April 25 – 28, 2011

From Southport we traveled ever northwards to the Outer Banks. After traveling for nearly 24 hours, we stopped in Ocracoke to rest up for the following day’s travels. Ocracoke is a nice little place to stay for a night. A town based chiefly on tourism in the vacationing season, it is filled with boat, bike, scooter, and golf cart rentals, restaurants, fudge and ice cream shops, gift shops, and a small but well stocked grocery store.

In the morning we traveled further up to Roanoke Island. Pop up scattered storms brewed out on the Pamlico Sound as we traveled, but we made it safely into the marina in Manteo, NC. We’ve been here for the past few days. The first evening here Kris and I went to see The Adjustment Bureau at Ye Old Pioneer Theater in town. Kris and Gary picked up a rental car yesterday and we’ve been exploring the banks. We’ve seen Jockey’s Ridge, Kitty Hawk and the Wright Brother’s Museum, the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and more. Tomorrow Kris is going to take a 6 hour kite boarding class. He was inspired by the crazy kite boarders who were out on the water in 30-40mph winds today. They were soaring off the water and 15ft in the air!

Here are a few photos of our adventures thus far. More details to come later!

April 21 – 24, 2011

From Georgetown we traveled up the ICW toward Little River, NC. The stretch of the ICW that we passed through was bordered by a beautiful cyprus swamp. Ospreys nested in the tall trees on out on the channel markers. I posted a few photos of these fishing hawks in a previous post: Down the Intracoastal in South Carolina We traveled more quickly than anticipated and made it to our planned anchorage too early. The tide was down and the entrance too shallow. With several hours of daylight to go, we headed for what appeared to be another good anchorage. Once we got there though, the current was ripping through the little river inlet and neither anchor was holding. Luckily for us there was a restaurant was dockage on the river. Kris pulled into the dock magnificently, despite the strong current that pulled him off to the starboard side. Carol and I assisted from the dock, pulling the bow and stern lines to keep Kris from pulling too far to the right and away from the dock. It was an exciting and exhausting night.

The following day we left early to journey up to the Cape Fear area. I’m still not entirely sure why it’s called Cape Fear, but I believe it is because of the numerous shoals in the area, particularly the one that stretches out from the point about 10 miles out into the ocean. Ships unfamiliar with the area would have a hard time safely navigating into the harbor. That is where the town of Southport comes in. For centuries pilot boat captains have been guiding ships through Cape Fear waters and into port. Southport is now a quiet little town, with a few restaurants and shops that do their real business in the vacationing season. The houses around town range from the 19th century to present day. The Southport Marina is a nice place to stay for a few days, with electric, water, showers, laundry, and diesel and gasoline readily available. However, if business is not too booming, you can tie up for free at the Provision Company in town. Docking is limited but the food is quick and good.
We stayed in Southport through most of Easter Sunday. At 5pm we headed out on a 24 hour trip up to the Outer Banks.

April 20, 2011

We said our goodbyes to Charleston and headed out into the Atlantic for a 19 trip to Georgetown, SC. Georgetown seemed like a sleepy old historic town. We walked around for a bit, but nearly everything was closed as we’d arrived at about 6:30pm. Here are a few photos of the trip and the old town.

April 23, 2011

We are currently tied up at the Southport Marina here in the Cape Fear area. We’ve been in South Port since yesterday and enjoyed a nice gray and drizzly day, a good day to just relax and recoup. Today’s weather is cloudy but warmer. Kris and I plan to check out the festival going on in the town park when we have some time between laundry, cleaning and preparing for the journey to come. Many people are all here on Easter weekend, enjoying their spring break in North Carolina. The place is just packed!
We’ll be here through the night and will leave tomorrow for a long trek up to Roanoke Island. The trip will take several days. I’ll keep you posted when we get there!

April 14, 2011

Today we left with the tide at 7am. The water and sky had been painted in a pastel rainbow. The water was still in the calm of the morning. Manatee noses and dolphin fins peeked from the surface. Spinny was back out on the deck with me, looking out for her sea going distant cousins.

The rest of the trip was uneventful. By 3pm we had made it to the mouth of the Edisto River Sound. My nerves tingled slightly with excitement. This is the island my family has been coming to for spring break since I was seven, and I get to see it from the ocean instead of simply from shore.

We docked at the Edisto Marina a little ways down the river. Spin made a friend with the dock master’s dog. Kris and I rode the bikes down the tree lined Jungle Road to the Waterfront Restaurant for dinner. It was a longer but lovely ride.

Tomorrow my mom will be heading down to join us here at Edisto. I’m looking forward to her visit as I haven’t seen her in over 2 months!

April 21, 2011

Hello everyone! Sorry to drop out of the bog for a while. My mother came to visit us in Edisto Island and then in Charleston. I will post photos and a few details on our time in these places later today.
We are currently making our way up the Intracoastal Waterway from Georgetown, SC. The area around us is beautiful! Cyprus trees line much of the shoreline. Osprey nests dot the canopy as well as the navigation markers. Kris and I climbed the mast to get a few photos of the magnificent birds. It must be nesting season or close to it because many of the nests on the markers have an osprey sitting in them and calling out when you approach. We couldn’t see deep enough into the nests, however, to see if there were in fact eggs.
We’ll continue down this way until we get to Little River, SC. I’ll post to you all later!

April 13, 2011

Up and ready to go this morning by 0900. Our destination: somewhere to anchor around St. Catherine’s Sound. It was a calm and clear day. With the wind coming at 4.1knts from our stern when we made it out onto the Atlantic via the Saint Simon’s Sound, it was a lazy motoring day. Literally. There was a brief period of time when everyone but me was asleep or laying down. Hooray for auto pilot and GPS! I didn’t have to do much at the wheel myself while everyone became sleepy heads.

I constantly kept an eye out for Right whales, as up and down the coast here is their typical hang out this time of year. Alas, I have not been able to spot them. We did see several dolphins, a turtle, many sea birds, and what Kris though looked like a seal. I’m not sure if seals are around here or not, but if so, that’s pretty cool!

We made it into St. Catherine’s Sound a little earlier than we had thought we would, so Gary made the call to continue further up the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) toward Green Island Sound. Once we got up there, we debated on where to set our anchor. We decided on going up to Delegal Creek Marina. We got to the marina around 7:30pm. The development here is very nice. Beautiful twisting southern tress covered in a veil of Spanish moss. White egrets grace the trees around the decorative pond on one side of the neighborhood. I sadly forgot to bring the camera on our walk, and it was getting too dark and the gnats too nasty to warrant another chance at a photo shoot. You will just have to take my word for it. The people here are very friendly as well. One couple offered us true Southern hospitality and invited us to come to their home if we needed anything at all. They were very gracious.

Tomorrow will be an early morning as we want to be out around high tide. We want to be out of the little creek here, out onto the Atlantic and on our way to Edisto Island, SC all in good time. Wish us good weather!