Crossing the Albemarle

Thursday May 15th--another great morning to travel--lucky us! We got underway around 7am, going up the ICW to the Alligator River (saw no alligators though!), and entered the Albemarle Sound. What had been a calm ride so far suddenly became rough and choppy. There were so many crab pots all over the sound that we had to be very attentive as not to catch one--that would have messed the props up terribly! So we arrived in Elizabeth City more tired than we wanted to be. But that was soon to change.

Dave Thomas (not of Wendy's fame!) came to the Municipal Dock to help us tie off and said The Rose Buddies would be having a cocktail party under their new tent at 5pm. We had been to Elizabeth City before, so we knew what they were--and we were glad they were still keeping the tradition going. Many years ago, a group of men decided that "boat" people need special attention--so they formed a group called The Rose Buddies--to welcome all traveling boaters with wine and cheese and lots of local information--every afternoon! Plus, every woman onboard would receive a rose--hence the name. We met a wonderful Rose Buddy named Joe--who is also an Elizabeth City bridge tender--and he spent lots of special time with us telling us all the local color. He even wound up taking me to the grocery store. Thanks Joe!