When we arrived at Caspers Marina in Swansboro, NC yesterday, several other boats lined the docks, but by the time we left this morning around 9:00, all the other boats had already departed.
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| Disappointed the logo is not a ghost |
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| There were boats here when we went to bed last night |
Seeing bad weather on the way for Friday, we decided to skip a night at Morehead City and travel the whole distance to New Bern today. Although the distance from Swansboro to New Bern is only 20 miles "as the crow flies", our boat trip calculated out as 90 miles given the route the water forced us to take.
Our travels today took us east then north then west. Although we had a sunny day, the wind made it feel super cold. By the end of the day I had bundled up so that only my eyes were visible through the clothing, and still I felt the cold. We even brought a blanket up on the flybridge to put over our legs to add warmth. We hoped that when we changed from east to north that the wind direction would change and the wind chill would be eliminated, but we saw no relief until we finally turned west for the last leg of our journey.
We traveled miles of typical ICW scenery through the Carolinas, and then our route took us into Bogue Sound where we saw some noteworthy sights. As I piloted the boat, I saw numerous birds collectively sitting on the water. I expected them to leave well before our boat arrived at their spot of congregation. Amazingly, they did not budge until we were almost on top of them.
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| Shoo ... Stubborn birds in our path |
As I focused on the birds, a few boats snuck up on us from behind. We noticed them as one-by-one they whizzed by us on our starboard side. After seeing the first, we did not expect a second or a third or a fourth.
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| 1 of 4 Camouflage Boats Zipping by us on Bogue Sound |
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| Camouflage boats gone in a flash! |
We also saw some interesting wooden structures in the water. Some had sea grass coating them; others did not. Clark surmised that these may be used for duck hunting.
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| Artificial barrier for duck hunters? |
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| Approaching Morehead City, NC |
We could hear a train well before we could see one. Given we had a railroad bridge coming up, we hoped it would not be a long train to delay our progress towards New Bern. As I searched for the train by looking among the buildings on our port side, I spotted an engine moving along tracks with no cars attached. It disappeared behind a building, and when it reappeared, heading back the way it had come, I could see that it had picked up only four cars.
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| Train at work site in Morehead City, NC |
Fortunately for us, the train stopped and did not require the train bridge to be closed to us.
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| Railroad bridge open |
All around us we saw work boats. Tugs, barges, and dredging equipment abounded.
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| Tug next to dredging piping |
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| Tug in Morehead City, NC |
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| Dredging equipment |
As we passed through the railroad bridge, Clark pointed out some damage.
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| A few broken boards on the fenders of this railroad bridge |
As I focused on the scene behind me, taking a last picture of Morehead City, I heard Clark say something that did not quite register over the noise of the area.
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| Sign reads "NO WAKE - Men Working Barges" |
Coming back to the helm, I realized that Clark had pointed out that I was missing an opportunity to capture the "view down the tracks" railroad picture. Whoops! I looked and saw that I was just seconds too late to try for the perfect tracks shot.
After another seven-hour day on the water, we arrived in New Bern as planned just before 4:00. After 4:00, the bridge does not open on demand due to heavy, car-traffic volume. If we had not made 4:00, we would have had to sit until 5:00 to get passage through the bridge to get to the marina where the staff leave for the day at 5:00 p.m. Timing is everything!
Groggy from hours of boat travel over several days in a row, I finally gave in at 5:30 to lie down for a few minutes before working on dinner. While I laid snuggled in bed (serious nap), I could hear Clark in the pilot house on the phone trying to work out the bugs in our WiFi booster setup. When I finally dragged myself out of my cozy bed and checked my watch, I was amazed to see 7:00. I staggered out to the galley and got busy on dinner.
After dinner Clark and I went out and rechecked our lines in preparation for the inclement weather expected for tomorrow. Last reports indicated a 90% chance of heavy rains with thunder storms likely. Strong winds are expected to accompany the storm. Hopefully we are well prepared should the storms appear as predicted.
NOTE - an update to an earlier post.
I received the following comment from Bill Kight, a reader of my blog, related to a picture posted two days ago. Thank you Bill for this useful comment!
He said ...
In the photo labeled "Danger-Rocks", the small square building with large disc on top is a VHF aid to navigation for aircraft, called a VORTAC, located at North Myrtle Beach airport located adjacent to the ICW. Trivia: Its name used by pilots and air traffic control is "Grand Strand" and operates on frequency 117.6 MHz. For reference, marine VHF communication radios use frequencies (roughly) from 156-162 MHz.
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