CruiseNews #3
Date:  6/9/99
Port of Call:  Elizabeth City, NC
Subject:  North Carolina

We left Beaufort on June 5th, motoring north up the Intra-Coastal Waterway (ICW).  That night, we stopped at Broad Creek, a small creek off the Neuse River, about 10 miles north of Oriental, NC.  Broad Creek is one of the few spots along the ICW where we rarely see another boat anchored.  This year was no exception; we were the only boat there.

We had stocked up on charts of the North Carolina Outer Banks in Beaufort, and Broad Creek was the place where we had to decide whether to head to the Outer Banks, or proceed up the ICW.  The charts warned of depths as low as 4-1/2 feet in some of the dredged channels, far too little for the 6 feet of water that we require, so we were a little concerned that we would be unable to make it.  We used our marine operator account to call TowBoat/US, the marine towing service in Manteo, and asked whether it would be possible for us to make it through his area.  He gave us explicit directions about getting around all the shoal areas, which made us feel a little better.  He was either telling us just what we needed to know to get through, or just what we needed to know to run aground so he could charge us to tow us!  With a little trepidation we set out the next morning for Ocracoke.

We made it to Ocracoke on the 6th, and dropped anchor in the little harbor off the town.  Ocracoke is a lot like what beach towns were like years ago, before all the condos and huge hotels started cramming every lot with a beach view.  It has stayed this way because all the land, except that in the village, is owned by the National Park Service, so the developers can't do their worst.  We went ashore, walked around, and had an ice cream to try and fight the heat.

Islands of the Outer Banks
The next morning, we left for Manteo, on Roanoke Island.  We motored and motor-sailed in a breeze that gradually grew to about 15-20 knots out of the Southeast.  Normally we would have sailed in such fine conditions, but the distance from Ocracoke to Manteo was 60 miles, and we needed every bit of speed we could press out of the boat to make it in daylight.  So we endured the motor as we motorsailed at around 7 knots toward Manteo.

The channel into Manteo is the one we were really worried about making it through.  We happened to hear another boat ahead of us on the radio who draws 6-1/2 feet, so we knew that if they could make it, we could too.  With assurances from them, and confirmation of the directions from TowBoat/US, we motored into the harbor at Manteo shortly before sunset.

We were too exhausted to go ashore that night, so we reserved our sightseeing for a short trip the next morning.  Manteo is the site of one of the first European colonies in the New World, and the first recorded birth of a child to English parents occurred there in 1587.  We read some of the historic markers ashore, but mostly we saw residential neighborhood and a growing business district.

The heat keeps reminding us that we really should be a lot further north by now, so we didn't spend much time in Manteo.  Yesterday we motored to Elizabeth City.

Cathy and Fred in the Rose Buddies golf cart
Elizabeth City can justifiably lay claim to being the "friendliest town on the waterway".  Not 15 minutes after we tied up at the free town docks (!) we were in the middle of a wine and cheese party at  the house of the local ambassador to boaters, Fred Fearing.  Fred is the heart of the "Rose Buddies", a group that greets boaters at the waterfront, usually with roses for the women aboard.  They supply invaluable local knowledge about where to do laundry, get groceries, parts, and these days, whether the library has Internet access.  (It does.)

The ICW in this part of North Carolina branches into two halves, one going east through Coinjock, and the other west through Elizabeth City.  This makes the fifth time we have passed this way, and we always stop here, just to experience the Elizabeth City hospitality.

We will stay a day or two to do laundry and get groceries, and hopefully work out the latest problem with the watermaker.

North of us is the Dismal Swamp and Norfolk, VA.  And of course, more adventures.  We'll keep you posted.

Smooth sailing,

Jim and Cathy