Hats off to Hatteras!

What a rush getting here. We came via the Atlantic against the advice of the charts and guidebooks. We had a following sea all the way up the coast, which made for a pretty smooth ride so I rationalized, "these books advertise for businesses along the ICW and so naturally they encourage boaters to stay inside - this is fine" The waves started building about 10 miles out of Hatteras, which was still fine because they were big rollers that were just pushing us a little harder - good for fuel economy, right? Then we had to turn to head into the inlet. The following sea became a sideways sea and that got a little dicey but timing is everything and as we were coming in, so was the tide. It pulled those sideways waves and us into the inlet at a wild speed. It was a little like rapids. Would have been a lot more fun if finding markers wasn't so critical. None of them are shown on the charts as the channel is constantly changing and the markers get moved regularly. So as you come into the inlet it becomes a game of speed finding your way through the shoaling. Anyone watching would have cracked up; "Green, there's the Green!" "Red 2 o'clock - turn! turn!" "Another Red! And Green - over there!" "Scrappy stay!" "3 Greens!" "We're in"

We docked and went straight to the bar. Great ride but neither of us said, "Wanna go again?" We'll be running inside tomorrow - the guidebook recommends it.