May 31 - June 7
Wilmington to Norfolk
Jerry Neill, John MacDonald

May 31  The crew arrives, stop for provisions enroute to Seapath Yacht Club and boarding.  Head back to Wilmington by taxi in the afternoon for tour of the Battleship North Carolina.  This was quite a treat.  It took every bit of two hours to explore.  Fascinating both for the history and the environment, weapons, etc.  After the tour we headed for the Pilot House Restaurant for dinner by the Cape Fear River.

June 1 1115 Departed.  Just in time as it turned out as the channel leading from the marina to the ICW had barely enough water at near low tide.  We actually bumped bottom in the middle of the channel but were able to mush through.  Another 15 minutes and we would have been stuck till the tide came in. We had another "in channel" grounding about an hour later in trying to squeeze past a dredge which was in the middle of the channel.  Not an auspicious start to the leg.  With the late departure we found an anchorage at Swan Point Marina, a very definitely mom and pop operation.  Dinner at the Green Turtle (owner picked us up and returned us to boat after dinner).

June 2   We had to bypass Beaufort today as it was not far enough from last nights anchorage, but we had an interesting trip up the waterway and across the Neuse River to Oriental, NC.  Oriental is a very small, quaint waterfront town which caters to boaters.  We berthed at the Oriental Marina, Motel and Restaurant, dining at same, the reputation of which was touted in the guide books, not to mention the locals.  It was both very friendly and served good food.  Borrowed a 3 wheel bicycle and rode about a mile to the local (only) grocery for a few provisions.

June 3  Down the Neuse River and into Pamlico Sound.  The light wind in the morning turned into a stiff breeze (steady 22 kts.) on our bow in the late morning, so it was a rather rough and choppy ride to Manteo, NC, home of the first English Settlement in North America.  We berthed at Pirates Cove Marina, a nice facility, but one that caters to sport fishermen (more than I have ever seen!).  So we didn't sleep late the next morning as these guys depart at 0530 for the fishing grounds.  The marina did loan us their courtesy van for the night so we went to the historic district for dinner at the 1587 Restaurant, on the waterfront, which was excellent.  

June 4 Taxi'd to Kitty Hawk for a tour of the Wright brothers Museum, located at the exact site of their historic flights.  The museum featured a full size replica of their plane, as well as an earlier glider.  Departed afternoon and redocked at the town dock on the historic waterfront where we toured a museum on the areas nautical history and a sailing replica of a ship sailed by  ???? Note that the water from the last channel marker to the town harbor is only a little over 5 feet.  Following the historical extravaganza we crossed Albemarle Sound to Elizabeth City,  gateway to the famous Dismal Swamp.  A light wind day, but cloudy and rainy.  Town docks at Elizabeth City were full so we docked at a nearby dock adjacent to the park, based upon the assurance of one of the boaters that it was OK, despite prominent "No Docking" signs.  Dinner was an on board feast of pork tenderloin with appropriate accompaniments (Zin).

June 5 - Bummer.  The EC drawbridge was stuck and wouldn't open after several tries.  We had to backtrack a couple of hours and take the Virginia Cut route to Norfolk, a significantly less interesting journey, particularly in lieu of the fact that yer's trooly had been extolling the virtues of the Swamp route for that past week.  We arrived at Norfolk and berthed at the conveniently located Waterside Marina, within walking distance of several good downtown restaurants as well as the Nauticus Maritime Museum.  Dinner that night at the 219 Restaurant, a bit short on atmosphere, but good food.

June 6  A Coup!  Following breakfast at the Marriott we ran into some sailors from the USS Mitscher, a Missile Destroyer.  We were introduced to the Captain and managed to wrangle an invite to tour the boat.  Not only that but they invited us to lunch with the ship's officers in the on board officer's mess.  The ship's executive officer gave us a private tour, which was a prime moment.  Feeling lucky we attempted to talk our way on to the carrier Harry S. Truman without success. In the afternoon we visited the Air and Space Museum in Hampton, which was an excellent facility, featuring a dozen or so actual combat and high performance aircraft and excellent interactive exhibits on science, aviation and the space program.

June 7 - Seaman Neill, departed for home following a morning tour of the Nauticus Museum.  Afternoon was devoted to boat cleaning and other mariner stuff.

June 8 - Seaman Russell arrived in early afternoon and we visited the Nauticus again, followed by dinner at Todd Jurich's Bistro, which was excellent. The following morning John MacDonald departed and Mike Russell and I headed north on Leg 4.