Shortly after 8:00 on Wednesday morning, April 2nd, we were underway. We stopped for fuel at Isle of Hope Marina. Able to motor-sail with the genoa for about three hours, we completed a seventy-seven mile passage, anchoring at 8:00 PM, for our first time near green marker 203, in the Coosaw River, north of Beaufort, South Carolina.

Thursday morning's anchor raising was also shortly after 8:00, motor-sailing with the genoa at times, and dropping the hook shortly after 4:15 PM in the Stono River, near ICW mile 475.

Hauling anchor at 7:45 AM on Friday, pushing against over a knot of current, we arrived twenty minutes early for the Wapoo Bridge's first opening after the morning restriction, at 9:00 AM. We were able to motor-sail with the genoa for most of the day's passage, and travelled in tandem with another sailboat from Lake Champlain, Song of Ruth. Transiting past McClellanville before a falling mid-tide, we were able to get to Winyah Bay, ICW mile 410, for our first time anchoring there, shortly before 5:30 PM.

Saturday at 8:45 AM we were underway, motor-sailing with the genoa for most of the day's passage, fueling up at Bucksport, and setting two anchors at 3:00 PM in an oxbow near the top of the Waccamaw River. Before the passage Kevin cleaned the screen on the carburetor spark arrester, and after the passage he rebuilt the raw water pump.

Shortly after 7:15 AM on Sunday we hauled both anchors. After passing the final town in South Carolina, one of the large casino boats from Little River passed us, after it did our raw water strainer was quite fouled and there was no raw water coming out of our engine exhaust; so, we quickly radioed to the sailboat coming behind us and dropped an anchor long enough to get the water flowing again. At 6:00 PM we were anchored in Pipeline Canal in Southport, North Carolina.

At 7:00 AM on Monday we headed out onto the flattest water on the Cape Fear River we ever recall seeing. We were early for the Noon bridge opening at Wrightsville Beach, and the 1:00 PM bridge opening at Figure Eight Island. We were then able to motor-sail with the genoa for most of the remainder of the passage, and were once again the recipients of gracious treatment from the kind bridge tender a few minutes after 3:00 PM when we transited the Surf City Bridge opening. At 5:30 PM we were one of two boats anchored in Mile Hammock Bay.

We got underway Tuesday morning shortly after 8:30, with rain showers most of the day. We motor-sailed with the genoa for over four hours, and were quickly able to put the wind to use when Debbie had her first opportunity to go aground, mid-channel at green marker 7 in Bogue Sound; Grace heeled over and had plenty of water depth on the lee side of the channel. A favorable current after leaving Morehead City behind allowed us to anchor at 5:15 PM in Cedar Creek, off Adams Creek.

Yesterday morning at 7:00, we headed towards the Neuse River (which was not so nasty as we have experienced, yet not so nice as it can be). With more wind on the nose than forecast, we had to motor-sail with the genoa for over three hours, tacking away from the magenta line about a mile and a half just to make decent headway (2 knots of speed versus 4 knots). A light morning sprinkle brought along a rainbow. When we stopped for fuel and water at Dowry Creek Marina, we saw fellow Lake Champlain and Chipman Point sailors, Paul and Francoise Smith; they send their greetings to all at Chipman Point Marina. Shortly thereafter, at 6:00 PM we were anchored for the night just before the Alligator Pungo Canal.

Pictured above, this morning at 6:40 we headed into the canal's light fog, which cleared off quickly. The Albemarle Sound crossing was another smooth one. A dirigible was hovering along the shoreline as we approached Elizabeth City. We passed by the city a few minutes after the evening restriction, for an on request opening of the bridge, and anchored a few bends in the Pasquatank River further at 6:30 PM.

During these passages we have gotten to see numerous bald eagles, dolphins, fresh water turtles, geese, ducks, loons, three deer, a pair of nesting wood storks, and a falcon.