up the creek we found River Dunes Marina. We tied Scout-About up and went for a walk-about. The entire place felt like a movie set. Everything was newish and there were NO people around, not anywhere. I walked into a store that had an open sign – the shopkeeper didn’t even acknowledge my presence and the shelves were pretty much bare. There was a bag of marshmallows on a shelf, the freezer had a couple of pints of ice cream, but mostly just empty shelves.  Kind of an eerie feeling, almost as if we had just entered the “Twilight Zone” nu…nu….nu….nu. Back on the boat we felt secure and had a lovely calm night at anchor.

Wednesday (8/28) we were up before 5:00 and weighed anchor about 7:30 to make our way to Bellhaven, NC. It was a short trip and the weather had turned a bit chilly which we welcomed. Arriving at Bellhaven Marina around noon we secured the boat and hopped off for a walk-about and lunch. This is a pretty sleepy town – not much to see or do. Some beautiful homes but that’s about it. We relaxed on the boat and had another lovely and quiet evening.

We woke to another gorgeous morning on Thursday (8/29), cleaned the boat and did a few boat chores including filling up with fresh water and pumping out, then headed out about 9:30. We knew we were going to anchor this evening in the Alligator River but when we reached our destination we felt it was a little too exposed so decided to continue on. Along the way we passed a pleasure craft that was 155-feet long with a 30-foot beam. We could see on AIS that it was traveling at 23 knots but, fortunately, she slowed down as they approached us. You might be able to see the gal in a white bikini on the fore deck. She looks like a little speck on that big boat. We also came head to head with a huge tug/barge in the narrow canal between the Pungo and Alligator river, on a curve, with a bridge, and with crab pots on both sides. That was a tight fit.

We reached Broad Creek (different Broad Creek) and dropped anchor in about six feet of water. This was definitely in the middle of nowhere – nothing around but swamp land, it was gorgeous swamp land which provided a quiet and very private setting. It was about 4:00 and the weather was cool, so we sat outside and enjoyed the view. Dinner was grilled steaks on the barbie just before sunset because we had read reviews that said the area could be a little buggy at night. We watched the huge orange sun sink behind the trees and the sky all around us turn a brilliant orange as we dined. It was amazingly beautiful! It was dark by the time we finished dinner and we heard a humming sound outside, so we turned the outside light on to investigate. What we saw was unbelievable – it was a swarm of mosquitoes and what looked like millions of them attached to the screen doors (I mean a blanket of bugs) and every other place on the boat. We realized we couldn’t close the glass doors without letting the bugs in, so we turned on the air conditioning and spent the night with both a/c ‘s going full blast with doors open, except for the screen doors. We just hoped the bugs wouldn’t eat through the screens and come inside and devour us. Needless to say, we didn’t get much sleep, getting up numerous times to check on things – yep bugs still outside – not inside – that’s a good thing. It felt like an “Alfred Hitchcock” movie. Scary….

Up this morning (Friday 8/30) before 5:00 hoping the bugs were gone. Nope, still here so back to bed until daylight. Finally, about 7:00 we could get outside. Still lots of bugs on board but some had left us. We weighed anchor and got the heck out of dodge, headed for the town of Manteo on the Island of Roanoke, NC.

Arrived at Manteo Waterfront Marina about 11:30 and spent most of the day washing and cleaning the boat getting rid of the bugs that hitched a ride with us and bug residue. In the afternoon we went for a walk-about and discovered a lovely and vibrant little town. We walked to the Piggly-Wiggly, Ace Hardware, stopped for a glass of wine at a charming wine bar and dropped in to introduce ourselves and say hi to Doc and Ceci’s artist friend Possum (John Silver) at his art studio. This is a pretty cool spot, we think we’ll stay a while.

We appreciate everyone’s comments concerning Hurricane Dorian. We’re keeping a watchful eye on it. Will keep you posted…..