Manteo to Elizabeth City NC

I hate crab pots.  Have I mentioned that i hate crab pots?  I like to eat crab.  I do not like the devices they use to catch them because they are a threat to mariners.   I'm sick of driving around them and trying to avoid them everywhere we navigate.  

But at least we are doing better than this guy...


Crab pots look bigger with a zoom but they are about 4x6 (inches) half submerged and concealed completely by waves half the time....

We were the only boat at the free dock yesterday.... 

We decided to explore Manteo more this morning before we left our free wall.  It turns out Roanoke Island is the location of the first English settlement EVER on this continent.    

We visited the Roanoke Island Festival Park.  Here they have a replica of the early village, native villages and the HMS Elizabeth ship (one of the ships) that sailed that first voyage. 

Manteo was a tribal leader, as was Wanchese (the two main towns here now are named after them).  They were also close friends.  The Roanoke tribe was located here.  The Croatan people were located across the straights on the mainland.  

The settlement disappeared and no one really knows what happened to it.  There are multiple theories.   Killed.  Moved.  Or Assimilated.   Either way when Mr White returned from England his family and village were abandoned.  

50 people lived on this boat.  (About 60ft) crossing the ocean.   No thanks.   Zero personal space...  

This was their windlass... Lol. 

Human powered anchor retrieval....

This boat was built before steering wheels so they steered with a rudder lever.  

There were replica blacksmith shops and woodworking equipment as well.  I even got to play with some of them.  This would be a hard way to turn a lathe or shape a board....


After we visited the park, we filled up with water at the dock and headed out for Elizabeth City, a four+ hour journey around Roanoke island, across Croatan Sound, Albermarle Sound, then up the Pasquotank River.   

We had to do some waiting for the highway bridge to open (rush hour) but eventually it did... 

Elizabeth City seems to have had a prosperous industrial past but those days are gone and now it's hurting downtown.   


We are docked at Middle Atlantic Christian University (they offer free docks as a service to boaters staging to transit the Dismal Swamp).   We will be here a few nights as the weather is about to turn ugly and I have some Amazon stuff coming Friday to the ministry here (as a favor, very kind of them).   Maybe I'll get my e-bike working again.  Maybe. 

We will probably play some games and hang out in the boat most of the day tomorrow due to rain.  Friday will be package pickup and restocking day, hopefully.  

45 miles today.   Just right...  All slow or medium slow...
We went to dinner tonight at Hoppin Johnz restaurant.   It was excellent.  

Oddly the main street is sketchy in this downtown but the alley is awesome....  Go figure...

Don't look for a blog from us until Saturday when we transit part of the dismal swamp.  Until then we are staying out and may do some exploring further out in Elizabeth City. 

Settled in for a peaceful (hopefully) night before the storms blow in tomorrow.  Ocracoke (where we were two days ago) was forecast to see 60 knot winds.   The forecast has backed off a little bit now.    But still, who wants to ride this out in a boat?


Crazy stuff. 






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