Four Days in Washington and on to Morehead City

We enjoyed our stay in Washington, NC and despite it being a bit off the ICW route, we recommend it to cruising boaters. The marina is in pretty good shape, less expensive than most and a few steps from downtown. The town is kept clean and was decorated for the holidays. It rained yesterday, but cleared out today and giving us a great boating day. There is quite a bit to do in town including many shops and restaurants. It has a bit of history, including being called Washington before Washington, DC existed. The famous filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille had a house in Washington and Jimmy Buffet visited frequently as he was having a boat built there. Before leaving this morning, I walked over to the main street to take a picture of the Christmas Tree and clock, and then stood in the middle of the street at 6:30am to take a picture of all of the lights with no cars or pedestrians. It's an iconic looking downtown.

We were off the dock at 7:00am and made our way down the Pamlico River. There were quite a few fishermen out. I think they forgot it was Thanksgiving morning, or either they left their wives at home to do all the cooking. At 8 knots, we figured the detour off the ICW was about 7 hours total for the round trip. That is a lot of time for some ICW travelers, but it is a nice detour to consider. The conditions were beautiful with a crystal clear blue sky and low winds. The water was almost flat and there were few boats out. We passed some familiar spots along the way, including the Coast Guard station and the R.E. Mayo Seafood docks.

We cruised up the Neuse River which has a reputation to be challenging, but it has been beautiful every time we have been on it, including today. We turned down Adams Creek towards Beaufort and Morehead City and followed a sailboat the whole way. It was relaxing to take it slow at about 6 1/2 knots......and we used a whole lot less fuel. We did have a little excitement when we met a large barge and tugboat coming the other direction. Fortunately there was room for all of us.

We made arrangements to stay at the Morehead City Yacht Basin despite them having no staff on hand due to Thanksgiving. The marina is located in an industrial area, but is filled with many large and expensive sport fisher yachts. We docked around 4:15. Fortunately, we didn't need any assistance and got tied up on our own. We will get fuel in the morning when the staff arrives. We stayed here three years ago and were familiar with the location and the layout. The marina is convenient to the ocean inlet which we plan to use tomorrow on our way to Southport. The conditions are supposed to be good with light winds and waves, and we expect to go out into the ocean for a good part of the trip.

We will do our best to keep this blog going. Some marinas have minimal wifi making it difficult to keep up with the postings. We'll do our best.