Oct. 28, 2026 Time for a Short Easy Cruising Day

Wed. Oct. 28, 2026 Tuckahoe Creek Anchor to Slade Creek Anchor 40 miles and 4.5 hours

Good night's sleep after that long exhausting trip on Tuesday. Winds blew 10+ all night which held us tight in position and the anchorage provided enough protection that waves were just constant ripples. Decided that we would make it a short cruising day today. No rush this morning. Nice leisurely breakfast and anchor didn't come up until 9:30 making us the last boat to leave.

Watching as our friends on Apres Sail make an early morning departure for Belhaven

This anchorage leads straight out onto the Alligator-Pungo canal - a 20+ mile long man-made canal connecting these two bodies of water. It's 10 miles straight as an arrow, then a slight kink and another 10 straight miles. Scenery is pretty redundant. Trees, scrub pine barrens and marshland taking you through extremely tannin tinted waters. Trying to play nice with the other boaters. Slowing down to let the fast boats get by quickly and then slowing down again when passing sailboats so as not to wake them.

Starting our cruise on the Alligator-Pungo canal. Straight as far as you can see

Interesting Hinckley flybridge Zeus. Making 26 mph with water jet propulsion

NC watermen setting crab pots. Doing a great job keeping them off the channel

This is NC low country. Marsh, swamps, forests.

The bridge. Marks the halfway point and the kink in the canal

There used to be numerous markers like this one at 120 miles south of Norfolk.
Most have disappeared over the years. Always liked seeing them to check our progress.

Make it to the Pungo River which opens up as a wide body of water. Like most of these waters, it's fairly shallow so once again we follow closely to the marked channel. Fellow Loopers on Apres Sail and Kissed Some Frogs make Belhaven their stop for the night. Our original plan was to anchor up Pungo Creek which we've used in the past. But these NE winds have me searching for an alternative and decide to check out Slade Creek a bit further along. Couple of miles up a wide twisting tree lined creek and we drop anchor in a spot offering us some protection. Anchored and secured by 2:00, so have the afternoon to chill and relax. Plans for the next few days finally came together. We'll be making an unplanned side trip!