Chesapeake, VA to Ocracoke, NC

We knocked another state off the list and have arrived in the final stages of our U.S. part of the trip! Leaving Chesapeake was bittersweet, we are glad to be on the move again and heading south, but we had such a great time visiting with our friends the Coles and the Rumseys that it was hard to say goodbye.  We acquired a few 8 legged friends while at the pier so Chris sprayed a couple times as we prepped for departure and after a couple of days, we were thankfully spider free.  Our first day out from Chesapeake brought us to Great Bridge Lock, the only lock that we will see on this trip.  The drop was only about a foot, but it was a neat experience, and the line handler was giving out early Halloween candy, bonus chocolate is never turned away!

That night was a gunkhole anchorage amidst reeds in a backwater creek in a remote stretch of the VA ICW, neat to listen to sounds of nature as we ate dinner, then scrambled below to avoid the mosquitos.  A full day of motoring next brought us to an anchorage within view of the Wright Brothers monument at Kitty Hawk.  It was appropriate that we would see a Coast Guard cargo plane (C-130) fly overhead as we headed into the anchorage.

The next day was another long planned transit, each day we were covering about 40-50 miles, this time we motored past Roanoke Island, site of the lost European settlement of the "new world", now full of summer homes that were about half boarded up for the winter already.  The channel was challenging, very narrow, with only 2 feet of water if you stopped paying close attention and veered off.  We reached the end and sailed until sunset and found a handy anchorage for the night.

Yesterday we had a great day of sailing, 12kts of breeze and calm seas had us cruising along at almost 5 knots for the bulk of the day and we reached our ultimate destination of Ocracoke just as the sun was setting.  We expected some holiday weekend harbor crowd, but we did not expect to find a giant dredge straddling half the harbor!  This made for a tight anchorage and with a wind shift expected overnight, we did not sleep very well, getting up every couple of hours to check our lay.  We were fine, but with increasing winds and a frontal passage expected for the next couple of days, we opted for a pier for the next two nights.

We first availed ourselves of the showers and took a bike ride through the small village and spent a couple of hours at the beach, it felt so nice to get back in the Atlantic Ocean, still 78 degrees warm! The sand was like sugar and there were maybe 12 people on the beach.  Chris made use of the pool at the marina this afternoon and with a marina internet connection, we're getting caught up on the outside world.  We plan to leave here Tuesday and head for Oriental, back on the ICW and our last stop before Beaufort/Morehead City, our stepping off point for our big trip to the Caribbean.  It's crazy to think that 3 months ago we were finishing up work, two months ago we were in Block Island and in two months from now we'll be in the Virgin Islands! Time is flying by, but we are having a GREAT time!  We're getting better at cooking, taking pictures and of course sailing.

 A taste of life on the ICW.

Ocracoke Island, NC.