Taking it slow

We left Rock Hall on October 17 and had an unevenful motorsail down the bay to Portsmouth, VA.   We stayed at the free docks there and made the mandatory trek to one of Joe's favorite restaurants, the Bier Garden (German food and >250 beers-what is not to like?).    The next day we wandered on down the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) and into the Dismal Swamp.   We took this route last year and loved the beauty of the route.  Dismal it is not! The first night we stayed at the Visitor's center which is always an experience.   Highway 17 and the ICW share the Visitor's Center and some of the cars are a bit shocked to see a dozen or so boats docked in back of the rest rooms!    Sometimes we feel like animals in the zoo as the "car-people" gawk and talk about the boats and "boat-people" (ummmm-we are standing right here and can hear you).   The docks are actually part of a state park and there are good walking trails.   The best part of stopping this year was finding our friends on the boat Kajon there to catch our lines.   We met Joe and Deb last year in Georgia and it was great to catch up with them again.  

The winds began to kick up (a steady 25 knots with gusts to 40) and although we were very protected in the Dismal waterway, it meant none of the boats in the free docks in Elizabeth City (EC) were moving out of EC to cross the Abermarle Sound.   The sound is very shallow and when the wind kicks up against the current, it can be downright nasty (not to mention 35 kts is gale force).  So for 2 days, the boats in EC just sat.  There are 2 locks in the Dismal Swamp to transit and the lock tenders and the folks in EC talk several times a day to estimate the # of boats coming through.   The lock tenders said the docks at EC were full and suggested we (about 9 boats) spend a second night in the swamp at the bulkhead between the South Mills lock and bridge.   The next day the wind returned to normal, the boats all moved out of EC and we moved in. 

Elizabeth City is one of our favorite stops.   Besides being able to see our friend Jeanne from the Outer Banks (the best part by far!), the town is incredibly friendly to boaters and very walkable.   Usually when there are 5 or more boats, the town sponsors a happy hour (complete w/ roses for the women) but there was a private event planned for that night so we made our own happy hour.   

After EC, we wandered down the waterway to Beaufort, NC.   This is another very friendly boater's town with cute shops, galleries and a great maritime museum.   We spent 2 nights there and were hoping to leave the ICW and take the outside ocean route to Charleston.   It is about a 30 hour sail in the ocean (overnight-no stopping) or a 5 day trek down the ICW (you are strongly advised not to travel the ICW at night).    However, the winds were predicted to turn from north to southeast Wednesday (that would mean motoring directly into the wind-never fun) and there were troughs and low pressure systems hovering with lots of uncertainty in the forcast.  The weather guru on the single-side band told boaters who were currently out in the ocean to find a way in to port by 9 am Wednesday morning.   So.....back down the inside ICW route we go.   It's slow but safe.   We have reservations in Charleston on November 1 so we'll just wander a bit and enjoy the sites.