16 April 2022
Depart: Cape Fear / Tina’s
Pocket anchorage 8:10
Arrive: Harbour Point Yacht
Club, Carolina Beach, NC 9:15
Distance: 11 nm
Conditions: Overcast skies; in
the 60s
Clark said that if we left the anchorage before 10:00, we
would have a fast ride with the current on the Cape Fear River. With that, and
being so close, we had a short trip through Snow’s Cut to arrive at our
destination. As we approached the yacht club, we looked hard to see ‘Cuda at
dock but the boat was well hidden. I spied my friend Mary waving from the end
of one of the docks, and I told Clark “Turn Right!” Of course, as per usual, he
had to question my directions. “Turn right?” He did as I instructed and then we
could see ‘Cuda hiding behind a couple of boats.
Mary and her two children, Shelby and Owen, met us at the dock and grabbed our lines. The slip we went into measured 18’ wide. We are 16’ wide. With the fenders out we would have very little room to spare. I do not deploy fenders until we are in a tight slip to avoid them getting caught on something as we back in. We managed to shoehorn ourselves in there with me as his eyes in the stern giving Clark directions on how to avoid hitting the poles on either side of the slip. Backup visibility on this boat is pretty much nonexistent.
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| "Home" for the next few days |
As soon as we got lines tied and electric hooked up, it was off to the hardware store with Tres for Clark and the grocery store with Mary for me. Both are within biking distance of the yacht club, but since we had the offer of a car ride, we took it. After that we filled up the water tank. I grabbed a shower and did a load of laundry to get us by for a few more days. Having anchored every night since Vero Beach, we were both running out of clean underwear! Before putting the hose away, Clark washed the salt off the boat.
While we were doing our chores, Tres told Clark that he was
taking ‘Cuda to Bald Head for lunch and wondered if we wanted to come along.
Since we were both busy, we declined.
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| ‘Cuda |
Shortly after they left, the skies darkened with threatening
clouds. I wondered if ‘Cuda would get caught in heavy rains.
Not even an hour after they left the dock, ‘Cuda returned. I thought “Wow! That was a quick lunch!” Then, I wondered if the threat of a storm had made them change their minds on going. Unfortunately, the reason for their return was much worse. Tres said he had blown an engine! He came back to the marina on one engine. As soon as he got docked in his slip, he was down in the engine room to check out the problem. Of course, word spread quickly up and down the dock, and all the men rushed to ‘Cuda to talk about the situation.
We spent the rest of the day talking with the folks we met
at Marlin Bay and getting introduced to others on this very friendly dock whom
we had not had the pleasure of meeting before. Trish and Steve came and got us
and invited us to sit on their boat for a chat. Then late afternoon, we could
see folks gathering at ‘Cuda, so we went to join them. What a friendly group of
folks are here!
Eventually we made our way back to our boat. Since I had
electricity and could use my toaster oven, I bought a frozen pizza at the
grocery store. I buy plain cheese and then add whatever I have on hand as my
own toppings. So good and cheap!
The folks on ‘Cuda and “Voyage” said we could stay as long
as we wanted, so we decided to spend a few of our extra days here at the yacht
club. Having not been at a dock here (we’ve anchored near here before), I
wanted to grab the bicycles and go out exploring.
17 April 2022 – Easter Sunday
No boat travel.
As we got our bicycles out and ready for our exploration of
the area, Clark heard that the folks on the dock would have a potluck lunch at ‘Cuda
at 1:00. We figured that gave us 1.5 to 2 hours to explore. Clark figured we
should head for the beach and boardwalk, and then after the potluck gathering
explore the other direction. As it turned out, we had too much fun at the lunch
gathering (as expected on my part), so we never did the bike ride part two. We
saw enough on bike ride part one to make us both happy.
Our first stop on our bike tour was to, of all places, the
True Value Hardware store in town. I thought it would be closed on Easter
Sunday, but it was doing hopping business. They sold more than nuts and bolts
as I saw a woman come out to her car carrying a bouquet of flowers in one hand
and a bag of ice in the other! I had plenty of time to read the adverts on the marquis. As I saw one that said "Happy Easter", I thought, "I need a picture of that!" No Easter eggs for me - just a trip to hang out outside a hardware store!
Unfortunately, Clark did not find what he was looking for in the hardware store. I figured since he was in there for a while as I babysat the bicycles that he was not having much luck, and I was right. With that task out of the way, we carried on towards the boardwalk to do our exploration.
When we got back to the marina area, we still had plenty of time to explore, so we decided to check out the Snow's Cut Trail.
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| View of Snow's Cut from land |
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| Snow's Cut Bridge |
Snow's Cut Trail ...
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| Sandy / Gravelly Trail was a little hard on me and the bike. |
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| Perfect place to sit and enjoy the view |
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| Selfie on swing |
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| I could have sat here all day. Lovely! |
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| Men fishing along Snow's Cut Shore |
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| Kids playing in sand |
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| He must have great balance! |
We got back from the bike ride just around noon time. We just about had time to clean ourselves up to look presentable, and it was time to check out the party. Turns out they started earlier than 1:00, so we grabbed our food offering and ran down to join in on the fun. Here we met yet more friendly folks on the dock and got reacquainted with others we had met at Marlin Bay. It felt like a family reunion.
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| Owen and Dakota on top of 'Cuda |
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| Payton with dog Whiskey |
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| Socializing |
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| Food served on 'Cuda |
Not surprisingly, with a group of boaters, Clark found a couple of guys that played guitars. Not too long after that we had live music for the gathering. Clark and one other, Dave, had guitars. With three of them that could play, they passed the guitars back and forth. “Here, you try mine!”
Dave plays in a band and on occasion puts on a concert from the bow of his boat. Clark and he had a lot of fun playing guitars together.
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| Dave with Clark's Guitar |
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| Clark with Clark's Guitar |
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| Owen with Dave's Guitar |
Unlike us, the folks on ‘Cuda are still young enough to be working, so as the afternoon wore on, they had to leave to drive back home on the other side of the state – a long drive for them. Others also headed out as the day wore on as they only usually visit the dock on the weekend. We were left to hang out on our own. Multiple folks told us that we just had to try Britt’s Donuts as folks line up down the street to enjoy this treat.
Unfortunately, Shelby popped that bubble by saying the place is only open on weekends. We will have to save Britt’s Donuts for another day. There was no way Clark was going to give up his guitar session for a donut!
18 April 2022 – Rainy Monday
Our last full day at Carolina Beach turned out to be a washout. Fortunately, with Britt’s Donuts closed, I had nowhere I needed or wanted to be other than on the boat. It started raining in the early hours of the day – like 4:00 a.m. The forecast indicated it would stop raining by 4:00 p.m. The forecast lied! I read my current fantasy novel and then worked on the blog for hours to try to bring it up to date while here.
The one down side is that we found no WiFi at this location, so my Verizon hotspot is taking the hit!
NO pictures today. There was nothing to see but rain until 6:00 at night when it finally cleared up enough for Clark to top up the water tank and get rid of some garbage for me.
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