Cruising the ICW

We had a good visit in Beaufort NC with our friends Mike and Marilyn who live nearby.  While at lunch we saw the wild horses that live on the local islands just across the channel.   We departed Beaufort NC, after a day of rest and awaiting wind.  We had to depart the dock at 8 at slack water as there is quite a current in this channel when the tide is running, and we had to get around the stern of a 160’ sailboat docked in front of us.  Interestingly, this boat has a draft of 25’, but the channel shows depths of under 20’ in places, so it appears to be stuck here for a while awaiting a King tide.   The forecast was for N15 to 20 but easing mid day so we did the first 15 miles up Adams Creek to the Neuse River at idle speed as we didn’t want to get there too early.  And is was moderately choppy even  in Adams Creek initially.  Our friends tell us that the Corps of Engineers (who maintain the ICW) call the Neuse River and Pamlico Sound the “Pamlico Ocean” as from where one enters the N