April Fool

We are on Day 15. We have had good weather although it was cold for a few days early in the trip. We stayed warm at night with our propane heater. Since it was sunny during the day we were quite comfortable. And we were prepared with warm clothes. We especially enjoyed the leg down the Dismal Swamp Canal, as well has other canal and creeks. Our first night after leaving Portsmouth was at the Dismal Swamp Visitors Center. There were 13 boats rafted 2 or 3 across against the side of the canal. It took some maneuvering but everyone was very cooperative. We made many new friends while doing this, and we have seen many again as we continued the trip. The canal has two locks, one filling and one emptying. It takes about an hour to do this as you wait in the lock chamber--another chance to chat with other boaters. We thought the canal was one of the most interesting legs of our trip--very colorful vegetation. Our next stop was Elizabeth City NC where we tied up at the town dock. Very friendly and hospitable town; town people had a happy hour for boaters. The next day we motorsailed across the Albermarle Sound. This is supposed to be one of the harder legs of the trip, but we were fine. The weather was windy but we had the wind with us. We anchored that night at a protected anchorage on the Alligator River--beautiful sunset and brilliant stars. We left early the next morning for the Dowry Creek Marina off the the Pungo River; this leg was down the Alligator River/Pungo River Canal to the Pungo River. The weather was again cool but sunny. We saw several bald eagles, and two does swam across the canal behind our boat. It was good to spend the night in a marina so we could have electricity, take showers and do laundry. Early start again the next day with sunny weather. We had gone about ten miles when our engine died. Dick thought he knew what the problem was so tried to fix it. No luck, so we dropped the anchor so Puts 'n Calls, who are traveling with us, could tie up with us so Don could help. It took almost an hour and one/half but they got it fixed. We were on the Neuse River which is very wide so we weren't in a lot of traffic. We arrived at our anchorage for the night at 4:30 even with the delay. Another good anchorage with a nice sunset--red sky at night, sailors delight. The next day started out cloudy but soon became warm and sunny. We didn't need our cool weather clothes anymore. We proceeded down the Neuse River to Adams Creek to Morehead City where we stayed at a marina for the night. We really liked Adams Creek where we saw bald eagles, egrets, herons, and dolphins. Morehead City was quiet, no good restaurants near us. We did find a good pizzeria-- the pizza was great--especially since we were craving pizza. Had a short trip the next day, so had a later start--9:15. This point the ICW goes between the mainland and the barrier islands where there are many beach towns. There were many recreational fishing boats and people clamming. It was interesting to see the many houses on the mainland and houses and condos on the beach. We spent the night at Casper's Marina in Swansboro-- a lovely little coastal town. We had a great dinner at The Ice House, wahoo for Dick. First time we had seen wahoo on a menu. Dick and Don had a beer at a beer and wine shop while sitting on their porch overlooking the waterfront. People are friendly everywhere; talked to some kayakers there and saw them again at dinner. Left Swansboro at 9 headed for anchorage off Topsail Beach. Everyday brings something different; boats ahead of us were going aground where there was shoaling in the middle of the channel. We had no problems since the lead boats were on the radio guiding us through the trouble spots. We had many dolphins swimming along with us, and again there were many fishermen. We thought from the charts that it would be tricking getting into the anchorage and that there was only room for a couple of boats. We had no problem, and there were six boats plus the two of us. We were close enough to the ocean that we went to bed with the sound of the ocean. The next day we had two bridge openings to make so we had a 7:30 departure. The bridges were 5 miles apart; one opened on hour and half hour, the other only on the hour. Thanks to a current we easily made the first bridge, and then had an hour to the next bridge. We arrived in Southport, NC on the Cape Fear River at 3:15, and settled in to our marina. Southport is a quaint little town with many historical homes and huge live oaks. Southport has the most large live oaks of any southern town. We had to watch out for the many acorns that were falling off the trees. It was Halloween so the streets were full of trick or treaters. We had a lay day today so did laundry and boat projects. On to Myrtle Beach tomorrow.