The 50+ mile/day club

We're in lovely Swansboro NC (ICW mile 229), where we visited early last December. I've got to like a town that has apparently named a street after me (above). I wonder who the William Main person is.

Its a bit odd. Back in December it was freezing cold yet we averaged maybe 30 miles/day as we cruised south in this region. Now its a beautiful spring, the weather is great, and we race through the region, often covering in a day what you could drive in an whole hour, 50 or 60 miles or more. You would think we would have raced south to the warmer temps, and dally on the way north to savor the spring.

It must be that on our way south it was all brand new, and we had to explore each town more. Plus the days were pretty short then. Now its all familiar (well, vaguely), and the days are long, and we've been away from home for almost 7 months, so lets keep moving.

And moving is what we've been doing. Here are our travels since Tuesday:

- Wednesday we left Beaufort SC (ICW mile 536) and traveled 65 miles to the Wappoo Creek anchorage (mile 471), just west of Charleston SC. That was a long day. Riggs played ball chase at a nearby boat ramp.

-Thursday we crossed Charleston Harbor, and up the ICW to Georgetown SC (mile 403), for an even longer 68 mile day. As we walked around charming Georgetown (ignoring the huge paper mill) we were surprised to stumble onto a Tea-Party rally. Riggs barked whenever a speaker told a lie.

- Friday night we anchored in Calabash Creek, just below the SC/NC border at ICW mile 342. We had an interesting time running aground in the creek before finally finding enough water to anchor in.

- Saturday we made it to busy Wrightsville Beach NC (mile 283). The boating season here is well under way and on a nice Saturday the boat traffic was crazy. On shore there were hundreds of college kids. Is it still spring break?

- Today we moved another 54 miles to here in Swansboro. Upon pulling in we stopped at Casper's Marina and bought 120 gallons of diesel ($2.50/gal plus 7% tax) and filled the water tank.

As I write this I'm dealing with a dragging anchor. The bottom here is apparently not very anchor-friendly and the tidal currents are significant. Its all part of the fun of cruising!

Tomorrow: Through Beaufort NC and hopefully inland to Oriental NC. Stay tuned: