05/29/2008, North Carolina
We tried to leave Beaufort at 0600, but had trouble getting our 2nd anchor up, so we missed the bridge opening at 0630 and had to go around. Then we had 2.5 kts of current against us till about noon, when we entered the Pimlico River. Now we had 20 knts on the nose with 4-5' seas. Other than that, we had a nice run up to Elizabeth City, NC. We anchored at the last "Gizmo rest area" before heading into places which have "allagator" as part of the name (alligator river, alligator creek, little alligator river...)
We arrived Elizabeth City @ 1755 for the 1800 bridge opening - still blowing 20 kts. We did get so sail for 4-5 hours which was very nice.
I called the bridge and requested an opening. Bridge said "opening now, bring it up." Only the right span opened. "Bridge. Only one side is open, should I back up and wait?"
"other side is broke" replied the bridge. " can you make it through?" "Bridge. I'm 221/2 feet wide"
"oh. No problem. The bridge is 45 feet wide" "Rodger that" I said, "But you only have half of it open!"
Quick math....45/2=221/2. If I don't hit the rigging on the port side, I can scooch a little to port and not hit the wall to starbord. And the mast is about 11' from the bridge span to starbord. Of course, it's not exactly what you'd call straight up and down (more like 45 degrees, if you ask me). OK. Only one way to tackle this. Push the throttle and close your eyes.
No problem. Had an easy 6 inches on either side to spare (I'm glad I couldn't see the mast).
OK. So on to the Dismal Swamp...
Turns out. The guy who named it, got lost and ran out of rum. I can fully appreciate that. But if your not lost and you do have rum, it's anything but dismal. We had an excellent time doing the swamp. We passed through 2 locks, which actually raised and lowered the water (last year,they just put you in,closed one door, then opened the other). We stayed the 1st night at the North Carolina Visitors Center (I think it's route 13 or 17) rafted up to another boat. There were 8 boats rafted together that night. We had the best happy hour since we left Maryland last October!
We spent the next night at a dock just south of the Deep Creek Lock. Robert, the lock master, came by and said we had to come up to the lock at 0730 for coffee before we could lock through. That was great. He made coffee, brought out donuts, told some stories about the lock, some of the people that have gone through. What a way to start the day!
Then he locked us through and we headed up into Norfolk & Hampton.
Link to Pics:
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| Dismal Swamp |
05/22/2008, Beaufor, NC 34.42.71N; 076.39.01W
File photo (from our 1st stay in Beaufort, Nov,2007)....
Made it back to Beaufort, NC for memorial Day weekend. I figure all those people with jobs will be out clogging up the waterways this weekend, so we should just hunker down in a 'no wake zone' for a few days.
We left Southport Wednesday morning and motored up to Wrightsville Beach, NC planningto spend the night before comming to Beaufort. It got so incredibly crowded around 1700, we decieded to kick out and do an overnighter to Beaufort (I wasn't going to get much sleep anyway, with those morons parked right on top of me). So, here we are, just a stones throw from the guys pilings we dragged to last year. I only have 2 anchors out in my version of a Bahamian Moore (which we never did in the Bahamas), so hopefully, we'll stay put.
Nice Memorial day weekend. Lots of motor-boaters putting up and down the creek. We spent one after noon in the Back Street Pub with some new friends. Just can't go into that place without something good happening.
It's Monday night and the wind has picked up to 20kts from the SE and is blowing us uncomfortably close to the pilings that we 'borrowed' last year...not to mention that our ass is now hanging out in the channel...the one the shimp boats use early in the morning. OK. So I'll be doing the 'goffer' thing tonight.
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| Beaufort-2008 |
05/14/2008, Myrtle Beach, SC
We heard that it was Bike Week in Myrtle Beach and just couldn't pass it up. We located a marina that could accomodate our width, parked the boat and pulled out our bikes! We did have to back track 35 miles to get here, since we did an overnighter and were anchored near Southport, NC. But it was well worth it. I must admit having been here for 4 days now, our bikes are just a wee bit under powered.
We're staying at a little place on the beach with flush toilets and everything. A nice little vacation from our vacation. Gizmo, the biker dude dog, has been trying to catch up on his sleep, now that the gound isn't rocking any more.
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| Charleston to Myrtle Beach |
