Free Dock Ferry Landing Portsmouth, VA

Each table had a phone so that you could call in your dinner orders. It was very comfortable. The sound was wonderful and the screen was huge! It was a fun night.

Inside the Commodore Theater

Commodore Theater--dinner and a movie

Customs House in Norfolk

One can hope!

This fighter pilot had some unusal skills!

Just checking out the possibilities of a new windless but I don't think it will fit on Shore Thing

A couple links of this chain would keep us anchored!

Nauticus has the Wisconsin

Nauticus in Norfolk

Free dock at the ferry landing

Drydock along the waterway

ICW waiting for bridges to open going through Norfolk and Portsmouth

As we came out of the Dismal Swamp we had culture shock. Boats, tugs, tows every where we looked.

36 50.301N

76 17.778W

Dismal Swamp

Lock Master at Deep Creek playing a conch shell for us. It was a real treat! He gave us some hints of things to do in Portsmouth.

Free dockage at Welcome Center Dismal Swamp

Where does the sky end and the water begin?

Only 600 more miles to go!! And we are still talking!

One of the last two locks we have to go through.

Along the Dismal Swamp Canal--looks like they have had enough rain here.

Tannic Acid--our boat now has a brown mustache. The acid is released from decaying vegetation.

Pontoon RR Bridge on our way towards the Dismal Swamp

Free dock in Elizabeth City

Coast Guard Air Station, Elizabeth City, they filmed part of the movies The Guardian and The Perfect Storm here

Pilots were practicing--we watched for over an hour as they made turns over the river

Blimp hangar

This is where they bring the blimps down to earth

Coast Guard Air Station is nearby as well

We were surprised to see a blimp flying over the river. This is the Naval Blimp Hangar just off Albemarle Sound in the Pasquotank River

Crab pots everywhere--worse than Long Island Sound in Mystic

36 30.402N

76 21.355W

Anchorage South Lake off Alligator River

This one also passed us by but at midnight we were not so lucky

Evening brought threats of storms--this one passed us by

We had low humidity and bright skies

Along the Alligator-Pungo Canal looking for deadheads

35 5.642N

75 54.789W

Anchorage Slade Creek, NC

Back on the hook along the ICW. The anchorage was very secluded, no other boats or houses could be seen. We dropped the dinghy and explored the coves.

35 28.174N

76 32.484W

Oriental Marina, Oriental, NC

Looking out over the craft show from the fly bridge

More scenes around Oriental harbor

There was an arts and craft show going on at the Marina and Inn in front of our boat

Looking out from our boat towards the Neuse River

New shrimp boat behind our boat at the marina

Free dock at Oriental harbor

One of the houses along the way. We got a kick out of the paint job on the boat

One of the older homes in Beaufort

Brief walk around Beaufort, NC, in the morning before it got too hot

Courtesy car at Beaufort Marina--the picture makes it look a lot better than it really was! No shocks left, no spring and no air conditioning--it's been hazy, hot and humid and in the 90's for some time now.

35 01.475N

76 41.728W

Beaufort Docks Marina, Beaufort, NC

This house was very bright at 6:30 am on the ICW!
Band started just as the Marines finished right in front of our boat. Must be a night of entertainment for us.

We were treated to a Marine Corps concert--rock, blues and of course, patriotic songs

Dock in Beaufort

Parasailing--did you get the phone number

Sand dune created from ICW dredging

Old rocket launcher?

A boat like this went by with a guy dressed as a pirate and

holding a machine gun. It was so funny, the guy waved--I wanted Ed to take a picture but he said he was afraid to point the camera at him--who knows what he would have done with the machine gun!USMC, Camp LeJeune, on maneuvers

We passed these boats and everyone on board waved

There is a section of the ICW that closes when the Marines at Camp Lajune are on maneuvers.

34 42.963N

76 39.900W