Now that we’re back in the States, Lori’s Etsy Shop is up & running! Shipping out this time from Oriental, NC.

We’re on TV! …. well – barely …That’s us on the end of the dock in Belhaven, NC

Enjoyed a fabulous dinner at the (new) 1904 Bistro Restaurant in Belhaven. All was perfect & the owner even stopped by to chat for a while detailing his exciting plans for his restaurant & marina. Belhaven is our favorite “trying the hardest” little town & always a fun stop. With a population of only 1,400 (& declining every year) they are working hard on making themselves a restaurant & waterfront destination.

“It’s a boat”, so something is always breaking down. Our alternator regulator quit (putting out a dangerous 15.6! volts instead of 13.4 volts). Fortunately, I had an old regulator which worked fine – for exactly 75 minutes, then would stop working until shutting down the engine & re-starting, working fine for another 75 minutes. Rather than shutting down the engine every 75 minutes, I installed a temporary “reset” switch wired to the regulator, which got us home.

It’s not every day we have a submarine on our tail & gaining quickly! Norfolk frequently has naval ships transiting with lots of VHF announcements & warnings to “maintain a security zone of 200 yards”. This sub pretty much crept up on us without a word.

We could try to outrun it, or let it pass, which was the better move as it kept speeding up & we had other commercial & pleasure boats to get around.

The timing worked out perfectly to see my brother Jack & his wife Kerry while they were visiting family near Annapolis, Maryland in their beautiful home overlooking the water.

A few foggy mornings underway including transiting the C & D Canal. While just entering we heard a Coast Guard announcement over our VHF that the canal was “closed to all vessels due to heavy fog until further notice”. Yikes – now you tell us! This photo was as leaving Cape May. Fortunately, our newer radar works really well, as we needed it several mornings.

An approaching … airplane?!? The tug transporting a fuel barge apparently mis-programmed their AIS signature to a “WIG – Wing-in-Ground” vessel, which our AIS receiver shows as an airplane symbol.

Always something unusual offshore. Off New Jersey we saw 2 tugboats following each other going 2.1 knots on AIS. When we passed them, it made more sense – they were towing 2 barges with almost 1/4 mile of mostly submerged pipeline between them, with no flags or markers at all.

The NYC skyline was just opening up on yet another foggy morning.

The Maine coastline? No, a view of a Branford, Connecticut former farm where we anchored one night. There are hardly any lobster boats left anymore, but one happened to come by for his photo.

This was the first underway dredge we encountered in the narrow “Rockpile” portion of the ICW near Myrtle Beach – no big deal.

However, 15 minutes later we were surprised with rest of its parade – in the worst, narrowest area of the “Rockpile”. Every couple hundred feet were portions of rock protruding from shore which didn’t get sufficiently blasted away during the ICW’s construction. Trapped between 2 rocky outcroppings with unknown rocks under us, attempting to keep in place with 1 knot of current for 5 – 6 minutes as they slowly marched by – no fun.

This working dredge near Carolina Beach was the talk of all the cruisers, as he was (usually) blocking the only deep water & (usually) wouldn’t answer calling boats on the VHF radio. The snaking, floating pipeline was curling behind unnecessarily blocked the channel even further. A few boats went aground attempting to pass by. We left our anchorage at 7 AM near high tide & made it thru with 3′ to spare, but that’s almost aground for a 6′ draft sailboat.

This massive dredging operation off the Beaufort inlet wasn’t an issue at all, as we could keep 1/4 mile away & still be in 15’+ of water. Going the 80 miles offshore between Wrightsville Beach & Beaufort is always our preference if the weather cooperates, as it avoids sections of the ICW with another dredging operation & a bridge under construction with reduced width.

Even after 13 years, we are still amazed at the waterside construction along the ICW in South Carolina. These rows & rows go on for miles & miles & miles – they are now “filling in the blanks” with more houses & of course their own docks.

While we’ve stopped at Wacca Wache Marina for diesel a few times, we finally stayed the night. They have a very good, friendly restaurant on-site. And everyone just likes to say “Wacca Wache”.

And last, but not least, Britt’s Donuts in Carolina Beach, followed by a great dinner with cruising friends Jim & Laurie we first met 12 years ago when all had sailing catamarans. They are now “dirt dwellers” with a house in Wilmington & a family cottage in Maine, so enjoying life!