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Swansboro is a beautiful stop along the intracoastal. We docked at a marina apparently named after the friendly ghost whale of the Graveyard of the Atlantic. From the marina, we walked into town, enjoying the restaurants and tourist shops of this snug little fishing village.

The town, built around the colonial plantation of Theophilus Weeks, has little else of historic interest — beyond appearing in a Nicholas Sparks novel. But the fugly ducks that roost around the village are hard to miss.

James found a library that was by far the largest mini-library we have ever encountered, and the beach offered a pleasant sunset view, complete with frolicking dolphins and palm trees.

64’4″ is the most important number to remember when traveling on Bonaventure. That’s the distance between the waterline and the top of our mast. Allegedly the bridges of the intracoastal are built to a minimum height of 65′ — before accounting for settling and tides — so ripping off a mast would not be out of the question.

To avoid this delightful outcome, we left Adam’s Creek at the crack of dawn to clear the 4 bridges between our tight creek and our final destination in Swansboro.

The first three bridges we met at close to low tide before racing, hell for leather, up the 16 miles of the Bogue Inlet. We met the final bridge — just north of Swansboro — at mid-tide, and cleared by the scant hairs of our bald pates.

After two days of provisioning at the River Dunes Marina, we finally embarked on our multi-day journey down the Atlantic Coast. Today’s trip took two and a half hours across the Neuse River. The crossing was uncharacteristically calm, which was ideal since James was logged into his classes below decks.

We are ensconced, for the evening, in a tributary of the Neuse known as Adam’s Creek.

Crossed the Pamlico Sound on Friday. Left River Dunes at noon and arrived in Silver Lake at 4:45. 1′ seas. National Park Marina was closed.

Planned to spend Friday night and Saturday night and head back on Sunday, but the weather did not cooperate. Ended up hanging around til Tuesday.

On Saturday we hired a golf cart and toured the island – Springers Point, Beach Access 68 – 72, Howard’s Pub, and the cemetery.

We’re docked for the Fall at River Dunes, NC and I was pleased to host my son and two grand kids for a retreat from Washington, DC. We toured the countryside from Beaufort to New Bern, swam in the pool, and even attempted a trip out to Ocracoke Island.