Last fall, when Onne and Tenley van der Wal headed to Florida aboard their 1986 Grand Banks Snow Goose, one of their goals was to go to less-traveled places. Here are the locations the couple really enjoyed.
Tangier Island, VA This place was on Onne’s bucket list and the island and its people did not disappoint. The couple found the locals, who speak a unique version of American English, to be very welcoming. Tangier is a conservative and religious place. It is also dry, meaning no alcohol is available for sale. Otherwise, the island is literally getting wet. Since the 1960s, sea level rise has consumed all but 40 percent of the habitable land, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers predicts that some of what remains will disappear below the water by 2033; much of the rest of it will be uninhabitable by 2055. “It’s very low-lying,” Onne says. “You can see how the water is coming up slowly, consuming everything. All the fishing shacks are on piles in the harbor, so they need a skiff to run out to their bigger fishing boats to go oystering.” But the van der Wals loved being there. They biked all around and had dinner at Lorraine’s Restaurant, where they ate soft shell crab—the island’s specialty. “It was just an eye-opener,” Onne says. “What an amazing community. I would have loved to stay longer, but we’re so glad we went.”
Dismal Swamp Canal, VA/NC When you make your way up or down on the ICW near the Virginia/North Carolina border, you can take the Virginia Cut through Coinjock, North Carolina, where lots of folks stop for a big steak dinner at the Coinjock Marina and Restaurant. Or, you can take the less popular Dismal Swamp route between Norfolk, Virginia, and Elizabeth City, North Carolina. The van der Wals opted for the swamp route. “So many people said to avoid it,” Onne says. So many people said go to Coinjock, but the people who like grunge, hitting logs and seeing birds go right [when headed south].” Onne described it as a straight ditch with beautiful trees hanging overhead. “You go into a lock and it’s all fresh water and you chug along for three hours or so,” he says. They had been told it would be shallow and it was. “Once in a while, I’d hear a thunk,” Onne says. “I’m lucky that I have a shallow draft boat and my prop is protected, so hitting a log is not the end of the world.” He had to clean the sea strainer twice because of the duckweed, but he says it was no big deal. They stopped at the visitor center, tied up alongside an American Tug and stayed overnight. The next morning, the couple took a walk. “I just loved it, and I would do it again on the way back,” Onne says. “You can keep Coinjock and their big steaks.”
Beaufort, NC After navigating through Pamlico Sound, the van der Wals rode out the remnants of Hurricane Nicole at Safe Harbor Jarrett Bay. From there, they took a 12-minute Uber ride down to Beaufort, North Carolina. Located in the Inner Banks region west of Cape Hatteras, Beaufort is the fourth oldest town in North Carolina. Beaufort (pronounced Boh-fert, not Bew-fert like the one in South Carolina) has a long, rich, maritime history that includes the 1718 grounding at Beaufort Inlet of Blackbeard’s flagship, Queen Anne’s Revenge. Blackbeard ran her aground on a sandbar, cracking her mainmast and severely damaging many timbers. There is speculation that he purposely grounded her to disperse the crew and keep more of the loot to himself. The remains of Queen Anne’s Revenge, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, were discovered in 1996 in 28 feet of water and a lot of her bones are still there. After visiting the town’s impressive branch of the North Carolina Maritime Museum, Onne and Tenley had dinner at a restaurant called Aqua. In between, they checked out Backstreet Pub, a small, cozy, English-style bar that had a fire going and where they had a great time hanging out with the locals. “It was cold and windy, so the pub was nice,” Onne says.
Alligator River, NC After navigating the Dismal Swamp Canal, the van der Wals crossed Albemarle Sound and dropped the hook in the Alligator River, right next to the 152,000-acre Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, which sits on a peninsula to the east of the river. The Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds surround the refuge to the north, east and south. There were other snowbirds anchored on the river, but the van der Wals gave them extra space. It was hot, so Onne, who is an open-water swimmer, dove in. “The water was a dark Coca-Cola color,” Onne says. “I couldn’t even see my elbow. I was wondering if there were any alligators, but I decided to swim anyway.” That’s when Tenley, alarmed by the river’s name, started yelling at him to get out of the water. On the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s website for the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge it says that the refuge is one of the only places in the world where you may see endangered red wolves in the wild and lists all the other species that may be found there, including river otters, bobcats, beavers, black bears … and the American alligator. They never saw one. “It’s such an amazing place,” Onne says. “It was peaceful with a wide stretch of water that was not crowded.”
Swansboro, NC The ICW passes through a lot of wetland areas that are primary nurseries for fish, which attract the birds that feed on them. During their travels down the ICW, the van der Wals encountered gannets, eagles, herons, egrets, ducks, geese and more. Onne is a big bird lover. As a child in South Africa, he built a big aviary. “I had all kinds of books in Johannesburg and Cape Town,” he says, “and I learned to identify a lot of birds.” He likes all birds, but his favorites are oceanic birds like the albatross and the various petrels. On the ICW, which in many spots is a flyway for bird migration, there were so many birds that Onne always kept a 100-500 mm telephoto lens on one of his cameras. Near Swansboro, which sits by a large wetland area, Onne spotted American white pelicans. One of North America’s largest birds with a wingspan that can reach 10 feet, this species nests in inland North America as far north as Canada’s Northwest Territories. They winter along the coasts of the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico, along the Mississippi River and the Atlantic, including North Carolina between October and March. “That was such a magical sight to watch them fly on the thermals,” Onne says. “They were up high. Really high.”
Waccamaw River, NC/SC The 140-mile long Waccamaw River traverses from southeastern North Carolina into eastern South Carolina and drains into the Atlantic Ocean. Along its upper course it is a slow-moving, blackwater river surrounded by vast wetlands that are passable only by shallow-draft craft like dinghies and canoes. The Waccamaw’s lower course, which is deeper, was used for trade and in the early 20th century became part of the ICW. Forests cover the floodplain, including cypress-gum swamp and bottomland hardwood areas, which contain Atlantic white cedar and live oaks. In 1997 a large area was acquired by the federal government for the Waccamaw National Wildlife Refuge. The Waccamaw’s water contains tannin from decomposed leaf debris which turns it a deep brown color. Onne and his friend Bill “Hutch” Hutchinson anchored on the Waccamaw and poked around the shallows in the dinghy, but never set foot on land because the brush was too thick. “It was very beautiful and peaceful,” Onne says, except when kids came racing by in duck hunting boats with music blaring, which added local flavor. “It’s a sublime river,” he says. “We went to two anchorages that were equally nice. I’ll definitely go back.”
Bennett’s Point, SC If you want a less-traveled location, Bennett’s Point qualifies. Located between Charleston and Beaufort on Mosquito Creek off the Ashepoo River, it sits 3 feet above sea level with only wetlands and trees separating it from the Atlantic Ocean. Bennett’s Point is so small that there is no population information available. The town can be reached by car, but the road that takes you there dead-ends soon after it crosses over Mosquito Creek. The van der Wals encountered lots of current in the creek but found good holding ground and discovered a tiny and peaceful town with friendly people. They went for a walk and bought a bag of shrimp for $9 at B&B Seafood, which they cooked aboard. “It was absolutely delicious,” Onne says. B&B Seafood was also selling Ziploc bags of a spice called Nun-Ya, but the label, which said, ‘You wanna know what’s in it? None of your business’ made them leery. “Some local dude named Wild Bill made it,” Onne says, and Tenley wanted nothing to do with it. The next morning, the sunrise was amazing. “There was nobody else up there,” Onne says. “It’s a nice little exit off the ICW. If you want an out-of-the-way place, it is that. Completely, utterly.”
McClellanville, SC McClellanville is a small rural town where fishing, shrimping and oystering are a way of life. It’s situated on the Atlantic coast, surrounded by Francis Marion National Forest. McClellanville village was formed in the late 1860s when local plantation owners A.J. McClellan and R.T. Morrison sold lots in the vicinity of Jeremy Creek to planters who sought relief from summer fevers. The marina was nothing special, but Onne found it and the town “my kind of place.” Leland Oil Company owns the transient dock, which only holds about four to five boats. Those spots were taken for the night, but the dockmaster told Onne that if he got there around 5 o’clock, he could put Snow Goose on the fuel dock where Onne also found the price of diesel to his liking. With his shipmate, Hutch, they unfolded the bikes and found a greasy spoon. “Wow. Wow,” Onne says about the seafood at TW Graham, where they ate lunch and went back for diner. They also stopped at Livingston’s Bulls Bay Seafood, where a woman named Kim taught them about oyster culture and spat planting. The next morning they woke up to a sunrise with mist on the water. “What a great little town,” Onne says. “Awesome people, super relaxed and beautiful scenery.”
This article was originally published in the April 2023 issue.
