April 26-27
From the Calabash River, we motored up to Southport, NC. Beautiful water and sand dunes, with lots of tough, shoaled inlets. And, of course, the dolphins, which disappear whenever the camera comes out! We spent 2 days here and visited with Liz and Ray, who we had spent time with in Marathon, FL when they rented a house nearby. They have a beach house here in Oak Island, NC. Liz and Ray had us to dinner, allowed us to do laundry, and use their car to reprovision. It was a wonderful time off the boat for a break!
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| NC inlet |
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| Bob with Liz and Ray. You can see the ocean and the ICW from this porch! |
April 28
We put in a long day, timing our travel up the Cape Fear River to go with the strong current. Anchored in the basin at Camp LeJune and listened to the helicopters coming and going.
April 29-30
We decided return to Beaufort. Love this place! Great restaurants and walking from the city docks! We met 2 other Island Packet 31 owners. And we were invited to Happy Hour on Sovereignty, a 36 Kadey Krogen Manatee. Bob says this will be his next boat! We are always excited if we time our stay coincides with a Farmer's Market. There was a great one Sat. morning and we stocked up on fresh produce and bread.
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| Island Packet sailboats with Kadey Krogen in background. |
While in Beaufort, we took a 15 minute bus ride over to nearby Morehead City. Carol's grandparents liked to stop at The Sanitary Restaurant and Fish Market on their way south. This place opened in 1938 and was still going strong today. Inland and offshore fish were the specialty.
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| The bar at the Sanitary Restaurant |
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| Bob shucking his peck of oysters. |
May 1
We crossed the Pamlico Sound and Neuse River and anchored Campbell Creek.
May 2
Onto the Pongo River, Pongo-Alligator Canal, and Alligator River 68 miles to our anchorage on the Little Alligator River.
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| The landscape along the canal seemed like scenery out of a horror movie |
May 3
We woke up to a wicked rain and thunderstorm. Then, at 10am, we saw a window to cross the Albemarle Sound and took it. We were very lucky to get up this sound in SW wind. Back to the Dismal Swamp route. We ended up at Goat Island. This was one of our prettiest anchorages and we were serenaded by bullfrogs all night!
May 4
Started through the Dismal Swamp and the first lock. We tied up at the Visitor Center dock along with 9 other northbound cruising boats. We put together a cookout and enjoyed meeting our fellow travelers. One boat was doing the Great Loop, another was from our homeport, 2 were full-time live-aboards.
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| Free dock at Dismal Swamp State Park visitor center with boats rafted up. |
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| Captains grilling our dinner |
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| Our group of cruisers |
May 5-6
Finished out the Dismal Swamp and docked at the ferry basin in Portsmouth, VA. Rain and north wind kept us here. Flooding at the dock was 2-3 feet deep at high tide!
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| The free dock at the base of the main street in Portsmouth |
We took the ferry over to Norfolk and explored the area.
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| Portsmouth- Norfolk ferry |
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| At the Naval Museum is docked the Battleship USS Wisconsin- massive! Couldn't even fit the entire boat in a picture! |
