Historic Belhaven, NC ~ The Boats Stop Here!

16 Thursday Feb 2023

Posted by “Oh Captain My Captain” in Destinations

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Albemarle Loop, Albemarle Sound, America's Great Loop Cruisers' Association, Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, Belhaven Marina, Belhaven NC, Belhaven Town Docks, CruisingTheICW, Dowry Creek Marina, Historic Bath NC, History, Life, Little Washington NC, Mainship 34T, Marinas, Memories, Restaurants, River Forest Manor and Marina, Shopping, Slow Dance, The Boats Stop Here, TJ's Marina and Boatyard

**To coastal towns like Belhaven, NC, the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway is their interstate** **“highway.”**

February 16, 2023. Originally known as Jack’s Neck, the once fishing village turned thriving small town of lumber companies and a branch of the Norfolk and Southern Railway was officially named Belhaven in 1899. It again made history in September of 1928 when Belhaven, NC became the final link in the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway? The ICW officially opened with a celebration in Belhaven at the River Forest Manor, now known as the River Forest Manor and Marina. For those who love cruising the Intracoastal waterways of America’s East Coast, the world has never been the same. In our years of CruisingTheICW, we have found no other destination as serious as Belhaven when it comes to recognizing the economic importance of ICW transient cruisers. It also helps that Carol Roop, Executive Director of the Belhaven Community Chamber of Commerce and Welcome Center, has a history of cruising and understands first hand the impact the boating market can have on small towns along the ICW.

From the Belhaven Visitors Guide, “In 1928, Belhaven had a BIG party celebrating the final link of the Intracoastal Waterway, the Alligator Pungo Canal.“

“According to the August 26 and August 31, 1928 editions of the Raleigh News and Observer, the 2500 residents of Belhaven welcomed 20,000 visitors to their shores for a massive celebration on Thursday, August 30, 1928.“

To this day, Belhaven embraces its role as the birthplace of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway and the role transient boaters play in the local economy. Just like the town, the local marinas like Belhaven Marina, Belhaven Town Dock, River Forest Manor and Marina, T.J.’s Marina and Boatyard, and Dowry Creek Marina welcome transient boaters with open arms. While Belhaven Marina, and Belhaven Town Dock are easy walking distance to downtown restaurants, River Forest Manor and Marina, T.J.’s Marina and Boatyard, and Dowry Creek Marina, and offer a courtesy vehicle and/or golf carts for your convenience.

Belhaven Marina
Belhaven Town Docks
River Forest Marina
TJ’s Marina and Boatyard
Dowry Creek Marina

VisitBelhaven, also known as Belhaven Community Chamber of Commerce and Welcome Center, overlooks Belhaven Town Dock, and offers boaters a complete visitors guide in PDF format straight from their website, and a comfortable Welcome Center to visit upon arrival. For those who enjoy Thinking Outside the Boat, the guide is a wonderful introduction to Belhaven and Beaufort County, and things to see and do while visiting. Download and open the guide to see the many reasons transient cruisers enjoy including Belhaven in their itineraries when cruising north and south on the ICW.

Downtown Belhaven is blessed with restaurants that any community along the ICW would welcome. Spoon River is a 5-Star “farm to table” restaurant that one might never expect to find in a small, rural coastal town. Across the street from Spoon River, The Tavern at Jack’s Neck offers steamed oysters and shrimp, Linz Heritage Angus beef ribeyes and filet mignon, as well as pizza with homemade dough, and of course, the town’s most popular tavern. For fresh fish, shrimp, cornbread, and good old Southern hospitality you might want to try Fish Hook’s Cafe, which is another restaurant popular with the locals. And if you just want a fast food breakfast, lunch, or dinner takeout or outdoor seating, Farm Boys, across from Belhaven Marina, is very popular with locals.

Spoon River Artworks & Market dining room
The Tavern at Jack’s Neck, another popular dining spot for transient cruisers.
The Tavern at Jack’s Neck is known for its Prime Angus Ribeye and fresh, local Steamed Shrimp
Spoon River’s famous Pork Chop, one of the most popular items on the menu.

While in Belhaven, be sure and stroll around its charming downtown, or if your bikes cruise with you, cycle downtown and the Pantego Creek and Pungo River waterfront neighborhoods. And it’s hard to visit Belhaven without dropping into downtown shops like Attic Life, Coastal Cottage Life, Handpicked Sister, Nifty Picks, and Southern Tuck — and yes it’s spelled correctly and they don’t sell auto parts!

Big boat, small boat, fast boat, slow boat, Belhaven, NC the final link in the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway welcomes them all when they proclaim The Boats Stop Here.

And in the summer of 2023, there’s a good chance “Slow Dance” will once again be stopping by Belhaven AND checking out a couple of other historic Beaufort County towns, Bath, the first town established in North Carolina and the state’s first port, and Washington, also known as Little Washington and The Original Washington. Give us a shout on channel 16 if you see “Slow Dance” out on the water.

“Dwell as near as possible to the channel in which your life flows.” Henry David Thoreau

Oh Captain My Captain

Destination: Historic Beaufort, NC

05 Thursday Aug 2021

Posted by “Oh Captain My Captain” in From the helm

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2006 Mainship 34T, America's Great Loop Cruisers' Association, Atlantic ICW, Beaufort Docks Marina, Beaufort NC, Belhaven Community Chamber of Commerce, Belhaven NC, Blessed, BoatUS, Coastal destinations, Cruising, CruisingTheICW, Friends, Georgetown SC, Grateful, Harborwalk Marina, Hospitality, Life, Love, Mainship, Mainship 34T, Marinas, Memories, Myrtle Beach Yacht Club, Passage Maker Magazine, Reflections, Slow Dance, Soundings, Soundings Online, Swansboro, Thinking Ouside the Boat, Trawler, Waterfront dining, Wilmington NC, Wrightsville Beach

Last year, due to COVID-19 we did no long distance cruising. For this year’s journey, we spent our final night at home on the boat, so we could get an early start . On July 12, 2021 at 7:01 AM we cast off from the dock, idled under the Ben Sawyer, and began CruisingTheICW north!

First stop, Harborwalk Marina, Georgetown, SC. “Slow Dance” seems happy to be cruising again! Since returning from our 2019 summer on the Chesapeake, she’s gotten a new stateroom air conditioning unit, windless, the head serviced, new generator water pump, the hull waxed and new bottom paint, beautiful new Eisenglass for the upper helm, and last but not least, the annual service of the main engine, generator, and transmission. Since 2006, the main engine and generator’s oil has been changed every 100 hours, not counting the annual service done prior to departure for our multi-week cruises. Though we didn’t put 100 hours on her during COVID-2020, we adopted the rule of service annually or every 100 hours, which ever comes first.

While it’s rare for us to spend less than two nights in Georgetown, for a variety of reasons we had to keep pushing back our departure, so Georgetown was just an overnight stop on this journey. As always, Harbormaster Chris and his crew provided excellent service and a beautifully clean facility. And added bonus, it’s hard to remember when we’ve gone into Harborwalk and not seen at least one large and beautiful yacht docked there. If you’re CruisingTheICW through South Carolina, and have never visited Georgetown, put it on your itinerary. It’s a quaint little historic town with a harbor, Southern hospitality, good restaurants, SC Maritime Museum, and shopping,

Second stop, Myrtle Beach Yacht Club, Little River, SC. Since 2017 when we began our summer CruisingTheICW north, the yacht club has been our second night’s destination. Why? Reasonable dock fees, traditionally great fuel prices, great and reasonably priced food at The Officer’s Club private dining for transients and members, and as always, an accommodating and professional crew to help with docking and most anything else we might need. Unfortunately, the The Officer’s Club is closed Mondays and Tuesdays, so for the Admiral and me, there’s always next time!

Third stop, Seapath Yacht Club, Wrightsville Beach, NC. When we began CruisingTheICW north in 2017, we made it a point to spend at least a couple of nights in Wrightsville Beach to visit with old friends. Sadly, an old best friend, Bruce Allcorn, the friend that always met us at the dock no matter where we stayed in Wilmington or Wrightsville Beach, passed away unexpectedly last October. This year’s visit without Bruce was tough. To know the guy was to love him. Our friendship went back over 50-years to our high school days and love of Austin Healey 3000s. At his celebration of life last May, the only person in attendance to have known him longer than me, was his older brother. Memories, so many memories.

“Beach Music,” the perfect name for a beautiful vintage Hatteras yacht built in North Carolina, home of beach music and beach bands like the incredible Embers, who made the song, “I Love Beach Music” famous.

Seapath Yacht Club is only a couple of hundred yards “off the ICW,” with limited transient slips, but a quiet, sheltered place to overnight. Their new shower facility has to be one the newest and nicest on the ICW. Another plus is their proximity to some of the finest dining in Wrightsville Beach. For many reasons, Wrightsville Beach will forever be on our northbound cruise itinerary.

Next stop, the new Town Docks at Swansboro, NC. In years past, we visited Swansboro by car, and a couple of years we stopped by the town docks for Kate the Mate’s “nature call.” When I recently read that reservations could now be made for overnights at the docks, we decided to overnight there instead of having such a long day getting to Beaufort. While walking around Swansboro that afternoon, we stopped by the visitors center and learned the town is in the process of putting in shower baths and a washer and dryer for transients’ use, in the Swansboro Visitors Center. While the visitors center is not adjacent to the docks, the new facilities will be no further away than those of some other marinas we’ve visited. It’s great to see small towns like Swansboro welcoming ICW transient boaters. To many, the ICW is their “intrastate highway.”

On to Beaufort, our first multi-night stop this summer. In 2018, our departure from home was scheduled around getting us to Beaufort in time for the Admiral to celebrate her July 4th birthday there. This year it was scheduled around getting her to Beaufort in time to enjoy Saturday’s Farmer’s Market! I’m happy to say we made it.

Like Georgetown, Beaufort is a favorite stopping point for large yachts, and this year was no exception. As we entered the Beaufort harbor, the 142′ superyacht, “MISSING LINK” could not be missed. Owned by Jack Link, of America’s #1 Jerky Brand, “MISSING LINK” was designed and built by US builder, Christensen Shipyards at their Vancouver shipyard. The yacht’s interior was designed by Carol Williamson and Associates.

On the right of the photograph is “MISSING LINK,” and on the left is “Slow Dance.” “MISSING LINK” travels with an Invincible center console launch that is the approximate length of “Slow Dance.” It can be seen perpendicular on the other side of the dock between “MISSING LINK” and “Slow Dance.”

We first “discovered”Beaufort when my parents bought a little place on Harker’s Island, a short distance from Beaufort. When visiting the island, Beaufort was where we went for dinner and shopping. Today, we enjoy Beaufort Town Docks, but it’s not the only marina in Beaufort. When staying there, we can walk or cycle most anywhere around town. But, others we’ve met while cruising swear by Homer Smith’s Docks and Marina, the full service Town Creek Marina, and the new Beaufort Yacht Basin.

What to do in Beaufort. Having spent my career in the travel industry, I’m about the worst tourist you will ever meet. We love to travel, but when we visit a destination, we enjoy getting local input on things to do. While rarely do we visit every attraction and museum in the local visitors’ guide! But, in Beaufort, there are some things I’d encourage doing.

Visit the North Carolina Maritime Museum
Beaufort Historic Site and Museum Visitors Center
Old Beauforte Farmers Market (A Saturday event)
Water tours ~ there is a myriad of water tours offered in Beaufort. Though I’ve never taken one, but I would encourage a visitor to Beaufort or Morehead City to take two specific water tours, (1) a tour that takes you to Cape Lookout Lighthouse, (2) a tour that takes you to the 5,400 acre Rachel Carson Coastal Equestrian Preserve or the Shackleford Banks to see the beautiful wild horses in their natural habit.
For detailed information about the many reasons to visit Beaufort, Morehead City, and all the Crystal Coast of North Carolina, visit the Crystal Coast of NC.

Dining in Beaufort. Years ago when we came to Beaufort from Harker’s Island for dinner, Clawson’s was the old standby. Today there are a number of quality restaurants from which to choose. Some of our favorites within easy walking distance of the marina are Finz, Black Sheep Beaufort, Front Street Grill, The Spouter Inn, Ribeyes Steakhouse, Mezcalito Beaufort, and of course, the old standby, Clawson’s.