In spite of our best efforts, we are
now being pulled by the homing beacon. This fact is enhanced because
we suggested that our daughter Jenn meet us and do a bit of the trip
with us. It turns out that she'll share our last two nights of the
trip, so we're off to meet her, now on a schedule of our own design.
Prior to this point, we did have a few
interesting stops in North Carolina. We spent three nights at
Carolina Beach and met up with a couple, Dave and Jill on JilliQ
we've known for several years now, but we hadn't seen them for two
years. We last saw them in the Abacos of the Bahamas during our
visit there. We enjoyed time with them and enjoyed their vehicle
which got us to the grocery store and a bit of a tour of Carolina
Beach. We also met another couple on the trawler Able Slave, Mark
and Christi and enjoyed some of their pizza and an evening to get to
know them.
Of course, not mentioned yet was the
reason for our staying in Carolina Beach three nights. It was the
second tropical storm of the season before the season even had
officially begun. What gives here? It certainly appears that the
weather gods are out to scare us with their fury. However, like the
earlier storm, we missed the worst of this one – in part because we
chose not to risk travel as it approached. The weather turned out
not to be too bad, though – just a bunch of rain and a little wind.
Then it was two days travel to Beaufort
where we met up with one of Sandra's friends from many years ago.
Priscilla, who now lives in eastern North Carolina, had read our
blogs and knew about where we were. She offered to come to meet us in
Beaufort. What a great visit we had. And she is also hoping to
visit us next winter in the Keys. Great! We also bumped into another
couple on Tramarai – George and Carol – whom we'd met a year ago
in Vero Beach and then spent the winter near them in Marathon. They
just happened to come there to anchor for the night from their home
near New Bern, NC. What good luck!
Looking at our route back to Norfolk
where we'll meet Jenn and her new puppy Kaya, we determined that we
needed to put in a couple of longer days so we could be in position
to get through the several bridges in the Norfolk area before they
shut down for rush hour traffic. That meant anchoring in a couple of
new spots, always bringing opportunities for added stress. So far,
so good. As I began writing this, we were anchored in the Little
Alligator River just south of Albemarle Sound in North Carolina. It
wasn't too bad till the wind changed direction, and then we banged
around a bit before things settled for the night.
We enjoyed one interesting meeting
during the day before yesterday. We were traveling one of the
several canals which are part of the ICW in North Carolina. Sandra
was at the helm and noticed something in the water ahead of the boat.
She quickly determined that it couldn't be dolphin. It looked more
like a manatee, but we'd not heard of any up here. Then, as it came
closer, she realized that it was a black bear crossing the canal.
With us approaching, it was in a panic to get to the other bank and
disappear into the woods. It did that well, so we weren't able to get
a photo. This was a first for us.
We anchored in Bellhaven, NC, a quiet
town by any measure. We had stopped here once before on a Sunday
also. They don't roll up the sidewalks, but nothing much is open.
The neighborhood along the water is pleasant, but the main street has
little that would be open on a weekday. It clearly is a great place
to get away from it all.
As mentioned earlier, we anchored in
the Little Alligator River last night and dropped the anchor in
Currituck Sound tonight. We're hoping for only a bit of breeze, so we
can enjoy a quiet evening. Then we thought it would be off to
Norfolk with it's several bridges and one lock to pass through before
we meet up with Jenn. Then with two puppies on the boat for a night
or two, life should be exciting – a fitting end to our spring
travels. But we must be prepared for adjustments to our plans. As
we traveled north, we began to hear about OpSail 2012 in Norfolk. It
turns out that it begins officially tomorrow. Our plan to anchor at
Hospital Point on the Elizabeth River across from the Norfolk
downtown went out the window. A parade of naval sailing ships is
planned to end there tomorrow afternoon. A gazillion boaters will be
there through the weekend. We were lucky to find a marina with space
back a dozen miles on the ICW for tomorrow. Jenn will meet us there.
Then Thursday we will go through the last of the bridges and the
lock, pass by the gazillion boats including some tall ships on our
way out into the Bay. The offical Tall Ships parade is scheduled for
Friday. Not sure whether we'll be around for that one yet. Only
time will tell. Either way, we should have some interesting photos
in the next blog entry.
Tomorrow we leave North Carolina and
enter Virginia. We'll be at our home marina on the Severn River by
the weekend. This will thus end our 1200 mile trek north.
Carpe Diem
Captain Bob
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