03/13/2025 ICW Day 72 : BFE

Today would be our longest day yet: over 44 statute miles on a Hobie Tandem Island Sailing Kayak, which is also our record distance covered in a day on this vessel! A combination of good winds and mild currents helped us have a great day on the water. Unlike Georgia and South Carolina where the tidal variation could be 9 feet, here we are experiencing much more mild fluctuations.

We listened to Ray and Jenny Jardine’s kayak trip through Nome and Utqiagvik (formerly known as Barrow) Alaska… this made us grateful for our temperate following seas.

The only challenge we were facing was… finding a place to stop! We have lost interest in sleeping aboard because it takes a lot of time to set things up, and there is a risk of dropping stuff in the water. As such, we need land to sleep on. It was late on the day when we finally were back near somewhere you could peg a tent. We found a dock on an island, and from the water, it appeared that we had found an abandoned group of buildings. Perfect for a short night’s stay.

Upon arrival, we noticed that although it looked bushy from afar, someone had done some work on the trees manicuring them and placing compost around them. So even though the building looked like they had been vacant for a while, people had been here. We made no effort to hide, and were visible from a house across the water. After setting up the tent, a boat arrived with a ruffled young man.

“what the HELL are you doing here?”

Janet was outside and told him that we were camping. I came out of the tent and we tried to explain that we were doing the ICW and hadn’t been able to find dry land up until this point.

“I don’t care if you came from Florida or South Africa. You aren’t camping here!”

I offered to pay him money so we could stay.

“Even if you paid me $100,000, it wouldn’t pay for the risk. This is an insurance risk!”

When he said that, I knew to take him seriously. He may have been burned in the past by people like us. Even though we think of ourselves as good people, he was right and we were wrong. I started to pack up.

Janet remained patient but persistent, and reminded him that we had no place to go; the sun was about to set.

“I’m not going to take the sympathy card from you. You’re trespassing. You can go to Oriental!”

We pointed out that Oriental was 6 hours back for us. I continued packing, while Janet talked to him reasonably.

“Look, you’re in BFE North Carolina where you could get shot for this,” he exclaimed.

Janet talked to him a bit more and eventually he conceded that there is land just 700 meters past the channel marker that was owned by a business, but they haven’t been around in a couple of years. This was a big help.

In the end, we were in the wrong, and I’m only telling the story because… well, that is what happened! I’m a bit embarrassed, but this gives you an idea about how tough it is to find legal places to sleep! I imagine that this is probably the biggest impediment to people thinking of doing this waterway in a human powered vessel. There aren’t enough public pullouts to be able to cover the necessary distances legally… at least at a snailboat’s pace!

In the end, we had a nice night, landing at the new spot just as darkness set in. Thankfully, we had the full moon to guide us!