We had taken two weeks in Carolina Beach, fixing an oil leak that had shaken loose during our pounding of an exit from Georgetown South Carolina and then also fixing a transmission issue that we had discovered.

While the goal was to take our time moving north through the Intra Costal Waterway we ended up lingering too long in Beaufort North Carolina.

Beaufort North Carolina should not be confused with Beaufort South Carolina although they do have similar “feels” both have some great restaurants, friendly people, an abundance of little shops, and the useful stores such as the grocery store and hardware store a bit of a walk but completely doable.

We ended up staying a week and a pleasant week it was.  We had mail shipped to the local CVS which has a “UPS Access Point” for getting UPS packages at no cost.  And a hardware store and grocery store just about a mile from the dinghy dock.

And of course several cafes.  It was a good rest after doing so much boat work.  Unfortunately, the two weeks in Carolina Beach and the week in Beaufort had eaten the time we were originally planning to use so it was once again racing time.

We left Beaufort and made our way to Oriental, just a single night.  Just enough time to pick up some more oil absorbent pads at the marine store (we had used them all in our repairs), and to visit “The Bean” for some tea.  Then it was off again.

We anchored a night in Belhaven, and took the dinghy as close as we could to the local gas station for kerosene and diesel then made our way back to the boat, slept, and left again at first light.

We skipped one of my favorite anchorages in the Alligator River and moved across the sound to the North River where we anchored off the channel for the night.

Then again another run up to Chesapeake Virginia and the free dock right by the “Great Bridge” 

There we took an extra day to rest, or so I said, really I had some zoom calls to do and I also used the time to catch up work wise.

But after that one night we fueled up at the marina across the canal and made our way through the lock and up the river, past Norfolk, and right to Hampton VA near Fort Monroe just off the Phoebus Channel.

There we waited out a bit of weather, I had some more zoom meetings, and then we headed out.  Out of the ICW, out of the Chesapeake, and into the Atlantic Ocean again.