Now that we are north of the 'hurricane' line, we can slow down.  We did about 925 miles in less than 14 days so we are ready for some more casual cruising.  With a big rain front hanging on for days, we made our way north, first to Coinjock, NC on the Virginia Waterway, Chesapeake, VA, where we stayed at Atlantic Yacht Basin and old boat yard, then into the Chesapeake Bay.  We made a brief stop in Portsmouth, VA to walk around and cruised the Norfolk area to see all the naval ships and yards.  With most public places closed still and many other businesses just opening, we planned to stop at some of the larger ports when we travel back this way.  Landed for a couple days in historic Yorktown where we ended up with a private tour of some of the (closed) museums by a member of the DAR, Daughters of the American Revolution. They are very serious about their history and we learned a ton.  

Yorktown, VA.  The double swing bridge opens for the naval ships that have to go into the York River to get loaded with ammunition after being in the shipyard.  We got to see one of the ships leave harbor.  People typically cheer the crew who are on the front of the ship. 

Norfolk and Portsmouth

Chesapeake, VA & Atlantic Yacht Basic

Nice calm, sort of rainy day for an easy ride 50 miles to Belhaven.  Small 2 dock marina.  Greg, the single handed manager was helpful in getting our refrigerator/freezer in  and we spent 2 somewhat wet days working on electrical/refrigeration, etc. Ate at Spoon River & Artworks, a farm to table restaurant with a wonderful chef.  Food was abundant and delicious.  2nd night we ate on the boat deck, watched the sunset and watched Steele Bridge virtual festival from Sturgeon Bay.

Belhaven is a small town stuck in time with many nice estates in one section of town and many older and abandoned properties elsewhere. The downtown included a couple restaurants, a large (well worn) hardware store and a few shops. 

Only 35 miles on the ocean to the Cape Fear Inlet.  Grateful to be going a bit fast with no bridges although the scenery is not as good as the ICW. Nice rolling 3' seas made for a decent passage and smooth coming into the inlet, which can get sort of hairy. Got a place to stay in Wrightsville Beach at Bridge Tender Marina gas dock (wish we knew about the great anchorage around the corner).  This is a very popular tourist area and Sunday afternoon, 95 out and SO many people & boats.  There's some nice beaches when the tide is low and people love boating in this area. 

Note the small boat, which we'd seen a few of, where the outboard is placed inside the boat. 

 June 8-10.  We were going to take the ICW from Wrightsville Beach north but with several bridges with limited openings, no wakes zones, Camp LaJune crossing which typically entails some waiting for training maneuvers, we decided to go out the Masonboro Inlet and went about 75 miles up to Cape Lookout and the Beaufort Inlet.  We anchored by 2:30 across from downtown Beaufort.  The Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament is in town and we got to be in the midst of the activity for 2 days as they came in from their day of fishing.  Exciting to see these serious fishing boats who are competitively fishing come in after a long day of fishing and show some of their catch.   We did not get to see Michael Jordan whose boat Catch 23 was at the main tournament marina in Morehead City, just across the cut.  

Next Stop:  Oriental, NC.  Awesome little fishing town just east of the Outer Banks. Will return here ☺️

June 6, 2020.  From Georgetown to the Little River Inlet, the ICW is part of various river systems and was extremely flooded.  The flooding happened within a few hours of heavy rain further west, and people did not have time to move out of their homes.  The homes are low to the waterway and we could see that everything was still in many houses with 1-3' of water.  We went as slow as possible to not make any wake, which was impossible.  Once closer to Mrytle Beach there were hundreds of people on jet skis in this area, sort of crazy for the small river it is. Little River is part of an area called The Grand, which is the Mrytle Beach greater area.  We stayed at Mrytle Beach Yacht Club. They had a small pool and we jumped in to cool down from the 95 degree/85% humidity day (not our kind of weather).  Took a dinghy ride to town to try to eat, but the one place to tie up was a crazy packed biker bar with no social distances so we moved on.  Ended up with a  great dinner adjacent to the marina at Clarks, a wonderful seafood place.  The next morning we got the cheapest fuel we'd had yet and headed out for another ocean run.

So, after more than 3 months enjoying our wonderful family at home and being under Covid lockdown, (& other sad national events of the last days) we got back to the boat at River Forest Yachting Center.  We had a few issues to address on the boat, mostly because when we left in February we intended on a much shorter trip home.  So after about 5 days of projects, we were on our way back to the ICW and north. Our goal is to be north of Belhaven, NC within 2 weeks to get out of the hurricane zone per our insurance requirements.  We left Stuart, Fl and headed north anchoring in Fort Pierce, and then a short afternoon stop in St. Augustine to have some additional canvas work done, 
We then anchored at Jacksonville near the inlet so we could take the 'outside' to Hilton Head.  

We can't wait to return to St. Augustine in the future as this town is very inviting and historic with its fort (which we saw as we passed by) and its waterfront.  Our trip up the coast on the Atlantic to the Port Royal Sound was fair weather and mostly enjoyable seas (flat would be my personal favorite but it is the Atlantic).  We pulled into Skull Creek Marina in Hilton Head in time to grab an outdoor dining experience at the Old Fort Pub (aka Old Fart Pub).  As we have not been eating out for the last few months, we really enjoyed the experience.

Th next day we stopped at Charleston, SC for a short break and replenish supplies.  This typically bustling city was quiet as a mouse.  This was Thursday evening and the previous Saturday had been a curfew with protests that had turned violent.  As we walked the city the streets were weirdly quiet and businesses closed, with much of the downtown boarded up.  We did find a wonderful lobster roll takeout and some ice cream and we walked the streets to see the amazing homes in this beautiful city.  A former mayor, Joe Riley, is quite famous and well know there, and for some reason Joe thought that all the monuments and signs were about him.

​Again, we'll be back in the future when the city and businesses are back in swing.  

The next leg of the the ICW through South Carolina is through marshlands.  It's quite beautiful but quite remote and the weather is hot and humid.  There are alot of homes along this narrow strip of ICW, most of which have walkways through marshlands from their houses that are hundreds of feet long.  The tides are also quite large in this area at about 7-8' which required us to pay close attention to water depths and currents.