1000 Miles,Howitzers and bugs

Well we left Camp Le Jeune early, just as well as the Marines decided to celebrate our leaving with a display of fire power, shit I was glad they were only practising, as we would hear the whump of the gun firing, then 3 or 4 seconds later an ear shattering ka boom, the boat shook and the water frazzled around us. When they get really serious the Army closes the canal, often for 4 or 5 hours, but we just serenely puttered down the canal trying to feel small.  While Colin's mind was obviously elsewhere we missed a marker by about 20ft & ran aground but after a lot of jiggling about came free. We reached Beaufort (pronounced Bowfort & as opposed to the earlier town of the same name pronounced Bewfort) & phoned 3 marinas before we got a berth. The Big Rock Marlin Fishing Tournament was on with over 1 million dollars in prize money. We used the courtesy car to complete some business; we had left the dinghy behind at St Petersburgh to be sold. It was so heavy (at least 250 - 300 kgs with the motor) we could barely lift it on to davits at the back of the boat making everything crowded & a hassle. They had found a buyer & the usual reams of paper work had to be signed - nothing simple here even for a  dinghy sale (they are registered just like the boat).  We may buy another - not sure yet.
The next day we hit our 1015miles mark. On our way down the very large & long Neuse River we had the wind with us & a neutral current - again another large body of water that could be nasty. We anchored up for the night in a small creek where we were warned to watch out for the crab pots - in this small creek Colin counted well over 91. From now on they were every where because of the shallow & wide water expanses - usually not in the channel but you needed to watch as some certainly were. We had no phone or internet signal & had another dense, wet 2 hour thunderstorm that night at anchor in Snode Creek.
This next route we had read about; the wide Pamlico River that could be "very nasty" in high winds  - but it was only a little bumpy and the very long & straight Alligator River- Pungo River canal. - and it was. This canal was 25miles long & we could possibly see deer & black bears swimming the river. We saw some deer but no bear but when we finally anchored up that night in a small bay at the side of the creek we found that we had 3 green frogs as passengers. We had not been near any trees, shrubs etc. & suspect that they are still on board as we heard some frog type noises today. I offered them some fresh water & a heap of the flies we continue to swat but they touched neither. A storm threatened & came to nothing but we were inundated with bugs - you could hear them hitting the boat until Colin turned off the anchor light & put out our citronella candle.
Today we entered the Alligator River proper (not the canal) and completed the crossing of the notorious Albemarle Sound (which was well behaved ). All day we were pursued by these small bugs coming along for a free ride from ?? we were in the middle of a large expanse of water & they had teeny wings ??- they covered the boat. We tied up at a free dock in Elizabeth City who are very friendly towards "Loopers" but it's Sunday & everything is closed.