Hi Jeremy,

...which likely would have put him into fairly close proximity to the Stream pretty quickly - especially given the relentless succession of fronts that could have pushed him quickly offshore...

But since we've learned he left from Little River Inlet instead, it's possible he might have wandered around for quite some time much further inshore, before drifting out past Cape Fear and getting caught in the GS...

As I mentioned elsewhere, a check of the logs of the swing bridges on the ICW would be a quick way to confirm the validity of his timeline... If indeed he passed thru the bridge at Little River prior to 1/23, and there's no record of his passing through any of the bridges further north, seems like there's a very strong probability that the story is true...