10 nights of cruising the ICW in NC

When we compiled our stats for our first year of cruising, it was really fun to see how we'd spent the year between anchorages, moorings, and docks. Just for fun, I decided to drill down a bit on a 10-day chunk of our transit south this season!

After spending a week at a full-service slip (water and power) in Norfolk we cast off the lines and entered the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway to head south. How did we spend the 10 nights after that?

1—Free dock (no power/water), Great Bridge, VA. Pumped out holding tank and filled diesel before getting underway the next day.

2—⚓️ Anchored south of Coinjock, NC

3—Free dock (no power/water), Elizabeth City, NC. Headed ashore for dinner and laundry (and showers at Grandma's)!

4—⚓️ anchored in Alligator River, NC

5—⚓️ anchored in Alligator River, NC

6—⚓️ anchored near Dowry Creek, NC

7—⚓️ anchored in Belhaven, NC. Headed into town for dinner.

8—Free dock (no power/water, but free restrooms and pay showers) in Oriental, NC

9—Free dock (again) in Oriental, NC. While in Oriental we visited the Farmer's Market, brewery, marina restaurant, and local marine/general store, 

10—Pumped out holding tank, filled diesel, filled water and anchored in Beaufort, NC

The only free dock in Oriental that could handle our draft!

And I wrote this over two days--one at anchor in Mile Hammock Bay and now we are on a mooring ($20/night) in Carolina Beach. So I guess really this is a peek at 12 days!

This is a pretty typical routine for us. We tend to get fuel/water/pump out about once a week while on the ICW. We ate out some so that kept our water consumption down, but we do shower and cook on board most of the time. We never came dangerously close to running out of water over the 10 days. When a town offers a free dock we seek out ways to pay back the community and will try to do some shopping and dining out while we are there. We tend to anchor or take moorings a lot. We just don't need much from a marina facility and we like to be on our own, especially during a pandemic. I guess if you're into land travel, we boondock a lot!

We are going slow this trip. We've only really slowed down due to weather once (on the Alligator River) and have been trying to hit places we've skipped in the past.  At this point, I'm ready to do laundry and get a load of groceries, which we should be able to tackle while in Carolina Beach. We are going to stay put for a few days before hopefully catching a window to head "outside" and further south!