Mile 500 (ICW) On November 12th, in strong winds (20-25 knots), we sailed past mile marker 500 of the Intercoastal Waterway. We are constantly entertained by the dolphins. Each day we sight between 5 and 10. On two very exciting occasions we had them swim for a distance with us, along side our hull in our wake. We took time out to enjoy a horse-drawn tour of historic Beaufort, S.C., where we were in awe of the Spanish moss as well as the buildings made out of Tabby (oyster shells). In addition to their rich history, the residents of Beaufort take delight in being the location where the movie "Forrest Gump" was filmed. Beaufort's dock was the first place we saw a sign regarding the manatees. Tropical vegetation continues to become more evident. Just before we slipped into Georgia on November 14th we threw the anchor and enjoyed a stroll on a beautiful white sand beach on Hilton Head Island.

Pole Position Heron, Pelicans, Cormorants

South Carolina November 8th saw us anchored in Dutchman Creek (M310). As we travel along we enjoy viewing the seemingly never-ending row of huge homes lining the Outer Banks. They seem so isolated, strung side-by-side, mile upon mile, on their narrow strip of sand. Truly an ideal location in fair weather, but very frightening in foul. On November 9th we passed into South Carolina. Much to our delight we caught up to our friends that we met on the Erie Canal, Charlie & Christine McCullough, on Wingspread. We enjoyed their company at Barefoot Landing, near Myrtle Beach and travelled with them to spend the next day together as well in Georgetown. Here we were surprised to read the sign posted on the town dock prohibiting the feeding of alligators. No problem there. On the days we are unable to sail and must travel solely by power we put our hammock up on deck between the forestay and mast, where we take turns relaxing as we make our way along. It's a long ride - may as well enjoy it!

Sandbars, Shrimp boats, Shoal draft, Salt marshes We travelled in the rain today and anchored out at M263 in strong winds (gusting to 35 knots). Flood warnings are being broadcast on our VHF radio, which explains why all the beautiful homes that we see edging the shore, have the strange design feature of starting on the 2nd floor. The narrow channel that we are travelling along, on the edge of Bogue Sound is bordered by sandbars, salt marshes and sand dunes. We are constantly grateful that we have a shoal draft and only require 4'l0" of water, however we do find going aground here in the sand to be much more forgiving than the North Channel rocks. While moving along today in rainy but warmer temperatures (62F), we sighted 5 dolphins and many great white heron and pelicans. We continue to see many shrimp boats. We're told the fishermen name their boats after their mothers or daughters as their wives change too frequently.

The long and winding road - North Carolina We got an early start out of our anchorage at Mile 127 (ICW) on the Pungo river. We travelled south down the river, across the mouth of the Pamlico River and in to Goose Creek. From there we went out into Pamlico Sound and around to the town of Oriental in the Neuse River where we anchored for the night (M180). The next day we headed across the strong cross current from Pamlico Sound to enter Adams Creek. This took us through to the Newport River. We saw 3 porpoises there in the strong current of the shallow water. We rounded Morehead City into Bogue Sound where we travelled against the 3 knot tidal current. We attempted to enter the anchorage at Peletier Creek but found the entranceway was shoaled. We carried on and were successful in entering the excellent anchorage at Spooner's Creek (M210). Our anchorage was one block from the Wal-Mart store. We wandered over in the evening and came back with a t.v. and antenna. (Barry insisted we buy it!) After 4 months of spending our evenings reading or occasionally viewing a movie on the laptop we delighted in watching "deal or no deal".

Snowbirds in Flight Elizabeth City's free public dock held 20 or more migrating snowbirds as a cold front passed through. At 0800 hours on November 5th the weather window opened and within minutes we were all in flight, sailing into the early morning sun on the open water of Albemarle Sound. We travelled through the Alligator River and onward to the Pungo River canal. We had planned to anchor at Mile 114(ICW)in the anchorage listed in our Chartracker guide, however there was inadequate depth and we were forced to carry on. Both sides of the narrow canal were strewn with tree stumps sticking out, as well the shoreline was badly eroded caused by the wake of high speed power boats as they make their way out to the ocean. An attempt to anchor for the night before the sun set saw our anchor stuck in a mass of logs while a huge power boat shot by leaving us to deal with his inconsiderate bad manners and wake. Unable to anchor we were forced to carry on through the treacherous canal but luck was on our side as our course was 270 degrees magnetic. We could see that we were in the centre of the canal by the light of the setting sun on the water and luckily as well, there was also a full moon that night. With the use of our depth sounder we arrived safely at the next anchorage (M127)and spent a restful night after travelling 75 miles today. We were thankful of our CPS training today.

cruising in the sunshine

holly "trees" in the wild

Fishing - Chesapeake Bay

November 1st - North Carolina Our motoring along the Great Dismal Swamp brought us to the North Carolina border, mid-day on November 1st, in hot sunshine. We continue to enjoy the beautiful fall colour. We found the garden of cotton growing at the North Carolina visitor's centre to be very interesting. At the end of the day we were welcomed into the free public docks at Elizabeth City, mile 51 of the Inter-coastal waterway (Great Dismal Swamp route).

Halloween in the Great Dismal Swamp The trick is not to go aground, the treat is the Great Dismal Swamp. We had travelled a mere 3 miles into the Great Dismal Swamp before we found ourselves aground. Since this was not (by any means) our first time in this perdicament, Barry soon had us afloat again. The Great Dismal Swamp is anything by dismal. The fall colour was in abundance. We locked through Deep Creek lock and spent Halloween night docked on it's southern side. We enjoyed drinks there with fellow Canadians, out of Cobourg, Ontario, Frank Farago and Dianne MacDonald on board their beautiful 34' PDQ power-cat "Kama Kat".

The ICW - Intercoastal Waterway Norfolk, Virginia October 30, 2006 We slipped through the pre-dawn mist amidst a sea of loons to begin our last day on the Chesapeake. The pelicans seem as curious of us as we are of them. They circle and sweep by us as we pass. We enjoyed a sunny, warm day (74 F)and arrived in Norfolk Virginia, the start of the Intercoastal Waterway, just before sunset. Three dolphins delighted us by playing in our wake as we made our way. We knew it was a day of firsts for us when we sailed past a submarine, not to mention more naval vessels than Canada's whole fleet. We now know where they build and repair battleships, aircraft carriers and other warships. We also noted with interest the huge cranes loading and unloading container ships. For awhile it seemed that if a barge or naval vessel wasn't coming at us by water then a helicopter was zooming by overhead. What a busy port Norfolk is and what a huge presence the Navy makes there.

Exploring the Chesapeake We found ourselves on anchor in Horn Harbor (La 37 51'30, Lo 76 20'60) Virginia, after our longest and best day of travel so far. We left Annapolis at 0800 hours in W to NW 10-15 knot winds. We enjoyed a following sea in the sunshine and arrived at the Great Wicomico River at 2100 hours, having put 83 miles behind us in one day. We averaged between 6.5 and 7.5 knots. For the first time today we saw pelicans and loons. Horn Harbor is a true gunk-hole. The entrance is just slightly wider than our boat with shifting sand spits running out each side. Once inside it carries 9 feet depth for an area large enough to allow possibly 20 boats to swing. It reminded us of Wingfield Basin in Georgian Bay. It winds back for approximately half a mile. We enjoyed observing the jelly-fish (sea nettles) that have made Horn Harbor's quiet waters their home.

Fishing in the Bay On our departure from Annapolis we passed through 5 boats of fishermen harvesting oysters. They were employing "hand tonging" which I read is one of the oldest fishing traditions still in use in the bay. Crab pots are a constant obstacle to dodge in the Chesapeake. I read in past years as many as 93 million pounds of blue crab have been taken in a single season. Clams are also key products of the bay as well as eels, catfish, striped bass, rockfish and a multitude of other varities. We learned about pound net fishing in our near miss of one while powering along in the dark. Who would ever think a fence would be sticking 6 feet out of the water two miles off shore (unlit, unmarked). It was quite a surprise, but we missed it! We have greatly enjoyed watching with interest the commercial watermen at work, and we have also greatly enjoyed the fruits of their labour.