ICW Trip- Belhaven, NC to N. Myrtle Beach, SC

JoLin

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My friend Tom's cousin lives in Belhaven, NC and owns a 42' Grand Banks. Long story short, he offered to lend Tom the boat. So, 6 of us (3 couples) are planning a 2-week 'voyage' at the beginning of October. As the itinerary planner, I've determined that we can get as far as N. Myrtle Beach before we need to head back. The boat cruises at 10 mph, and we aren't trying to rush it. I've laid out stops in Pamlico Sound, Beaufort, Sneads Ferry, Wilmington (2 nights) and N. Myrtle Beach (2 nights). At that point the wives will fly back to NY (2 of them have to get back to work) while the guys bring the boat back to Belhaven.

We're all pretty seasoned boaters (especially Tom - licensed 100 ton Captain) and we're really looking forward to this. 2 of us own under-30 foot boats, so running a 42'-er with a displacement hull and 4' of draft will be a new challenge. Looking forward to that, too. We have a couple of ICW cruising guides and all our paper charts. I'm laying out the route electronically and bringing my chartplotter.

If anybody has comments, insights or knows anything about that section of the ICW, feel free to chime in.

My .02
 

Bayou Dave

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When you get close to Sneads Ferry you will go past Camp Lejeune. Might get lucky and see the Marines training on the water there.
 

JoLin

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Yeah, I've heard that can happen. All part of the experience :joyous:
 

JoLin

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We've settled on the Portside Marina in Morehead City. Easier approach than the Town Creek Marina we had originally picked in Beaufort, and no detour from our route. I'll be making all our reservations in the next couple of days.
 

JoLin

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Well, after a couple weeks of prep we appear to be set to shove off on 10/2. Marina reservations have been made, I hope. Nobody took any CC info, so I'll call them all again the week before we leave, then call each individually the day before arrival. We had 2 planning meetings and laid out our trip legs on paper charts. I plotted them on my laptop (I use OpenCPN), then uploaded them to my chartplotter, which is coming with us. Double-checked them all after the uploads to make sure everything populated correctly.

(A couple of years ago I bought a spare power cable for my Raymarine a78 and grafted a cigarette lighter plug to the end of it, so I can use it anywhere. Handy when I want to plot or upload new courses- I can work on it anywhere.)

We're staying at:

Oriental Marina and Inn
Morehead City Yacht Basin
Swan Point Marina at Sneads Ferry
Port City Marina at Wilmington (2 nights)
Myrtle Beach Yacht Club at N. Myrtle Beach (3 nights)

The women are flying home from NMB and the 3 stooges will bring the boat back to Belhaven. We're bypassing Wilmington on the way back and staying at Southport Marina instead, so we don't have to go back up and down the Cape Fear River. Praying for a long run of good weather, but we'll take it as it comes.

We're having our own boats hauled out this month. Shortest season yet for me- I didn't get in until June. We don't want to worry about them while we're gone.

My .02
 

Bayou Dave

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Good luck on your trip! It should be a really good cruise with lots to see.
 
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