PLAYING IN THE INLAND 1st September

Some lovely old architecture around New Bern and Oriental.

It's been 5 days since we splashed in the Core Creek at Bock Marine and its official! The knock is gone! Whew! How many times have we tried to find that noise. After a night on the dock and  a test run of the shaft we were confident we had nailed it so we sneaked under the Core Creek bridge a low tide we pushed north into the Pimlico Sound and the Neuse River. 

 

One of the many Shrimp boats operating on this coast

This is part of the Intra-coastal waterway. It's a feature of the U.S. Which never ceases to amaze me. This waterway, much of which is man made and maintained by dredging, runs from Delaware to South Florida along the coast but there are also inland waterways which enable boats to traverse the country from the Great Lakes to Florida and then north from New Orleans to The Great Lakes. This is called the Great Loop. 
 

One of the many Bears in New Bern. Town emblem.

We are slightly challenged in the waterway by the height of our mast. The fixed bridges are 65 feet. Our mast is officially 65 feet but we are a little precious about the stuff on top of it... Lights and instruments etc so rather than challenge the bridges we go at low tide and only under bridges which do have tide. Some areas, such as further up the Pimlico Sound and Dismal Swamp, don't have any tide so we are not game to give those bridges a shot.

There are beautiful anchorages everywhere.

That's why, tonight we are motoring in flat calm water, with our new quiet shaft, up the coast . We rounded Hatteras at midnight tonight and we are headed to Chesapeake Bay, home of the cities of Annapolis and Baltimore. Just round the corner from Washington DC.

The blue dot is Galesville

There are allegedly over 11,000 miles of contiguous coastline in the Chesapeake, including rivers and marshes. But there must be at least 4000nm which we can get close to. No wonder many yachties from this area never leave.... although the snow gets deep and the yachts ice up in their pens if left in the water. Many yachts are pulled out and winterized on the hard. Those who leave make the great migration south with the geese towards the end of October. The waterway is stem to stern with boats of every shape and size. The larger ones head to sea. Many go to Bermuda then turn south towards the Western Caribbean or Bahamas. The run south down the coast is against the current and can apparently be a bit of a slog.... we will see!

Galesville anchorage.

For now we are happy at anchor fixing things... usual stuff. Water-maker Inverter  Radar... so on and so on ... its a boat. not major stuff. Just maintenance type stuff.

Some boats dont get used as much as they should

Apparently the Ospreys were becoming so rare it became illegal to remove an osprey nest from your property once it has been established, until the young are hatched and have left the nest. This means you have to be very vigilant and remove the early attempts by these birds to establish residence. The owners of this boat were obviously outfoxed by the ospreys! 

 Its a very lovely relaxing anchorage surrounded by very pretty waterfront homes with the odd white swan casually swimming by. The locals are friendly and there are at least 2 good restaurants a short dingy ride away.

More Photos from the Beaufort new Bern and Oriental visit.