THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD

Hoping for a nice straight sail from Beaufort to Fort Pierce,we left Oriental on the 14th and got down Adams Creek and out the inlet just after midday.About 1pm we gave each other the @#%$! this look and went back in and anchored for the night.It was rough out there and we took off down the dreaded ICW early the next morning.Listening to a couple of boats out there giving it a try,we were glad we stayed in.Two days later we saw one of them at Carolina Beach ,still recovering!Big waves ,left over from passing hurricanes and too much southerly etc.No...we have learned over the past 4 years....Look after your boat ,and yourselves and everything is more fun.
But..sloooow.Really the ICW isn't that bad ,but because it's a channel most of the time one has to steer all day and anchor every night.It takes twice as long ,at least to get wherever you're heading.We did see a couple of bits that we hadn't seen before though and bumped into the big D a couple of times,one of which was meeting one of their kids and his wife.I swear they kick Domino into fast cruising mode sometimes to get somewhere days ahead of us so it doesn't look like they're following us around!
Anyway after 5 days we got to Georgetown,South Carolina.Last year we were passing there after 24 hours or so.There's the difference.Anyway,pulling in to the Boatshed Marina, who should be calling us on the radio but Su Aune from Palmetto Moon.We seem to catch Jim and Su Aune every year in Oriental but this was the first time our paths had crossed on the road ,as it were.Had a few laughs and cocktails(not necessarily in that order)and left them to seek out liver (must be done)the next day while we took off for Charleston.A lovely town but we had the right window to jump out and we did.Even sailed for a day before motoring for a day and finishing off with a good swift sail from Cape Canaveral to Fort Pearce.