Saturday, May 29, 2010
Coinjock, Final Day On Water
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Coinjock
We are camping at a campground right up river from our final destination. We saw a rough forecast for tomorrow and decided that it would be better to camp here and have a real short paddle tomorrow instead of staying two nights in Virginia. Todays paddle was eight miles of bliss. Only problem is that it was a twelve mile paddle. During our six mile crossing a wind kicked and in the course of about twenty minutes it went from a calm glass bay to four foot rollers and a twenty mile an hour wind. We had the worst seas of the trip so far for that last little stretch. The wind was blowing right at the ramp we were pulling up onto which meant waves breaking on the ramp. We made it in safely but it was quite an experience. No one saw this coming and they are still reporting mild winds on the weather sites while we are hoping our tent doesnt break under these winds tonight. Tomorrow is only a six mile paddle so we should be able to make it in before any bad weather gets us. If not we will end our trip here and get driven to the motel we are staying at tomorrow. I think things will look a little better in the morning.
Nick
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
VIRGINIA
We have made it to our northern most destination. We crossed the state line today around 6pm. I am not sure exactly what town this is but they claim it is virginia beach. I guess that is right but seems awfully far from the beach. We are going to paddle back into NC tomorrow to Coinjock to a campground and then paddle back up the intracoastal on friday for a few miles to a hotel there to meet Hillarys parents. We were treated to another gorgeous sunset when we pulled in. It has been a pretty amazing journey. I know that we set out for Lewes and we took a short cut in South Carolina but it still feels like quite an accomplishment to have made it this far. We completed the North Carolina and Georgia coast on this trip. My best guess is that we skipped about 5 days in South Carolina of hard paddling or 7 of easy paddling. As we were crossing the border today we were discussing what trip we wanted to do next.
Nick
Corolla
No we didnt make it to Coinjock yesterday. We got pounded by wind all day long. Even with an early start we got only 14 miles when we decided to check out the Inn at Corolla light and see if we could stay the night there. Today we are headed out into another day of strong north winds and our destination is undetermined at the moment. Coinjock is only 8 miles away while the campground in Virginia is about 20. We still have two days to get there so the North Carolina border is within our sights. The Inn at Corolla Light is definetly the nicest hotel we have stayed at so far. Lois Jane's in southport was nicer but it was a bed and breakfast so I guess the two aren't in the same class. We went out to get takeout last night so that we could spend more time in the hotel room. We are going to paddle by the Corolla Lighthouse this morning. That completes all the North Carolina Lighthouses. We saw bald head and oak island only from the distance but all the others we got good pictures of from fairly close. We are already making arrangements to pick up the boats and get them on the cars. Hillary is already deciding where she wants to go kayaking on vacation in Nags Head. I don't know if I really want to do any more kayaking for a while but maybe we can find some other fun watersports to do to change things up a little. We have certainly met enough watersports people along the way to steer us in the right direction.
Nick
Monday, May 24, 2010
Duck
We paddled into duck early today. We are storing the boats and camping at Nor Banks Sailing Center. The people here couldnt be nicer. The owner has our tent right near his back lawn. The staff at the sailing center live across the street and they invited us over to use their outdoor shower and they also cooked us dinner. What nice and generous people we have run into on this trip. Tomorrow we are going to battle strong winds to Coinjock. We are closing in on the last few days before we meet up with Hillarys parents. While in Nags Head we will put up a few more posts and share our pictures somehow. We have certainly learned first hand on the trip that kindness and generosity are still alive and well. We can each discuss the our reflections and life lessons from the comfort of a beach house next week where there will be power and keyboards to type on though.
Nick
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Kill Devil Hills
Made it through Nags Head to a camp ground in Kill Devil Hills. We got in before the bad weather set in. Unfortunately there was no laundry at the camp ground so we had to take a cab into town to do laundry. Fortunately the laundromat was near the Outer Banks Brewery. We had a great dinner there. Onto duck tomorrow without a plan as to where to stay. We will have to figure it out when we get there.
Nick
Todays paddle was through the senic OBX sound. We have seen lots of rays darting throughout the shallows. We also saw the Manteo Pirate ship cross over to Jockeys Ridge and back. It was a pretty cool site.
Hill
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Oregon Inlet
Crossed Oregon Inlet today. Another easy day of paddling with light wind. Oregon Inlet sure got a lot of hype for a real easy crossing. If we went through mid day it would have been even easier. The shoals keep all boat traffic into a small channel that once the traffic dies down it is a very small easy crossing. Ocracoke was a much worse crossing due to its size and shoals creating challenging currents. We found a small creek to hide the boats for the night right next to the campground. Our camp neighbors went out to get supplies and offered to pick us up anything. We asked for some ice to chill our beers from last night. It is 930 now and we are ready to go to bed. Sad that we cant stay up late enough to have some drinks with them but thats the way it is when you paddle all day.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Rodanthe
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Avon
We pitched the tent on a porch in Avon. We are camping above a wind surfing and kiteboarding shop. Hillary's friend from college works at the shop and lives above it. He let us throw up our tent on the porch for the night and let us stash the boats down below. We were treated to our first grilled meal of the summer. Avon is another great beach town down on the Outer Banks. Running behing more tonight Nick
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Hatteras
We made it into Hatteras today. We were shooting for Frisco but fell a bit short. We found the grand slam of marinas. They have a place to store the boats, a place to spend the night, a restraunt, and laundry next door. We are going to try to make Avon tomorrow bright and early. We slept too late this morning and that was one of our problems. Also there was a nasty head wind that made for a very slow paddle. I got a real treat when we got to the room tonight. I am watching my first orioles game of the year. We are looking forward to a grocery store tomorrow and perhaps some good boat storage and a nice campground. Also found out that there is still an oil leaking into the ocean a day or two ago. Sounds weird but we heard of that story when we were in Florida and figured that it was over with a while ago. We decided to do the intracoastal instead of the Mississippi, so we would be in the middle of it right now. Weird how things work out. Hope they fix it.
Nick
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Ocracoke
We made it into Ocracoke last night around 4. We wanted to see the town so we stayed out late and didn't put up a post last night. We got a hotel with a marina that let us store our boats. Ocracoke was a good time. We got a real good dinner and saw the town. It is another small waterfront town with everything within walking distance. We discovered that laundry mats are forbidden on Ocracoke which is weird but explains why we cant find anywhere with coin operated laundry. We have enough "clean" clothes to make it through the day and there are marinas in hatteras that will let us do laundry hopefully.
Nick
Yesterday's paddle was overall pleasant, but the weather changed several times throughout the day. We woke up early to rainy skies. About mid morning the rain and gray skies cleared; the water turned beautifully flat and calm.
As we approached Portsmith Village the foul weather picked back up. The winds shifted to the west. With the bad weather and high winds picking up we decided to skip Portsmith and head straight across the inlet to Okracoke. I think it was a safe call, but we will definetly have to come back and see Portsmith.
Okracoke is a really cool little town and all the people have been really friendly. It sure did feel good to sleep in a bed!
Hillary
Monday, May 17, 2010
North Core Banks
We made it another 15 miles today. Not as good as we hoped for but it started to rain and thunderstorms were in the forcast so we headed in for the fish camp. We are camping on the beach with the kayaks pulled up on the sound. I will give a good description of these camps when i have electricity. They are unique places thats for sure. We are hoping for Ocracoke tomorrow. We will have to see what the weather holds for us. It is going to be our longest day since we went around camp lejune. We are going to bed early.
Nick
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Core Banks
We have set up camp among beach dunes. Pretty cool campsite again tonight. This place has a bath house and everything. So we have showered and have ice on the beach all for free (ice was 3 bucks). Not much to put on the ice but our water and gatorade mix and rum are all cold. I have invented a gatorade and rum cocktail tonight. Probably should have done so sooner considering they are the only two liquids besides water we have. We will be staying an extra day out here now because we havent made it far enough to get to portsmith tomorrow. This place is just too much fun to not stay another day and the price is right. I caught my first fish of the trip today. Two small croaker but probably the first time I have fished for more than an hour since the trip started. I was trolling for a while when i had the old boat but with no fishing rod holders it makes holding a fishing rod while paddling hard. Saw some hard core kayak fisherman pull up here though which made me anxious to get back and trick out my new boat. They had every gadget imaginable on their kayaks. They also had some serious tackle for the ocean. Hillary spotted another sea turtle today while paddling through the sound. The water here is crystal clear and not very deep so it makes underwater viewing easy. Cant say enough good things about the cape lookout national seashore. But i think that is enough for one night.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Cape Lookout
We made it to the Cape Lookout lighthouse today despite the howling winds. My best guess is they were blowing 25 to 30. We are sizing up the rest of the uninhabited outer banks and Ocracoke. It is real nice camping here and with the high winds there arent any bugs. We got a delicious dinner of lipton packets and some sort of backpackers pantry desert. Both were delicious compared to most of the camp food we eat. There is a boy scout troop down the beach from us that came in via kayak as well.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Shackleford Banks
We have made it to the outer banks. We are in cape lookout national seashore. Shackleford banks is a island inhabited by wild horses. Pretty cool camping here. They even have outhouses. It is weird but this place like all places we have been opens facilities seasonally. The weird part is now it is in season. When we started all seasonal stuff was closed. Two weeks out from memorial day i guess everything is starting to open. We have come to somewhat of a decision as to a stopping point. We are going to get as far north as False Cape state park in virginia. We are going to end the trip and meet up with Hillarys parents in Coinjock, NC and load up the boats. They rented a house in Nags Head for the week after we meet them so we will take a vacation to unwind from our vacation. Pretty sweet how everything has worked out. But like everything else along the way we will still remain flexible.
Nick
Thursday, May 13, 2010
New Bern
Happy 50th anniversary Mr. and Mrs. Norton. We are in New Bern visiting the Nortons. We leave for Shackleford Banks in the morning.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Salter Path
We didnt make it to moorehead city today. When we woke up there was a east wind blowing and with that and the current we were traveling a little under 2mph. (We usually can average around 3). With that and the fact that we were chilled out on the water we decided to call a marina closer to us than moorehead city. We pulled over around 4 and finished 16 miles for the day and still fell about ten short of the dock we were shooting for. We will be in the area visiting the Nortons tomorrow so we will put up some more info tomorrow.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Bear Island
This morning we departed Fultur's Landing. Our new friends Lendy and Camren helped us transport our camp gear down to the kayaks in their golf carts and then took us out to breakfast. The people around here are so nice. Last night Lendy let us borrow his golf cart to drive to dinner (arround here a golf cart is unofficially deemed an acceptable mode of transportation on local roads). Back in Surf City a guy offered to let us borrow his new truck to do errands!
Camren wasn't joking about the firing range over the icw. Luckily they weren't scheduled to shoot today but we kept the vhf close at hand just in case there was a change of plans. It was kind of creepy paddling past old tankers covered in bullet holes, but we made it through in one piece.
The people at Hammock Beach State Park didn't extend the same Carolina welcome we have been receiving else where. The park staff are like the show Parks and Rec, minus the nice overachieving Amy Polarher character. We had to paddle 5 miles out of the way to get read park rules and a safety lecture. The park is a beauricratic nightmare. At hammock beach: there is no public nudity, get medical treatment if you are attacked by racoons, and if you get near or mess with a sea turtle there is a $100,000 fine.
Once we got our camping permit and made it over to bear island things turned arround. This hands down the prettiest campsite we have pitched our tent. Beautiful untouched beaches and dunes! We are sleeping tonight to the sound of the ocean!
-Hillary
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Fulchers Landing
At fulchers landing campground. We went a little ways out of the way to get here today but we needed somewhere to stay to get around camp lejune. We had our first hard day of paddling in quite a while. The current and wind were against us most of the day. We got into camp about four hours later than expected. The people here were nice and let us use a golf cart to ride to dinner. The people at the restraunt werent as nice because we got in about 20 minutes before they closed. We got food and it was really good. We got some attitude from the waitress though. Tomorrow we are going to bear island to stay at hammock beach state park. Down here they call little spits of sand hammocks so i am guessing thats where it got its name. We were told that there might be artilery fire over the intracoastal but i am pretty sure that is just someone messing with us. I am going to check on it though so i guess they got me.
Nick
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Surf City Night 2
Nick
Friday, May 7, 2010
Surf City
Wow what a difference a better kayak makes. The new boat did excellently. It is faster and lighter than the old one. We left wrightsville beach at 2 and made it here to Blackbeards (yarr) in surf city before dark. We had a good day on the water. We saw a lot of huge rays today. One bumped into my boat. Hillary also saw a turtle. We might stay an extra night here because they are calling for storms tomorrow and there is a hardees within walking distance. More tomorrow from a computer!
Wrightsville Beach
Nick
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Carolina Beach
Going to not use the automated title as much anymore. We are back to "gurella camping" as they call it in georgia or "boondocking" as they call it in south carolina. I am not sure what they call it in north carolina but most people use the term squatting. We found a nice piece of sand on the buggy side of this inlet. They are dredging the inlet or we would have camped on the other side. Felt good to hit the water again today although we are really going to miss southport. We were there for three days and met so many nice people that it felt like we were there for a whole summer. Chris, Emma, Jason thanks so much for all your hospitality and friendlieness. We will definetly be returning to southport. Tomorrow holds wrightsville beach and onward. We are going to be in Norfolf by memorial day with time to spare at this rate.
Nick
We had a nice paddle today. The big boat traffic was heavy, but we were able to keep far enough away to not be bothered to much by the wake.
I saw another big sea turtle! We also saw a couple big rays. On our paddle past fort fisher we went by several bird nesting islands - there were hundred of pelicans and eggrets hanging out.
-Hillary
Departing Southport
Monday, May 3, 2010
Still in southport
We are trying to get the kayak fixed still. With thunderstorms looming we will ride out the bad weather in the rugged accomidations of the bed and breakfast in southport. They rented us a room at a discount and we are the only people here so we have the place to ourselves. We are going to solve the kayak dilemma tomorrow. If there is something here to fix it we will do that otherwise I might be finding a new ride before the trip is over. We love southport though so we are enjoying some down time. All should make sense in the morning.
Nick
Broken boat
This is the crack in my boat. The two screw holes are where the rudder attaches to the boat. Any suggestions? I am thinking of putting some marine epoxy over the whole thing and putting a piece of plexiglass or something like that over it if this guy can't melt the plastic back together.
Nick
May 3, 2010 11:17:06 AM
Still in southport. We have gotten in touch with someone who might be able to repair my kayak. She is going to meet up with us today and we will see what she says about fixing it. We have moved from the motel to the bed and breakfast across the street. The kayaks didnt have to move though which is important. It is funny how some people understand what you are doing and some dont. The motel people were very accomidating to us but told us that we could land the kayaks at the motel. There is a rock breakwall that we had to climb the kayaks over to get them anywhere off the beach. We called the kayak shop in town and she said she would be down to take a look at the situation. She instantly understood that there was no way we were getting these boats anywhere without lots of help. Hopefully everything goes well and the bad weather rolls through today as well and tomorrow it is camping on a nice sunny beach. We will keep you up to date with todays developments. For the record a restored victorian bed and breakfast is waaayy to nice of a place to be housing us. We hid our laundry that we are hanging up to dry behind the door so we wouldnt appear trashy.
Nick
Sunday, May 2, 2010
May 2, 2010 9:18:58 PM
In southport for the night. We ate at provision company tonight and it was great. We are going to try to fix my broken rudder tomorrow if we get the chance. There is supposed to be a marine supply store within walking distance. There is a crack in the back of my boat where the rudder attaches to the boat. I dont think my boat was made to put up with the abuse it has put up with on this trip. More tomorrow
Nick
May 2, 2010 9:01:05 AM
In holden beach. This is the campground we stayed in right next to the fishing pier. It was cool to camp beachfront with ammenities but they did not allow alcohol on the premises so i would not reccomend the place. On our way to southport today.
Nick