In My Mind…

Here’s some optional musical accompaniment to this post:

I know, it’s been a long time since I’ve written, but I can’t find it in myself to feel like I have to apologize for that, as we’ve been busy– living our lives (our best lives), cruising through some of the prettiest country I’ve ever seen.

We made it down the New Jersey coast overnight without incident, although we were exhausted from being woken by the Canadian boat the night before- didn’t get as much sleep as we needed . But we rounded Cape May, and then went across the mouth of the Delaware Bay to Lewes DE, where we had made a reservation for dock space. We got to hook up with my old bestie, Danny S., and spent the best part of a day hanging out, seeing the town, and had dinner together that night. He and his girlfriend had to head back to D.C. early the next morning, but it sure was good to spend some time with them.

From Lewes, we continued on south, traversing the DelMarVa peninsula on another overnighter. Again, without incident, and again, it exhausted us. I’m of an age now where overnighters take a lot more out of me than they used to. I’m out of ‘reserves’. But as Kate and I get used to making these jumps, we can relax a bit, leave one of us alone on deck while the other goes below and puts their head down for a bit. It’s amazing what a 20 minute cat-nap will do to refresh.

We made it to Norfolk VA. Not much to write about there- we anchored across from the US Navy’s Atlantic Fleet headquarters. There were about half a dozen aircraft carriers in port, and lots of helicopter traffic. It wasn’t really unpleasant, but we were not unhappy to leave.

Norfolk is the start of the AICW, the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. I know the ICW well, from Texas. What I know of it from Texas is that it is extremely busy with tanker barges and commercial traffic, shallow, and ugly. I’ve had to be towed off sandbars twice before on the ICW in Texas. So we were not too keen on taking “The Ditch” (as it is known among cruisers), until we talked with a friend of ours who emphatically recommended it for traversing the Carolinas. “You won’t regret it,” he said, “it is beautiful.”

He was not wrong.

So we motored our way across the interior of North Carolina, avoiding the lengthy, and rough, offshore passages along the Outer Banks, and got to enjoy some of the most beautiful scenery I’ve ever experienced. We anchored in one little creek, with no sign of civilization around us, tall pines surrounding us, and the only way I could describe it is “heartbreakingly beautiful”.

And we ended up in Oriental NC, on the north shore of Pamlico Sound. The town has free dockage for a few days (first come first served), so we got in early, snagged a free dock, and settled in. We got lucky, there was a music festival that kicked off that weekend, mostly Bluegrass and Folk (“What kind of music do you have here?”- “Oh, we got BOTH kinds!”). What a place- we needed some groceries, so we started walking up to the Piggly-Wiggly (in Oriental, it’s a pretty small store, so they’ve nicknamed it “The Piglet”)

On our way back to the boat, a woman, headed in the opposite direction, made a U turn, came back and asked if we’d like a ride back to the town dock. “No problem,” she said, “We like to make a habit of helping out the boating community.” I found out the next day when I needed something else at “The Piglet” that all you need to do is ask the checkout attendant, and they have a shuttle that will take you back.

So as Kate and I sat back at the New Village Brewpub and listened to some excellent Bluegrass, it just hit me- I don’t want to leave this place. I’m not joking- it was STRONG, and I meant it. We discussed, very seriously, the idea of stopping right here, this weekend, and putting down some new roots.

In the end, the desire to finish what we started won out- we’ll get the boat to Puerto Rico for Christmas, rest up a bit, and then see where the wind blows us. If it is back to North Carolina, I’d be happy.