"Follow the Yellow Brick Road . . . "

Actually the road has no bricks, and is not yellow.

It is Magenta, is about 12' wide, and has shoals, hidden pilings, and tree stumps so close you can touch 'em.
I give you, the Intercostal Waterway - or ICW.

It's kinda like your first date.
Incredibly exciting, but absolutely terrifying at the same time.

There is an actual "Magenta Line" (dotted) that denotes the ICW.
It is on all of the charts, and GPS screens, and shows you the exact path to follow.
It is absolute and unforgiving.

Think of a school yard bully toeing a line in the dirt, and daring you cross it.
That is what the "magenta line" does.
'Cause if you do cross it, on either side, by as much as 5 feet, you are "up the proverbial creek" with consequences ranging from running aground, to taking out a prop, to punching a hole in the boat.

As they say down here, y'all better watch what you doin'.

To give you an idea, here is a shot of the entrance to the Pongo Canal - which is 14 miles long:

 

And here is a picture of the wake you better leave behind you when traversing it . . .

 

You can see from our wake that the entire width is about 20 feet.
But, what you don't see is the view from the Depth sounder that shows how the "deep water - in the middle of the channel" is about 5 feet wide.

While we are talking about the Pongo Canal, let me just say that is an amazing engineering feat that created an incredible body of water.
But, it scared me silly.
It is literally in the middle of nowhere.
You enter it from the Alligator River. The other side leads you to the Pamlico Sound.
In between, is a place that time literally forgot.
I swear, the whole way crossing it, all I could hear was "Dueling Banjos" in my head.
Stephen King would love this place. He would be right at home.

'Cause here's the thing - about 200 yards into the canal, you loose all cell coverage.
About a mile in, I didn't hear anything on the radio. Nothin.
And it stayed that way, damn near the whole way.
As for boat traffic, our wake was the only one for the entire length. We didn't see even a canoe.
But, we saw eagles, and osprey, and many, many turkey vultures. Circling, and circling - just waiting for an engine to sputter, or a prop to get dinged, or  . . .
Let's just say that for about an hour, you couldn't have put a BB up my sphincter.
(OK, too much detail. Mea Culpa)


FYI - here is the bridge that allows you into the Alligator River:

But, the incredible thing about the ICW, is that it is not just about narrow canals.
We also traveled some of the widest bodies of non-oceanic water I have ever seen.
In fact, the roughest water we've seen so far on the trip was for about 10 miles on the Albemarle Sound.

The irony is that you have nothing but water for as far as the you can see - in all directions.
But, there is but one way across -  the magenta line - and you best be following it.
Think of the expanse of the Grand Canyon.
Then, think about how you would have to cross it - if on a wire.
There you have the ICW.

Now, sail boaters love this, because when you are cruising along at 4 or 5 knots, the reaction time required to stay in a 10' channel is far greater than if you are going at 17-18 knots.
Plus, there are many places where the channel winds back and forth thru undulating river banks.
Then, it is like a video game, with a joy stick. You have to react so fast constantly, it really is trying.

So, this is incredibly different than offshore boating, where you set the auto-pilot to a waypoint, heading, or route and just sit back and make adjustments as needed.
No sir, you had best pay attention, and be on top of your game.
But, to be honest there are very long stretches where the magenta line goes straight  for 6, or 8 miles.
And then, you can set the auto-pilot and relax a bit.

Overall impression:
Incredible body of water(s) that are so unique I am glad that we did them.
I am also glad that we did them unscathed.
But, I can honestly say, following the magenta line takes it out of ya.

Between that and the heat - 93 degrees, we had reached our limit by the time we made Grace Harbor at River Dunes at ICW mile 176.
We started at Coinjock, mile 50.
That made yesterday a 126 mile day.
One of the longest so far, and by far the most difficult.

So today, we are taking a leisurely 30 mile jaunt down to Beaufort (Bo-fort), NC before we head offshore again.
We will be winding our way thru some fairly skinny ICW water to get there.
But, at least now, we have a Heart, some Courage, and at least one Brain between us.
Plus, we made friends with the Munchkins - so we should be good.

Gotta go.
"We're of to see the Beaufort . . . " (Ha, now you have that song in your head. Take that Bob . . .)