Boating with Sunset Delight: Swansboro, NC

3/29/2017

Today's travels presented a challenge in that we had a number of obstacles to get through to make a marina for the night. Clark figured that with a number of bridge openings (some opening only on the hour and others only on the hour or half-hour), we would need to stop at Swan Point Marina in Sneads Ferry, NC. However, when he called to make the reservation, the person he spoke to told him he could get further along if he so desired. We left our reservation with Swan Point as tentative and decided to make a decision later when we saw how things went with the bridges.

Beyond the bridges, we had another obstacle - Camp Lejeune. This marina base fires live munitions over the ICW at scheduled times. Every night Clark does his Captain's homework by reading the entries in the application Active Captain. Here, he was reminded to call the camp for firing hours. He was told that today the waterway would be open on "odd" hours and closed to traffic on the "even" hours, so we had to figure that into our calculations.

Throughout the day, we ran through the numbers multiple times
- what mile marker are we currently at?
- how far is it to the next bridge, when do they open, and will we make the opening or have to wait?
- how about the bridge after that one?
- how fast are we going (with current / against current -- the numbers changed drastically)?
- if we keep going, what time will we arrive at camp lejeune?
- can we get to the marina on the other side of the camp before they close at 5:00?

When we were not calculating arrival times, we enjoyed the sights on the waterway.

Crane on bridge

Here's one swing bridge we had to have opened for us

Open Swing Bridge

Crane used to Set Pilings by bridge

Bucket Truck and Crane on Barge
Clark said he would not want to be in the bucket working on electrical wires
and get "waked".

Yesterday, we saw the flamboyant pink and purple house. Today, we saw a more subdued pink house.

Another Pink House on ICW

Timing worked out for us on our bridge travels. We had to wait for one bridge for about 15 minutes. With the others, we arrived close enough to the scheduled opening times that we had minimal wait times to transit. Given our progress and the repeated positive results of our ETA calculations, Clark called the Swan Point Marina and canceled our reservation.

Swan Point Marina - we almost stayed here

In the mornings, we have no problems navigating the waters of the ICW as we have high tide. The afternoons, however, definitely present a challenge for Sunset Delight as we approach and enter low tide. Theoretically, this boat only requires four more inches of water beyond what Sea Moss demanded. As we traveled the waters, we paid very close attention to the advisories in Active Captain telling where to watch for "skinny" water, i.e. shoaling.

In one area where we focused on the channel markers and the readings from the depth finders, we noticed a boat rapidly approaching from our port side. At first we thought the boat to be Tow Boat U.S.; however, as the boat flew past us, we identified it as the US Coast Guard. The most notable difference - Tow Boat U.S. boats do not have machine guns on the bow. Fortunately, we had slowed almost to a stop to look for deep water, so we were not in their way as they zoomed by.

USCG whizzing past us and waving merrily as they flew by!

Immediately after our USCG encounter, we rounded a bend in the waterway and came to even less water depths than we had before. I tried to pilot as Clark read Active Captain notes to help find the deeper water. Whoops! We bumped bottom. Clark and I had a difference of opinion on where the deeper water sat. Fortunately we did not run aground and get stuck. We pulled away and found sufficient water to keep going.

Meanwhile, we were still worried about the upcoming bridge opening time and the Camp Lejeune transit hours. If we had to travel at much slower speeds due to depth concerns, would we make the bridge opening at 3:00 to get through the firing zone during an "odd" hour. Since we did not have too far to travel through the shallow waters, we did manage to get to the bridge prior to the 3:00 opening.

There we found a sailboat, Shipp Mates, waiting for an opening. We heard the captain of that boat calling "the military boat by the Onslow Bridge" but getting no answer. Clark then called Shipp Mates on the radio and told him about the transit schedule for Camp Lejeune. Prior to Clark's call, we heard the Shipp Mates captain tell the bridge tender that he had decided to give up and turn around. After Clark gave him the transit information, he called the bridge tender again and told him he had decided to continue on.

Waiting for Onslow Bridge near Camp Lejeune

Camp Lejeune in the distance

Bridge opened at 3:00 - Shipp Mates went first

As we neared the bridge, we heard Shipp Mates call the military boat to find out if it was safe to transit Camp Lejeune. With a positive answer, we continued on our way and passed the US Navy Patrol boat guarding the waterway.

US Navy Patrol boat by Camp Lejeune

As we entered Camp Lejeune, Clark and I looked nervously at the sign at the entrance flashing red lights. It indicated that live munitions firing was underway when flashing and advised that the reader of the sign tune to AM 530 for details. Clark and I wondered where we might find an AM radio, shrugged and kept moving. After all, we had permission to proceed.

We saw some interesting objects as we entered Camp Lejeune.

Targets for the shelling?!

Shortly after viewing the well-used targets positioned along the waterway, Clark and I heard BOOM. That was more than a little unnerving and even more so when we heard a second BOOM! We kept going with our fingers crossed for a safe transit.

Needless to say, we made it safely out of the firing zone. After exiting, a quick calculation showed us to be about one hour away from our destination for the night with an ETA of 4:45. The marina closes at 5:00, and we had to be sure we could get there before they closed for the night.

Along the way, we passed a lavender-colored house to add to our collection of pink and purple house pictures.

Lavender-colored House in NC

We arrived at Casper's Marina in Swansboro, NC at 4:30 and decided that we would walk the two blocks into town to have a look around. After walking around town, we ate dinner at the Swansboro Food & Beverage Co. followed by ice cream at Bake Bottle and Brew. Since we were in the restaurant when the sun went down, we missed tonight's sunset. As we walked back to the boat, we could hear boom, boom in the distance as the munitions firing continued into the evening.

Shops, Park Pavillion, and Restaurants in Swansboro, NC ...