May 18, Thursday, Day 38, ICW 65, North River off Ablemerle Sound, NC

I’ve read warnings about the large Albemerle Sound, shallow except for the 14 mile long, curvy trench for ICW, and was concerned that it might be a challenge for us. The plan was to start the crossing tomorrow after a night’s rest, but with possible rains on the way and being ahead of schedule, we decided to go for it today. And except for one confusing area where we lightly touched bottom, all went pretty well. The boat was rocking due to  2 foot swells and when I first started this trip I would be been running for the Bonine, but today I was ok! Sea legs have arrived?

A few scenes from the day and then of the swinging bridge that actually waited for us. I counted about 40 cars held up by yours truly. The bridge leads from the mainland to the outer banks islands such as Kitty Hawk.

Below, the view from Albemerle Sound – only water!

We followed recommendations to an anchorage in the North River off the sound, but the wind picked up and we were rolling back and forth. We pulled up anchor and moved about 1/2 mile to another recommended spot – and found 4 other cruisers already here. Plenty of room, quiet and calm. Lucky us.

May 17, Wednesday, ICW MM 140, Day 37 Pongo Creek, NC

Today we traveled up medium size and huge rivers that looked like a ocean sound to us. It was a peaceful day as we continued north through North Caroline catching some of the different scenery on the way.

We thought that some of our flying friends would appreciate the private helicopter along the river.

We are all alone in a quiet anchorage on Pongo Creek next to Bellhaven. No wakes bouncing us and no diesel engines running. Nice!

May 16, Tuesday, Day 36, ICW MM 205 – Morehead VA

We left our lovely anchorage before 8am yesterday without checking ahead for any  low bridges. Not too far up the intracostal river was the Surf City swinging bridge that opens on the hour, and we noticed it from about 30 minutes out. So Dirk reduced speed to about 5 mph and we crept up to it and still had to idle a while before it opened. Lesson – maybe check on bridges the night before? 🙂

All was going well until the next swinging bridge a few hours later- we were only 10 minutes before opening and thought the sailboats on the other side were waiting to go south. Nope – we were all at Camp LeJeune where they were having target practice with big guns, and they shut down the ICW! No one could travel on it until they took a break at noon! We stopped the engines and let down the anchor and waited. I didn’t take any pictures near there – afraid to be accused of something. But here is a photo from their web site of a artillary range… which is the thunder we were hearing as we waited.

We were only there 45 minutes – the others had been there almost 2 hours – and we were on our way again. Dirk then had the challenge of slowly and politely passing all 6 sailboats that were ahead of us. Tricky when they are doing 6-7 mph and we are doing around 8 mph.

Many more river neighbor hoods or estates. Some interesting ones. Our most bizarre was the blue and pink estate with it’s own matching lighthouse and boat.

And a few scenes of the river as we headed to Morehead VA, next to Beaufort, VA. Not my best choice of marinas this time – the reviews made it sound great but tugs were parked next door running engines all the time and there were boat wakes from the river rocking our boat most of the night. But really nice people running it! We are leaving early.

May 15, Monday, ICW MM 264; Surf City

Surf City may have been a crazy, happening place at one time, but what we saw today was a beautiful, mostly empty beach with summer cottages along it. The fancier places were back away from the beach here, or on the rivers.

Early in the day we passed by a dredging operation on our section of the river. We are happy to see this since shoaling and going aground are constant issues for us boaters.

And then after a pretty long day on the water  we found a wonderful anchorage within walking distance to the ocean! Dirk agreed to wrestle with the dingy and we found a small road (not driveway) that seemed to not be owned by anyone, beached the dingy and walked across the street to the ocean! Yea! I finally got to an ocean beach! And swam in it as well. And later there was a great sunset to cap it all off.

May 14, Sunday, ICW MM 309

We left early today as we wanted cover a lot of miles and get to Southport, North Carolina. We are still making up for the 3 extra days we stayed put in St. Simons due to high winds. Although we didn’t plan to keep to a schedule we need to get to Norfolk Va area in time to get home for Wesley’s graduation.

There were once again varied areas of homes and docks.

Today’s scary spot was a narrow area called “the Rock Pile”, a slightly nerve wracking area since we were warned by a number of sources of possible dangers. We heeded advise and went slow and had no trouble – whew!

At one point I noticed two bicyclers on a nearby road parallel to the river. They pulled ahead of us – I thought is was funny to see how “slow” our boat generally goes.

We were hoping that people would stay home with their mothers on Mother’s Day but it seemed like many mom’s and families were are the water. We were continuous rocking back and forth due to wakes of speed boats, and there were also some sailboats and cruisers like us making their way north.

As we got closer to Southport NC, the scenery looked more like beaching and camping – and there was a huge RV park right on the water. More beach scenes and then back to river vacation home sites.

We anchored in a pretty lagoon in Southport. A little tricky to find the deep area but a nice spot.

May 13, Saturday, Day 33, ICW MM 375 on the Waccamaw River in SC

The day was cloudy and a bit grey and continued to threaten rain the entire trip today. Fortunately we only were in a light rain for about an hour and had another hour of drizzle until we stopped at a good anchor point in mid-afternoon. About 45 minutes later it poured – good timing on our part.

Some interesting sites: A floating swinging bridge, ferry boat school “bus, and a 3-masted sail boat (pirate ship?).

We found a lovely quiet spot to anchor out.

May 12, Friday, Day 32, MM 420, So. Charleston to Santee River , South Carolina

We didn’t sleep well and it was going to be warm again in Charleston, so we decided  be on our way. Since we had shore power I made pancakes, Dirk cleaned the dishes,  we got the boat ready for departure. Note the aircraft carriers behind the marina as we exited the Charleston Harbor.

It was sunny most of the day and the rivers and the cuts” were varied. (Cuts are man-made canals between the rivers that make the ICW continuous.) We saw fancy condos with huge boats in front, then more modest homes with docks and gazebos and even summer cottages now and then. And also more peaceful marshes and birds everywhere.

And then we came upon area of shoals on both sides of the river. Shoals are unmarked shallower areas that encroach on the ICW path, reducing the normal 7 foot depth down to 6 feet or  even less within a few hours of low tide. We were warned by previous cruisers of the hazards of this one section (in the Active Captain app) but this was a very anxious 4 miles for us and a sailboat just in front of us and another cruiser behind us. We almost went aground at a 3.3′ spot, the sailboat did go aground a bit later and the cruiser behind us decided to drop anchor and wait for the rising tide before they followed suit. And this is all while in the marked channel going about 2 mph. The guidance in the app plus Dirk’s caution got us through with a deep sigh, but we know we’ll encounter a bunch more of these nail-biters before we are done. Oh well – it’s part of the adventure, but it also points to the fact that funds are not being made available for the upkeep of our waterways.

We continued on for another 10 miles after that and are again in a fabulous anchorage just off the ICW, with no town lights anywhere to be seen. We have a neighbor sailboat 1/2 mile or so away but can only see their anchor light. I still think it is amazing to be out here like this.

May 11, Thursday, Day 31, MM 475; Charleston, South Carolina

It’s been a month – we left Islamorada, Florida on April 11.  It’s been quite a month due to challenges with the boat and our learning curve regarding navigating and operating a 40′ cruiser, but also with so many joys that come from being on the water and visiting new places.

Today we started early and enjoyed traveling between marshes and low-lands and then into the busy Charleston, SC harbor around mid-afternoon.

We headed to the Cooper River Marina which took us off the intracostal path and we had to rely on our own navigation. We found our way and Dirk again brought the boat in smoothly with 3 (!) dock hands ready to help us. Very nice. The marina also gave us a ride to the historical area of the city.

Today Charleston was hot and muggy so we dragged a bit as we walked along the waterfront parks. When we came to the historical homes it became interesting in comparison to Savannah because here huge single family homes were built along the waterfront. Owners conducted their business on the lower floors and the family lived above. There were many styles and increasing levels of grandness, and it continued to multiple streets. If we had more time there were a few homes open to the public.

We also enjoyed walking visiting a large, grand wharf where we rested in the shade and walked around some nearby gardens. Unfortunately I left behind a favorite hat, never to be seen again after we searched through the riverfront. Oh well!

May 10, Wednesday, Day 30 – ICW MM 516 somewhere between Beaufort and Charlestown, South Carolina

We are anchored out under a full moon and are all on own here. It is beautiful and now it’s quiet as well. We are somewhat near a marine air base and saw planes like we only see in movies as we cruised near their training island. No pictures – they move too fast. But now they are quiet too.

We got everything done that we planned today. I picked up refurbished symmetrical and balanced propellers  – a 4 hour drive and Dirk changed the oil which was a two person, 3+ hour job because it was the first time and we did our grocery shopping. With help from the marina we were off again for another 4 hours before we found a spot for the night. It was low tide, and so we needed to follow warnings from Active Captain, a valuable cruising tool that all cruisers can use and contribute to. You can see how low the tide is by seeing how high the dock and boat sit above water. I took a picture of  some of the guidance that we need to figure out as we go.

It has heated up here in So. Carolina – it was in the 90’s even on our boat, and since the black flies and no-see-ums are out, we can’t keep our doors open to enjoy the breeze. But once the sun went down it is cool enough to sleep again.

May 9, Tuesday, Day 29 – in Beaufort, South Carolina

On Monday night (last night) we  came up with a plan that would allow us to pick up our refurbished propellers Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning in Georgia, and also give us time to see Savannah, Georgia, while still moving north in South Carolina!

We headed up to South Carolina on Monday and made our way to Hilton Head Island. It was a 50+ mile day but we started at about 7:00 am to take advantage of higher tides in an area of concern, and also to make up some miles. Some sights along the way – a (hard to see in the photo) dolphin and a preserve among many homes and docks which are the norm.

We found a nice anchorage in Broad Creek among sailboats and tour boats – small tour boats on the left of us pointing out a sunken ship nearby and larger ferries on the left. We ate dinner on the sundeck and waved as the boats went by. Fortunately they all went away a bit after dark so sleeping wasn’t an issue.

Today we started out early again with a goal to get to Beaufort, So. Carolina by noon so we could rent a car and head back south to see Savannah. It worked out fine. The marina, Port Royal Landing Marina, loaned us a car so we could get our rental car, and Savannah was only 1 hour away ( 2-3 days by boat)! We had a wonderful afternoon there – it is a very special city because it was planned from the start to have green parks every few blocks throughout the city and also because of the preservation of so many historic buildings. There is a very active riverfront both on shore and with both container ships and ferries of all sorts on the river. We also visited the park when Forest Gump sat and told his story, and found a similar setting in a store.

We encountered a tall ship along the waterfront – from Holland! Dirk spoke Dutch to some of the crew and we were impressed by all the work they were doing getting ready for their next parade in Bermuda and North Carolina, and later this summer in Boston.

Tomorrow we split up to get boat things done. I’ll drive 2 hours south to get the fixed propellers, while Dirk works with a diesel maintenance mechanic on his first diesel oil change. The goal is to get it all done by noon, so we can get on our way. Will it happen… ?wait and see…