We fell in line with about 30 boats headed south from Norfolk. However, when we reached the turn off for the Dismal, only 3 or 4 turned, the rest continuing on the shorter Virginia Cut. In the basin before the lock were about 6 more waiting. All the boats took the 11 AM locking and slowly motored in single file all day until we reached the free docks at the NC Welcome Station. There was dockage for 3 boats and all 11 crews decided to stop. So everyone rafted up. Soon after the last ropes were tied began a non stop dock party that lasted 2 days. Since the Abermarl Sound had a rough weather forcast, Ken on Mandolin decided to stay and it was easy to convince the rest of the crews since we were all having such a good time at such a nice place.

To our delight, the boat behind us on the dock was La Vida Dolce from Canada, crewed by Danny and Debbie. We met them at our first Trent-Severn lock 3 months ago! They are headed to Cuba and have been only a day or two ahead of us all the way down. I also got a surprise when Mike and Sue on Sheena II came in to raft up to us in their ferro-cement trawler and called out "Hi Jim!" We had never met, however, Mike informed me he had been reading my posts about our trip on Trawler World List and recognized Indiscipline. They are full time livaboard cruisers from Ottawa.

We had two other boats rafted to us. We made lots of other friends and this little group is now considered "our group". The next day we left for Elizabeth City and everyone in "Our Group" managed to get into the free docks. The last half of the canal and the river were absolutely beautiful. The fall colors were at their peak and it was a sparkling, beautiful day. Amy and Hiedi got in a day of school while underway.

Again, to our delight, Dennis and Barbara on Moxsun - a wonderful Endeavour 43 ketch - were there in Elizabeth City. We first met them on the Erie canal in Sylvan Beach and have been together on and off every since. Although everyone has work to do (laundry, shopping, and mechanical fixes) it is hard to get anything done, everyone would prefer sitting around all day on the docks telling stories.

We stayed in today because the radio was calling for severe thunderstorms and possible tornadoes. It looks like we are not going to get much of anything after all but better safe than sorry. So instead of running the boat down to Oriental, we met up with a couple of other crews and took a little golf cart into town. Together, we did some shopping and exploring, had lunch with another couple we met. Later, we stopped the golf cart at a crab packing plant to buy fresh crab and got a tour of the plant thrown in with the bargain ($17/pound for fresh jumbo crab meat).

We had a great day, one of the best. The point is we are discovering that it is not the boat or the passages that matter, it's the people we meet along the way. One 50 to 75 mile day down the ICW is much like any other but when you join up with a big group of like minded people it really gets fun and rewarding. So many boats are running 100 miles per day and never stop and I hope that they are finding the gold at the end of the rainbow.

One other cruiser we have met has said that it doesn't really get good for two or three years down the road because during your first year you don't really know anybody - but if that is true why are we so happy now? It is a different life because we know that after tomorrow we might not see them again but then 2 months later there they are at some town dock and that is a very sweet moment. In the beginning I thought we would find an island all to ourselves and just stay away from society but that idea has really changed.

The next day we continued to have bad news on the weather radio (winds 20 to 25 knots in the Pamlico Sound and Neuse River) so we knew we had to stay put. But we got good news from our friends who dingied back in to tell us a nice group of people, the River Rat Yacht Club, had invited us to come down to their creek and stay for a few days free of charge. We all jumped at this and headed out, even though the local winds were screaming. It was only 7 miles.

The River Rats were great. Their creek would be a great hurricane hole. The docks were sound, and we all had 30 amp power. It's a very remote and quiet place. The water was very shallow because of "wind tides". The wind blows the water out of the sound, which drains the river and also the creek. Well, anyways, we all ended up saying 3 days. We were invited to their potluck dinner, where we made a crab loaf. We were also all given skiff tours of the creeks and invited to a wonderful dinner at one of the members homes. This was a great group of people and we really felt at home. The roads were paved with rubble from a phosphorus mine and full of fossil coral, and sharks teeth. We spent many hours collecting.

From there we made a long full day run to Beaufort - we decided to go on to Moorhead City because they had a West Marine. Our flybridge VHF radio was not transmitting and I moved the salon radio up there. That left us without a radio down below. Once you begin travelling with others you really need a salon radio on channel 16 at all times - that is your telephone. Because we didn't have one is why our friends had to take all those dinghy rides over to our boat. So we felt we had to make radio repairs and get the salon radio back into use.

After a long day, and now it seems to be getting dark so early, we crossed the Beaufort harbor and picked our way through a confusing series of buoys that were not on our chart and turned up the ICW again only to find a 5 knot current opposing us. I'm not kidding, the current was so strong the pilings were laying over. So we tucked into the first dock. Moorehead City has lots of Bar and Grills but no shops and the West Marine was 5 miles away! But we didn't want to go out into that current again so we stayed. One friend was at the free docks a little down fixing his toilet.

The next day we went where we should have gone, to Spooner's Creek. They have an anchorage, dinghy dock, and marina with easy access to the stores, and the West Marine. We ate at McDonalds, shopped Wal Mart and Food Lion, got haircuts (our last were in Trenton in Canada). The haircutters were astonished to learn that we had been in Canada and that they lived and worked nearly on the ICW (they had never heard of it). Spooner's Creek was expensive but worthwhile because we got free breakfast, they delivered papers each day, and we had use of a laundry to get about 6 loads done, plus did the shopping and installed the new radio.

From Spooner's Creek we made a 33 mile run to New River and docked at their fuel dock for a brief, cold night. Some friends from Canada were also there so we invited everyone over for a potluck aboard Indiscipline. From New River we made our second longest day of the entire trip, 68 miles to St. James Marina past Southport, were we are visiting Karen's cousins. It was a long and tiring day as we spent 7 hours underway (average speed between 10 and 11 miles per hour). But we were treated to the best birdwatching so far, mile after mile of fantastic homes on stilts, and currents ripping through the channels and inlets. In many of those inlets we encountered tidal races and whirlpools. It was a cool but partly sunny day and really quite a pleasure. We ate both breakfast and lunch underway.

We are now tucked into a marina under construction but it is close to Carol and Keith's place. We will be heading down to Charleston, SC. That should be 3 boating days away and we'll probably be there in 5 or so.

Today we celebrated 3000 miles. We have had a party for 1000 and for 2000. 3000 seems very special and we weary travelers enjoyed a great dinner at Brunswick Yacht Club for a very good price. Since we are trying to get to Daytona Beach by Dec. 10 we feel that we can not waste any of this great and beautiful weather we have been having so we have been running long days.

Today we had an especially very long day as we covered 73 miles at an average speed of 9 mph. It makes for a long, busy day because the ICW here is quite intricate and you have to watch all the buoys, follow the ranges keep, and keep an eye on the depth finder at all times. We have anchored in quaint Georgia creeks the last two nights, once enjoying a stay in primitive marshlands and last night enjoying anchorage off the little village of Kilkenny.

Georgia and South Carolina seem like endless vistas of sea, marsh grass, with occasional islands of palm trees and oaks or pines covered with Spanish moss. There are birds everywhere and we are keeping an alligator watch and starting tomorrow a manatee lookout. The marshes, rivers, sounds, and inlets go on forever and it seems very isolated. Many, many hours pass with no houses, cottages or signs of human settlement. It reminds us of the Georgian Bay in Canada. We see the same few trawlers and sailboats each day. Yesterday we pulled one off a sandbar where they had run aground in about 3 feet of water. We were able to get a line to them and pull them into deep water. It was very difficult because I was quite worried of joining them on the sand bar, especially when our depth meter was reading 2.9 feet (we are on the bottom when it reads 2.5). But Karen, Amy and Heidi were able to handle the lines and I the boat and it made us proud and happy to help them. They would have been in for a long wait for high tide before they could have gotten off (probably not until 9 PM and pitch dark and cold by then). That makes 2 sailboats we have rescued so far (maybe it will help me qualify for the towing endorsement to my USCG license!)

Today we followed a shrimp boat for a while. He was coming back in with his catch. I guess they were throwing the bycatch overboard because the boat was being followed by - I am not kidding - 1000 gulls and pelicans. The sea was boiling with them all around. It was quite a show.

Tomorrow, we are taking the day off to clean, shop and school. We should be in Florida in 2 days and seem to be on schedule for Christmas. See you soon!

Hello from Florida on a frosty morning! This note was written by Amy about our magical stay on Cumberland Island a couple of days ago. The island is formed by the Brickhill River and the Atlantic Ocean, just off the Atlantic ICW. It is near the Georgia - Florida border and was our last stop prior to Jacksonville Beach, here in Florida. It is a very remote and deserted place occupied by 3 other boats and a group of campers when we were there.

At Cumberland Island we saw many things. The anchorage we chose was in the Brickhill River. After anchoring, we went hiking to the beach. That was when we saw many animals. The hike to one end of the forest was about three miles, so the round trip was about 6 miles. When we got to the beach, we played there for a half hour. On the beach, we found some very neat shells.

We saw many different types of plants, pines, palms, oaks, vines that were crawling up the sides and hanging down from the branches, and Spanish moss. The palm trees were squat things, they couldn't grow up too tall because of the other trees. They also did not have the vines or moss on them. The tallest trees in the forest were the pines. They were really big and the vines on them looked like sticks because they were brown and thick. Some of the oaks were huge as well.

We saw many animals. We saw armadillos, pelicans, dolphins, and one wild pony. At least 15 armadillos were seen. The first two I sighted I thought were rabbits. When I got closer, however, I saw their hard shells. I cried "Armadillos!" After that, we saw lots more digging and playing in the forest. The pelicans were everywhere! They are Brown Pelicans. The dolphins were really neat! When mom and I took the dinghy to shore to walk the dog, the dolphins were all around us. Mom said that they were probably hunting. The only part I saw was the fins, but as we were leaving, they were playing on our bow waves and I could see all of their face and body.

When we were coming to the island, we saw a wild pony eating the marsh grass. The prints of the ponies were everywhere along the trail. Most of them were big adult hoof prints, but we saw some tiny baby hoof prints near a little stream. There were too big holes, with grey dirt that looked like ashes. But it was only sand and dirt. We thought that these were old alligator nests.

Seeing all these things was very neat. All in all, I think that Cumberland Island is one of my favorite places along the boat trip.

Taking a walk on the island was fun! We went for a long walk. As we were hiking, we saw wild pony tracks. We ran on farther and saw wild armadillos! We saw bugs digging up horse manure! It was disgusting! We also saw alligator nests. Finally, we got to the beach. We only stayed for a half an hour. It was almost three miles to the beach, and we had to walk! When we got back from our hike, we were very tired!! I thought it was fun!