We left Annapolis Oct 23 or
so and navigated the Chesapeake Bay stopping in Solomons Island, Deltaville and 2
remote Creeks and made it into the Naval Hospital Anchorage in Nolfolk past all
the warships, aircraft carriers etc., only staying one night.
We saw Carnival's Glory do a 180 degree turn in
front of us and will NEVER complain again about handling Magic in tight
quarters. That is our boat in the foreground and there are cruisers in the cockpit of the boat right behind Glory - they could order drinks from the bar!!
Onward the next day to Great Bridge passing Brian on Sea Angel going north
to pick up Anne in Norfolk. We entered the
Virginia Cut and transitted one more lock our biggest yet. The lock opened and then we encountered our first
Bridge waiting to open on the ICW.
Met
some new boats (Chesapeake - Joe & Connie on the trawker Chesapeake, Frank on Just
Desserts a 42' Whitby and Pam and George on a 53' Selene motor yacht
Thoedore) We were in company with these
folks for the next several days and look forward to meeting up again. We waited
for the boats to go thru the bridge and then moved up to just in front of the
bridge and took a piece of the wall dock (yes, you guessed it - free) and spent the night - nice town, did
shopping, laundry and met Ann on Crazy Lady also docked there. Next day off and running to Broad Creek, off
the North River before heading across the Albermarle Sound. Had sundowners on Theodore and with Joe and
Connie and Frank (and of course the owners Pam and George) and had a tour of an
awesome motor yacht. Spent 20 minutes in
the engine room and didn't see it all.
There are a hundred "Back Creeks" "Mill Creeks" and "Broad Creeks" so when I forget an anchorage I just choose one of those and have a good chance of getting it right. Then, on to Oriental, NC. It is a really lovely town. We anchored in front of the bridge (only 45' clearance which is a bit low for us.) Met Dave and Rose on Cloud 9 on the way into Oriental and had sundowners on their boat the first night and we all went into town. Again, the next night, we went in company to "The Silos" - an italian pizzeria type restaurant and the food was awesome. Even better, it was open mic night and we had a blast, walking back the 3 miles late in the dark stopping for a carton of ice cream at the gas station on the way back.
Thru Beaufort Inlet and Bogue Inlet to Mile Hammock Bay anchorage - part
of the US Army's Camp Lejeune. Saw lots
of army airplanes, heard lots of booms, very entertaining. Saw black bears swimming across the ICW going
into the anchorage, we were as surprised as they were. Again decided really didn't need to go for a
swim. Spent 2 nights there and got some
reading done. 
Onto Wrightsville SC
anchorage which was great. Tried the
shortcut - one book said 6 feet - maybe at high tide! Got off, got stuck,got off, went the long
way around and found a great anchorage.
Dinghied to dock, went to local bar on beachfront strip (saw lots of
surfers but water was COLD) for cheap beers and they were doing oyster steamers
behind building in parking lot at a great price - free! 
Met and talked to Billy the owner, his
friends and some of the locals @ "Lagerhead." Really great evening, bar looked real rough
with no boaters so it just goes to show, go local. 
We left with the tide and made the run past Carolina
Beach into and down the Cape Fear River. It was fast, and not bad at all. Made such great time we pushed and going past
at low tide at Shallotte Inlet bounced again and got stuck for a bit. Heard lots of calls for TowBoatUS!! Careful where you drop your way points!
We got off again OK and a local boat with
guys fishing (man, these guys like killing things down here - fish, crabs,
oysters, ducks - basically anything that moves and doesn't carry the death
penalty for the shooter!!) pointed the way.
Saw some wild goats on an island -
surprised they hadn't been shot. Passed
some guys in orange hats with shotguns and duck kazoos and decided NOT to
motorsail that stretch (we dislike Swiss sails!).
The anchorage next at Little
River was full so we went on the ocean side of the ICW on Little River Inlet -
to find Casino Cruise ships transit it to Atlantic from their moorings on the
ICW - but the river was plenty wide so me staying in the cockpit reading until
they came back at 2 am was just coincidental.
Lots of current but the anchor bit and held very well. Our VHF radio has
been very staticy since Annapolis. Did
some trouble shooting and found it powered just fine with the red wire and the
coax after I disconnected the black ground.
Hmmmm. Got reception to Raymarine
(on a cell phone that is) and after 2 hours of calling talked to a real
person. He confirmed it should not do
that. Well, making progress.
Got an early morning start and rode the ebb tide all the way to Georgetown, through the Maccamaw River which was really pretty, nice fall scenery but of course not as nice as home. Well, it was pretty close. We made it through the "Rockpile" unscathed. Saw a golf course that was on both sides of the ICW - with a cable car for the golfers back and forth! Maccamaw empties to Winyah Bay and a right turn took us into Georgetown.
Georgetown is a funny town, some of waterfront is really nice and docks and board walk are high end but alot of empty, derelict water Front st. buildings, vacant lots etc. Withering downtown and misfortune just keeps coming. There was a fire on Front St. on the waterfront stretch 2 months ago that has left a large hole about 500 feet wide. Lots of derelict boats in harbour, some on anchor and a dozen shoved into an island in the harbour. For all that, it is worth a visit, the people are friendly and there are all the shopping and services you'd want. We went to the UPS store and shipped the VHF radio back to Raymarine and will have it repaired and sent on to us when we have an address or UPS store etc further south (we have 2 hand held vhf radios that are fine for the ICW.) We walked a lot one day, trying to find Walmart, completely missed it (by 2 or 3 miles) and got lost but found Palmetto Kitchen, a very local and small joint that just does a buffet - $7.99 with fried everything - chicken, catfish, whitefish, shrimp, crabcakes (using the crab shell to serve!), mac and cheese (not fried for a change of pace), rice (fried) and iced tea and lemonade. Well I do declare, I think I'll have a third plate. Life is like a box of chocolates... Found Walmart, got lots of supplies, cabbed back, dieseled up, watered up, found laundry at marina past fuel dock, did that. Up at 6:00am, back to boat and packing away clean clothes, strapping down jerry cans, putting away food at only 8:30pm. Yes indeed, living the life! :-)
No internet since Oriental (@ The Bean) hope to find in Charleston.
So far, 1616 statute (regular) miles now as ICW is all laid out in those so have converted.
Blogging via SSB from Georgetown habour SC, will edit and add photos when have internet.
Edi & Blair signing off
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