37:15.3N 76:28.7W

Photos from top to bottom: Dad at the helm while motoring down the Intracoastal Waterway. ● The scenery of the ICW. ● A beautiful ship at Norfolk which we passed on our way to Hampton.

Hello! When you last heard from us we were in St Augustine, Florida. Right now we’re staying in York River Marina in Virginia. In between those to two destinations we visited Beaufort, travelled up the ICW and stayed in Hampton River, all of which I will be telling you about in this blog.

We first arrived in Beaufort after a long sail and when we got there it looked a sight for sore eyes! The water front is really pretty with beautiful wooden buildings and lots of greenery. Oh yes, and an ice cream shop just around the corner from the marina! While in Beaufort we also met Scott, Stephanie, Riley and Wren, the crew of the sailing yacht Kiawah. Riley and Wren, who are 12 and 10 respectively, quickly became good friends with Robyn and I and we had lots of fun playing mini Uno when we first met (except when the cards blew away). Riley and I also went on a small sailing boat with Scott and its captain. It was really fun sailing even if we almost crashed into a pontoon while I was at the helm sad to say.

When Robyn and I were younger we made up an imaginary country named Thrukpp (with a silent k) and made our uncle king. Now, a number of years later, our uncle asked us to make a flag for Thrukpp which has become our current sewing project! At the moment we’ve finished sticking the googly eyes on the eagle and we will post a picture of it on the blog when it’s done.

After we left Beaufort, the following days were spent motoring up the Intracoastal Waterway. We only spent one day in an anchorage and moved onto another the next. Our first stop was Snode Creek that looked like it was haunted so I was rather glad to leave. Then we stayed in Alligator Creek where we had a rather bad thunderstorm. The final anchorage we stayed in was North River where we discovered flies that were probably related to the hydra because the moment you swatted one two more popped up!

Unfortunately, flies weren’t our biggest problem. As there had been some flooding, the water line of the ICW had risen. This meant that it was very hard to get under a number of bridges without touching. Especially, the Great Highway Bridge. So much so that we couldn’t get through at all! We had to spend the night in another marina instead of the one we were planning to. But since we couldn’t get under, I was very worried we’d have to turn back.

Luckily, by the next day the some of the flood water had drained away and Dad had removed the masthead light and wind instruments so we managed to pass under the bridge and carry on our way. Our next stop was Hampton Bluewater Marina, a marina three miles from the town Hampton. We didn’t stay there very long but long enough to see Wren and Riley again. With them we made pancakes and fruit salad that was one-part fruit, two-parts whipped cream!

After Hampton we are going to Gloucester Point in Virginia, but I doubt it’s as nice as Gloucester, England!

Kerry