Alligator Pungo Mango

First, today- Our day started as an old married couple with one night under our belt. We snuck out of our slip at 630 this morning with only our new friends Jim and Su to help cast us off. Our destination today was to be Belhaven, but our time was so good that we arrived early afternoon and decided to tackle the Alligator River- Pungo River canal. That was originally going to be a full day by itself. It is by far the most desolate area we have gone through on this trip. There were also no other boats traveling with us and we were concerned we would not get to the end by nightfall. As it turns out we were able to find an anchorage across the ICW at the north end of the canal by around 800 pm. We were pleasantly visited by several dolphins (porpoises) that continued to hang around our boat until we were done anchoring. We have revised our schedule tomorrow based on today’s success and are taking aim at Coinjock.
Alright- Going back to yesterday. The day started pretty much like any other day in Oriental with coffee shortly followed by a breakfast cocktail. At which point Linda & I started discussing our loosely laid plans to move forward with a wedding. At noon we decided to see if we could pull it off, so Linda called the County clerk & then the magistrate’s office in Bayboro which is about 12 miles from Oriental. We had till 4 pm to get to the court to get our license and with only one taxi (literally one car) who would not return a call we chose to start walking. Linda (being braver and better looking) stuck out her thumb while I walked next to her. There were several cars that passed us by before our luck changed and a wonderful woman (Linda) driving a car with NY plates pulled over and gave us a ride. After explaining our story to her, not only did she take us to the courthouse, but she waited for us to get our license and then brought us back to the marina after first allowing us to stop at the grocery store to get some additional supplies which we had not been able to get the day before. While riding to Bayboro, we were able to arrange for Pam the magistrate to perform the ceremony at 6:30; all we needed were witnesses. This was easy. We had befriended a couple from the neighboring boat and when I asked Jim & Su they were delighted at the idea of standing up for us. It all came together. Pat our real estate lady from our visit last year came to help us celebrate as well as our friend Vince who became the “official” photographer. Mellissa, a waitress for the restaurant next door came running out with a rose for Linda and the entire happy hour crowd at the Tiki bar witnessed our vows. And so there you have it. Who needs wedding planners? I guess it takes a village…