The Traveling Begins

Finally Traveling South

After spending 5 days in Cambridge we finally left the Marina and really started our trip although Bill stated that he is going to miss having a Domino’s Pizza store so close by!

But the sun came out and off we went but not before Bill took a side trip to Wal-Mart to purchase an electric blanket for me. A friend on another boat found that you could run it off the boat battery and was I ever thankful. Although we had sun we still had very cool to cold nights.Even Simon knew enough to get warm.

It took 3 days to get to Norfolk,Virginia where Mile 0 starts the Intracoastal Waterway. Once again we had many boats going through the first (of many) opening bridges but it seemed always to work out without hostility. There were 8 sailboats and 8 powerboats in our group and we traveled with them throughout the day. We never usually see powerboats again but at times we run into boats that we saw days ago since we are all traveling on different schedules. Some go 50 miles a day and then maybe stop at a city to sightsee for a couple of days. We do the same thing so we often meet up with someone we met in another harbor days ago. There is a marked difference between this trip and our previous one. We are traveling with many more boats in a group. I think the weather held everyone up and when it was a good travel day many boats left at the same time.
We started out with 16 boats at the first bridge and today at the bridge in Wrightsville, NC there was a group of 10 boats who traveled about the same speed as well as our small group of about 5 who raced to through the bridges.

One reason I haven’t written earlier is the schedule our captain has set. Up before dawn, anchor up and off we go at first light. Yuck…..After boat handling, studying charts (maps), and trying not to find ourselves aground where there is no water under our keel we are exhausted. But not so exhausted that we can’t visit with our friends for the traditional cocktails before dinner.

Our stop at Oriental, NC was particularly lovely (unfortunately the weather wasn’t) since we were with friends and had a slip in the Oriental Harbor Marina with amenities such as free ice, showers with shampoo, towels and hair dryer in a calm, protected spot. And last night we were anchored off of Camp LeJeune (marines) where we were (I think) target practice for the marines learning how to fly exceptionally noisy helicopters. They flew overhead until about 9 pm well past our bedtime.

Speaking of nighttime - it’s 9:23 and I must get to bed so we can be alert for tomorrows journey. I have more photos but haven't figured out how to share them...