29 October 2022
Depart: Morehead City, NC anchorage 8:00!
Arrive: Masonboro Inlet / Wrightsville, NC Channel anchorage 5:00
Distance: 71 nm
Today we had yet another gray start to the day. I found it exceedingly difficult to get motivated to get out of bed. However, Clark said we needed a relatively early start, so we got going despite the dreary weather.
Normally, when we leave an anchorage, all the sailboats have left before us. Since they generally travel at a slower rate, they typically start their days at dawn. Today, the anchorage was full of sailboats when we left, and they did not look like they would be going anywhere today.
After thinking about it for a while, I realized that the sailboats were stuck. The waves in the ocean were predicted to be up to 15 feet in height and the Figure 8 Island Bridge was stuck in the down position. The sailboats could neither go on the outside nor on the ICW! Luckily, we could scoot under the 20' clearance of the Figure 8 bridge even if it could not open, so we were not restricted on travel.
As we made our way today, we saw dolphins galore. None of them posed for a picture however. We also saw a number of bird conventions along the way.
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| Pelican convention |
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| Seagull Convention |
Although I had threatened Clark not to take tons of pictures of things we see every time we come down the ICW, I snuck in a few myself.
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| Huge trailer home park along the water |
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| Inland side view of waterway |
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| Oceanside view of waterway |
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| Yet another bird convention (I'd hate to see what those docks look like!) |
Well, that boater got real lucky because unbeknownst to everyone apparently, the Figure 8 bridge was fixed yesterday and able to open! As other boats waited for the bridge to open, we scooted under to keep going instead of waiting - of course that meant lowering the antennas and mast, but Clark hates to wait for bridges.
As we made our turn at the Masonboro Inlet to head for the anchorage on the Wrightsville Channel, we passed a boat with teenage boys on board that were just climbing out of the water from a swim. Meanwhile, Clark and I had on winter coats due to the chill in the air!
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| Swimmers with Impressive Stamina |
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| Sunset at Wrightsville Channel anchorage |
30 October 2022
Depart: Wrightsville, NC anchorage 8:50
Arrive: Tina's Pocket anchorage off Cape Fear near Southport, NC 3:15
Distance: 21 nm
We had an unusual schedule for today. Clark wanted to get going reasonably early but planned on initially only traveling a short distance to Carolina Beach to visit friends at a yacht club located there. The current on Cape Fear is fierce. He wanted to wait for it to be flowing with us to get a fast ride instead of bucking it underway. He figured that visiting friends was a good way to pass the time waiting for the tide to turn.
Yesterday after dropping anchor, Clark contacted Steve and Trish on "Journey" whom we met at Marlin Bay last year. They enthusiastically invited us to drop by the CBYC to enjoy a visit. Clark had spoken to Tres whom we also know from Marlin Bay. He said his boat slip was available for us to tie up in.
At 8:30 we started the process for bringing up the anchor. When Clark went to the bow, he found the anchor line going under the boat. Pulling on the line did nothing as it was tight against the hull. We could not use the engines as we did not know where the line was caught and did not want to wrap the line around a prop.
Clark decided to use the bow thruster to spin the boat and try to get the line out from under the boat. He spun the boat 180 degrees without success. Next, he went into the engine room and tried to turn the prop shafts by hand for each engine. Both turned freely so that was good news. Clark said he saw three options: 1 - wait for high tide, 2 - use our dinghy to push to boat to try to free the line, or 3 - wait for another boater to come by and ask them to push our boat.
None of those options appealed to us. Clark decided to use the bow thruster once again and spun the boat 180 degrees back around to where we started. Eureka! Success! The line got freed up and we could get the anchor up and underway! Instead of 8:30 we got out of there at 8:50. It could have been much worse.
When we arrived at CBYC, we were happily greeted by Dell and Robin on "Avalon" whom we also met at Marlin Bay. The dog that we met in May at the yacht club, "Whiskey", gave us a great barking welcome as well. (Although we expected to see Trish and Steve, they did not make an appearance before we had to get underway.)
No sooner did we have our lines tied than Robin offered to drive me to Publix. I said yes because I really wanted one thing. I came back from the store with three bags full! I saw the fruits and veggies and grabbed what I could carry! After the trip to the store, Dell, Robin, Clark and I sat on our boat and talked until lunch time. Once we finished eating our lunch, Clark and I pulled in our lines and left the marina for our next stop of the day.
As Clark predicted, we had the current with us on the Cape Fear River, and we made great time to our stop for the night at Tina's Pocket anchorage along the Cape Fear River. A couple of boats were there before us to share the anchorage including one named "Jersey Girl".
31 October 2022
Depart: Tina's Pocket anchorage NC 7:45
Arrive: Enterprise Ox Bow anchorage off Waccamaw River SC 3:30
Distance: 61 nm
Sometime before midnight last night, our boat got waked not once or twice but three times in a quick succession. I was already in bed and was shaken awake to hear things crashing on the boat as they fell to the floor. Clark worked hard in the galley trying to catch things as they fell or put them back where they belonged afterwards.
Clark did not notice that one of the things that fell was my laptop - the one I use for blogging. It had fallen about three feet from the table top to the floor. Although I was in the master stateroom at the other end of the boat, I heard a huge crash but did not know what had fallen. It was not until this morning when I came out and found the computer mouse where it did not belong that I discovered my laptop lying on the floor. I wondered what damage had been done - did the screen shatter? did the insides shake out? I opened it up and found no visible damage, and wonder of wonder, it booted up. Amazing!
My laptop has sat in the same place on the boat for the last, almost 5 years. We have rocked before on this boat but never like last night's experience.
After recovering from the shock of finding my laptop on the floor, I grabbed my camera and took a couple of sunrise pictures.
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| Sunrise on Cape Fear River - NC |
Where we anchored is near where the ferries come and go to Bald Head Island. As we exited our anchorage, we saw one with the sun reflecting off the hull.
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| Ferry to Bald Head Island |
I was so happy to see the sun today I went a bit crazy with the camera taking pictures. Everything looked so nice with the sun shining on it. It got so warm today that I eventually changed into shorts!
As we traveled through the section of the ICW in North Carolina known as the "Rock Pile", I looked for turtles sunning themselves on logs. I was not disappointed!
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| Numerous turtles sun bathing |
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| Same turtles - different view |
I know when we are traveling through the "Rock Pile" as we pass by the structure shown below. Clark teased me about taking pictures that I have included in blogs many times before.
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| Golf course on side of waterway |
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| Some fall colors |
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| Another turtle family enjoying the sun |
In South Carolina we saw some amazing houses and landscaping. Many we have seen before, but we noticed a lot of new construction in progress.
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| Landscaping under construction |
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| Many-tiered landscape with infinity pool (hard to see in picture) |
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| More tiered landscaping |
One side of the waterway we see mega-mansions with tremendous landscaping, the other side of the waterway we see ...
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| Another golf course by the waterway |
I have most likely taken pictures of the "Treasure Hunter" boat below, but ...
Clark added to the nature pictures today by taking the picture below that he said was nature's welcome to the anchorage.
He also grabbed tonight's sunset picture.
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| Sunset on the Waccamaw River in SC |
Meanwhile in Idaho and Connecticut, my grandchildren enjoyed Halloween.
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| Idaho: "Hocus Pocus characters" |
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| Connecticut: Butterfly and Warrior |
1 November 2022
Depart: Enterprise Ox Bow anchorage / Waccamaw River 8:00
Arrive: Dewees Creek anchorage (slightly north of Charleston, SC) 5:00
Distance: 70 nm
By the time we docked yesterday, the temperature was up around 80 degrees. What a difference today! The sun was gone, and we once again woke to fog. Today it was so thick we could only see a few feet in front of the boat.
Normally when the anchor comes up, I pilot the boat out of the anchorage. I took one look at the field of white in font of me and said uh-uh, no way! I could barely make out the green marker directly in front of the boat but on the far side of the river. I worried that some boat was coming down the river that I could not see. I waited for Clark to take the helm.
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| This Kady Krogen left the anchorage shortly before we did. |
The views along the water were impressive given the dense fog. Even with the fog, we could still see reflections of trees in the water.
As we traveled along at a snail's pace, we heard a fog horn sound up ahead. Clark responded with a blast of his own. Shortly thereafter, we got haled on the VHF radio by a tug who was waiting for us just around the bend. We moved way over to the edge of the waterway to keep clear. It turned out that he was not moving. He was "station keeping" due to the fog.
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| Tug sitting on the Waccamaw River waiting for the fog to break up |
At one point Clark blasted his horn. I asked him why and he said he didn't know what the boat to the side of the waterway planned to do. "Not much", I replied, "The boat is tied in a slip. He's not going anywhere."
A couple of times the sun tried to break through the fog, but every time it was unsuccessful.
As we passed Bucksport Marina, we could not even read the sign telling us where we were.
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| Bucksport Marina |
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| Sun trying again and failing again |
Eventually the fog broke up enough that I could come back inside, and much later in the day, the sun did finally make an appearance. Sitting in the sun on the fly bridge, it was hot. Sitting in the shade, it was chilly.
When we arrived at the Dewees Creek anchorage, we were greeted by several dolphins. One even "spoke" to us in dolphin talk. I could not get a picture, but Clark had some success.
Sunset at Dewees Creek near Charleston, South Carolina
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| Sharing the anchorage with "Jersey Girl" |
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| Sunset at Dewees Creek |
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