I'm doing some packing tonight for the trip. Gear, clothes and food supplies are set to go. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in all packing that I forget to think about where I'm going. That is not a big concern on this trip because I've visited the areas before on a few earlier trips.
Below is a sat photo of the sailing area. You can see the ICW on the left, Mouse Harbor top right and Bonner Bay at the bottom.
Bruce shot the photos at the top and below on day five of the SkeeterBeater. We wrote about that trip down the ICW from Goose Creek (off of Pamlico Sound) to the Bay River. We also passed through this same area last June on day two of the Tag Team 200. That days's 29 nautical mile sail included the ICW, Jones Bay, Dump Creek, the Bay River and Bonner Bay. I'll probably be around all those places on the first two days of this long weekend trip.
At the northern end of the weekend sail will be Mouse Harbor where the Pamlico River opens onto Pamlico Sound. I've been there a couple of times before, it's one of my favorite spots and I look forward to going back there.
I explored the bay during the day and anchored there for a night last May on the Weekend Walkabout. I enjoyed it (though the very buggy morning was no fun and this time I'll anchor out farther away from the marsh).
I also anchored there, down in the Cedar Creek area, during my stormiest night (below) on Spartina back in 2008. A cold front rolled through in the afternoon, a broad band of thunderstorms with 40 to 50 mph winds, hail and sightings of funnel clouds. I moved to the center of the creek where we could swing 360 degrees, raised the cb and rudder, set up the boom tent and spent an interesting evening reading a book and listening to the wind howl outside.
Below is the lower part of the gps track from day two of the Weekend Walkabout. You can see I sailed up Jones Bay, took the narrow Dump Creek down to the Bay River and then sailed back north again on the edge of Pamlico Sound. That is the nice thing about this area - you can go north or south on either the ICW or Pamlico Sound, or even cut across some places on the tiny little ditches and creeks.
The forecast looks good. I might get some rain the first day, but the next few days should be very nice. I'm looking forward to the cool temperatures at night. That usually means clear skies (great star viewing) and not so many bugs. And it is great to tuck a little deeper into the sleeping bag on a chilly night.
Copy and paste the url below to see my SPOT track during the trip. Don't be surprised if I don't move around a lot. I'm going to relax, read a good book (Ghost Sea) and do some fishing (I had a friend who is a serious fisherman look over google earth with me and point out the areas to fish - hey, everybody can have a dream (can't they??)). Here is the SPOT track...
http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0JPDqxA4Ln2kgAnlVGkFVHAji21Fr0M76
steve
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