Final leg (2012-2013) ICW Trip

We're Back on the boat

After a long month away, we woke up on the boat this morning and bummed a ride to "The Bean" in Oriental, NC. Though, like Stacie, they don't cook much we had a nice cup of coffee and watched as a Shrimp Boat came in to off load it's catch. ...I guess we'll be having shrimp tonight?

Off loading the catch

 

The Bean

Planning & Working

Or as one of our friends we met along the way calls it "...that's logistics..." Any way you slice it, or what ever you call it; doing the ICW and the trip up and down the coast the way we do it requires lots of patience and planning. Neither of which do I have a continual reserve of...

As it turns out one project I am on is winding down the current phase, and another project I am working on will probably not start up again for a couple weeks. This should give us the time to quickly move the boat to Norfolk and the southern Chesapeake Bay. Who knows, maybe we'll do the Fourth of July Fireworks near the Naval Base in Norfolk?

Back; only for the moment.

Well, we're back in body but not in spirit. After 190+ days, we find ourselves in Annapolis, MD. Leaving the boat temporarily in Oriental, NC Stacie and I have some business to attend to. I think Stacie might even miss the simpler "boat life" already.

Our plan is to finish up our obligations ASAP and head back to the boat. We're unsure how we will do this at the moment. We might fly down to Key West and retrieve the car left behind and drive to Oriental, NC. Or we might just go directly to the boat and fly down for the car later? In either case our intention is to run the boat up through the Dismal Swamp route and be back in the Chesapeake by July 4th weekend.

Once in the Chesapeake Bay, we hope to make the best use of our time here and take a few trips around the bay with some friends. With all the updates and repairs made on our trip down the coast, the bay should be a breeze!

Meanwhile, here are a few photos of our trip up from Fernandina Beach, FL:

Amelia Island Light

Stacie and I left from Amelia Island early in the morning, and soon heard from one of our fellow snow birds (Ladd & Denise from Blue), and we went through the night up the coast to Charleston, SC. After a quick dinner in town we retired to Lasata for the night and departed early in the morning heading for Wilmington, NC.



Sunset at Winyah Bay

Dredging at Carolina Beach

 After leaving Carolina Beach & Wilmington, NC we had a great run up to Oriental, NC. with lots of interesting sights along the way. For example:

Huge helicopter from Camp Legune

 

This'd be a great investment along the ICW. 

 

Can't wait to get back to NC and the boat!