NC: Hampstead - Harbour Village Marina

Day 334
June 22, 2016
NM Today: 38
NM To Date: 5271

Last night Clark was 90% sure we would leave Bald Head Island this morning. He left that 10% chance in case the winds kicked up even harder and made it less appealing to leave. Although we enjoyed Bald Head Island immensely, we felt we had seen all we needed to for a "taste" of this area as we continue our Great Loop trek. The wind did not appear to be prohibitive so we decided to move along.

In preparation for departing the protected waters of the harbor and entering the choppy waters of Cape Fear, I "battened down the hatches", i.e. closed all the windows (lesson learned from yesterday) and made sure that anything that might get thrown to the floor by rough waters was secure.

Preparing to leave the calmer waters
narrow passageway made entering the harbor quite interesting yesterday

Compared to some experiences we have had with choppy water, including those we had yesterday coming into the Bald Head Island harbor, today's chop was nothing to speak of. We rocked, got minimal splash, and had a wonderful breeze in the bargain.  Given the heat and humidity I was glad for the breeze and sorry when it left us as we turned the corner to move north on the ICW.

After we left the choppy waters behind, I thought today would probably be a ho-hum day on the water, but instead we had a few sights and incidents that made the trip quite interesting. First, crossing to Southport from Bald Head Island, Clark noticed a lighthouse off in the distance which he said reminded him of Barnegat Light in New Jersey. Barnegat light is two-tone like the one in the photo but is red on top, not black.

Lighthouse that reminded Clark of "home"

We decided not to stop at Southport today and targeted two alternatives further north on the ICW instead (Plan A and Plan B). Clark took a couple more pictures of Southport as we continued on by.

Southport Water Tower

Southport

The scenery along the ICW changes constantly. One minute I was looking at trees, rocks and sandy soil that reminded me of the rivers in Tennessee ...

and the next I was looking at mega-houses that reminded me of Florida.

I decided the place with the large houses must be yet another resort town. As we came out from under the bridge we were greeted by a new sight on the ICW.

Stand-up Paddle Boards and a "do-it-yourself" island

 The "island" contained a flagpole with a U.S. flag and a plastic palm tree along with a boat or two and a few people sitting in beach chairs. There was one serious issue with this island; however, it clearly disappears with the high tide.

Rapidly disappearing island as high tide rolls in
Those beach chairs are sinking fast!
I wonder if the palm tree floats.

Continuing northward we came to the Figure 8 Bridge.

Figure 8 Bridge

As we approached the bridge, we were the third boat in line. Boat 1, named Bad Idea, requested an opening of the bridge for himself and boat #2 - Celebration. He must have decided that we could clear the bridge without an opening because he did not include us in his request. It was clear from the way his request was worded that the owner of Boat 1 did not know the owner of Boat 2.

The next opening would occur at 2:00, and it was several minutes before 2:00. The bridge tender asked Bad Idea what vertical clearance he needed, and based on the reply, told him he did not need an opening. For Celebration, however, the bridge tender was not as definite, and although the bridge tender called Celebration to get his vertical clearance, Celebration did not respond.

Clark got on the radio and told the bridge tender he definitely did not need an opening and asked Celebration if he did. Clark said, "If you need to wait for the opening, let me know and I will pass you." Surprisingly, Celebration answered Clark. He said, "I am going to try to squeeze under."

Every once in a while Clark makes me laugh out loud with his responses. Today, he told Celebration, "Okay, I'll follow behind and pick up the debris." Whereby Celebration responded, "Roger that, but I'll need the TV antenna back or I'll get in serious trouble". I.e. his wife (the admiral) would be unhappy with him.

Bad Idea (in front) and Celebration  behind

We all made it through with all boat parts intact. As Celebration approached the bridge, Clark called him on the radio to tell him he would clear. As he passed under the bridge, Clark told him he had a good six inches of clearance. Fortunately the bridge tender had noticed the speed boat flying by us as we approached the bridge. Rocking caused by the wake from that boat could have been enough for Celebration to hit the bridge. He waited for the "speed demon" to pass before attempting the bridge.

As we exited the bridge we could see something off in the sky in the distance that looked pretty ominous.

Storm Cloud??

 Clark was getting ready to look at his weather / radar app on the phone to see what was coming our way when the bridge tender said "... forest fire ...".  Our next thought was "which way is that smoke blowing".  Fortunately, the smoke was not coming our way so it did not interfere with our travels.

Smoke from forest fire in North Carolina near the ICW

Our next bit of excitement came when suddenly a boater announced over Channel 16, "Anyone near marker 121, I just ran aground there." Clark jumped on the radio and called to him, but the announcer did not reply to Clark. By this time Clark was at marker 121 himself and had to pay careful attention to the channel. From the reading on our depth sounder, we basically had zero water under the keel. Fortunately, we did not "bump".

Still further along the ICW we saw some dredging equipment. (Somebody should tell them to move further south!) That by itself was not of great interest. However, the fact that the dredging platform was being propelled across the waterway using the backhoe as a makeshift oar proved quite interesting to Clark.

Dredging Equipment

Of course by the time Clark had the boat close enough and the camera aimed in the right direction, the operator had swung the backhoe arm around, so it was no longer propelling the platform across the water.

Backhoe Oar?

As we travel through North Carolina and Virginia we will pass some military locations. Given that, I expect I might see some out-of-the-ordinary sights. Today Clark saw an unusual aircraft - one that has vertical take off and landing capabilities.

Vertical Take Off and Landing Airplane

Once again Clark had a Plan A and a Plan B for places to stay tonight. At 1:00 we made the decision to keep going. As a result, our final destination for the day turned out to be Harbour Village Marina in Hampstead, NC. From a boater's point of view, there is nothing at this location except the marina. With this in mind, Clark decided that we would dock, turn on the air conditioning, and just hang out for the rest of the day. Bravo! My objective - take a nap!

Checking in at the marina took an inordinately long time from my perspective. Clark and the marina manager got into a very long and detailed discussion on Yanmar engines related to the engine overheat problem that Clark discovered with our port engine back in March in Marathon, Florida. I listened intently for quite a while but eventually decided my nap was way more important and left them talking.

I never did get that nap as while I was lying down on the bed, my cell phone rang and it was my younger son, Chris, calling. Instead of sleeping I had a lovely long chat with him including, of course, updates on my four-month old granddaughter, Lily. After I got off the phone, it was time to make dinner, then do the dishes, then do the blog, then ... I guess I will take that nap at bedtime.

After dinner Clark stepped out to use the marina washroom and came back with his POD (picture of the day) for Facebook. Tonight's picture was the sunset consisting of a combination of the sun and the forest fire smoke.

Smokey Sunset in Hampstead, NC