Current Life Blog

Daytona to Cocoa Village

Motored up the ICW from Daytona Beach to Cocoa. We spent three nights at Halifax harbor marina in Daytona Beach. We thought it was an excellent marina and enjoyed our time there. Although the surrounding area was a little rough so we mainly stayed around the marina. We were planning to leave at 7AM as soon as it got light, but for some reason it was light enough at 6:30 so we left a little early.

ICW Day 6

We left Dudley’s marina in Swansboro at 6AM while it was still dark. We wanted to get to Bald Head Island marina and knew it’d be a long day. The depth gauge was showing 0 feet at the dock, and we did bump a little bit on the bottom as we were leaving, but the depth increased as soon as we were a few feet away from the dock. 7:15AM – Entered Camp Lejeune.

ICW Day 5

Well it doesn’t look like we’ll have a window this week. An unexpected NorEaster rolled through and there’s a series of storms following it. We decided to do a few more days in the ICW just to make some progress towards Charleston. The weather was still windy, gusting to 25knots, at 1:30 but we figured we’d be okay seeing as how we’d be in the ICW. The Bogue Sound was a bit choppy but overall, the trip wasn’t bad.

ICW Day 4

After spending an extra night in the River Dunes Marina to wait out some bad weather, we headed out at first light, 6:45AM, for Beaufort. Made an easy crossing of the Neuse river and entered Adams Creek at 8:58AM. Arrived at Beaufort Town Docks around noon. Now just waiting until we get a weather window to sail to Charleston. Leaving River Dunes Marina Neuse River Sunrise

ICW Day 3

10/20. Pulled the anchor and left Alligator River Cove Anchorage at first light, 6:50AM 7:30AM. Joined a convoy of sailboats leaving the Tuckahoe Point anchorage. They were from the Sail to the Sun rally. We listened to them for a while on channel 68, but they had a short day planned and left the ICW at Dowry Creek Marina near Belhaven. We wonder why they all left their anchorage so early in the morning just to travel a few hours.

ICW Day 2

We left Coinjock at 8AM, thinking that we’d only go 30NM to the Alligator River Marina and have a short day. At 9:30 we were surprised to see a blimp! Blimp 9:45 AM. Decided to change plans and skip the Alligator River marina so we could get closer to Beaufort. The map showed lots of anchorages we could make it to before dark, so it was an easy decision. 1:25PM. Passed through the Alligator River Swing Bridge after only waiting for a few minutes for it it to open.

ICW Day 1

Today we put in the first of four (hopefully only four) days motoring South on the ICW. Our plan is to arrive in Beaufort some time on Sunday if all goes well. We left Norfolk at 7:20AM after a windy night moored at Waterside marina. The wind was 15 knots from the North. Of course the wind was perfect for a sail, on the day that we had to motor on the narrow ICW channel.