By the time we arrived in Beaufort on April 29, Jim and another sailing buddy were making plans to get together. Phil (from Atlanta) owns the boat "Sweet Pea" which he is moving from New Bern, NC to the Chesapeake for the summer. It turns out that our mutual friends from Dallas are going to help Phil move the boat, and they will come aboard on Saturday. It worked out that Phil, Gary and M.C. would sail down the Neuse River on Sunday and we would motor up from Beaufort meeting at one of the great anchorage spots. It was a mostly cloudy day; but by the time both boats arrived, the sun came out and we had a wonderful Happy Hour(s)! A special treat was being able to see pictures that Gary and M.C. had collected from a group tour to Peru this spring. Phil had the crew in training as we watched them swab the deck before leaving on their trip early the next morning. It was good to see all of them. We went on into the Sheraton Marina in New Bern where we docked the boat, did our laundry and prepared for our trip to Michigan. We had decided that a spring drive through NC, West Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee would fit right in with our nomadic lifestyle. It was good to see Jim's sister's family again and to celebrate with Josh and Brittany as they start their new life together. And just as we had experienced on the ICW, we found that the trees up north are just coming into full leaf. The flowering fruit trees in Michigan did not disappoint either -- we've really enjoyed our extended spring season. Coming 'home' we drove through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and discovered how 'long' the state of North Carolina really is! Late morning of May 9 we arrived back at the boat and prepared for our trip to Virginia. We left the dock on Tuesday morning and motored down the Neuse River to an anchorage. The next morning we rejoined the ICW as it goes up the Pungo River -- we anchored west of the town of Belhaven. On Thursday we had a 25-mile-long canal to traverse between the Pungo and the Alligator River. By the time we reached this river, the wind was kicking up out of the NE. We anchored in a large wildlife area where we were all alone. Since we had to cross the Albemarle Sound and the wind was still strong out of the NE, we sat out an extra day at this anchorage. By Saturday the winds had come to the SW so we crossed the Sound and were able to sail up the Pasquotank River as we had decided to take the Dismal Swamp Canal route. This put us at the Elizabeth City (free) dock for the night where we were greeted by Fred in his golf cart. Elizabeth City is known as the "Harbor of Hospitality" as the "Rose Buddies" welcome all the boaters at the dock and invite them to a wine and cheese party. We left the dock early in the morning with several other boats and began the long single-file procession up the narrow Canal on our way to Norfolk/Portsmouth at Mile Marker 0. Another highlight of the Dismal Swamp route is the North Carolina Highway 17 Welcome Center which also abuts the ICW at Mile Marker 28 and has a free dock for boaters. We were one of nine boats that tied up there on Sunday night. We also got to experience locks again for the first time since the Tenn-Tom waterway last fall. The southern lock took us up about eight feet and the northern lock lowered us about the same as we went through it on Monday morning. We did NOT find the route to be "dismal"! As we entered the cities, we began to see lots of Navy vessels and other large ships lining the banks of the river. We opted to stay on the Portsmouth side where we will be regrouping for a couple of days before heading on up the Chesapeake. We plan to spend about a month on the Bay. Bobbie and Jim Wooll (see home page for email addresses -- we'd love to hear from you!)
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