We were poking along the ICW as we did last fall, content in knowing that we were three weeks ahead of schedule compared to last year and hoping that would be enough to keep the cold weather at bay. We had enjoyed a beautiful, leisurely trip down the Dismal Swamp, spent a few nights in our favorite small town of Belhaven, and stopped in Beaufort, NC for the first time where we waited several days for a strong weather system to pass.
Our next planned multi-day stop after leaving Georgetown, SC was Beaufort (pronounced “Byoo-fert”, unlike the one in North Carolina which is pronounced “Bo-fert”). We hopped down the South Carolina coast, stopping in anchorages each night and sometimes for more than one night for – what else? – weather delays.
By now we were seeing dolphins every day which is so much fun! I don’t think we’ll ever get tired of it. We also saw our first alligator! I saw what appeared to be a log in the water and pointed it out to Jeff, and then we realized that it was swimming. Wow! Unfortunately it happened too quickly to get a picture but maybe I’ll get another chance in Florida. Continue reading “A new addition to our “Could we live here?” list: Beaufort, SC”
At least once a week we ask ourselves, “Is it a cruise or is it a delivery?” We want to take our time going down the ICW, but if we stop and see everything we’re interested in, winter will overtake us before we get to Florida. As it is, weather delays have resulted in our being much farther north at this point than we had originally planned. Heck, we thought that we would be in St. Augustine, FL by the time we needed to return to Connecticut for Jeff’s doctor appointments. Where were we in reality? Hampton, VA. That’s a long way from St. Augustine!
As we left Oriental we decided we needed to start making some tracks south and switch from cruising mode to delivery mode.
We started off well, sharing an anchorage for the night by Morehead City with our friends from S/V Lone Star and S/V Duchess. The next morning we sadly waved goodbye to Lone Star as we headed off in different directions. They were going to wait for a weather window to make the seven day passage straight to the Bahamas, while we were continuing to take the slow route down the ICW. We are very much looking forward to seeing our good friends somewhere in the Bahamas!
After waving goodbye to Lone Star, we saw our first dolphins!
