Down the east coast, Bahamas bound

[Caboteur]

I will be leaving Montreal, Qc, Canada in early september to cruise the east coast & winter in the Bahamas to return home in June.
Since our insurance will keep us north of 35°N untill November 15th, we should be in the Pamlico sound most of early November.
We (my wife & I) are looking for local knowledge of Pamlico & off highway spots on the way down or up the ICW.
Ideally we would like to use two routes.
Our boat draws 4'3" (a little more maybe on this trip...)

Pierre le Caboteur

 

[Benny]

Bellhaven, Bath,Oriental, Washington, NC and Ocracoke Island are places of interest. You do not express your personal likes or interets and it is not clear if you are going to be cruising or just looking for a place to lay over so its kind of hard to suggest places. I do suggest you pick up a cruising guide of the area. You should have no problems with your draft. Up the Pamlico River are Bath and Washington, in Washington there is a very nice municipal marina with excellent rates. We love the area but do think that a long lay over could become a drag. Spend some time in the upper Chesapeake Bay and time your arrival in the area so that yull have around two weeks which should be enough to explore the area.

 

[Caboteur]

Albermerle & Pamlico Sounds cruising

You're rignt Benny,

We've already gone to the Bahamas once in 2003, stayed about a month in the Chesapeake then, then the ICW to Miami.

After the 2001 Marion to Bermuda race we left our boat in the Chesapeake and came back to cruise the Bay from September 13 to November 15 (not the best timing). We wintered her in Oxford MD, came back in the spring of 2002 and sailed her back to Montreal via Nova Scotia, the Maggies & Gaspé.

This time we wish to cruise rather than quickly pass through the area south of Norfolk; specifically the Albermarle & Pamlico sounds. Our interests are rather varied: arts & crafts, history, music (baroque, classical, choir & opera, jazz and even military marching bands). Eating out; mostly seafoods, sampling the local cuisine (no frying or red meat).

That is about the jist of it; we already have a cruising guide for the ICW covering from Norfolk to the Keys but it lacks detail for the Sounds.

Thanks for the "local knowledge"; the real nitty gritty of the area!

 

[Chris Burti]

Elizabeth City, Manteo, Ocracoke, Belhaven, Washington, Oriental and Beaufort are all places that have active historic districts, shopping, museums, and arts councils within walking distance of the docks. All have very good restaurants and if you invest a little time online you can plan a schedule that will allow you to include some excellent live performances.

You can stretch your itinerary on down to Wilmington for more of the same but on a bit larger scale, but you may need to rent a car. Across the Cape Fear River, Southport has the same, but back on a smaller scale.