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I would take the ICW to Beaufort NC and then hug the coast. The Gulfstream tends to get pretty close to the shoals at Hatteras, Cape lookout, and Cape Fear. I even go back into the ICW at Masonboro inlet and out the Cape Fear river. This allows me to avoid Frying Pan Shoals which I usually arrive at at night for some reason. They can get pretty rough sometimes and I'm just not interested in crossing them without being able to see. Also sometimes the stream is in close enough to be going over the shoals. If you stay outside to at least St. Augustine you're never more than 12 hours or so from a decent inlet, assuming you can motor at 5 knots. The other advantage off shore is that it's cooler. The ICW can be quite hot in the summer, but as Bill says there are some quite pretty and interesting places.
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