Our stay in USA, coming in from the Bahamas, started in Ft. Lauderdale, a city with 170 000 inhabitants about 50 kilometer north of Miami, which we really enjoyed. Here were numerous canals and artificial lakes which had given it the name ”Venice of America”. Along the canals were great villas and even palaces and in the water were expensive yachts parked. Here we met a Swedish couple, Kaj and Eva, with an Amel 54’ yacht. They were on their way around the world and took care of us while in Ft. Lauderdale. We were moored in the cheapest marina, Bahia Del Mar, but the price for Jennifer was USD 200/night and we were the smallest yacht in the marina. Most of the others were mega yachts, boats longer than 100’ or 30 meters. Across the street from the marina were white beaches stretching for mile and miles. We stayed here a few extra days due to engine problems. But it was a good place to have things fixed. One alternator had failed, the engine was leaking cooling water and the windlass had partly broken down when the anchor got caught in a coral head in the Bahamas. In Ft Lauderdale I bought an iPad, a fantastic navigational tool, and also a pair of sunglasses with an inbuilt HD camera, great fun. Here I changed crew; John, Martin, Chris & Lisa and Stefan & Katarina left after almost three weeks in the Caribbean while Ulf & Ann and Jan-Erik joined. Ulf was in the building business and also a musician while Ann was a wine taster in the Swedish wine & spirit monopoly, Systembolaget. Jan-Erik was a former judge and old friend who had sailed with Jennifer many times. We were now going to sail on the Intra Coastal Waterway, ICW, all the way to Chesapeake Bay further north. The canal, almost 1 000 NM long (about 700 NM in a straight line), goes from Norfolk in Virginia in the north to Key West in Florida in the south and consists of rivers, canals, lakes and sounds. Our first stop was Palm Beach, only 35 NM further north. There were many bridges, 18 that day, which had to be opened so it took eight hours. We stayed at a large marina, but came in late and started early next day and did not have to pay (no one was there). The small town has only 10 000 people but is very exclusive. During the 1930’ it was a meeting place for the rich and famous and so it is today as well; such as Michael Jackson, the Kennedy clan, John Lennon, Bernard Madoff, Rod Steward, Donald Trump and many others have or had villas here. From Palm Beach we went offshore to Cape Canaveral with nice winds and sunshine. On the Fort Pierce Inlet we passed under a bridge and crushed our VHF antenna (Jennifer mast is 19 meters high and the VHF antenna one meter on top of that, bridges are 65’ high) , but otherwise everything went well. We finally arrived at a marina close to Cape Canaveral, Harbor Square Marina, and next day took a cab to Kennedy Space Center. Here we visited many pavilions, saw rockets, launch sites and IMAX movies. Next major stop was Jacksonville. We motored on the ICW, under fixed bridges or bridges which had to be opened, passed small towns, marinas and nature reserves, saw dolphins en masse, manatees and also campsites. One stop was St Augustine in Florida, the oldest city in North America. We stayed at Beach Marina outside Jacksonville and rented a car to visit the city, which is situated further inland than the ICW. In Jacksonville Ulf and Anne left us for a trip in Florida by car and then home to Sweden. From Jacksonville we went offshore again, due to warnings that it was too shallow on the ICW to Charleston. After a few days we arrived at the exclusive Hilton Head, famous for its golf tournaments, and moored in Hilton Head Harbor Resort. From here we rented a car and visited Savannah as the city lies about 15 NM inland from the ICW. In beautiful Savannah we picked up Maggie from Sydney who had sailed with Jennifer many times before. She had her own 33’ sailboat in Sidney and worked as an animator and produced among others The Flintstones. From Hilton Head to Charleston it was 110 NM and we made one overnight stop in the canal at Tom Point Creek, the most beautiful anchorage we had seen on the ICW. The next day we reached Charleston and moored in Charleston City Marina, next to an aircraft carrier, USS Yorktown, which was now a museum. Charleston, Charles Town, after the English King Charles II, lies in South Carolina with 120 000 people and is a big harbor town. It is mostly famous for its historical town, with beautiful buildings, villas and streets. Here we visited the slave museum and an old cotton plantation, where the movie “Gone With The Wind” was filmed. After three days in Charleston we continued on the ICW, now to the small Beaufort city 200 NM further north, in North Carolina. We made the trip during three days, stopping one night in Georgetown, our favorite town on the ICW and one stop in Barefoot Landing close to Myrtle Beach. Here Eva joined us. She had been on Jennifer numerous times, last time three months in Micronesia 2012 and she and her husband had their own sailingboat in Greece. On the third day, after an offshore nightsail in moonshine and light winds, we arrived in Beaufort, a small city where the marina had courtesy cars we could use. Here I installed the new warm water heater, the old one was 25 years old and leaked. In the local bookstore I found two examples of my book Occupation Circumnavigator and signed both. Outside Beaufort were two islands which were nature reservations, The Rachel Carson Coastal Reserve, which we visited. Rachel Carson, 1907-1964, was an American author who became famous 1962 with her book Silent Spring. Now the last portion of the ICW lay ahead of us, the one to Norfolk 200 NM further north. During three days we mostly motored but sometimes sailed with two overnight stops. We crossed a large river, Pamlico River, and anchored in front of a narrow canal for the first night. The second day we passes through the canal, over a large bay, Albemarle Sound, total exposed to the Atlantic we thought. But further away, in the distant horizon, there were barrier islands. But the large bay was shallow, and when the wind picked up so did the waves. But we got good wind and sunshine, but there were numerous fishing traps along the way so we had to keep a sharp outlook all the time. We stopped overnight in Elisabeth City and next day passed through the Great Dismal Swamp. The swamp starts in Pasquotank River and then becomes a narrow canal dug out by slaves during 12 years of hard labor. It is about two meters deep with locks in each end with overhanging trees. It is 18 NM long and was completed 1805. We touched the ground many times, but it was very quiet and beautiful, almost spooky. In Norfolk we tied up at the Waterside Marina centrally located downtown. Next to us was Nauticus, a huge maritime museum with the huge battleship Wisconsin, now a museum ship. I also visited the MacArthur Memorial, a large museum about the legendary five star general Douglas (1880-1964). Norfolk has the largest naval base in the world, and I saw six aircraft carrier, and many cruisers and destroyers in the harbor. Here Jan-Erik left us while Celinda from California joined. She was a friend of Maggie and a former English teacher. We were now going to sail up Chesapeake Bay, to Washington, Annapolis and Baltimore. We got bad weather from Norfolk with rain and gale force winds and made two overnight stops, one in Deltaville and one in Kinsale. Once in Kinsale the weather improved and we got sunshine again. From there we made one long sail to Washington up the Potomac River, with Maryland on our starboard side and Virginia on our port side, to Capital Yacht Club Marina in downtown Washington with walking distance to the Mall and all the monuments and museums. On the way we passed Mount Vernon, George Washington’s plantation now a great museum. While in Washington we did the tourist things; The Mall with all the Smithsonian museums (free entry) particularly Air & Space museum, the Lincoln and Jefferson memorial, The White House, Georgetown and a very interesting new museum, Newseum. We also visited Mount Vernon a bit outside the city. George Washington was both politician, commander in chief, businessman, philosopher and the first president of the United States. The most remarkable thing about him was that he might have been the first man in history to voluntarily give up power. Mostly kings, generals or politicians before him either died or got killed. For the first time in my life I rode a Segway, a 2-wheeled personal transporter, very exciting. Before we left for Annapolis, 150 NM away, Eva left us and Elena from Stockholm joined. Regards Lars.