Georgetown NC to Oriental NC

Georgetown was a very nice little town and a welcome stop after the go go go of Charleston. We spent some time just walking around the town which has many historic old homes. We all rode our bikes to the Piggly Wiggly to stock up and then to a great seafood market to pick up some fresh fish for dinner. Jill and I picked a Swordfish steak. We all made sides and Ben cooked all the fish and shrimp on Jammin Jane. I don't think anyone left hungry that night.

One thing we have noticed over the past week or two is how much the scenery is changing. We have left the palm treed behind for the Cypress and Pine of the Carolina's. Not bad scenery, just different. Reminds us some of the Louisiana bayous.

The Osprey all seem to have young in their nests which are all along the AICW. They don't seem to really care if we can't read the channel markers or not.

Next stop was Myrtle Beach where we just spent the night and moved on up the road. A couple of things of interest along the way is a stretch they call the "rockpile" where you can see the rocky ledges lurking just below the water. We were told this area claims a few boats every year...no problem for us, just stay in the middle. Another is what I am sure is the only gondola we will pass under on this trip.

The Rockpile

Next stop required a short detour off the ICW and up the Cape Fear river to Wilmington NC. This is a fun town with docks right downtown and steps from many restaurants and bars. It was a great place to spend my birthday weekend.

On the way there we were lucky to have a nice push from the tides for part of the run. Anytime we move along faster than 8 mph we are really moving!!

12 MPH!!!!

This was also the day Timmy saw his first Dolphin (and giraffe). He couldn't believe how big and playful they are. He really seems to be coming out of his shell.

It was this big....

On the Cape Fear we were passed by a couple of Ospreys of a different sort. Any time we get a flyby we first wonder whats wrong with the engines until we see them.

One stop we made on my birthday pub crawl was Longstreets bar which is reported to be haunted. We didn't see any ghost but the bartender really seemed to enjoy telling the story.

The next day we left Wilmington and the other boats we had been traveling with. We are moving forward toward Annapolis where we have some work scheduled for the boat. We'll hang out there to let the gang catch up.

We passed through Camp Lejuene a couple of days later and luckily there was no mortar fire that day.

We are now in Oriental NC waiting for the winds to die down so we can head toward the Chesapeake Bay. We have some big bodies of water to cross and winds from the North or Northeast are very bad....don't ask how we know. Oriental looks like it used to be a happin' little town but most places are closed or for sale, hope they can get their mojo back.

I'll leave you with one last picture in case you thought Timmy was just telling a fish story about the giraffe....you never know what you'll see out here!!