Gerogia and the Carolinas (9230 nm)

No flies on me, they are all dead

I get swarmed by a million flies one night at anchor, luckily not biting but a real pain to clean up nonetheless, thank Goodness I had mosquito nets over all the hatches - thank you Clifford and Christine for your gift of these. Having said that I have yet to meet a mosquito, although these flies make a similar noise to mosquitoes. I had kept a bright flourescent light on in the cockpit whilst anchoring - as well as my mast top anchor light of course. But now I won't. the noise was incredible, I was a full mile from shore too.  I do have very effective insect killer aerosols down below - bought in Cuba and frankly quite dangerous to humans I suspect. But by gum they do kill flies!

This happened in the North River in North Carolina - about 60 miles from the end of the ICW. My last blog left us at mile 680 in Brunswick, just into the state of Georgia, when John Henshaw left the boat. I press on to try and make progress and stop at Beaufort South Carolina.  I also visit Georgetown and Beaufort - both in North Carolina. By the way Beaufort SC is pronounced Bewfort SC and Beaufort NC is pronounced Bowfort NC. All of these towns are quite small and have good historic areas full of preserved old buildings. All are incredibly clean and well kept. In fact the bits of America I am seeing have no litter, no plastic on the beaches or shorelines and look pretty pristine. You are not allowed to empty holding tanks here either - they have to be wired shut and pumped out or emptied far out to sea. No shit.

In Beaufort SC they know how to shag...

Which of course is a type of dance, they shut the street on Fridays here for street parties this one organsied by the Beaufort shag club.

The town in the usual mix of lovely old houses.

It also has my first swing bridge - massive structure

And then it is back to nature

It is hot, I sit and pant and sweat (between you and me I am sitting in my knickers)

I rig one of my new fans which helps until the sweat evaporates and then it blows hot air at me.

Maybe the heat is why the locals go everywhere fast in speedboats - a breeze is always welcome. Also they indulge in a lot of watersports.

 It is a Sunday and I see a dozen boats "parked" on a sandbank and everyone standing around, up to their waists in the water chatting.

No Alligators here then? or maybe it's the power of prayer.

As well as long stretches of nature there are waterside houses all with their own docks and also some caravan sites so at least the non-wealthy can get some water too.

I encounter another type of bridge - a swing boat!

I arrive at Georgetown and take a dock as there are few anchorages near the town.

A very small place, I think I had expected bigger but as usual I am confusing Georgetown South Carolina with Georgetown Washington DC. I am also confused by the two towns of Beaufort  - there is one in SC and another one in NC. I didn't realise that North Carolina and South Carolina are actually separate states either- I have a lot to learn about America, I resolve to buy a few books and update my history - at least for the 13 states on the East coast. It is an interesting part of the world

 In Georgetown I visit a small maritime museum that has some diving exhibits

I have two morse keys at home that are similar to these - mine work! - Ex MOD army surplus, 

 Diving here is probably fairly shallow, and probably involves excavation of sand and mud - I also visit a maritiime museum in Beaufort NC that has an exhibit of excavation of Blackbeard's ship but I am disappointed a bit as it is set up for kids - no bad thing I know but I was part of the team that brought up the Mary Rose in the Solent and have visited the Vasa in Copenhagen and I had hoped for a bit more content.

(When I say I was part of the team that brought up the Mary Rose, Alan Doyle and I volunteered for a week to work on it - I was in training for some of my diving qualifications and wanted to see how a major project was run) I was one of many, many volunteers so my contribution was tiny.

Still I get a list of wrecks to dive!

Georgetown has the usual nice old buildings in its historic district. The town is not big.

They also have an old tree

Although it is very hard to see and photograph. <sigh>

And then onwards again, More river like than marsh like.

Some nice rivers with lots of trees now, there are bears in the forests and other wild life, no fluffy white rabbits as far as I know.

The charts are a bit out...

But at least I have over 14 feet of water - luxury! and it is at 27 degrees Centigrade too.

When navigating  I can use the red and green channel markers, the echo sounder and the mark one eyeball. Hard to beat.

In among the rivers and channels you come across the odd marina - high rise parking is available...

And as I get near the sea the developers have found a way to optimise the number of properties they can sell with waterside facilities.

But, to be fair, far less intrusive than Florida.

I go outside for a refreshing 60 mile sail up the coast and come back in at Morehead City/Southport where I anchor near the sea, just inside the inlet. This gives me the courage to have a swim - I had sent a news item to the family of an alligator attack in Florida so I was a little hesitant about swimming, but I see  people off a nearby beach who all had two legs and arms each so I had a quick one. There was a current flowing so I ran a long rope out the stern. I survived.

The next day I went a mile to the Town creek Marina in Beaufort NC to stay over and get fuel. The town was pleasant enough, very small, shore street had shops and restaurants, there were some nice historic buildings and a small maritime museum that covered Blackbeards ship, still work in progress...

Meanwhile, thunderclouds were looming... The next day I pressed on, in the rain... again...

I anchor en route for the next 4 nights and for once have no phone reception, before finally arriving at North River - 60 miles before the end of the ICW. I can use the phone 4G signal to research where to go once I get to mile zero and resolve to stay a day or two here. Then the flies arrive and I hide below...

The last 60 miles are an easy motor - fairly narrow but lots of water, there is even a lock to negotiate but it is fairly tame - the water only rises 2 feet and there is a wee man to take my lines. And then I exit the ICW into the city of Norfolk, well I actually anchor at the town of Portsmouth Virginia, across the river from Norfolk and just south of Hampton Roads- they all sort of merge here. It is the Beginning of the Chesapeake bay, a hundred or so miles of bay that encompasses Washington, Annapolis and Baltimore.

Nice to get a free anchorage right in the centre of the city, well I say free, they charge 12 Dollars a day to park the dinghy in the nearby marina - though this gives you showers and laundry as well as Wifi so I don't mind that. There are a few free city docks but apparently for boats up to 40 feet and for 36 hours maximum - only room for a couple of boats. 

I had joined the Ocean Cruising Club (OCC) and had been told by Anthony Swanston that there were free docks here - I contact the OCC port captains Greta Gustavson and Gary Naigle and they invite me to their house, their condo dock is unfortunately getting refurbished and is not available - but I am happy to anchor in any case so that is not a problem. Greta is able to get me an OCC burgee as she owns an embroidery company and handles OCC burgees for the states. Greta and Gary are lovely people and take me out for a meal and give advice on a suitable marina to get Shadowmere lifted out - she needs her bottom painted. After chilling at anchor for a week I move to Cobbs Marina a few hours away and get lifted out for a week - they allow DIY work and liveaboard on dry land, not all marinas allow that here.