Travels in North Carolina

It's really spring! - Duckings on a lawn in Belhaven

We've seen Osprey nests on top of navigation aids all along the ICW - and, other summers, on top of aids in the Thousand Islands - but now we are seeing the Ospreys: it's spring and they have eggs to keep warm.

Sunday and Monday, May 2nd and 3rd: Oriental, NC

Last Sunday we decided to skip our stay in Beaufort, NC and go straight to Oriental to meet with Plumpuppet and Sandcastle. We booked a spot in the Oriental Marina and by 2:00 pm, we were heading in. As Bob began to swing Sea Change out and around to get into the slip, the boat slowed and stopped. "I'm out of water," Bob yelled to the waiting dock master. "We're grounded," I yelled. The dock master looked confused - he was having trouble understanding that Sea Change was stuck. Barb, from Plumpuppet, had warned me that depths close in were unusually low. Persistent winds for the last several days were sucking water out of harbours and tributaries and into the Neuse River but the water had risen a little in the last while and Tom, the dock master, told me there would be no problem. Well, we had a problem. We were sitting parallel to, but several feet away from the free (and empty) town dock (note to self - consider in future why a free dock might be empty). Tom came out along the dock and asked us to throw him a line. More helpers and many watchers appeared. We became the entertainment of the moment. I threw 2 more lines and now lines from the stern, mid-ships, and bow cleats were pulled and maneuvered until Sea Change, engine in and out of reverse, wiggled to deeper water. (Incidentally, I am a disaster at baseball, but I throw a pretty good boat line.) Other than 2 slips where we went aground, the marina was full so Tom told us to tie up at the gas dock. Soon after, a trawler pulled in behind us. With bad weather getting worse, everyone was looking for a safe place to tie up and now both marinas in the harbour were full.

Since we were expecting to leave the following morning, I moved quickly to get a load of laundry in, walk across the street to check out the book exchange at The Bean coffee shop, and then to the Deli at the other marina to buy sliced meat and cheese. That night we all went to dinner at M and M - named for the candies. On the way "down", we had great "peel and eat 'em shrimp" at M and M but it's not shrimp season now, so we had other good (and reasonably priced) food.

The next morning at 6:30, we talked on the VHF with Plumpuppet and Sandcastle. The winds were still high and from their docks they could see rough water on the Neuse. We decided to stay and enjoy the day in Oriental. Bob took the opportunity to change the engine and transmission oil and then we walked the long walk to the grocery store.

John and Madeleine, the couple on Chanceux who we met in the Exumas, were back home in New Bern just north of Oriental. They also know Karen and Warren (Sandcastle) and Barb and Ken (Plumpuppet)- having met them on their way south - so I called John and Madeleine and invited them to join us for drinks and dinner. Along with people from boats near us, and Diane and Tony from Vertigo (staying at another marina and part of a group that came south from Port Stanley), we gathered at the outdoor bar at the marina. Cruisers - especially ICW cruisers - are very friendly so the group quickly set about introducing themselves and falling into conversation about their travels. Later 8 of us (Sea Change, Plumpuppet, Sand Castle and Chanceux) went for dinner at the marina's Toucan Cafe. It was a lot of fun to see John and Madeleine again and to talk with everyone about life after the Bahamas.

Bob, Barbara, Ken, Warren, Karen, John and Madeleine

Tuesday, May 5th: Belhaven, NC

The wind had dropped Monday night so we knew the water in the harbour would rise and waves on shallow  ICW rivers ahead would flatten out. In spite of possible thunderstorms predicted for every day in the coming week, we decided to leave on Tuesday morning. Now we were moving north on the wide rivers of North Carolina - along the Neuse into the Bay River, then through a cut into Goose Creek, then across the Pamlico River and up the Pongo. I counted 9 boats behind us and 3 up ahead - everyone is on their way home. All was well until the sky clouded over. Up ahead, Sea Smoke, the trawler that had shared our dock in Oriental, was caught in driving rain, lost his navigation equipment, and became disoriented. Over the VHF, other boats advised on the correct heading (direction) and Sea Smoke found her way out of dangerous water and back to the magenta line. A while later, it was our turn to pass through heavy rain. Briefly winds climbed to 30 knots but eventually settled down and we proceeded in now drizzling rain. Thank God for the enclosure. We feel much less miserable than others who have to suit up and stand under the sparse protection of their Bimini (canvas top). Along the Pongo, we left Sandcastle, Plumpuppet and other boats in the group to go into River Forest marina at Belhaven. We needed a pumpout and far away thunder was making us uncomfortable.




River Forest Manor in Belhaven






Wednesday, May 6th: All the Way to Elizabeth City, NC

We got up at 5:30 for an early start. When we hailed Plumpuppet, Barb said that Sirius Weather predicted high winds for the evening and into the next day. To avoid Thursday's possibly wind whipped waters on Albemarle Sound, they intended to keep going past the marina and anchorages at the mouth of the Alligator River where many boats would lay over, cross the Albemarle and go all the way to the free docks at Elizabeth City.






Trees along the canal joining the Alligator and Pongo Rivers in North Carolina



The Albemarle Sound can be nasty and wise cruisers approach it with caution. In spite of the fact that we were an hour behind Plumpuppet, we thought - if they can do it - then we can too - but we put off our final decision until we reached the sound and could better gage our speed and arrival time in Elizabeth City. We were slowed in the morning by an opposing current but later, both the current and south winds at 16 - 20 knots were pushing us along. With our head sail up, we were motor sailing at 6 - 7 knots. Since we expected similar speeds across the Albemarle, we continued across the sound making 7+ knots all the way to Elizabeth City and arriving at 6 pm. We had traveled 85 statute miles (almost 73 nautical miles) in 12 hours - a personal best for Sea Change.

You see all kinds of things along the ICW. As we were traveling up a canal near Camp Lejuene, about 12 of these amphibious vehicles scooted by. As they passed, a couple of the men in uniform did a little twirl in their turret and a soldier in every vehicle waved.