Wow, what a day! One of the longest days on the water since the crossing from Panama City Beach to Clearwater, this 100-mile trip took nearly 10 1/2 hours to complete.

It began by heading south from Manteo to the Oregon Inlet, about a 20-mile southward trip in narrow channels with considerable shoaling on both sides of the channel markers. Local intel and published guides forewarn of the ever-shifting shoaling and channels and altering water depths.

In fact, the environment changes so quickly that our guidebooks recommend calling the USCG before traversing the inlet - which we did but we were already underway! And a good thing we called! They asked if we were using the most current charts. I don't know, let us check........we weren't! They referred us to the Army Corps of Engineers website for the current chart. There we found updated charts as of 6/22/18 as well as instructions to avoid the designated marked channel passage under the fixed bridge and out into the inlet! What? Purposely avoid the marked channel?! Yes, instead travel two sections (of the bridge stanchions) to the south and pass through and under the bridge there! OMG!

So, after navigating around several commercial (tourist style) fishing boats anchored in the middle of the channel and trying to stay clear of their fishing lines, we made our way to the Oregon Inlet (infamous) bridge and the channel we're supposed to ignore.

The Admiral and I together counted the number of bridge stanchions to make sure our count was correct and with a quick prayer and crossed fingers we passed the channel markers and ran parallel to the bridge until we came to the appropriate gap under the bridge. Our depth sounder was registering all over the chart - 8', 15', 9', 20' - then as we passed under the bridge and saw the inlet before us, we sharply cut to port, and the depths suddenly went to 30'. Rollers were coming in, crashing over the shoals and requiring us to power up to fight the onslaught of waves. With the roar of the engines, waves crashing around us, and the multiple shades of the sea - light brown, turquoise, green, deep blue, and white crests - we snaked our way through the inlet and out into the Atlantic Ocean!

When we got out into the ocean and past the flow of the inlet we exhaled!

From that point our ride up to and into the Chesapeake Bay was relatively uneventful. The ocean was calm and the ride smooth. Like the approach into Cape Fear, the Chesapeake has designated "shipping lanes". And for a good reason. As you probably know, the Chesapeake Bay is home to several Navy bases. On our way into the Bay, which is huge, we picked up on radar and AIS an outbound military ship. This ship was gigantic! It had helicopters taking off and landing on it! It wasn't an aircraft carrier but some other type of ship I had never seen before.

We were running westward in an afternoon sun which made visibility challenging. Again, thanks for radar and AIS! We passed over the Chesapeake Bay (bridge and) underwater expressway connecting Virgina Beach, VA to Virgina's barrier islands, past Fort Monroe to Hampton, VA and into Old Comfort Marina - a dump! Old Comfort had seen better days and a number of hurricanes! Pilings for the slips were snapped in two or bent; power hook-ups were insufficient for out boat, and they ran out of fuel after we put on less than 50 gallons! Fortunately, we were befriended by a to-be dock neighbor and told us we wouldn't like staying there and directed us to Bluewater Marina just out into and a little further up the Bay. Everything is first-class and beautiful at Bluewater Marina - it's fairly new, has a swimming pool and restaurant on site, and fuel! Everything has worked out again!

Happy Fourth of July! On to Ocean City, MD tomorrow.