November in the ICW

The intercoastal waterway (ICW) is a 3,000 mile system of man made canals, rivers, sounds and lakes along nearly the entire eastern coast of the US. Mile 0 of the ICW is just south of Norfolk and that’s where we started our ICW journey in early November.

This RR bridge was in the “up” position as we started underneath it but then it started to lower, with Alaya fast approaching. We quickly did a uturn only to have the bridge tender call us and ask why…”I’ll keep it above 80′ for you”

We only had to navigate one lock in this section of the ICW but they packed a ton of boats in it.

Right off the bat, we were faced with a literal fork in the road – do we take the Dismal Swamp section or the regular ICW? We debated this decision for days before heading out. Despite its name, the Dismal Swamp is a much more scenic route but its controlling depth is 6 feet (Alaya’s draft, or the depth of her kneel below the waterline, is 5.5’). It is not uncommon to strike large sunken logs with your boat, sometimes causing massive damage. The other option was the much less scenic ICW with a controlling depth of 12 feet and less of a chance of striking sunken logs (although it can happen) but a lot more boat traffic to deal with. After much debate, we decided to go through the regular ICW this time, knowing that we can do the Dismal Swamp on another trip.

We traveled the next seven days along the regular canal, slowly making our way through the surprisingly long state of North Carolina. One of the big highlights of our time in North Carolina was visiting Elizabeth City. In 1995, Alaya’s previous owners bought her from a boatyard in Elizabeth City, making the long trek back to Lake Erie from there. Elizabeth City is off the beaten path of the regular ICW but it is the final stop along the Dismal Swamp. Visiting Alaya’s previous home was a big reason Lucas advocated going through the Dismal Swamp. I thought the Dismal Swamp sounded like three very stressful days with our eyes glued to the depth sounder. Our compromise was taking the regular ICW but going a bit out of our way to visit Elizabeth City.

Little did we know, we would arrive in Elizabeth City faster than expected thanks to some high winds and night navigation. Our third day in the ICW started out with a plan to go about 50 miles and anchor outside of Coinjock, NC before dark. As we motored along, the wind picked up and the scenery really changed. We didn’t really understand how sparse the Outer Banks of North Carolina were in November until we saw it ourselves. There was very little land or trees to block the winds whipping off the Atlantic Ocean which left us with a number of unprotected anchorages to choose from, something we weren’t very excited about.

You can see the contrast in ICW landscape. This photo is from our first day where we stopped in Great Bridge.

This picture is from our third day. Gone were the trees, instead there was a lot of wind and low brush. We were officially in the Outer Banks.

After much debate and checking of the charts, we decided to keep going all the way to the much more protected Elizabeth City, which meant entering a new place after dark (see previous post about the second rule of sailing). We entered the Pasquotank River as the sun was setting and I suited up for crab pot watch. I wedged myself at the bow of the boat with a spotlight while Lucas was at the helm. We used our phones with headphones in to communicate since it was too dark for hand signals. I kept the spotlight trained on the water just ahead of Alaya and told Lucas which way to steer to avoid a crab pot. It was cold and very windy on the bow but our plan worked great. We entered Elizabeth City around 7:30 p.m., pulling up to the Mid-Atlantic Christian University’s Free Dock on the northside of a cool lift bridge, clocking our new day mileage record – 67 nautical miles. We were exhausted but pleased with our decision to extend the day. We even managed to surprise SV Pokey with our arrival; they had opted for the Dismal Swamp route and arrived to Elizabeth City earlier in the day.

Crab pot watch on the bow.

We were sure glad to see the Elizbeth City lift bridge open for us after a long day.

We spent a few days in Elizabeth City waiting for some weather to pass. We walked over to the marina where Alaya was bought in the 1990s but it had been abandoned. We hoped to recreate an old photo we have but it wasn’t safe to do so. On our way out of town we got as close as we were comfortable for the picture. Every mile south is now the furthest south Alaya has ever been.

Just another Saturday on Alaya. Lucas is standing in the engine compartment working on our heat exchange lines while watching the U of M game. I’m working on a blog post.

Our spot in Elizabeth City, right behind SV Pokey.

Alaya (formerly known as Sea Lion) in Elizabeth City, 1995 (notice the grey building in the background)

Alaya in Elizabeth City, 2023 (same grey building in the background).

After Elizabeth City, we anchored in Alligator River, docked at a free dock in Belhaven and then made my favorite stop of the week – the RE Mayo Shrimp Dock. They offered cheap dockage and fresh shrimp with a lot of character. Our total bill for the night was $24, which included our dockage and a pound of fresh shrimp. I had plans to make fresh shrimp scampi with my purchase. Lucas was willing to try it but was very skeptical, he isn’t a big seafood guy. We spent the afternoon playing Settlers of Catan with SV Pokey. Then it was shrimp time. First, I needed to learn how to de-vein them. Thankfully, I didn’t have to remove their heads. YouTube helped me prepare but it was slow, cold work. After what felt like hours, dinner was finally ready and Lucas’ courage was waning. I was pleasantly surprised with the final result and although Lucas ate it, he didn’t go back for seconds. I don’t think shrimp will be added to our regular meal rotation.

Not sure if bridge maintenance on the Alligator River bridge would be completed when we arrived, I called the bridge tender. His response, “If it’s swinging, I’ll open it for you!” And he did!

SV Pokey rented a golf cart from their marina and picked us up to explore Belhaven.

Baking bread along the ICW! What would Grandma Annie think of this 🙂

Approaching the RE Mayo Shrimp Dock. We docked right behind the big shrimp boats.

Our spot at RE Mayo. Yes, we are docked right next to a “pirate ship” .

My shrimp scampi!

After the shrimp dock, we headed to Oriental, NC where we stumbled upon a bluegrass concert at a local brewery. We met a lot of fellow sailors walking around town. It was a lot of fun to talk shop with so many other like-minded but far more experienced sailors. Waking up the next morning in Oriental, the air felt very different – warm and humid. We didn’t know it at the time but we had officially crossed into a new climate zone. It was so cool to be able to feel the change – palm trees and more dolphins here we come!