Southport (NC) to Charleston (SC)

Monday 24th November
Again we had decided to leave relatively late in the morning to ensure we had close to high tide at the two inlets we needed to pass by on our way to South Carolina. So, after a three mile walk to buy some more 1lb propane bottles for our Heat Buddy – a propane radiant heater you can use indoors – we set off at about 11:30 onwards down the ICW.
However, we didn’t have enough time to make it all the way to our planned destination of Calabash Creek due to a bridge that only opens on the hour. So we ended up anchoring in the Shallotte River – hope we don’t end up like the lady.
Got to rescue a boat aground with the dinghy. Buckaroo ran aground coming into the anchorage and using a line from their bow to the dinghy managed to pull them off the shoal.

Tuesday 25th November
Very early start to try to make it over 50 miles past Myrtle Beach and it’s 130 golf courses. This belongs to one of them and ferries golfers over the ICW from the course to the club house.

This stretch of the ICW has a mind boggling number of huge houses along its shores with many more under construction. Most of them favour the Parthenon-style architecture so popular in the south but this one was pretty impressive anyway.

The Rockpile is a stretch of the Pine island Cut where there are slabs of rock that are not visible at high tide and many boats have sunk in there. We passed unscathed but unfortunately the current and wind was against us and we only made it as far as Osprey Marina, a really first class operation and at $1/ft one of the best bargains on the ICW (so far). When we got there, the crew of Buckaroo (Bill and Joanne) were already on the dock and suggested we join them in a free ride to an Italian restaurant and some provisioning. We had a superb meal with them and they swore they would call again on their way back north.


Wednesday 26th November
A really lazy start to the day after our big night out, waiting for the frost to melt off the docks and boat. After a pumpout and a fill with water, we set off again and soon were heading down the Waccamaw River past several of these floating cottages.

That's a Confederate flag on the opposite side to the stars and stripes.

Then into the Estherville Minim Creek Canal. We spent the night in the Minim Creek anchorage which is in the middle of a beautiful salt marsh wetlands area and the only life is bird life.

Thursday 27th November
We were almost in range of Charleston, but not quite, so we set off with modest plans for the day. Just as well as it turned out. As they say about the ICW “There are two kinds of boat on the ICW, those that are aground and those that are about to be”. We quickly went from the second option to the first. We can partially blame it on our cruising guide (Skipper Bob) for telling us to favour the right side of the channel, anyway we got stuck. We weren’t too worried as the tide was on the rise so eventually we would have floated away anyway. However, a quick trip out to the middle of the channel with the anchor in the dinghy and with boat engine going full blast and cranking on the windlass, we slid off and resumed our journey.

On this section of the ICW the surroundings are very swampy which makes for some very long docks for the houses.

Lot's of dolphin sightings and many pelicans and other sea birds and if you look really, really closely at this pic you can see the famous US mascot, the Bald Eagle.


Friday 28th November
Just a short hop to Charleston Harbour which appears to be packed with boats at anchor. We settle for Wappoo Creek which is just past the city. We did plan to make the trip by dinghy but settled for shopping at Piggley Wiggley and a movie rental - we've been to Charleston before.

Saturday 29th November
Still on the hook in Wappoo Creek. It's warmed up but raining quite a bit.

Oriental to Southport

Tuesday 18th November
We have a day in Oriental with a trip to the grocery store and buy even more food. I think we could last to spring on our provisions.

Wednesday 19th November
It looks like the weather is still not right, our batteries are depleted and it's COLD so we move the boat about 100' to the Oriental Marina for some shore power and continuous heat.


Did a trip to the health food store and one more to the hardware but mostly stayed near the heater.

Thursday 20th November
Up at 5:30 for an early start (7 by the time we were off), across the Neuse River and down past Beaufort and Moorehead City where we were greeted by dolphins that escorted us alongside for a short while. Couldn't photograph them as the water is not clear enough and they only surface for an instant. We then went for miles down the Bogue Sound to Swansboro. It's a cute place where we actually managed to buy some fresh fish and wonderfully tasty local shrimp (instead of farmed Thai or Chinese which is what the supermarkets sell) from a shack by the water.

Friday 21st November
Up again at 5:30 and up-anchor by 7 and onwards down the ICW to Wrightsville. A few close calls depth-wise. Lets's put it this way, if Incognita had a 6' keel we would have been aground.
On this leg you have to make it through four opening bridges that only open on the hour or hour and half hour which complicates things just a little. Arriving too late is bad but arriving too early is also bad as there is no way to tie up and you end up with boats milling around aimlessly, trying to avoid running into each other. More dolphin sightings.

We had intended to anchor at Wrightsville Beach but we only got through the last bridge at 5 and dusk is at 5:10 and after a very windy and tiringly cold day we opted for a marina and power.

This is the Wrighstville double bascule (French for see-saw) bridge - the first double we have seen.


Saturday 22nd November
Before we left Waupoos in September, which seems a long long time ago now, we met Rhodes and Ellen Messick on the dock there when they were visiting from Sackett's Harbour where they keep their CS sailboat Skylarkin. They actually live in Southport, North Carolina, not that far from Wrightsville.

They had invited us to call in on the way down south and so we made our next destination the picturesque town of Southport after negotiating the dreaded Cape Fear River which went just fine.

with typical Carolina-style houses.


Ellen came down to the boat and ferried us around to buy propane, engine oil and groceries and we were invited to their home for supper where a game Rhodes met us, two days after having throat surgery.

Why don't they keep their boat down in North Carolina instead of up North? Well, apparently - though it's really hard to believe right now with record low temperatures - it's way too hot in summer.

We tied up to a free dock in Southport which is always a bonus for taking Buddy for walks.

Sunday 23rd November
There are couple of tricky bits on the ICW from Southport to South Carolina so we were waiting for higher tides before we left. However, when we did pull away from the dock we had an engine transmission problem that had us back on the dock pronto. This fellow observed the proceedings from an adjacent piling.


Don't really know what the problem was but after tightening the shaft coupling and testing it at the dock, the problem went away leaving us free to go but too late for Sunday. I also tried to see if there was problem underwater with the propeller but after a frigid dip I couldn't see anything anyway, as the water was too murky.

We took Buddy a walk along the beach in the freezing cold.

Belhaven to Oriental

Friday 14^th November
The day started with fog that persisted into the afternoon.

Some boats with radar left the marina and pressed on but we stayed. We took the opportunity to go shopping using the marina's courtesy car.

The River Forest Marina is pretty unique in that it is also a hotel that used to be a private house in another age.

Saturday 15th November
The weather suddenly turned dangerously warm with temperatures in the 70's but threatened thunderstorms and there was also a tornado warning. Fortunately neither phenomenon transpired but it certainly kept us in the marina giving me chance to finish installing the automatic bilge pump.

Sunday 16th November
More high winds pinned us down for one more day giving me chance to install a Y-valve - don't ask if you don't know - the last of the big things that were to be installed.

Monday 17th November
Up really early (5:20) and we make the most of a good weather window and finally leave Belhaven heading down the Pungo River, across the Pamlico River and up the Neuse River to the sailing capital of North Carolina, Oriental which has three times as many sailboats as there are residents. Here we were lucky enough to find a spot on the town dock which has only space for two boats (we're the one on the right).

The picture is actually from the town dock web-cam (http://towndock.net/harborcam). This link should show us in real time (the picture is updated every 10 minutes) for at least another day, as we intend to stay here and weather out the 35 knot winds that are promised. If you pick the right 'slide show' you can actually see us arrive - sort of.

Norfolk to Belhaven

Friday 7^th November
Visibility is a little low but the winds have calmed, so we head out into the Chesapeake Bay for the last time, to go around into the Hampton Roads and pass between Norfolk and Portsmouth, past docks and warships

to anchor for the night – off Hospital Point at the start of the ICW (Intra Coastal Waterway). I took buddy across the river to the dock behind the USS Wisconsin which you can tour. The tall ship is a training vessel for young people.

We thought that with leaving the Chesapeake, that would be the end of the scourge of the crab pot.

However, as we are subsequently to find out, this is not the case. Sometimes it`s like negotiating a minefield to avoid running them down.

Saturday 8^th November
An early start and we’re off to enter “The Dismal Swamp”. In actuality, the Dismal Swamp canal is a beautiful waterway that takes you from Virginia to North Carolina.

Part way down is the North Carolina Welcome Centre that has a free dock where you are obliged to ‘raft up’. We were nearly the last of nine boats to arrive and ended up on the outside of two others which meant nobody clambered across our boat but we had to cross two others to get ashore. There was pot luck supper on-shore in the park area and a good time was had by all.

Sunday 9^th November
This is the next morning when most of the other boats had left.

Sunday, we usually have a big breakfast, so we left a little later at the next lock opening. As our destination was only 20-odd miles away at Elizabeth City it didn’t make much difference to the day.

Elizabeth City is a treasure for cruisers. They have free docking and go out of their way to encourage people to come – like a free wine and cheese party and a talk from the mayor. The docking is as we experienced in Norfolk – between pilings.

I suppose if you do it often enough you get use to it – we’re not there yet.

Monday 10^th November
We should have left in the morning but we suddenly realized we were low on diesel and the only place to get it was Lamb’s Marina - 3 miles back up the river under a bridge that doesn’t open for pleasure craft until 9. By the time we had fuelled-up - via a truck that was driven to the dock - and negotiated our way in and out of a marina with water as shallow as 6’, it was 11 am and too late for the trip across Albemarle Sound.

It was no imposition to stay, as we got to go to the wine and cheese

and also have a movie (The Secret Life of Bees) and dinner experience at the Carolina Theatre with Janet and Jeremy aboard the American Tug “Tardis”. It’s like a restaurant with a (full size) movie screen and Dolby sound.

Tuesday 11^th November
Up at 6 and away from the dock by 7 we head down the Pasquotank River and across the Albermarle sound, renowned for unpleasant conditions. It’s ridiculously shallow, no more than 20 feet deep and 10 miles across which causes short sharp waves. We, however, had a good (maybe not for Carol) downwind sail with NO MOTOR into the Alligator River. We almost ran into difficulty there where the buoy positions do not correspond to the charts. Due to shoaling they have been moved. Thanks to another boat’s timely intervention we went the correct way.

After calling at the Alligator Creek Marina for a pumpout, water and cheap diesel for our ‘tank farm’ diesel containers, we anchored in South Lake across the river where we were supposed to be able to take Buddy ashore. Although a beautiful spot with not a soul around – no sounds of human activity all night – the ‘land’ tuned out to be not something Buddy could walk around on.

Wednesday 12^th November
Up at 6 and off by 7 again we passed through the swing bridge across the Alligator River and on down to the Alligator River - Pungo River Canal. Just a small note – the Alligator River did have alligators in it until the 1930’s. This is the most deserted place we have passed through, just miles and miles of Cypress swamps and no human habitation.

Here, the increased salinity of the water caused by connecting the Pungo and Alligator rivers by the canal is killing the Bald Cypress which live normally for up to 600 years.

After transiting the canal we headed up the Pungo River a mile, to anchor in a sheltered little spot where Buddy finally did get to ‘walk around’ after 32 hours. We thought we were alone until four other boats showed up.

Thursday 13^th November
An early start again but as went along the weather seriously deteriorated with heavy rain and high winds and even on the relatively small Pungo River, waves quickly build and we decide to pull into Pantego Creek and anchor. As we arrive there a sailboat was being towed out after dragging two anchors and fouling its prop. The river faces SE and that`s the direction from which the wind was coming, so we decided to pull into River Forest Marina for at least one night.

Jackson Creek to Norfolk

Saturday 1st November
We made it out of Jackson Creek without touching bottom which we did twice on the way in - didn't get stuck though.

By early afternoon we could see the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel in the distance and before too long we entered Little Creek, Norfolk, Virginia, looking for Cobb's Marina. That's when the navy intercepted us and told us (politely) not to proceed any futher in the direction we were going. (Little Creek also turned out to be the home of the US Navy's amphibious division and we unwittingly strayed too far into their part of the water!!).

There was a new experience for us at Cobb's where all the docking is by tying to pylons. It took us a couple of goes but eventually we we were secured.

Sunday 2nd November
Started installing the solar panels which had been delivered to the marina from Texas. Although West Marine (and Radio Shack and a supermarket) were within easy walking distance, it took a much longer walk to find a hardware store and some stainless U-Bolts, since rail mounts seem to be nearly impossible to find - go figure.

Monday 3rd November
Got the U-Bolts modified and the panels on top of the frame just before dark. Jobs always take way longer than expected on a sailboat.

Tuesday 4th November
Election day in the USA and I manage to run the wire for the panels before the forecast bad weather hits.

Buddy goes for a clipping but I think they gave us the wrong dog back.

We followed the election by refreshing the CNN web-page continuously. Hey, they managed to elect the right guy this time.

Wednesday 5th November
The weather is atrocious with the wind gusting from 40 to 50 knots and driving rain, so even if the installation had gone quicker we're still pretty much pinned down here.

Buddy whiled the time away reading on-line about the election aftermath.


Thursday 6th November
The winds have subsided (a little) and the rain has stopped but it's still not a good day for moving on and the solar panel installation isn't quite finished.

Tomorrow they are forecasting a return to good weather giving us chance to enter the ICW.