M/V Nearly Perfect: Oct. 12-14, 2017 - The Albemarle Loop

Many small towns located on the Albemarle Sound got together to create the "Albemarle Loop" which provides free docks and other amenities to lure boaters to visit their towns. One of the towns is Elizabeth City, where we had already spent 10 days. We decided that since we had some time, we would travel to some of these small towns. Our first stop after leaving Elizabeth City was to anchor across from the Albemarle Plantation. We enjoyed an afternoon and evening of reading and catching up on TV shows.

On Friday, we headed to the town docks at Columbia. Tammy, from the municipal office, met us and offered any assistance we might need while we were there. She and her husband came over to the boat later that night and we introduced them to "docktails." Since our friend, June, is from Columbia, we had been there several times. The big event for this weekend in Columbia was the 25th Annual Scuppernong River Festival (Columbia is on the Scuppernong River). Our first stop on Saturday morning was a pancake breakfast sponsored by the Rotary Club, followed by a parade (another Saturday, another small town parade). The weather wasn't that great and we had light to mild sprinkles during the day, which was funny since the parade marshal was the weatherman from a local TV station. After that, we wandered up and down the streets looking at all the vendors. In the afternoon, there were several musical groups performing at various locations. The big event Saturday night was a performance by the Rondels, a 1960's rock group. They sang a wide variety of songs from the 60's on. We had heard of them but weren't really familiar with their songs. The performance was a lot of fun, and a lot of people were up dancing during the performance. The night was capped off with fireworks. The day was a lot of fun and people from all around gathered in the town for the festivities.