Bird watching at Cape Lookout National Seashore
We’ve spent the past month making our way north along the ICW through South Carolina, North Carolina and now into Virginia. The journey has been filled with beautiful scenery, travel through Camp Lejeune, historic seaside towns and plenty of seafood. Even though we did manage to buy AK47’s from Palmetto State Armory, we have never used it. One particularly memorable meal was at Floyd’s located beside Morehead City Yacht basin. The marina and the restaurant were great!
Often times we enjoyed spots a bit longer than anticipated since we ran aground no fewer than 10 occasions. It’s a very good thing we had stayed outside in the ocean when heading South a few years ago on Echo. Echo’s draft is almost 6 feet and Echo Too only draws 4 feet. Fortunately each grounding has been soft and easily corrected so not too much of a problem.
We’ve spent time at docks and at anchor along the way and particularly enjoyed Morehead City, Beauford NC and Cape Lookout National Seashore. We traveled each day except when we took a few days off to visit Cape Lookout National Seashore, what a beautiful place!
We expect to arrive in Portsmouth Virginia this afternoon, provided bridge openings go in our favor. Yes, back inPortsmouth where we sat out Hurricane Sandy almost 2 years ago. We plan to stay at Ocean Marine for the next few months as we begin some of our refit projects and do some land travel.
It looks like our plans to travel further up the East coast were a bit optimistic. Once we get the boat work underway it should be about time head west to visit our kids and celebrate Brian and Katie’s wedding in September.
~ Jeff and Mary ~
What a beautiful area you visited! Great shot of Echo Too from the hill. I have always wanted to explore the SE coast more than just the visits we have done to the Hilton Head area. I know you are both loving the great seafood! Looking forward to seeing you in September
In 1998 while living in Marathon (Keys) we got a direct hit from Hurricane Georges a strong cat 2. Living on a canal off Boot Key harbor we put our sailboat in the canal middle with many tethers & adaquate slack for the surge. We did fine…sure you will too. Good luck.
Kelly
Thanks Kelly – everything went well here. Hope it’s a light hurricane season!
Once again it is great reading all your adventures and seeing the pics. Have to admit, I am missing Indemnity. For now we are thinking of relocating to the Stuart FL area and getting another boat, tho a much smaller one. This will allow us to pop over to the Abaco’s whenever we get the urge to visit. (and the weather cooperates) We still have family obligations, so it might be some time before we can finalize details. Take care, and keep us filled in on the work on the boat!
Will do Roberta. Maybe a power cat for you? Stuart is the PDQ power cat capital of the world I think.
Ok so the sharks,I guess, only get 10 ft but they look 16ft when they are right in front of you….It is well worth checking out if you go back there.. I also loved the area.. John.
Jeff, you should have checked out Olympus Dive operation in Morehead City.. The German U Boat was super cool to dive… And there are Sand Tiger sharks on those wrecks – big boys 14 – 16 ft…. That was one of the best dive spots I have done – and WARM WATER!!!! Hope all is well with the new Cat.. John…
New boat is doing well John. We really need to get back to diving soon. I don’t think we like sharks though. We met a group of folks in Morehead that travel there every year for wreck dives. There are hundreds along the shoals. Bad water.
Appears you have had your period of adjustment with ICW cruising. We took it all the way to Key Biscayne before we went out and down the keys with our nearly 6′ draft. You did best us on the keel to bottom kisses however. I see you enjoyed Beaufort, NC. One of our favorites as well. Tied up at the end of the city dock as a friend suggested as he departed and anchored in Tayor creek a night or two as well. Saw the wild horses & almost bought a 100 year old house on Orange street. So glad we didn’t…to much work. We are thinking about chartering a sailboat in Belize, Abacoes or Miami/Keys…all places we sailed before but would like to check out again. T.S. Arthur has formed off our coast and looks to be heading up the gulf stream. Our balcony cushions are secure…we’re ready for a blow. Be safe & keep that great blog up.
Kelly
Thanks for the comments Kelly. I’m not sure why I kept bumping the mud…a wider boat does not help, and the sight lines are different in the cat because the helm is way off the the side. I’m just full of excuses 🙂 We’re hunkered down for Arthur tonight. As long as he turns east as projected, we should have fairly minor effects here. Lots of lines and fenders out for us.