Short (2-4 week) cruise North from Hilton Head over the summer

[flightlead404]

We just returned (May) from our first 6 month cruise to the Keys over the winter, and we're already missing being on board. So, we're thinking of taking a short 2-4 week cruise north of Hilton Head over the summer before we head back south again in Oct/Nov.

If anyone has any tips, recommendations, things to see, and things/places to avoid heading north from Hilton Head I'd enjoy hearing about them.

 

[rgranger]

I love the inside of the OBX. I've sailed out of Oriental three different times, once out of Swan Quarter and four or five times out of Edington. My favorite was Oreintal. Whittaker Point Marina is where I stayed when I was there. Quick jaunt up the Neuse to "South River" and you have a nice ghunkhole to anchor in for the night. Or make a half-day trip and you can anchor in Silver Lake on Ocracoke. Next short hop is Hateras and then it is another short hop to Roanoke Island (Manteo).

Aligator Creek is not a very pleasant place to visit but if you go up the Albemarle and then night over in Columbia you have a nice nature reserve to see there. Columbia and Edington also have free bath houses so you can get a nice hot shower and wash some cloths. Columbia also has a great diner with the best cheeseburgers (or maybe after a day on the boat... anything tastes amazing).

You would probably need a two or three day weather window to Beaufort and then you can be on the inside the rest of the way.

 

[flightlead404]

I love the inside of the OBX. I've sailed out of Oriental three different times, once out of Swan Quarter and four or five times out of Edington. My favorite was Oreintal. Whittaker Point Marina is where I stayed when I was there. Quick jaunt up the Neuse to "South River" and you have a nice ghunkhole to anchor in for the night. Or make a half-day trip and you can anchor in Silver Lake on Ocracoke. Next short hop is Hateras and then it is another short hop to Roanoke Island (Manteo).

Aligator Creek is not a very pleasant place to visit but if you go up the Albemarle and then night over in Columbia you have a nice nature reserve to see there. Columbia and Edington also have free bath houses so you can get a nice hot shower and wash some cloths. Columbia also has a great diner with the best cheeseburgers (or maybe after a day on the boat... anything tastes amazing).

You would probably need a two or three day weather window to Beaufort and then you can be on the inside the rest of the way.

View attachment 206567

Thanks! Cheeseburgers are always good lol

Also, your signature is rather ironic for this post, don't you think?

We hoping to sail more, motor less, so choosing the outside route where possible....but....we haven't done any overnights yet (as a couple/ team, I've done a couple overnights to Bimini from Key Biscayne).

 

[rgranger]

You could always break the outside up into a few short hops

 

[flightlead404]

You could always break the outside up into a few short hops

Precisely. So local knowledge and insight into whether the various inlets are passable would be helpful. Like North Edisto River for example, looks fine on the chart but Waterway Guide etc are full of warnings about it.

 

[rgranger]

I've seen a really nice marian full of sailboats at Oak Island and also at Top Sail. I did not sail there though. You might find a facebook page or something similar and aks there. For example Oriental NC has a really nice forum called towndock.net. I've posted questions there before and got really good responses.