We headed for Beaufort, but because we arrived there early and the weather looked good for traveling, we instead decided to go to Oriental. This is known as the sailing capital because of the large number of sailboats there compared to the number of residents. Crossing the Neuse River (which is more like a big lake than a river) was forecast for good weather that day and the next. So, we opted for that and only stayed in Oriental one night. This is also a very small town and we really are not as enthused at looking at more old houses at this point.
From Oriental, because the weather was good, we decided to leave the next day and head down the Neuse River, into Pamlico Sound and then across the Pamlico River which were all pretty big bodies of water. We got into the Alligator River where we anchored for the night. Six other boats joined us; it was quiet and pretty calm.
From there we decided to stay at the Alligator River Marina which is at the south end of the Albemarle Sound until we had good weather to cross. Again, we had a good weather forecast, so we left the next day. The crossing is 18 miles of open water. The first half was pretty good, but we rocked and rolled for the last part of the trip.
Then we arrived in Elizabeth City home of the Rose Buddies. This was a group of retired men who would meet visiting boats at the dock and present the women with roses or a newspaper. Unfortunately, the man who started this tradition, Fred Fearing, died last fall and the state of this hospitality program is uncertain at this point. 
There is a very large domed building near Elizabeth City which was used during the war to house derigibles. It is now being used as a manufacturing plant for blimps. This one was parked near it--apparantly it is for golfing.
After taking a walking tour of the town and their museum, we decided to leave in the morning to go through the Dismal Swamp.
