Before the removal of most swing, bascule and lift bridges, any voyage on the ICW was an adventure in bridge passages. The many types of bridges and conversations with the tenders were often memorable events. The Alligator River Bridge, at the northern entrance to the Alligator River, is particularly memorable because of its great length, making it very formidable on first approach. Captain Jones shares his thoughts on the process.
AICW Passage South Across Albemarle Sound into Alligator River:
It was a beautiful day and we made good progress across the Albemarle which was uncharacteristically docile. Coming into the Alligator River, we almost made a mistake by missing the approach mark. However, we caught ourselves in time and corrected our course. The Alligator River Bridge opened for us promptly. I never remember which way a swing bridge swings and am reluctant to approach too closely should it swing toward me. I like to clear a bridge even before it is fully open to facilitate its prompt closing and thereby minimize the inconvenience to motorists, who vastly outnumber us and don’t like to be inconvenienced by pesky sailboats who take forever to get through the bridge while drivers tap their foot in impatience, late for an appointment. I’ve found, too, that when mine is the only boat passing through, the bridge tender knows how long he (or she) can wait before starting the opening sequence. I confess to getting nervous as I approach the bridge, wondering if I have to slow down, but almost invariably, the second I chicken out and hit the throttle, the bridge will start to open, and I quickly throttle up again and sail through without delay. I find it helps to watch when the gates go down to stop traffic, then I know the opening sequence has begun and I can safely maintain my 5 or 6 knots. The bridge will be open by the time I get there.
Captain Ted Jones

Click Here To View the Cruisers’ Net’s North Carolina Bridge Directory Listing For Alligator River Bridge

Captain Jones gives us some recent history of this fine family owned and family run marina. Off the AICW/Pungo River, north of Belhaven, Dowry Creek Marina has long been a favorite among cruisers.

It was our plan to put into Dowry Creek Marina, just a few miles further on the Pungo River, for fuel, water, and ice. We had discovered Dowry Creek Marina when it was new, a dozen years ago. It was started by Ted Klapperich and his family, but Ted died early in 2007 according to Maptech’s Embassy Guide. We had stopped there in 2008 and found things in disarray, but when we stopped on our way north last spring everyone was cheerful and helpful. The marina appeared to be doing well although there were a number of vacant slips.
Captain Ted Jones

Click Here To View the Cruisers’ Net’s North Carolina Marina Directory Listing For Dowry Creek Marina

Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To the Location of Dowry Creek Marina

We assume Captain Ted’s choice of anchorage is just north of Quick Flash Green Marker #23 at the southern entrance to the Alligator River – Pungo River Canal.

Our chosen anchorage was beside the entrance channel to the Alligator-Pungo Canal, on the non-channel side, close enough to get on with it in the morning but out of the way of traffic, should there be any. One medium size, very attractive, southbound, auxiliary sailboat anchored nearby. The wind went down with the sun, and it was so calm at 0130 when I got up to water the horses that I thought for a moment we must still be on the hard at Bock Marine.
Captain Ted Jones

Click Here To View the Cruisers’ Net’s North Carolina Anchorage Directory Listing For Upper Pungo River Anchorages

Captain Ted’s Log shares his positive experience with Dowry Creek Marina just north of Belhaven and long a favorite of cruisers. Had Captain Ted not been in a rush, he would have discovered much, much more to like about this wonderful little marina.

The slog to Belhaven wasn’t nearly as bad. We desperately needed ice and given the high loads we had put on the Yanmar, I thought it prudent to take on fuel from our ice provider. A call to River Forest Marina failed to elicit a response. My second call was to Dowry Creek, who responded immediately with full docking instructions. We went to Dowry Creek which I have preferred anyway. They had four bags left, I took them all. It was the fastest pit stop on record, and we were fueled and iced in jig time and outta there lickety split.
Captain Ted Jones

Click Here To View the Cruisers’ Net’s North Carolina Marina Directory Listing For Dowry Creek Marina

Located on the northeastern side of Pantego Creek off the Pungo River, Belhaven Waterway Marina continues to draw praise from numerous cruisers and they are A SALTY SOUTHEAST CRUISERS’ NET SPONSOR! The recently reworked Belhaven harbor channel moves northwest from flashing marker #10 just as the Pungo River and the AICW turn south.

I agree with Jon. We were at Belhaven earlier in June and it was the most relaxing stay. We love the gazebo and Brenda and Les couldn’t have been nicer. They definitely have the cleanest and most tastefully decorated bathrooms.
Captain Bob Bundy

Click Here To View the Cruisers’ Net’s North Carolina Marina Directory Listing For Belhaven Waterway Marina

Good words for another SALTY SOUTHEAST CRUISERS NET SPONSOR! Thoughts shared by so many of you! Belhaven has long been a favorite stopping point, not only because of the fine marine facilities, but because of the friendly and welcoming town.

There is no nicer marina on the whole ICW. Brenda sees to all of the details that will make your stay here utterly pleasant. Les is fully professional and a really nice guy. This is the only place I will stay when I sail through Belhaven.
Captain Jon W.

Click Here To View the Cruisers’ Net’s North Carolina Marina Directory Listing For Belhaven Waterway Marina

The Upper Pungo Anchorages lie north and northwest of the AICW’s flashing daybeacon #23. This is an idyllic pace to drop the hook. One possible anchorage lies hard by a tall, pine woods. Whenever the winds blow through these trees, the swishing always lulls us to sleep!

Submitted on 2010/05/27 at 8:20am
We anchored here on 5/11/10. We have anchored here just off the G23 on other occasions. This time we went about a mile up the river to the basin. We experienced good depths all the way to the basin. We found a couple of boats anchored along the way. we saw a few crab pots. Holding appeared to be good although one boat did make a couple of attempts before finding a good spot for their CQR. Nice quiet anchorage. A total of 10 boats in the anchorage between the basin and G23.
Captain Dick Litchfield aboard S/V Ninkasi

A lovely setting amid cypress trees at the entrance to the Alligator-Pungo Canal and just off the ICW , Tuckahoe Point can be a very pleasant anchorage.

Submitted on 2010/05/24 at 10:00am
We anchored here on 11/09/09 while heading south to FL. We were running out of daylight so we stopped off Tuckahoe Point. There was only one boat there when we arrived, but by the time we were anchored and had a glass of wine, there were seven boats anchored for the evening.
We anchored with a danforth type and trip line. Turned out the trip line wasn’t needed. Holding was good. We experienced some bugs at dusk.

Click Here To View the Cruisers’ Net’s North Carolina Anchorages Directory Listing For Tuckahoe Point Anchorage

What else can be said about Dowry Creek Marina, on the Pungo River, a few miles upstream of Belhaven. This is a great place and Captain Mary is always ready with a warm greeting!

We hunkered down at Dowry Creek Marina for four days (11/10-14/2009) to ride out the effects of a nasty front and Hurricane/TS Ida. Riding out the wind and rain was not bad, but it wasn’t pleasant either. The piers were almost ninety degrees to the wind so we were broadside to the wind which gave us a pretty good heel right in the slip.
We enjoyed happy hours and pot luck dinners with transient boaters from England, Canada, and US. One night all the transient boaters and Mary, the Marina owner, piled in to several vehicles and went into Belhaven for dinner. We dined at George’s Sport & Oyster Bar. It’s nothing fancy, but obviously a locals’ favorite. Seafood was either grilled or steamed, no deep fry stuff here. Hatteras style clam chowder was steamy good, but a little heavy on the potato. The grilled Crab Cake sandwich was tasty, but not as spicy as I like it. We all returned to the boaters’ lounge for after dinner libations and conversation.
A great place even in bad weather.
Dick Litchfield

Click Here To View the Cruisers’ Net’s North Carolina Marina Directory Listing For Dowry Creek Marina

Alligator River Marina lies on the western shore of the Alligator River/AICW, just north of the swing bridge and southwest of flashing daybeacon #12. A good layover spot when high winds keep the swing bridge closed.

Alligator River Marina was only $1 a foot! We were able to knock out the whole Alligator River by planning to go there, and we were ready to jump on the Albermarle Sound in the morning when the forecast changed to lower winds. It was a very nice stop. Good anchorage in the Chesapeake was at Chisman Creek off the Poquosan River just before the York River.We also anchored off the Patuxent River, by Solomons island in Mill Creek.
MTOA Captains Good-Mikki and Joe Heinrich, aboard Asian Lady.

Click Here To View the Cruisers’ Net’s North Carolina Marina Directory Listing For Alligator River Marina

In 2009, our “mad Englishman on the Waterways,” Captain Arnold reporter that a small facility on Pungo Creek (immediately south of Belhaven and Pantego Creek) had closed. Now, below we hear from Captain Don stark of the Belhaven Yacht Club, that this facility has been reborn as Pungo Creek Marina. We’ll be getting in touch with the new owner, Captain Randy O’Neal shortly and adding his facility ot the North Carolina Marina directory. Many thanks to Captain Stark for bringing Pungo Creek Marina to our attention!

Bayside Marina is now a new and much better facility but is operating under new management and name.
The marina is now called Pungo Creek Marina. They have improved the launch ramps and docks. There are currently 48 slips. There are showers and bathrooms with laundry facilities. They will have Wi-Fi at the new Ship’s Store and soon it will be extended to the docks. Each slip has water and power, half of them have 50 Amps.
Current rate for dockage is $1 per foot with a 30 foot minimum plus a separate charge for electric and use of the shower and laundry. The rates are certainly reasonable.They are reworking the old bar area to make it more of a club house setting. They will have a wide screen TV, tables, chairs sound system etc. They have begun installation of tanks and will be selling gas and diesel! That is good news for all local boaters.
For more information contact the new owner / manager Randy ONeal (randy@pungocreekmarina.com) The website for the marina is http://www.PungoCreekMarina.com. You will find Randy to be most enthusiastic and helpful. He is making some major investments here and plans to make this a success. He has made a lot of changes in a short period of time.
You can see photos of the construction and on the Belhaven Yacht Club website for the May BYC News. The Belhaven Yacht Club site is at http://www.BelhavenYachtClub.org
Don Stark
BYC Fleet Captain

Located just north of the entrance to the Alligator River – Pungo River Canal, this small anchorage offers a picturesque, away-from-civilization setting among the cypress trees. However, you might be treated to low flying jets from nearby Cherry Point Marine Base, as we were during a lunch stop not long ago. It seemed the pilots used our boat as a pivot point during their day’s training – quite an airshow!

Anchored out just past Tuckahoe Point at around MM105. Headed South and wanted to make the canal run early the next day. Tuckahoe Point is buggy (mosquitoes)! However the mosquitoes seem to fade after you cut lights for a while. 6-7 foot depths, great wind protection.
Captain Ben

Click Here To View the Cruisers’ Net’s North Carolina Anchorage Directory Listing For Tuckahoe Point Anchorage

Dowry Creek Marina, just north of Belhaven, is an owner-operated marina where you get member-of-the-family treatment.

04-17-2010
We stopped off at Dowry Creek Marina 3 years ago and had a great time. We are returning to Virginia and decided to stop off at Dowry Creek again. We are the only transients here tonight. We took part in the nightly cocktail hour at the boaters lounge and we had a wonderful time. I do hope many more boaters will decide to stop off. We need to keep Marinas like this in business for future generations of boaters. If you want to have a memorable evening on your way up or down the ICW stop off at Dowry Creek Marina. You won’t regret it.
Claudia Young

Click Here To View the Cruisers’ Net’s North Carolina Marina Directory Listing For Dowry Creek Marina

Dowry Creek Marina guards the northern shores of the AICW/Pungo River upstream of Belhaven, NC. This facility is consistently praised as one of the friendliest marinas in North Carolina.

Stopped at Dowry Creek Marina on Feb. 18th. We were greeted at the fuel dock by 2 liveaboards who expertly tied our dock lines. Mary, the owner, was very friendly and made us feel very welcome. The water is turned off because of the cold weather and the diesel was $2.65 gallon. We were able to watch the Olympics that night due to great reception on the dock.
Larry Morrow

Click Here To View the North Carolina Cruisers’ Net Marina Directory Listing For Dowry Creek Marina

River Forest Marina and Manor will be the first facility spied upon entering Pantego Creek and Belhaven Harbor. The repair yard portion of this operation lies on a different, nearby creek, and it’s usually best to let the yard personnel move your boat to these waters.

For those interested, I ran across a very nice Marina in NC where I am having my boat’s Interior refitted. River Forest Marina, Belhaven, NC has folks removing and installing new carpeting, and another crew
recovering the old furniture with updated materials similar to the new Carver 40s.
Their dock rates are also reasonable, especially if you want their full service marina to do work. So is the hotel which is outta sight!?!
While they are at it, they are waxing and polishing the boat and painting the bottom.
All are very reasonably priced. I mention this because good people doing honest work at a fair price should be recognized!!
Highly recommended with 5 Stars.
Richard & Gisela McCall