This is my last night on what has been a very peaceful and relaxing vacation on Dreamboat for the last 5 days. I feel very lucky to be able to do this cruise and very thankful the Captain and the Admiral welcomed me aboard.
We have motored up a good stretch of the ICW and I have seen many interesting sights and beautiful scenery. I never realized North Carolina had so much undeveloped coastline which we paralleled on our trip for many miles. Often you could see the breakers in the ocean as we passed inlets and narrow stretches, and you realized you were really traveling on the edge of the land as close to the sea as you can travel without entering the ocean. The wildlife was abundant, dolphins popping up in groups of 3 sometimes, and pelicans, ducks, and shorebirds diving for fish. Those poor fish!
Along the way I enjoyed looking at all the really great houses, and docks on steroids. Many are built with decks from the ground to the roof (even the docks have two levels!). The towns we visited along the way have great views of the nature that surrounds them and much history to share, just a short walk around a town and you find out many interesting things about the area.
My highlight was our stop in Beaufort NC, a great town dock area put us close to restaurants and shops and it is where we saw a terrific Maritime Museum that houses, among many items, some artifacts that are suspected to be from Blackbeard’s Pirate ship – the Queen Anne’s Revenge, from 1718, that was found in 1996, just outside of Beaufort inlet in 25 feet of water! To look at a few cannon and many other items recovered from the wreck site, that were used almost 300 years ago by the notorious pirate, just really seemed to be mind boggling.
Another history tour in New Bern NC today included a 300 year old colonial governor’s mansion in New Bern NC and the actual pharmacy where Pepsi-Cola was invented. More cool stuff and old buildings that are different from my surrounds in south jersey.

Lazy days on a boat is just what the doctor ordered for me, and all good things must come to an end…..unless you are retired like Bruce and Jill and you can just sail on until you feel like stopping….. anywhere you want….. day by day. (Must be nice!).
It was also very enlightening to see just what they have been doing since last October! The ICW is actually a real chore as far as navigation, and they basically report to work now as they cast off until you anchor at the end the leg for the day. Buoys, and channel markers and shoals, and crab traps, fishing boats, and even freighters and barges make for a lot of paying attention required! Not to mention the bridges!...But it is usually in great surrounds so it is not so bad, just much more than you can realize unless you experience it .

Tomorrow I head home in a backwards kind of way via Myrtle Beach, and I thank the Skipper and Maryann for letting Gilligan tag along!

I suggest everyone get out and do some kind of an adventure like this as often as you can in your life.