The path of 'Noel' as predicted by NOAA - they were about right too
An old landing craft is one of the many training toys available to the US Marine Corps at Camp Lejeune where cruisers are free to anchor in their dredged basin

November 2007

No sooner have we started south down the ICW than hurricane Noel pops up on the horizon. We organised to stay in Coinjock just north of Albermarle Sound along with many others and sat out a windy weekend while 50 knots was the norm along the outer banks. New friendships were forged amongst the cruisers and we will keep in contact with several boats as a result. We even obtained rare pictures of ourselves sailing.

'Lady' and crew crossing Albermarle Sound as photographed by Shirley and Paul Berson on the trawler 'Capt. Queez'
Another Albermarle Sound shot from our friends who we plan to visit in Stuart Florida before Christmas
Autumn (Fall) foliage seen in rippled reflection on the upper Wacamaw River
Severely raked schooner anchored in Charleston off the Mega Dock
Kismet dominates the Mega Dock in Charleston
Bob and Holly on left and Lynne and Bob on the right - they tempted us into Port Royal for Thanksgiving
This beautiful Snowy Egret was hunting at the culvert that allowed tidewater in and out of a Charleston Lake

The journey through North Carolina is a long one. Firstly through all the non-tidal estuaries of the north to Beaufort and then west along the southern coast. The key to the coast is avoiding low tides through the shallowest inlets like Shalotte and Lockwoods Folly and lots of boats find the bottom even drawing less than us.
South Carolina takes you through the ‘Golf Coast’ around Myrtle Beach and then down the Wacamaw River to the ‘Low Country’ around Charleston - still a favourite part of this journey.
We anchored on a deep bend in a tributary to the Wacamaw this time and realised that excellent storm protection could be found here.

We love Charleston and the added attraction of visiting Elaine again. On this occasion the Mega Dock at the City Marina was dominated by ‘Kismet’. She is a 223 foot motor yacht and essentially the size of a small commercial freighter! Owned by a single US individual with Middle Eastern business interests she appeared to be there to host some sort of promotional party one evening.
There was much curiosity amongst the more modest cruisers such as ourselves. One discovered that she cost about $130,000,000 (£65,000,000) and had been the star of the 48th Fort Lauderdale Boat Show. A visit to the Lürssen website would suggest you need at least $85,000,000 in chump change to get a hull which is ready for the attention of your personal designer...
Full of Shrimp and Grits we headed off towards Georgia with Spring tides threatening groundings for the careless yacht skipper. Leaving Charleston we met up with a pair of southbound cruisers who followed our wake closely as they were of shallower draught. We were never far from them over the next few days and they were kind enough to invite us for Thanksgiving dinner which they were planning to hold at Port Royal Marina just south of Beaufort (‘Bewfort’) in South Carolina. When we arrived we all decided to join the dinner organised by the local live-aboards at the marina who had organised a major feast!

The result was freshly smoked turkey, deep-fried turkey and roast turkey with endless side dishes. We had a ball and smoked whole turkey is just amazing. All of this in the open air and hot sunshine...
We delayed for occasional days at anchor in Georgia to move the high water nearer to midday and had no difficulties with grounding. We have booked into a St Augustine marina again for the month of December to meet friends and complete a mini refit before departing to the Bahamas.

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