North Carolina

We've crossed Albemarle Sound in calm weather once, maybe twice, but not this time. Wind forecast said North 5-10, so of course we got West 15-20 with higher gusts. Wasn't too bad, waves three feet on the starboard bow. When the wind meter hit 25 Nancy went below and slept through the whole thing. As the day went on the winds diminished. We anchored in Belhaven, near the bridge; very peaceful there. Next day we crossed the Neuse River, which can be worse than Albemarle but wasn't, made it to Morehead City and tied up to the free-with-dinner dock at the Ruddy Duck Tavern. That's a good place! South and west of Swansboro the ICW passes through Camp Lejeune firing range, and the waterway was closed for live fire exercises. Among the boats waiting to get through was Knot So Swift with our friends Peter & Sandy Swift aboard, headed for Florida. Eventually (after a fuel stop and a very long day waiting for bridges to open) we arrived in Wrightsville Beach, tied up safely in strong current in the dark, and joined Peter & Sandy for dinner at the Bridgetender. Check out the beautiful jacket Nancy made!