Don’t blow down the waterway to get to the Bahamas or you will miss hundreds of small town museums and art galleries, some of which are excellent like the gallery in Canajoharie, NY, the submarine museum in St.Marys, GA and the terrific museum in Beaufort NC that even provides a courtesy car for cruisers.
When you get to Elizabeth City, NC you will be welcomed to the free docks by the famous Rose Buddies, try the curious little local movie theater where you can have an inexpensive dinner while watching the show. Write to each state tourist office and ask for a package. They will be happy to send you tons of great info with something for every taste. I never thought much about birds before making this trip but the bald eagles, one golden eagle, sandpipers, owls, woodpeckers, small green parrots, egrets, ibis and hundreds of others that start to appear in the Carolinas are much more enjoyable if you have a good
No swimming ! These can be very entertaining if you get within striking distance... won't be doing that again anytime soon.
Cruising the Chesapeake a few years back I happened to re-read Chesapeake by James Michener. What an absolute treat to read one of my favourite books while surrounded by the story. I started seeking out books related to the areas we were cruising and ended up reading Pat Conroy’s Prince of Tides and Where the Water is Wide while cruising the barrier islands around Charleston. In the Florida Keys we read Carl Hiaasen and MacDonald. Search out your favourite flavour for your cruising area and you will be surprised at how the stories come to life when you are surrounded by them.
The best entertainment on the water are your
fellow cruisers and the people you will meet
in smalltown USA. Just remember that if you
are driving a wake machine those nice people
you met at Waterford, NY. will not be inviting
you for sundowners in the Wrightsville beach
anchorage. Word quickly spreads along the
waterway about who the idiots are and they
are not made welcome by other cruisers.
You will meet people in Oswego and run into
them again in Atlantic Highlands then Beaufort
and again in St.Augustine. By the time you
get to the Bahamas or Dry Tortugas you will
know most other cruisers. Be generous on
the waterway. If you have a part that someone
needs, offer it freely (next week it may
be you). If you see Cap’n Ron struggling
to rebuild his dinghy motor wander over and
offer a hand. If you don’t know anymore than
he does, take him a beer.
We and a number of others were badly waked
by a Carver 570. We caught up to him a week
later high on the rocks at Beaufort ….. no
cruiser stopped to help but a few did send congratulatory messages
over the VHF. When a sailboat caused BASRA a large expense
in the Abacos and refused to make a contribution,
they were blackballed in Marsh Harbour. Just
like real life everything you do on the waterway
will sooner or later come right back to you.
If you like excitement, just try to get out of Annapolis on opening day of rockfish season. Keep abreast of all the local fishing news with local newspapers you can pick up anywhere. Any river mouth, inlet or sound will provide all the entertainment you could hope for if you make the mistake of traveling during a fishing tournament.
Best of all when the kids come to visit.
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Captain Wallace Gouk AMS®, Survey reports accepted world wide by all financial and insurance institutions for sail and power boats servicing Ontario east, west, south and beyond including Niagara-on-the-Lake, St. Catharines, Grimsby, 50 Point, Stoney Creek, Hamilton, Burlington, Oakville, Bronte, Port Credit, Mississauga, Toronto, Oshawa, Pickering, Port Hope, Coburg, Newcastle, Kingston, Brockville, Penetanguishene, Midland, Barrie and Keswick. I have also worked in New York State, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Virginia, Florida and the Bahamas.