July 9-16th


Dear Friends and Family,

For the next 200 miles of our journey we traveled through the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW). The waterway provides a 3,000 mile navigable route without many of the hazards of travel on the open sea. Although it is a very scenic route, we were not looking forward to it. Many cruisers on sailboats avoid the ICW because of the shallow areas and the numerous bridges to pass under or through. These factors were of concern to us because our mast is 64.5 feet tall and our draft is nearly six feet. With our dimensions we need to time passage under the 65-foot fixed bridges to avoid high tide. Other bridges such as bascule and swing, open at scheduled times usually on the hour or half hour. To avoid delays you want to arrive just prior to scheduled openings. Logistics are challenging!

We entered the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) from Southport, NC for the short 28-mile hop to Wrightsville Beach, NC where we anchored out. Arriving early afternoon, the water was crowded with traffic from recreational boats still celebrating the 4th of July holiday. We found a nice place with about a dozen other anchored boats and dropped our anchor in15 feet of murky water onto a soft, mud bottom. It was quite a different experience from the gin-clear blue waters of the Bahamas. Fortunately, it was a cool night as the generator was having problems and we could not run the AC. Pulling up the anchor early the next morning made for an easy departure into the Atlantic to get the 70 miles to Morehead City, NC.

We reached Morehead City, NC and met up with friends, Bob and Clare Perkins. We had a great evening catching up with them. They had just returned from attending the America's Cup in Bermuda and had lots of interesting stories. While in Morehead City, Pete fixed the generator. We also had the opportunity to visit the small, historic town of New Bern on the Neuse River where the Perkins call home base. After a trip to the local grocery for provisioning we all enjoyed a relaxing dinner on Bob and Clare's boat, Sofira.

We were back in the ICW early next morning for the short 40-mile trip to most rustic and economical destination to date- Hobucken, NC. When I called Mayo Docks to reserve a space, I was surprised when told the fee was 40 cents/foot. Typically, we have been paying $1.50- $ 5.00 /ft. This location was very basic - just an old wooden pier with pilings to tie onto. Commercial fishing boats bring their catch here to be processed. I must say it was a pretty, serene setting especially after the fishing boats left however I was glad we could close up the boat since the smell of shrimp permeated the evening air.

Our next ICW stop was Belhaven, NC a town of about 1700 people located on the Pungo River. The downtown area (all two streets) was a short walk from the marina property. Belhaven is another quaint, cute town which in our opinion has one huge claim to fame-
The wonderful farm to fork restaurant, Spoon River Artworks and Market. This restaurant alone warrants stopping in Belhaven again. Food, service and ambience were outstanding. Pete and I agreed this was one of the best dining experiences we have ever had.

Continuing on in the ICW, we covered 77-miles the next day and reached Coinjock, NC in the early evening. We had dinner and early to bed since the next day we knew would be a most challenging day in the ICW getting to Portsmouth, VA.

To reach Portsmouth, our 42-mile route included passing under or through 14 bridges and one lock. While most open on the hour or half-hour it is important to keep one VHF radio on channel13 as the bridge tender will sometimes open a bridge a few minutes before the scheduled time and you need to be close enough to get through it. We were not monitoring 13 but luckily Pete saw the bridge starting to rise. He revved up the engine while I called the bridge tender to tell him we were on our way. Otherwise we would have to wait another 30-60 minutes. Not good when you are also trying to beat the tides. Some fixed bridges had water boards indicating the real time height from the water to the top of the bridge. I am happy to say our antenna touched only once, gently scraping the Pungo Ferry Bridge. From there on out we made it through without problem. It was a bit nerve-wracking and I can fully appreciate why sailboats avoid the ICW.

We arrived in Portsmouth VA early afternoon and were congratulating ourselves for making it through all the bridges in decent time. But Mother Nature was not through with us yet! A huge thunderstorm pounced on us just as we were preparing to dock in the marina. No time to get into our foul weather gear, we threw out the dock lines, tied up and got an early shower! Better to be drenched at the end of the trip than at the beginning!

Despite our concerns of dealing with bridge heights, timed openings and tide changes, we considered our first trip on the East Coast ICW to have gone well.


Cheers,

Barbara and Pieter