Elizabeth City and Dismal Swamp, N.C.

Elizabeth City is the stop before entering the Dismal Swamp.  A small waterfront town that has suffered in this economy, and is struggling to survive.  The waterfront is beautiful, as you walk in to town there are many buildings that are now standing vacant. A site that is all too familiar as we travel these beautiful waterways. They still offer complimentary docks to the traveling boater, no power or electric, but a secure place to spend a night or two.  We stayed in Elizabeth City for a night an explored the town.

The day started out a bit overcast but quickly started to heat up, and by early afternoon the sun was out in full force.  We headed to the Dismal Swamp, a very protected canal with tall trees and water so calm its resembles glass.  Construction began in 1793, and  had to be dug completely by hand so progress was slow and expensive.  Most of the labor was done by slaves hired from nearby landowners. The slaves became so familiar with this swamp that it eventually became a haven for runaway slaves.

There is a bridge and lock at the beginning and end of this canal, with only 4 openings a day. We took 2 days to go through this fascinating area. 

Look closely at this picture, it is not upside down, you are seeing the reflection of the blue sky and trees in the water. The next picture shows the rails on the side of the boat to show that we are in the water.

We stayed overnight at the welcome center along the canal, and went to the Dismal Swamp National Park across the foot bridge.

The next 2 pictures were taken as we walked around the park.

Last bridge, with the lock about 1/8th of a mile up the canal, we are almost through the Dismal Swamp. It is about 9:00 a.m. and we are headed to Norfolk, VA.

Oriental, N.C.

On Sunday the forecast was calling for rain for the next 4 days with possible T'storms.  Jim checked the various weather sites, and Sirius weather, then made the decision to leave Beaufort for Oriental.  It drizzled off and on, was overcast, cloudy, and a tad chilly, but we made it without T'storms. After we docked the sun came out and it was a very nice afternoon.  We took the courtesy car into town to check it out.  Oriental is quite a small town, approximately 875 residents.  There is a small Town & Country grocery store, a small hardware store, and various small gift shops and restaurants. The Bean is the local coffee shop that also sells ice cream, that was an obvious stop for us, I enjoyed death by chocolate and Jim tried the nutty coconut, very good!

The marina is about 5 years old and a pretty nice place, with a pool, and club house. 

With the weather developing some wicked wind and churning the water up, we decided to stay put for a bit.  Thursday is suppose to be much calmer, so we will leave Oriental for Belhaven.  That should be about 49 miles north of here, or 5 hours on the water at 7 knots.

We got together with Kathy & George from MV Spey this evening and had dinner  at one of the local restaurants in town. It's called "The Silos" because they are metal silos.  The food was great and very reasonably priced.  They will also be leaving tomorrow morning for an anchorage in Belhaven.  Other than George & Kathy we haven't seen any other "loopers" for awhile, I think most are ahead of us, we are lagging behind just taking our time.

Beaufort, N.C.

Friday morning was a beautiful day to travel, it was sunny, and warm.  We headed about 29 miles north to Beaufort, N.C.  Jim's brother Mike, was kind enough to drive 4 1/2 hours with Rob & Erin, to visit with us.  We had a great visit and drove to a local restaurant for an early dinner.  Thanks again Mike!  Rob & Erin, have a terrific summer it was fun to hear about all your upcoming plans.  This picture below was taken by the waitress, I neglected to realize that she did not get all of us in, Mike is missing.

While in Beaufort, we rented a car and drove to Atlantic Beach, about 10 minutes from the marina.  The sand is very fine, almost like a powder.  It wasn't warm enough for me to go in the water, but there were a few people in. 

The following picture shows you don't need a boat to go out on the water fishing.

Beaufort has some beautiful older homes, many have been restored and are sure to last another 100 years.  We spent the weekend at the Town Creek Marina in Beaufort, and again headed north,  another 25 miles to Oriental, N.C. slowly working our way up the east coast.

St. James, Surf City & Swansboro, North Carolina

We left St. James Marina on Tuesday and headed for Surf City, USA! Actually that would be North Carolina.  The weather was partly cloudy, with temps in the mid 70's.  The following pictures are taken in and around Surf City.

On our travels to Swansboro, where we will spend 2 nights, we came across some interesting sites along the ICW. Here is a sample of some of the sites we enjoyed.

Swansboro is a very small town, with mostly older buildings.  We are staying Wed & Thurs, then heading to Beaufort, pronounced Bofert, for the weekend.

St. James, N.C.

This morning we awoke to rain, with the promise of more throughout the day, and the occasional thunderstorm.  Since there was no reason to get moving on the water, we had a very lazy morning, afternoon and evening.  It was a good day to curl up with a book, or watch TV.  During a lull in the raindrops, we did get out and take a walk. The forecast for tomorrow is more of the same, so we may be here another day.  The marina is pretty nice, they have an on site restaurant, a small grocery section in the marine store and plenty of people coming and going.  Not a bad place to be held up.

 Here are some of the dredging rigs that we saw as we walked along the river today.

Georgetown, Myrtle Beach and Little River, S.C.

After leaving Charleston we stopped  at Georgetown overnight, then an overnight stop at a marina in Myrtle beach.  Not close enough to go to the beach, but a very nice stop.  The next stop took us to Little River S.C.  where we caught up with Dan & Biddi  on "Biddi and the Beast".  We planned on staying only 2 days, until we found out that the 29th annual Blue Crab Festival was that weekend.

The festival was fun, there was great music, food and vendors, we did our share of eating and drinking.








Along the way we saw some interesting sites, a tram system that crossed  the river to get golfers across,  a boat that was stuck in the sand during low tide, and the water changing from root beer color to green again. 

We have learned allot about the tides, currents and the ever present wind. The tides in Georgia & South Carolina can be as much as 9 feet.  The wind can start out at 5 -10 knots, and just as we are ready to dock they kick up to 15 - 20 knots. One good thing about the wind is it keeps the bugs away. There are these little bugs the size of gnats, and when they bite, it feels like razor sharp teeth.  And the current can be quite confused, one minute running with us, and the next it changes. The boat has held up well, although I am sure she will be happy once she is on a salt free diet again.

We have had so much fun and adventure on this trip, along with meeting some of the greatest and kindest people.  The big question everyone asks is, what is your fovorite place.  There are so many favorites, I don't think we will ever be able to answer that.

Charleston S.C.

Charleston is one of our favorite cities. We were here for Mother's day, and went to this great brunch.  I spent the next 3 hours doing laundry, a necessary evil. 

On Saturday we took a horse and carriage ride, with a horse that has issues.  Marcus, the horse, has a problem with trucks and buses, he doesn't like them.  Matt, the tour guide/trainer, has trained Marcus to stare down the bus or truck.  If he encounters one of these he actually stares at it, turning his head until it is completely passed. The whole time taking direction from Matt telling him to "stare it down Marcus".  That is the only way Marcus would know in his head that the bus or truck wasn't going to attack him.  I have to say it was pretty funny to see this 1800 pound horse staring at the trucks and buses.  Matt told us during the training process, Marcus attacked a UPS truck, putting his hoof through the side of the truck.

The market place where people sell their goods

A wedding in progress

While we were in Charleston there were two major graduations taking place, The Citadel, and the College of Charleston.  Needless to say, it was a very busy place.

Our next stop will be Georgetown, about 64 miles North of Charleston, we will only stop for the night there.