Trips of Discovery

Make the best of your journey, make some memories.

Category: Slow Boat to Florida (SBFL) Series

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Oriental, North Carolina – 880 people and 2,000 boats

Estimated reading time: 9 minutes – SBFL 24* – PLANNING TO VISIT – They say that they are pleasantly aware of the four seasons, but their fall is long and warm, and their winter is only occasionally dusted with snow and mild enough to allow year-round jogging, tennis, golfing, and boating on miles and miles of meandering waterways. Apparently, their traffic flows freely,  nobody waits in line for anything, and so their people are relaxed and happy. I would say they are describing a  tiny corner of heaven. Think about it, how can it not be with all those qualities plus… are you ready? It’s called the “Sailing Capitol of the Carolinas.”  Oriental, North Carolina,...

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The Alligator River, a ghost town and moonshine capital, and Belhaven, NC on the ICW

Estimated reading time: 14 minutes – SBFL 23* – PLANNING TO VISIT –  I am writing this series, Slow Boat to Florida, because through others’ experiences we can learn something that could help us prepare for things that we might otherwise have overlooked during our journey on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (ICW).  It is also a way to discover some wonderful stories. Right now, I’m reading a passage from a book that paints an unusual story of a fascinating encounter. “Down the waterfront, I had glimpsed a ship with four tall masts, and I walked along the shores until I found her alongside an old bulkhead. Soon I stood on the deck of the most...

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How to cross the Albemarle Sound of North Carolina

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes – SBFL 22* – PLANNING TO VISIT – Perhaps I should reword the heading of this post as, “How would I cross the Albemarle Sound?” Why? It’s because on our way down to Florida following the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (ICW), I’m not planning to take the most common route of a typical boater. Why? It’s because, given the reality of the Albemarle Sound and me, the captain of Life’s AOK, Mr. Fairweather Boater, I need to be near-shore and see land at all times. There you have it. A typical ICW traveler in Virginia going down to Florida from the North would either take the Dismal Swamp Canal down to...

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Ocracoke Island – Hoi toider, O’coker, famous pirates, and the highest concentration of art galleries on the Outer Banks

OBX, where coastal legends are born – Part 5 – Ocracoke Island Estimated reading time: 12 minutes – SBFL 21* – PLANNING TO VISIT –  How do you pronounce Ocracoke? Try it with two long “O” sounds – as in “Oh-Crah-Coke.” If that doesn’t work for you, try to say two words back-to-back: okra as in the vegetable and coke as in the Coke beverage. However you pronounce it, that is our destination, the southernmost island of the Outer Banks (OBX). We will catch a free ferry from Hatteras Island to get there. Ocracoke Island is the most remote inhabited island of the OBX. You may wonder, since Trips Of Discovery is primarily a blog...