Patriot Dreams: May 9, 2015 - Pictures along the journey

One of the old homes in Charleston

Beautiful Charleston

Historic Charleston

Beautiful old cathedral in Charleston

Taking a break from the water, being tourists

Patriot nestled among the boats at the Maritime Center Marina in Charleston

FREE laundry WITH A VIEW! Both very unusual for boaters!

Cypress trees along the Atlantic ICW

They seem to grow better on their own little island in the water

Some beautiful homes and landscape along the river

When excavating this area, a Native American burial ground was found. There is interesting folklore about the spirits visiting the locals.

Spanish moss hanging from the cypress trees

Pretty stretch of ICW

One of many palatial homes along the Atlantic ICS in South Carolina

Turtle family basking in the sunshine

Nobody could miss this house!

Bahamian lobster on the grill

Finally reconnected with Blue Willow (Mark & Vicki) and had frozen the Bahamian lobster to share with them. Yummy!!

This "marina" and "boat" have been here a long time in disrepair.

Closer view of the mess...not sure why this hasn't been removed.

Downtown Swansboro, NC...a very cute small town, free docks

Swansboro coffee shop where we enjoyed an ice cream treat

Breakfast in Swansboro with Mark & Vicki

Oops...Blue Willow got stuck on a sand bar, so had to call Tow Boat U.S. to pull them off

Sunset in the Carolinas

LOVED, LOVED Beaufort, NC. One of our favorite shops had these cute bikes sitting out back, available to visitors

Wild horses grazing and drinking on an island area across from our dock in Beaufort

We encountered about 20 wild horses

Up close and personal

Wright Brothers museum at Kitty Hawk, Outer Banks, NC...a very interesting place

Replica of the Wright Brothers glider

Replica of the Wright Bros plane at the museum in Kitty Hawk, NC. This is the plane on which they made their first flight.

These were the two original buildings on the site of the first flights . On left is where the brothers stayed while doing their experimental flights, while the building on the right was where they constructed their crude planes and gliders.

Jim and Mark at the site where the Wright Bros launched their experimental glider planes

Wright Bros Memorial

The cypress swamps along the canals were a brownish color from the tannin released from the many cypress trees along the route

A monkey on a leash at the Elizabeth City docks - This man apparently spent every day entertaining people with his pet monkey as they showed up at the docks.

Elizabeth City Provides free docks to people who are about to enter or who just exited the Dismal Swamp Canal in North Carolina/Virginia

Slips at the free docks were made possible through donations from town folks

The Dismal Swamp Canal was truly a beautiful part of the trip

Our traveling companions, Blue Willow, following us down the Dismal Swamp

Jim was enjoying the beautiful Day traveling down the Dismal Swamp as he drove from the bow using the remote control

In case you forgot where you were while traveling through the Dismal Swamp Canal

By the time that nightfall arrived, the Dismal Swamp Welcome Center had boats rafted off its wall as many as four deep for a free night of dockage. If you look carefully, you should see Patriot.

We crossed into Virginia along the Dismal Swamp

One of the numerous naval ships with a home base of Norfolk

The Hampton Roads Naval Museum in Norfolk provided wonderful history of our awe inspiring and powerful US Navy

This is just part of the anchor chain on the deck of the Battleship Wisconsin in Norfolk. Each link weighed over 200 pounds.

The deck of the Battleship Wisconsin, nearly the length of 3 football fields... The Wisconsin was in service from WWII, through the Gulf War in the early 1990's. The Battleships are no longer in the fleet due to the tremendous advancements in air power. Aircraft carriers are now the signature of the US fleet.