ICW - New Bern, North Carolina

We took a slight detour off the ICW and traveled 27 miles to New Bern, NC for the Southbound Cruisers Rendezvous.  We stayed here for 3 nights for seminars, get-togethers, and parties.  We took this time to stock up on provisions, do laundry, and perform more maintenance on our boats.  We also get together once a week as a group for a briefing on the next week with routes, stops, charting and areas of caution.  Again, those that know us – we have never encountered, tides and currents before this adventure.  There are areas that we need to wait until high tide before we are able to continue.  Timing is everything!  We may have gone aground in Lake St. Clair, but we are trying hard not to go aground here.  We are now starting to encounter bridges that either have a schedule or open after contacting the bridge tender.

New Bern, NC, is a great small town.  Chuck had lived here for a short time when he was in the Marines and he says it looks very different today.  We were able to find a cute ice cream store decorated in a cow theme.