Blaise Boating from Belhaven to Beaufort

Returning from a wonderful Christmas holiday with friends and family, we hunkered down at the Belhaven Waterway Marina to await favorable weather. A cold front and high winds greeted us on our return and we decided to take advantage of the free slip offered by the marina manager, Les, and celebrate the New Year tied comfortably to this well protected dock. Les had thoughtfully turned Live Now around while we were traveling. This put the bow into the southerly wind and eased our departure. He had also, at our request, got our diesel generator running much to our delight! Anyone cruising the ICW past Belhaven would do well to take advantage of this well managed marina. We can also highly recommend the Farm Boy's Sandwich Shop located nearby. Not only are the sandwiches terrific, you get a chance to meet nearly everyone in town and overhear the wonderful variety of English spoken.

We had left Belhaven December 19th for the holidays. In order to visit our dispersed family, we rented a car in Greenville, NC, requiring a 50+ mile taxi ride with Jack, owner of Jack's Taxi. The ride turned into a real treat as we enjoyed Jack's stories about living in NYC after WWII and his return to his home state of North Carolina, interspersed with an occasional Christmas Carole. We put over 2000 miles on the rental visiting Ohio, Michigan and Florida. We had a great time but were happy to be home at last.

Friday the 4th, we departed Belhaven and continued in absolute calm down the ICW to Oriental. With a deep channel, no boat traffic and no wind, we reached Oriental mid afternoon without incident. Oriental is a favorite stopping place on the ICW due to it's friendly town, excellent marine provisioning store, and great restaurants. We anchored in 7-8 foot water just off the harbor channel opposite the shrimp boats and a short dinghy ride to the town dock. Our friends, the Rainwaters, had recommended the M&M Restaurant and having skipped lunch in anticipation, we headed there immediately. Soon we were enjoying a wonderful meal and meeting Vaughan and Linda, of Sheba Moon, a beautiful 50 something schooner, anchored near us. Vaughan and Linda have an international military law practice in Jacksonville, NC, specializing in defending soldiers in military court. They have sailed extensively in the Bahamas and along the southeast US coast. We benefited greatly from their sharing their experience. They plan to retire next year and cruise full time through the Caribbean and Med.

We spent Friday and Saturday in Oriental, taking a walking tour, a dinghy ride up Camp Creek and grocery shopping (using loaner bikes from the Oriental Marine Provisioning store). Oriental is a small community with a number of 19th century homes. Everyone we met was very friendly and helpful. While Pat got a couple of extra winks Saturday morning, I dinghied into town for coffee at the Bean Coffee Shop, a local gathering place. As I was starting back to the boat, 3 bedraggled guys in an open 16' Carolina skiff puttered up to the town dock. "We're lost! We're trying to find Incomprehensible Due to Accent Creek!" One shouted to me. "Well, this is Oriental. I'm just passing through and can't tell you where Incomprehensible Due to Accent Creek is, but I'm sure there's someone in the coffee shop here that can give you directions," I said helpfully. These three had been fishing yesterday, got lost and spent the night drifting on the river. It must of been terribly uncomfortable with temperatures in the 30's and only sweatshirts and light jackets for warmth. Besides that, they said the fishing was awful! They had no charts and had left both of their GPS's at home. I waited to make sure they got the information they needed before returning to the boat.

Sunday dawned another calm clear day and we weighed anchor for Beaufort (pronounced ''Bo-furt'' by natives). Beaufort would be our last stop on the ICW before heading outside for Charleston. Again we enjoyed an easy passage down across the Neuse River and down the Adam Creek Canal. Just north of Beaufort, we found the ICW channel narrow, confusing and shallow. You actually have to leave the Waterway to reach Beaufort because the Corps of Engineers have not had funds to dredge and were forced to close this portion of the ICW. Nevertheless, with careful attention and caution, we were able to negotiate the detour. We had to go around Radio Island because the most direct route has a controlling depth of 5.5' (the same as our draft) and dropped anchor just off the channel in front of this delightful 19th century waterfront town. Dolphins accompanied us for much of our way and we had a great time watching them dive under the boat.

Beaufort boasts a number of antebellum homes and old inns, including one reportedly a favorite haunt of Edward Teach, Blackbeard the Pirate! After a quick cheeseburger at the only place open, the Prince James Cafe, we walked around a bit before returning to the boat. At the dinghy dock, we met Dave and Margot, father and daughter. Dave, a museum designer, his wife and Margot (a 6th grader)were cruising full time, heading the the Caribbean. Margot is being home schooled and both she and Dave gave us a lot of great information about Beaufort, its maritime museum and the wild ponies that reside on the small Carrot Island across from the town. We talked about our cruising plans and next stops. He mentioned some friends of his that were having difficulty getting down the ICW south of here in their Cape Dory 45. I said that we met some people in NJ that were heading south on a Cape Dory 45. It turns out that he was talking about Mike and Joy of Fiona Rose, who we last saw in Coinjock before Christmas!

The next day, after touring the town (including the NC Maritime Museum and the old Burying Ground), we returned to Live Now to find Fiona Rose anchored next to us! They couldn't get their 6.5' draft past Camp Lejeune and returned to Belhaven to regroup. Like us, they now intend to go outside to Charleston, SC.

After agreeing to get together later, we took our dinghy up river and beached on the island to see the wild ponies. We weren't disappointed. The ponies showed no fear and grazed peacefully but always keeping a distance as I tried get some pictures. The ponies descend from horses that escaped from the Spanish in the 15th century. Returning, we saw maybe 6 or 8 dolphin coming up the river!

Another cold front and south winds (20-25 knots) will keep us here until Saturday when we expect N and NW winds to drive us to Charleston. In the meantime, we'll work on the boat, and maybe take in one of the special museum programs.