4/29/11 - 5/3/11   The next day was a long one.  Usually after noon we start looking for an anchorage but that day we couldn't seem to find one that wasn't exposed to waves. Evening came and we found ourselves on the Alligator River which is wide with a relatively straight shoreline.  I anchored on the lee shore but the wind came up and shifted in the night and we woke up on a roller coaster.  The wind was forecast to stay strong so we picked up the anchor and ran ten miles in the chop to a pretty good spot to spend the day.  Another day's run got us to Elizabeth City, NC.  This is a favorite stop for cruisers because there is a free city dock for 48 hours and a tradition of local hospitality including a wine and cheese party at the dock and a rose for the first mate.  We met Larry and Jane on the Bavarian Cream.  They are from Louisiana and they know how to party.  We visited the local museum and had lunch with them at the fish restaurant where the "locals" eat.  Our 48 hours at the city dock ended all too soon but they have no amenities so the plan was to move to Pelican Marina in the same city, do laundry, pump out the holding tanks and recharge the batteries.  Unfortunately after we got there we were informed that the pump-out dock was blocked and the washing machine was broken.  That was unacceptable so we left and started up the Dismal Swamp Canal (actually not so dismal) and found a great anchorage at Goat Island.

4/24/11 - 4/28/11  Easter Sunday evening found us in a well protected military anchorage named Hammock Bay.  As I pulled in there were already several boats at anchor.  The anchorage is not very large but I found a spot that gave us the maximum room.  Before dark, several other boats came in and made it a little tight but acceptable.    Monday morning we went into Moorehead City Marina, NC.  Our friends Shay and Elizabeth Glass on the Great Escape are residents  there and graciously offered their car for re-provisioning and two trips to West Marine.  Also we met Ted and Nancy on the Aloha Friday and later that evening we all went to a local eatery and had all-you-can-eat ribs. I have given permission to Lace to shoot me should I ever again order all-you-can-eat anything.   Two more nights of anchoring at Cedar Creek and Slade Creek and the weather had started to deteriorate.   There were tornadoes raking the southern states and the front was coming our way so we ducked into Dowry Creek Marina on Albermarle Sound.  This is still Lace's favorite marina.  In addition to the regular amenities it has a boat owners lounge where every night at 5:30 everyone in the marina gets together for BYOB happy hour, dinner entree provided by the owner and side dishes brought by the residents.  The weather cleared in the morning so off again!

4/21/11 - 4/23/11  Good Thursday (the one before Good Friday) brought us to Wrightsville Beach, NC. named, I assume, after the local historic celebrities  Orville and Wilbur.  It was a great anchorage!  The nearby inlet to the sea made the water refreshingly clear after the river water we had spent weeks in and I was able to pirate wifi from one of the nearby residences.  It was so pleasant in fact that we decided to spend three nights there.  We are chasing the cool temperatures up the east coast as the spring wanes but it is warm enough to take a brisk swim.  The water tastes saltier than I remember.  Three days is about the limit of how long we can stay at anchor without starting the engines or the generator because of the drain on the batteries.  The refrigerator is the major consumer.  We expect to be underway on Easter Sunday so Lace made us Easter Saturday supper with baked ham, potato salad, corn bread and cake for dessert.  Life is not too bad.

4/18/11  - 4/20/11  We spent two more days and nights working our way through the South Carolina wetlands.  They are beautiful and isolated.  We saw very little civilization with the exception of the occasional fisherman.  One evening we had just anchored in Bull Creek when we saw a fellow cruiser going by flying the Canadian flag.  After learning by radio that they would be anchoring nearby for the evening we invited them over for happy hour.  They tied up alongside the Confetti (known as "rafting up") and we met Tom and Phyllis on board the Cocoon Too.  They were on their way back to Canada after spending the winter in the Bahamas. The next morning we headed north and passed into North Carolina.  The countryside is changing more to tall trees on the shoreline but still buggy.  We spent the night anchored in Shallotte Inlet, NC., a very tight anchorage with shallow water all around.  Even with two anchors set, I was up on deck several times during the night checking them and in the morning one of them was set so hard that I damaged the anchor roller on the bow getting it out of the mud.  We headed up the Cape Fear river to the town of Wilmington and tied up at the city dock.  The next morning we took the tour bus to see the local architecture and ate lunch at the microbrewery (two buck draft).

4/14/11 - 4/16/11  We anchored for the evening in Wapoo Creek.  I set two anchors because of the strong currents that occurred at the tide changes in this area.  On the positive side we did not drag anchor overnight. On the negative side, I left too much slack in the anchor ropes and we awoke with one of them wrapped around one of the props.  Nothing to do but go over the side and untangle.  We brought fins and snorkel and the water temperature was tolerable.  The only bothersome thing was the unseen alligator.  He didn't show up so with Lace's help on deck we got it straightened out and got back on board with all limbs intact.  The weather was turning sour so we headed for the city dock in Charleston, SC.  It was very windy and rough for a couple of days.  This front caused tornadoes in the southern states killing quite a few people.