Eagles, Dolphins, and Ducks – Oh My!

Day 1: Friday, May 20th – Beaufort, North Carolina

After arriving to Beaufort yesterday, we decided to give ourselves a full day of rest. The 6 day / 6 night passage from Eleuthera apparently kicked our butts, as we slept for 16 hours! That’s what night shifts, thunderstorms, engine failures, and “sleeping” (a generous word) in the cockpit does to one after time spent at sea. Today we completed a few boat chores that we ran out of time to accomplish yesterday, including filling our on-board water tanks and replenishing our diesel

supplies. Since we ended up sleeping in until 1:00 we didn’t have much more time for anything else, but we walked the waterfront and checked out the local shops yesterday afternoon. This evening we visited the Royal James Café, the longest running establishment in Beaufort (which was itself founded in 1702). $6 ‘all in’ double cheeseburgers – with chili, onion, mustard, a slaw, a North Carolina speciality – plus onion rings and fries made for a delish and super affordable meal. Feeling excited for tomorrow, as we plan on lifting anchor and beginning our Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) adventure!

Day 2: Saturday, May 21st – Oriental, North Carolina

At 7:30 AM, we lifted anchor and said goodbye to the charming town of Beaufort. We were sent off by a group of three dolphins playing in the anchorage – including one baby! – and we took that as a good omen. We planned a 24 nautical mile (nm) travel day, winding through Core Creek and Adam’s Creek, then passing through the Neuse River into Belhaven. Taking advantage of following winds, we motorsailed the entire way using our headsail. We passed through three bridges today, two of which were fixed at 65’ and one of which was a 4’ railroad bridge that was left open. It’s definitely a sickening feeling to watch the mast slowly approach the fixed bridges… the perspective is just awful! All went well on our first day, and

we were surprised to see so many beautiful homes along the ICW waterfront. We expected a lot more of the trip to be through undeveloped land – which some of today was – but seeing the gorgeous homes was a special treat. Depths were steady all throughout our trip, and we never saw anything shallower than 3.7m. Our biggest concern is running aground at some point during this trip… it wouldn’t be the end of the world, as 99% of the bottom composition is just thick mud… but it sure would be an inconvenience waiting for a tow! So, fingers crossed, we continue our trip just as successfully tomorrow. We dropped anchor outside of Oriental and took the

dinghy into town to explore. Oriental is known as the ‘sailing capital’ of North Carolina, where sailboats outnumber people 3:1! Lunch was had at M&M’s Café, where we enjoyed a crab corn chowder and buffalo shrimp, to die for! We hopped on the ‘Piglet’ free shuttle van to the Piggly Wiggly supermarket, and replenished our fresh provisions. Supper was king mackerel fish tacos on board, enjoying some of Paul’s catch from our Gulf Stream Passage. Tomorrow our next stop will be Belhaven, about 43nm further along the ICW.

Day 3: Sunday, May 22nd – Belhaven, North Carolina

This morning we lifted anchor at 7:30 AM and bid farewell to Oriental. Heading back out the Nuese River, we had following winds and a big headsail to help push us along. Paul had his fishing line in the water and actually caught three tiny

trout! These little guys were definitely catch and release size, but it was interesting to see what types of fish live in this saltwater river. Once we turned hard to port into Bay River, winds shifted to our nose and we had about 3nm of close-hauled, bumpy sailing. As we approached Goose Creek, the winds and waves gradually died down and eventually disappeared altogether. We kept a close eye out while transiting the creek for deer, but no luck spotting any this time. Crossing underneath another 64’ bridge, we left Goose Creek for Pamlico River. It felt like a

breath of fresh air and as though we could stretch our legs coming out of the narrow creek and into the relatively large river. We let out full headsail once again and motorsailed with speeds up to 6.0 knots & winds on the beam – lovely and comfy! There wasn’t nearly as much boat traffic today as we experienced yesterday on our run from Beaufort, but we did cross paths with a few other sailboats, several trawlers, and even a big tugboat. We crossed the head of the Pungo River and anchored behind the protected breakwater at Belhaven with two other sailboats, looking forward to a restful sleep. We arrived to Belhaven around 4:15 PM, but after putting in 42.8nm under the keel today, we opted for naps over a town visit! Another big day tomorrow as we transit to Alligator River, about 47nm further north along the ICW.

Day 4: Monday, May 23rd – Durant Island Anchorage, Alligator River, North Carolina

It was anchor up at 7:15 AM as we left our protected anchorage at Belhaven and continued transiting the Pungo River. We soon arrived to the Pungo River-Alligator River Canal, passing underneath a fixed bridge of 64’ vertical clearance. Our approx. 22nm trip along the canal was one of our highlights so far; perfectly flat water, surrounded by lush green forest. The smell of pine was heavenly! We spotted our first bald eagle of the trip, as well as dozens of turtles basking in the sun on fallen logs and stumps. Paul also spotted a muskrat (or maybe an otter?) swimming in the canal. Passing underneath our second 64’ fixed bridge of the trip, we exited the skinny canal into the relatively wide-open space of Alligator River. Since the winds were blowing from an unusual direction – NNE versus S or SW – we were able to motorsail close hauled along the Alligator River. Although

the river was quite wide, the channel we needed to stay between was pretty small, and it was a tight squeeze passing other sailing and motor vessels. About three quarters of the way up the river, we came upon our first swing bridge (with only a vertical clearance of 14’), the aptly named Alligator River Bridge. The bridgemaster was very friendly and helpful, and coordinated the bridge opening so that we could continue sailing on through. We found shelter from the moderate winds at Durant Island, an anchorage about

3nm off the ICW which was protected from NE winds. We had a minefield of crab pots to navigate on our way in, it sure kept us on our toes! It was our longest day yet, about 11 ½ hrs and 51.1nm. Crushing it!

Day 5: Tuesday, May 24th – Pungo River Marina Anchorage, Virginia

Today we had another big day of putting miles under the keel, as we left Alligator River and headed to our next anchorage along the ICW (crossing state lines into Virginia, as well!) Leaving at 8:00 AM, we navigated through the minefield of crab pots back to the ICW. We spotted several more bald eagles on the way, and even a few nesting on top of the channel markers! We exited Alligator River into the Albermarle Sound, a proper large area of water on the ICW (about 55nm from east to west). Again, due to the unusual NE / E winds, we motorsailed the 11nm across the sound at a close hauled, heeled over point of sail. We reached speeds of up to 7.2 knots, so the sporty sail was over relatively quickly! Once we crossed the sound, the waves died down as we entered the protection of North Landing River, a

skinny and curving channel that we followed for the remainder of the day. Just before crossing underneath a 64’ vertical clearance fixed bridge south of Coinjock, we spotted a lone dolphin playing in the river! Continuing on our way, we had a very skinny channel of only about 110ft width… not a lot of room to be moving around, so we were sure to stay as exact as we could to the center of the channel. The areas along the outside of the channel were foul with extremely shallow depths, fallen trees, obstructions, and crab pots. We passed through our second 64’ fixed bridge of the day – Pungo River Bridge – and found our anchorage shortly after. We anchored just off the channel and tied a stern line to a nearby piling to ensure we did not move throughout the night or accidentally drift into the channel. We made 50.4nm today in about 9.5 hrs – a much speedier day than yesterday! It was quite rainy and overcast all day today, and for the first time we started really feeling the cold. Usually when it rains while we are under sail, we have on rainjackets & underwear (yep, that’s about it) – and are quickly hot again once the rain has passed. Not so today! We had layers upon layers and were really chilled by the weather. Time to break out the sweaters in storage! It was so chilly and rainy today that we didn’t take a single picture. Tomorrow is our last day transiting the ICW, as we will arrive to “Mile 0” at Norfolk, Virginia, which is where the ICW begins for southbound vessels. Since we’ve put so many miles in over the past few days, it’ll only be about a 24nm day tomorrow, or roughly 6 hours at the most.

Day 6: Wednesday, May 25th – Hospital Point Anchorage, Norfolk, Virginia

We made it! After four nights along the ICW, we’ve arrived to “Mile 0” at Norfolk, VA with a 26.3nm day. We got ready to head out this morning around 8:15 AM after helping out a new friend on SV Surreal, who needed a bit of assistance with lifting his anchor without a functioning windlass. It was a shorter day today, so we weren’t in too much of a rush. On the itinerary for today’s travel was passing through / under TWELVE bridges, as well as even going through a lock, a first for Panta Rhei as far as we know.

A few of the bridges we traveled through were fixed bridges – at 64’, 65’, 95’, and even 145’. Several of the bridges were railroad bridges, scheduled to always remain open unless a train was on its way. A few of the bridges were swing or lift bridges, operated by bridgemasters which either had a set schedule of opening hours, or opened on demand. It was a good thing that we’ve become so used to seeing our mast pass underneath bridges before today!

Going into the lock was a new experience as well. We got in touch with the lockmaster over VHF who gave us instructions on which side to set out our fenders (big squishy things to protect the boat) as well as where to position ourselves. We actually passed through the lock without much fanfare, as the water levels on the south side pretty much matched the north side tidal levels at the time. We saw many more bald eagles on today’s trip, as well as birds of prey and falcons with nests on the channel markers.

Arriving to Norfolk we felt a sense of accomplishment as we had successfully navigated the ICW and were ready to get back out into open ocean. This evening we met up with Staten (a singlehanded captain on SV Surreal) and treated ourselves to German cuisine at Biergarten restaurant in Portsmouth.

Day 7/8: Thursday, May 26th & Friday, May 27th – Hospital Point Anchorage, Norfolk, Virginia

We needed a deep boat clean, since we hadn’t even really cleaned up since our passage from Eleuthera (this includes the catching and filleting of seven fish – ick!) The cockpit and cabin were cleaned and scrubbed, teak decks were washed, and diesel was restocked and resupplied. On Friday we ventured into Norfolk and spent a rainy afternoon at the Nauticus Museum, a museum specializing in naval industry around Elizabeth River and the port of Norfolk. As part of our ticket we were also able to walk around and explore the “last battleship” USS Wisconsin.

Now that we’ve completed the inland section of our trip to Halifax, and have added another 194.8nm to our total distance north, we are looking forward to setting sails offshore once again. Next stop: NYC! We’ve tracked about 957nm under the keel since leaving the Bahamas on our trip north; a bit over halfway there. Yahoo!

Thanks for checking in on us! Sending lots of love your way!

The Beatons