Boating with Sunset Delight: 2024 October: Arrive Southport NC

22 October 2024
Depart: Town Creek Marina, Beaufort, NC 7:50
Arrive: Wrightsville Beach, NC anchorage 4:40
Distance: ~ 70 nm

We managed to see the sunrise yet again today. It is becoming a habit!

Pelican enjoying an early morning swim

Lots of boats on racks here in Beaufort, NC

Sunrise!

As I prepared lines for departure, I got quite a surprise. On the next dock over from us sat the M/V "Bagus" which belongs to our friends, Annette and Bill. All was so quiet I assumed they were not aboard, and texted them to say we had seen their boat. Later they texted back that they were on board but sleeping due to a long travel day yesterday.

When we leave a dock, we prep all the lines so that I can easily retrieve them from the boat when Clark says he is ready for action. It took me a full 10 minutes to set us up for quick release on the word "go"! It took me another 10 minutes once underway to stow all the lines and fenders. Anchoring is so much faster!

Last night, as we sat at a table at 34 North with our friends Beverly and Dave, Clark got a text from folks we know from Marathon, Florida (Michelle and Paul) on a boat named "Agape". Turned out they were anchored in Beaufort and wondered if we could get together. As that was not feasible yesterday, Clark made a point of looking for them at their anchorage to say hello as we passed by this morning.

As he pulled up near their boat, although their dinghy was there, we saw no one. Our nosing around made the guy on the next boat over bring out his binoculars to see why we were lurking in the anchorage. As we gave up and started to pull away, I saw Paul arrive on his bow with VHF handheld in hand calling us. Clark backtracked, and we talked for a few. We may well see them again in Marathon.

Michelle and Paul on "Agape"
with shadows of me and Clark on their hull

As we continued on our way towards the ocean, I snapped some pictures at the Beaufort Inlet.

Just a few birds on the beach here!

Sun rising over Beaufort Inlet

On the long ocean ride to Masonboro Inlet, we saw little traffic. A few sailboats early on and then nothing. Perhaps the forecast of winds and wave heights scared them off. With no traffic or action going on, the clouds drew my attention. Off to our port side, further out over the ocean, I could see very dark clouds.

But, directly in front of us, we had mostly clear skies with a few puffy white clouds. Clark said there were storms further out to sea.

Just after 11:00, we approached the Camp Lejeune area, and I inquired about the large yellow buoy positioned there. Clark said that was the boundary for the firing range out into the ocean from the military base. Yikes!

Better keep outside of here when the range is active!

The clouds now started appearing ahead of us, though other than a sparse amount of raindrops on our starboard panel, we saw no rain. As readers of the blog have probably figured out, I love cloud formations. I just wish I had the skills to paint them!

Finally, after about 64 nautical miles, we arrived at our exit from the ocean at Masonboro Inlet.

Our travel today took us into the ocean well beyond the 3-mile line. Given it is acceptable to dump the holding tank once out beyond this line, Clark attempted to do just that. However, the equipment was not cooperating. Once the process is initiated, the tank should empty rather quickly. It emptied not at all! Clark eventually gave up after decided that we have a clog in the lines somewhere. Uh oh!

We had following seas on the ocean, so the wave heights were not a problem. I noticed about a 2 to 3-knot difference in speed depending on what the waves were doing - carrying us or setting us down again. Looking at the display showing our distance to the inlet nearly gave me a headache as the speed oscillated significantly so did the time to destination change erratically. We appeared to have an average speed of 8.5 knots for the length of today's journey.

As we entered Masonboro Inlet, I snapped some pictures of the jetties with waves breaking over them.

Clark noticed a red object on the far side of the one on our port side. We decided it was some kind of sail or kite on a small watercraft - perhaps a very small sailboat.

Folks were enjoying time on the beach - mostly fishing - as we came in the inlet.

With a northeast wind, we definitely felt a chill in the air. I had on a fleece with a jacket over the top. The woman below was wading in the water with her midriff showing. She must be made of tougher stuff than either Clark or I. She appeared to be collecting shells.

We have anchored near Wrightsville Beach many times, so Clark knew just where he wanted to drop the anchor today.

Black boat is us looking to drop anchor here.

Shortly after we dropped anchor, we had a visit from the folks on the sailboat anchored nearby. The owner seemed very concerned about the proximity of our two boats though there seemed to be a long distance between us. He told us he had "drug anchor" from where we sat to where he currently sat. He told us his boat was disabled, so if any other dragging occurred, he (and us) could be in trouble.

Clark spoke with him and his companion for a while assuring him that we would be fine and had our anchor alarm set to notify us of any change in position. We left our VHF radio on, so he could contact him is he had any further concerns.

Afterwards, Clark emptied our clothes' closet and climbed into the bilge (and the closet) to work on the clogged holding tank. Thankfully, we had dropped anchor early enough to give him time to work on it. I tried to sneak off with my novel to stay away from the "scene of the crime", but eventually, I was called to duty!

Clark used a vacuum cleaner to try to blow out the clog. I had to turn it on and off per his instructions. At one point he got splattered with s**t as substance was forced out of the pipe he was holding. I had to quickly shut off the vacuum and hand him a paper towel to wipe off his face! Yuck! No kissing you tonight!

We then tried turning on the macerator pump to see if the liquid would flow, but we still had a clog. He used the vacuum cleaner once again, and eventually we saw liquid flowing into the bucket he held.

Perhaps things were now working. Regardless, we planned to get a pumpout in Wrightsville Beach as we were due to empty the tank and might not be back past the 3-mile in the next couple of days.

As I ran back on forth from the breaker panel to the bow of the boat to assist Clark, I noticed the sun setting, so I took a quick break from the excitement to snap a sunset picture and turn on the anchor light!

Disabled neighbor boat at sunset

After our adventure with the sewer lines, Clark cleaned up the mess while I went to make dinner. After dinner, I put the closet back in proper order.

23 October 2024

Depart: Wrightsville Beach, NC anchorage 11:45

Arrive: Southport, NC - Tina's Pocket anchorage on Cape Fear River 3:00

Distance: ~ 23 nm

Clark decided that we should have a late start today due to a desire to avoid adverse current on the Cape Fear River. That meant I could lounge while doing my morning NYC puzzles. I got today's Wordle in 2 - a really lucky guess!

He picked tonight's anchorage as a staging position to go back on the ocean tomorrow, so overall, we had a very short travel day today in distance and in time!

Clark told me we would leave after lunch, but around 11:30 he decided we should start moving. Lunch could wait. Before heading south, we went to the Wrightsville Beach Marina for the pumpout we hoped would be successful. The pumpout we had in Virginia was free. This one cost us $20!

The attendant was knowledgeable but he "rubbed me the wrong way". He waited until we were ready to hand off our lines to tell us we would have to turn around and come in bow first as his hose would not reach. Thanks for the heads up ahead of time! Then, he insisted on climbing on board and doing the pumpout himself, which is unusual as 99.99% of the time, Clark does the work involved onboard. The dockhand had bellowed out his instructions to me so quickly I had trouble understanding what he was saying we should do.

Regardless of my opinion of the dockhand, we got the job done and got a fresh start on the holding tank! With that behind us, we continued on our way to our next anchorage. As we made our way down the waterway, we saw our friends we met at Marlin Bay a couple of years ago heading in the opposite direction and waving like crazy! Trish and Steve on "Journey" live in Carolina Beach and were on their way to anchor for the night. They plan to be in Marathon at some point during the winter.

Besides Trish and Steve, we saw lots of dolphins through this area. I have noticed in the past that this seems to be a dolphin playground. Sadly I did not capture pictures of our "Journey" friends or the dolphins. Too slow in the first case and too far away in the second.

Later, as we passed the inlet at Carolina Beach, we could see breakers on the ocean.

Inlet

Breakers off in the distance - on the ocean

Looking back towards Wrightsville Beach

Our route took us down Snow's Cut. It was interesting to look at the shoreline now that we have stayed in Carolina Beach and walked / biked the area.

View of Snow's Cut

Some graffiti after the bridge on Snow's Cut

Evidence of erosion along Snow's Cut

After Snow's Cut, we entered the Cape Fear River.

As we traveled on our merry way, we heard a boater calling the US Coast Guard on the VHF radio. The USCG was not responding. I had just pointed to an object in the channel and said, "What's that?" to Clark when we were haled on the VHF radio. The boater who was trying to reach the USCG decided to call us to warn us about the "stump" in the channel.

Passing by, I told Clark, "That's not a stump! That's a tree with the roots in the air!" To me it looked to be about 18" across, but the boater told the Coast Guard it was 2.5' in diameter.

The USCG finally responded and took the information on the obstruction. As I listened to the conversation between the boater and the USCG, I was glad it was not a life-or-death situation as the USCG was painfully slow in gathering the data!

Half an hour later, as we approached the army base, Military Ocean Terminal Sunny Point, we saw armed guards on the Cape Fear River to keep away anyone curious enough to try to take a closer look at the area.

"Blue lights blinking" guard boats
with mounted guns on bow

Later we saw the ferries for Fort Johnson here in Southport, NC - both coming and going.

Shortly afterwards, we turned off to the side of the Cape Fear River to drop anchor at "Tina's Pocket". An anchorage we are quite familiar with.

Anchored on Cape Fear River

Already, at 3:00, we had our anchor down - staged for tomorrow's ocean voyage. It seemed like the perfect time to update the blog. As I worked on the blog, I saw multiple tow boats going down the river like the one shown below.