Hampton, VA

We did it! We arrived in Virginia in plenty of time for Margaret & Jon to attend their friends' daughter's wedding in Fredericksburg this weekend! Today we encountered our first lock at the Great Bridge Lock south of Norfolk, picture attached. The lock controls the flow between the tidal Elizabeth River and the non-tidal Albemarle-Chesapeake canal to its south. As we locked through, the water level change was only a matter of inches; sometimes it consists of raising and lowering the water by several feet. Geese and goslings were everywhere, including a nesting goose right by the lockwall. She was a bit anxious that boats were so close to her nest. Lots of Mallard ducks too. Traveling through Norfolk, the number of Naval vessels was very impressive! Four aircraft carriers were in port and we wondered if one was the vessel our friend Chas is on. We are spending the weekend at Hampton Yacht Club, using it as a base to tour the area. The Yacht Club, off of the James River, is directly across the river from Hampton University. One of their members, moved his boat to a smaller dock in order to accomodate us. Beautiful location, particularly with the spectacular weather we are experiencing. Tonight is pizza night at the club so you know what's for dinner.

Coinjock, NC

Yes, there really is such a place. When we inquired about the origin of the name, we were shown the attached menu page. By the way, the prime rib was adequate but definitely NOT the best in the world. Margaret's is. Beautiful ride today through pristine wildlife refuges. Crab pots everywhere. In the small canals, they weren't much of a problem because all the boats were in single file. However, when we hit the windy, choppy, open water of the Albemarle Sound, they were annoying. The open water has not been a problem for us. The boat cruises right up on plane, cutting through the chop. Of course, as a Fairform Flyer, with her PT boat heritage, this is no surprise.

Oriental NC to Belhaven

After a lay day yesterday, we had a fast run to Belhaven, NC today, crossing on the Pamlico River and Sound. The wind was up again so it was a wet crossing. In fact, when we later washed the boat down, there were 2 small fish on the deck and one on the very top of the boat! This is a very small, mostly agricultural town. Extremely nice people and wonderful lunch buffet with fried chicken, fried okra, broccoli salad (similar to Maxine and Deloris's recipe) and squash casserole (reminescent of Judi's sister-in-law Pam's). Though wonderful, y'all still hold the records for best! Tonight, all the boats on the dock joined together for a pot-luck dinner. A couple of guys cooked "Beer-Butt Chicken" on the grill. Tomorrow we are off for Coinjock, NC, reputed to have the best prime rib dinner in the world. In other words, we are eating our way through NC and Virginia!

Code 1 - Brightwork man to slip #11 -- STAT!!

Ok, so we missed the bad storms and tornadoes last night and this morning because we were a bit farther north than they were. Thank goodness. When the weather improved, we left the dock and had a wonderful ride with the wind and tide until we reached the Neuse River. Coming out of a small canal onto the Neuse, we were hit with 45 kt winds across our port side, slamming everything formerly on the port side over to the starboard side, people included. Gusts were even higher. We had a 3 mile carnival ride across the Neuse to reach the lovely town of Oriental, NC, reputed to be the sailing capital of the world. Think Mr. Toad of Disney fame. Then we had to dock this battleship. All hands on deck. The townspeople lined the shore to watch the show; everyone except the mortician -- he was preparing for what he considered to be the inevitable. Sorry to disappoint! With the able assistance of dockmaster Tom at Oriental Marina and Inn, and 4 or 5 other guys, we finally were able to dock the boat. Unfortunately, the anchor of a Grand Banks fell in love with our newly varnished toerail, keeping a piece of it as a momento. The bow pulpit is a bit the worst for wear as well. Not to worry, an emergency call went out to the best brightwork man in the area, Peter, and he was here before cocktail hour to make the repairs. He said it was his first EMERGENCY call ever!! No one was hurt and no serious damage was done so on we go. We'll be here again tomorrow because it is supposed to be even more windy -- is that possible?? All conditions considered, Captain and Crew did a great job today!

Southport, NC to Swansboro, through Camp LeJeune

On an overcast day with storms approaching, we cruised the ICW through the Marine Corps's Camp LeJeune. We were very lucky that no maneuvers were being conducted at the firing range as we were passing through. All eyes are on the weather reports and radar; fingers are crossed that the tornadic weather will bypass us and that family and friends in the danger zone will be safe as well.

Big news from home today: Tom passed his Paramedic course! He made the highest grade in the class on the written portion and passed the practical with flying colors! OOU-RAH Tom! Congratulations!

Southport

Southport, NC

Have you ever wished to spend the night in a lighthouse? Well, the next best thing might be staying in the Pilot House overlooking the harbor in Southport, NC

N. Myrtle Beach to Southport, NC

We are finally in NC! South Carolina is a really long state! Of course, so is NORTH Carolina but we are just starting it so we aren't worn out yet. Today, we went through the Sunset Beach PONTOON Bridge. It is the last surviving pontoon bridge in the USA. It operates on the hour and we weren't paying much attention to the time so we had to wait 45 minutes for it to open. Unfortunately (or fortunately), a new high-rise bridge is under construction right next to it so this is the last season it will operate. I've got to tell you that it is fascinating to behold. Most of the bridge is fixed but in the middle, cars drive down onto a roadbed resting on pontoons, past the gate house and back up to the main fixed sections. When the bridge opens, the gatehouse/pontoon section moves via a cable away from the fixed sections so that it is perpendicular to the fixed sections, the cable drops and the boats pass through. I have no idea how it moves back into position. Pictures attached are of this operation.

Southport, NC is an interesting town. Situated on the Cape Fear River Inlet, the old homes were built around 1880-early 1900's by sea captains and/or pirates. There are lots of beautiful big oak trees and azaleas, etc. Pretty wharf area with lots of good restaurants. Dinner tonight was at Mr. P's Bistro; prime rib for Margaret and me; shrimp & oyster gumbo for Terry and Jon. Rather than being served over rice, the gumbo was over fried grits. Yum. The vegetable du jour was fried green tomatoes. Who could ask for more??

Most of the trip from Myrtle Beach to Southport was slow going. Very narrow canal with houses and floating docks on either side. There we a number of abandoned, wrecked boats along the shore. Don't know if they were a result of bad weather or the economy.

We've been having some difficulty with the connection of our backup GPS. Luckily, new friends Harry and Janice on "Mariah" had a solution. Harry had a spare "hockey puck" which improved the connection so now we have a backup GPS system. Yea!

Georgetown to North Myrtle Beach, SC

Nature lover's day! Bald eagles, some being chased by nesting ospreys, highlighted our cruise through pristine cypress lined sections of the ICW. A yearling swam across our bow, replete with plenty of attitude.. Osprey mating season is apparently over and nesting season is in full swing. That explains the ospreys running off the bald eagle in a "dog fight" reminescent of WW-I. We are currently docked at Barefoot Resort in North Myrtle Beach. Since we are not golfing on this trip, the town has no apparent redeeming qualities to us. Consequently, we are moving on in the morning.

Georgetown, SC

Another beautiful, pre-Revolutionary War town, Georgetown was a secret to us until friends Bill & Marcy Choate said we should stop in to see them at their home here. The third oldest town in SC, Georgetown also boasts the oldest Methodist congregation in SC with the congregants being baptised by Rev Asbury. Prince George Episcopal Church, founded in 1721, moved into the building shown in these pictures in 1747 and is the oldest continuous congregation in South Carolina. The interior of the church is spectacular and features original box pews with initials carved into them dating back to 1700's!

Bill Choate served a steak feast at his beautiful home in DeBordieu. We were surprised to learn that Dick Riley, former work colleague of Terry's, also lives in DeBordieu. Last night Dick and Carolyn joined us on the boat for "docktails" followed by dinner at the River Room Restaurant in downtown Georgetown. So nice to catch up with old friends.

Charleston, SC

We were amongst a caravan of boats heading north on the ICW today from Beaufort to Charleston. It was a beautiful day to travel, with the scenery changing ever so slightly from salt marshes to more developed areas.

Charleston is well, Charleston. Historic, beautiful homes and buildings, some dating before the Revolutionary War. The architecture is so different from Beaufort. Great restaurants, as you would expect. At the Hominy Grill where we had dinner, we were served something a little different from the norm -- boiled peanuts as a little appetizer for the table. YUM!

Beautiful Beaufort by the sea...

Following the recommendation of Capt. Dennis, we left St. Catherine's Sound bound for the ocean and Port Royal Sound. Much more breezy today so the inlets were bumpy but the remainder of the trip was pleasant. We tied up at the downtown Beaufort, SC marina by early afternoon so we had time to take a walk and admire some of the pre-Civil War and pre-Revolutionary War homes. This is one of the most beautiful towns in the South with its antebellum homes and 1000 year old oaks. The azaleas and camellias are in full bloom adding to the beauty. Historians say Beaufort is the second oldest town in South Carolina but Beaufort natives claim that it is older than St. Augustine. We especially enjoyed visiting with Anne & Lamarr Cooler at their beautiful new home. Their daughter's weekend wedding brought family members from far-flung places. We were delighted to share in some of the festivity. Best wishes to Laurie and Will!

Sunbury, GA

The waters from St. Simon's Island north to St. Catherine's Sound and the docks at Sunbury Crab Restaurant & Marina were calm and flat yesterday. Dolphins body-surfed in our wake; beautiful, protected wetlands all around. Overtook a boat from Hampton, VA and noticed their bimini top was repaired with a blue tablecloth. Why?? Because they were in a tornado in Port Lucaya, Bahamas. It lifted their boat and set it back down into the water. Quite a ride for them!

Sunbury was a prominent harbor before the Revolutionary War but now is little more than a settlement of retired, mostly military families. We visited the site of an old cemetary and church.

We enjoyed a delicious shrimp dinner and the company of a salty shrimper and Vietnam vet named Capt. Dennis. He has shrimped all up and down the coast and caught the shrimp we enjoyed for dinner. He shared a wealth of knowledge about fishing and cruising these waters. We were considering going off shore today rather than up the ICW. 40 mile trip offshore; 80 mile trip on ICW. He said that if we did NOT go offshore that we were "REE-tards". Decision made.

The Adventure Has Begun

We excitedly cast off from Huckins Yacht Center at 7:30 AM in a nor'easter. Brisk breezes and choppy seas all day but clear blue skies. Since our wheelhouse is enclosed, the salt spray covered the boat but not us. We are delighted that friends Margaret and Jon are with us as we begin this epic journey. We entered "virgin territory" just north of Cumberland Island - none of us have ever been this far north on the ICW. We are now docked at Golden Isles Marina on St. Simon's Island, GA for the evening and will leave in the morning for Sunbury Marina in Midway, GA.

Well, we have one week to go and there is still a lot to do. We have been going to the boat daily to make sure everything that has to be done is on track. For those who have prepared to take an extended trip on a boat know, the harder you try to complete the final tasks, the more they become derailed. However, everyone assures us that their tasks will be completed prior to our departure on April 15. Our fingers and toes are crossed. We just got word that while servicing one of our AC units, we developed a leak in the seacock. Now the boat has to be pulled AGAIN. There goes more $$$$$$$. Wow, how much fun can this be. Anyway, we shall prevail and we will leave on the 15th.