Boating with Sunset Delight: 2020: New Bern to Cape Lookout to Wrightsville Beach Anchorage NC

21 October 2020

Depart: Fairfield Harbor Private Dock 10:25
Arrive: Cape Lookout Anchorage NC 4:35
Distance: 46.6 nm
Conditions: Cool, Cloudy, Humid

Before leaving New Bern, Clark and I went for a bike ride with our friend Ralph through his neighborhood. We biked for 4 miles, but with the very flat terrain, we could have gone much further. We prepped the boat for departure as much as possible before our bike ride. As soon as we returned to the boat, we dropped lines and waved goodbye to Ralph.

Goodbye Fairfield Harbor

Northwest Creek Marina
(where we did the pumpout upon arrival)

Our travels today took us down the Neuse River and onto Adam's Creek to rejoin the ICW into Beaufort, NC.

Adam's Creek scenery

Barge coming round the bend

Barge passing us

Entering Beaufort, NC

Cloudy skies but no rain expected

Fishing Vessels in Beaufort

Duke University Marine Lab in Beaufort, NC

Clark originally planned to anchor in Beaufort where we stopped on our way north in May, but our friend Dave, who lives in the area, recommended we check out Cape Lookout for a fun place to visit.

Looking at spot where we anchored in May
on our way north

Beaufort Inlet

Cape Lookout Lighthouse

Green Lit Marker by anchorage

Company in the anchorage

Spectacular Sky tonight

Light show at sunset

22 October 2020

Depart: Cape Lookout Anchorage 8:10
Arrive: Masonboro Inlet, Wrightsville Beach #3 anchorage, 4:50
Distance: 74 nm
Conditions: 70s, Sunny, Ocean Swells

For once, I woke up before the sunrise and was able to capture some pictures of the event.

Sunrise at Cape Lookout

As I watched the sunrise, some dolphins came to play near the boats.

Cape Lookout Lighthouse at Sunrise

With a long day’s ride on the ocean planned, we targeted an 8:00 departure. We would have made it if not for the amount of black muck Clark had to wash off the anchor as he pulled it up. Since the area appeared to be all beach, i.e. sand, the fact that the anchor came up mucky was a surprise to both of us.

Flock of Pelicans Gliding by

Red Marker - almost on the beach!

After exiting the anchorage, Clark set a waypoint for our destination, Masonboro Inlet, whereby the display showed that we would reach that point in about 8 hours. We had ocean swells today, as opposed to waves. Clark said, “It’s a ‘swell’ day thanks to Tropical Storm Epsilon!” (Boooo!)

Eight hours on the ocean quickly becomes tedious with nothing to look at but waves. We did stumble across one fish trap which thankfully I saw in time to navigate around it. Other than that – nothing!

Due to the curvature of the shoreline, we cut off a lot of time on our travel south. The alternative to the ocean route would be two days on the ICW with bridge openings, slow-speed-no-wake zones, and slow passes of other vessels. Being pushed by the swells, our speed fluctuated from 8.1 to 8.8 knots rapidly increasing and decreasing as the swells passed under the boat.

As a result of our route, we bypassed Camp Lejeune on the inside but a portion of our ocean path took us through the Camp Lejeune danger zone. With the “F” buoy marking the edge of the danger zone on our starboard side, Clark turned to me and said, “We made it through the danger zone with no hits! Guess they missed us as a target.”

Camp Lejeune Danger-zone Boundary Marker

Even though we traveled in a straight line for the entire ocean trip, starting and ending at inlets, at one point we found ourselves 11 nautical miles (about 13 miles) offshore. Thus, for a period of time, I shut down my phone due to weak or no signal. With two more hours to go on our trip, I got my cell signal back and was checking my phone when Clark said, “There are a bunch of fish by the boat!” I looked up and told him I could not see any. “You have to stand up. They are underwater”, he said. Whereby I replied, “I’m not standing up for a bunch of fish.”

With a very excited Clark running back and forth on the upper helm, I finally decided to take a look, I said, “Those are dolphins!” He looked at me and asked, “Well, aren’t dolphins fish?!” Noooo!

Dolphin playing next to our boat

Although we were out in the ocean, we could still hear some VHF radio calls coming from the ICW. We heard one humorous exchange between a boater and a bridge tender. It went something like this.

Boater: “Figure 8 Bridge, this is the boat approaching from the north requesting your next opening.”
Tender: “It looks like you might be able to make it without an opening.”
Boater: “I need 22’ 2” of clearance.”
Tender: “We’ve got 21’ 2”.”
Boater: “How lucky do I feel? I ran aground, twice went the wrong way up river, and ran out of gas. Last July, I hit a bridge and just finished getting the boat repaired. I don’t like bridges very much!”
Tender: “I’ll come down and take a look to see how you measure up.”
A little while later …
Boater: “I made it! Today must be our lucky day!”

As he left the Figure 8 bridge, the tender told him it was a 4-mile trip to the Wrightsville bridge that would open at 4:00. “If you hurry, you might just make that opening.” At 3:55 we heard the boater call the Wrightsville bridge, say he was running full open, and inquire about the opening, whereby, the bridge tender told him he might as well slow down and conserve fuel as he would not make the 4:00 opening.

At 4:05, we heard the same guy call the Wrightsville bridge once again requesting an opening. The tender explained that he missed the opening. The boater said that he thought the tender told him that, with a boat coming north, that he could make the bridge opening. He apologized to the tender for the misunderstanding and said he was turning around to get out of the congested area by the bridge. It would be 5:00 before the bridge would open again. Perhaps it was not his lucky day after all.

The GPS never changed its estimated arrival time and, after eight hours on the ocean, we finally arrived at the Masonboro Inlet. When we turned into the inlet, Clark had to take over from the autopilot as the following seas pushed us every which way.

Red-Green Marker at Masonboro Inlet

Arrival at Masonboro Inlet

Waves breaking on the jetty along inlet

No sooner did we exit the inlet than Clark pointed to an area by the waterway and said, "That's where we are anchoring tonight!" I had no idea it would be that soon after exiting the ocean!