Sunday 4/22/2018
Depart: Calabash River Anchorage 9:15
Arrive: South Harbour Village Marina 1:30
Distance: 29 nm
Our
anchorage on the Calabash River proved one of the most serene that I have
experienced. We had bright sun, a cool breeze, no bugs, birds chirping /
singing, and no other boats. Just nature! Before heading back out onto the ICW,
Clark suggested we travel further along the Calabash River to check out the
area. The channel markers along this river looked to be aligned all in a row
even though the colors alternated red – green. Since we explored at low tide,
we had to be extra diligent to keep to deeper water.
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| Channel markers all in a row |
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| Coming into Calabash, NC |
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| Pilings? For what purpose? |
As we came
upon the marina, we saw the fishing boats that came by our anchorage. Apparently,
they do not go out on Sundays.
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| Fishing Boats at Dock |
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| Fishing Boat |
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| Hurricane Shrimper |
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| Catch of the Day? |
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| Lazy Pelicans on Unused Dock |
We could see
the channel continued beyond the marina and the fishing boats, but it did not
appear to hold any particularly interesting sights. Given the low tide, we
turned around at the marina to retrace our steps towards the ICW.
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| Calabash River beyond the docks |
On the Calabash
River we had a lovely, light breeze. When we rounded the corner onto the ICW
and came out from behind the protective wall of trees, winds measuring 20 knot
speeds hit us full in the face. Given we had anchored behind that wall of
trees, it instantly became clear that Clark had chosen our spot for the night
very well.
Immediately
after turning onto the ICW, I spotted the wrecked fishing boat that I have seen
on other trips through here. I never realized it practically marked the
entrance to the Calabash River and the South Carolina / North Carolina border.
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| Wrecked Fishing Boat |
Typical of
South Carolina, we passed many super long docks from the water to people’s
homes. We decided to play the camera game of trying to take a picture straight
down the dock (like the RR track pictures Clark likes to take).
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| Dock Shot |
Many had
obstructions to a clear shot such as railings, dock boxes, chairs and flags.
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| Railings in the way |
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| Good, but a relatively short dock |
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| Got one! |
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| Bingo! All the way down the dock to the door of the house |
Given the
cold, windy conditions, both Clark and I were surprised to find a number of
kayaks crossing the waterway in front of us. I prefer warmer, calmer weather
when I go out in a kayak.
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| Group of Kayaks on the ICW |
Just a
little further on, we found many more kayaks being launched. It had to be a
kayak club going on an outing. They even had a small motor boat escort to
travel with them.
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| Sunday Kayak Outing |
We passed
many large homes with 5 or 6 bathrooms, 6000+ square foot of space, … I know
because I used Google Maps to get the street name for the houses and then
checked Zillow.com for home prices and descriptions. I noticed that a lot of
house can be purchased for less money in South Carolina than the same-sized house in New
Jersey. In some areas we passed Condo
complexes with unit prices up around $500,000. They usually came with a golf course!
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| Raised Big House |
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| Raised Bigger House |
After miles
of huge houses, we arrived at an enormous campground stuffed full of campers
and RVs.
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| Sea Mist Campground & RV Park |
We heard /
saw a few other oddities on the ICW today. For example, we heard a radio call
from a boater to a female bridge tender. After exiting, the boater called to
the tender, “All clear. Thanks for the opening babe!”
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| Smiley Face Sailboat docked at “Old Ferry Seafood” Shop |
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| Colorful houses that reminded us of the Bahamas |
As Clark
piloted the boat, an airplane flew low overhead. Looking to the left, all he could
see was trees, and it looked like the plane would fly right into them. As he got closer,
he saw a clearing with a runway and an airport.
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| Airport Runway between the trees |
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| Hidden Airport |
We arrived
at the marina early enough to do some chores. Given we had chosen a marina for
tonight’s stay due to expecting rain, as soon as we finished docking, I ran to
do the laundry. Afterwards, I did some baking to make applesauce cake for
Clark’s midnight snacks.
Clark, on
the other hand, worked on some boat issues. When we used the dinghy recently,
he could not raise the outboard. It needs to be in a raised position for proper
positioning on the boat. He spent time working on it, with some help from a
local boater, to get the air out of the hydraulic system and reposition the
outboard.
By late
afternoon, the rain had still not arrived. However, given the atmospheric
conditions, Clark’s evening picture did not show much in the way of a sunset.
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| “Not-so-sunny sunset” Picture of the Day |
After
waiting all day and most of the night, the rain finally started to fall well
into the night.
Monday 4/23/2018
No Boat Travel.
With the
dreary weather, I curled up on the sofa and read my murder mystery.
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| Dreary day at South Harbour Village Marina |
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| South Harbour Village Marina Hampstead, NC |
Clark
decided that with heavy rain predicted, he should scrub some soap into the
grease stain under the outboard where the hydraulic fluid leaked out. True to
form, once he started cleaning he did not know how to stop and hosed down the
boat from bow to stern. Since he washed the outside, I decided I should clean
inside. The boat looked better afterwards, inside and out, but needs deeper
cleaning.
A couple of
interesting boats passed by the marina today.
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| What kind of boat is this? Stealth boats? |
Tuesday 4/24/2018
Depart: South Harbor Village Marina 11:00
Arrive: Harbour Village Marina, Hampstead, NC 4:45
Distance: 39 nm
The worst of
the weather front passed by overhead around 6:30 this morning. The TV
weatherman had said it would be a very bad morning commute, and I could only
imagine those poor people trying to drive through the torrents of water falling
from the sky. It cleared for a while, but then just after 9:00 we got a
thunderstorm. I wondered if the weather would clear up so that we could leave
the marina this morning for the next leg of our journey.
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| Clouds at South Harbour Village Marina |
Clark said
we had to time our leaving to coincide with a bridge opening that only happens
on the hour. He said we missed the 10:00 opportunity, so we would target
leaving around 11:00. Miraculously, around 10:30, the clouds started to clear
and the skies brighten.
We headed
out at 11:00 as planned. Once again we traveled in damp, windy weather with
gusts up to 20 knots. Even without rain, the skies proved overcast and foggy.
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| Foggy Day on the Waterway |
Being close
to Southport, we quickly arrived at Cape Fear River. We had been traveling for
a while and I saw no bridge on the horizon. I asked Clark if we would make the
bridge in the next 12 minutes. Thinking about it, Clark realized that when he
said this morning that we had to time our leaving for the bridge, he had
confused today’s travel plans with tomorrow’s. A quick review of the charts
revealed that a bridge further along had scheduled openings, but we would not
reach there until the afternoon.
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| Southport Ferry |
Clark saw
more of those mysterious gray boats today.
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| Army-Gray “Stealth” Boats again |
We arrived
at the Wrightsville Beach Bridge at 2:15. Unfortunately, this bridge only opens
on the hour. With 45 minutes to wait for the next opening, Clark backed off
from the bridge and the busy dock area and dropped our anchor to hang out for a
while. I read my novel and Clark made and received phone calls while we waited.
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| Wrightsville Bridge |
With the
3:00 opening, we transited the bridge and headed for the next one. The Figure 8
Island bridge only opens on the hour and half hour. Fortunately, we had the
current with us. That, and the fact that Clark stepped up the RPM to move us
along, helped us make it to the bridge at 3:28. When we arrived, we checked the
clearance which showed 21’ of height available; we need a minimum of 22’. We
called for an opening.
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| Figure 8 Island Swing Bridge |
We still had
another 12 nm to go to get to the marina after we left the Figure 8 Island
Bridge. At 4:45 we arrived at the marina and found another looper boat, Horizons, docked there. We introduced
ourselves and chatted for a while. When we docked, the dock master mentioned
having pizza delivered. Suddenly, I decided that I wanted pizza for supper. The
restaurant I ordered from is called “Brooklyn Pizza”. They lived up to their
name!
Clark looked
for a sunset tonight but could not find a sunset, or even a not-so-sunny sunset, picture for the blog.
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