November 13 - November 23, 2021 North Carolina

The ICW in North Carolina

Going under the Chesapeake Expressway Bridge (Rte. 168).  It is listed as a 65' bridge but the marker underneath indicated that it was at 64' when we went through. The tide and wind have an effect.  It left us a few inches of clearance only.

Saturday, Nov 13, 2021 Portsmouth, VA to Coinjock NC (mile marker 50)

After watching and ferrying by all the big ships in the river, we were finally making off from mile marker 0 (MM0) to start our ICW adventure. The first couple bridges were easy, one being a 165’ fixed bridge and the other an open railroad bridge. 

All the hubbub about the Norfolk Southern Railroad Bridge construction closures earlier was somewhat anticlimactic as we passed by with no issues at all. Levi seemed to enjoy being so close to the shore line on both sides; there was plenty to keep him entertained.

We came to Great Bridge Lock in Chesapeake City, Virginia. We had never experienced a lock before! We had to wait with five other sailboats since the lock opened on a specific schedule. Smartly, it was timed with the bascule bridge opening just beyond. When the time came for the lock to open and let us in, we had to wait for a tugboat that was pushing a load of scrap metal to enter and tie up first. We were the last ones in; our beam is so wide (16') that they had the other narrower boats tie up beside the barge while we tied up behind. We were uncertain about any help we might get to tie up as we proceeded into the lock. We had some scrambling and then the lock helper came. By then, we did not notice that a large piling was just about to have a very close pass to our grill secured to a stern rail. Roger hurried back there but not before we heard a nasty snap--the grill bracket had broken. Fortunately Roger snagged the grill and it was fine. We would need a new rail bracket…another to-do for the boat list!   

While we waited for the lock to fill up with water, Levi was a bit confused when Roger hoisted him out of the boat on his leash and onto the shore which at that time was about waist high from the boat. Why weren't Mom and Dad coming too?  But his olfactory system soon took over and he got to sniff around on the grass and take a pee before Rog hauled him back on board.

That day, we passed through swing bridges, bascule bridges, and under plenty of tall fixed bridges.   Great Bridge (Route 168) and Pungo River Bridge were the first couple we encountered that were less than 65’ at the time of our passing. Our mast is about 63.5' (including the wind vane on top), so it was rather scary going under.  As you approach the bridge, it is impossible to tell if you will hit just by looking (in fact it always looks like you will definitely hit). You need to do your research ahead of time and look for the markers on the bridge that say what the height from the tide water level currently is.  An extra layer of fun is that not all bridges have the marker boards present. As another boater told us, there is some "puckering" as you inch closer and your senses scream "we are going to hit!"  We had done all the research we could in advance. We were either going to hit or not, and we would just have to live with the consequences either way.  Unless we got really unlucky or careless, the worst case scenario would be some damaged equipment at the top of the mast. Our antenna did hit and scrape along the Pungo Bridge. Boats becoming dismasted at bridges do happen from time to time and that must be horrifying...and dangerous.

Because the ICW is a narrow canal along many sections, there is not much sailing to be had, however once we hit  Currituck Sound it opened up and with 25 knots of wind on our beam we had a great sail! Then we were in North Carolina, state #13 on our trip.

Throughout the day, we were hearing a chirping sound from somewhere in the cockpit equipment panels.  It was faint but steadily occurring with oddball timing, sometimes not happening at all and other times it would chirp every 5 to 15 minutes. Roger spent quite a while trying to isolate which alarm it was coming from with no success--it was so intermittent and quick. What was wrong now?!  We would have to wait to find out - perhaps it was just a bad sensor (we hoped).

We arrived at our stop for the night at about 4:00 pm, Coinjock Marina.  We had heard great things about the restaurant and their "world famous" prime rib and it was noted in many of the guides and comments on line.  It was pretty tasty but Rog thought it did not stand up to our own versions!

Heading out of Portsmouth, VA

Check out that gun on the bow!

Gilmerton/Norfolk Southern #7 Railroad Bridge at MM 5.8- this bascule bridge is left in the open position until a train comes through 

We are going under the Gilmerton Bridge. You can't tell by looking until you are under if you will hit or not!  Our tall mast is great under sail but barely ICW friendly.

This is just one of the many, many small crafts we saw with relaxed people fishing

Levi was quite entertained with things to watch

A tug pushing a load of scrap metal joins us in the Great Bridge Lock

The barge is tied up on the left and the other four sailboats are tied up ahead of us on the right.

An unexpected trip ashore for Levi while we wait for the lock to finish filling up.

After the lock, we only had to wait a few minutes to pass through the next bridge.

Double crested cormorants.

The Captain has to stay constantly alert; we only have a narrow channel within the canal that is dredged and deep enough for our nearly 6' draft.

At Coinjock in North Carolina.  Neat little bar, good food.  Kim saw in the marina brochure that the owners named their daughter Kinley.  That's Kim's maiden name! She tried to talk to the owners out of curiosity - why that name?  But they weren't around that day.  Maybe on the way back....

Sunday, Nov 14, 2021 Coinjock NC to Alligator River Marina, Columbia, NC (mile marker 84)

This day's trip was only 34 miles, so we took our time getting up and underway.  We passed under Coinjock Bridge at 9:45 am.  At 2:15 p.m. we were pulling into the Alligator River Marina.

We passed through Albemarle Sound with a great beam reach sail.  We had a northwest wind, blowing 15-20 knots or so most of the way across. This stretch can get rough as it is shallow and lots of fetch (distance of open water) for the chop to build.
If you're a crime junkie like Kim, you might notice Kill Devil Hills on this map--the place where an unsolved murder happened as described in the first season of the podcast "Counterclock."   And, Rog adds, if you are married to crime junkie... you might look over your shoulder more often than usual.

The Alligator River marina is essentially the back of a roadside gas station on Rte. 64 just north of the Alligator River Bridge. The dockhand tried to tempt us into dining with them in the store on fried chicken or hamburgers, but we opted to eat something more healthy on the boat. We did appreciate the easy on and off on a face dock.  

On the boat behind us (named Majestic) we met Doug, Cindy, their daughter, their rat terrier, and their cat named St. Francis.  Levi did not appreciate the dog.  :-(  They are also heading south. Of all the people we meet, we just never know who we will bump into again.

Roger checked the main engine strainer to eliminate that as a possible cause for the mysterious chirping sound. He found it was pretty clogged on the bottom and clearly hadn't been cleaned in awhile, even tiny muscles were growing! But there was still plenty of mesh area open on the top half.  It's all washed out now.  

Our neighbors mast top being visited by starlings. Notice the wind vane - they are first at risk if you have a real low bridge.  Their mast was a bit shorter than ours.

Approaching the Coinjock Bridge.  It's 65'. Wow, it doesn't look like we will get under!

We felt better about that bridge when we saw this height marker!

A typical scene of what the ICW looked like in this unpopulated stretch.

Whatcha thinkin' Levi?

Approaching the Alligator River Marina, we had to come close to the bridge, hang a ninety degree turn to starboard, and then go parallel to it to get the depth needed to enter the marina.

Lillian Gray in the background

In back of the gas station

On the south side of the Alligator River Bridge, there is a tiny inlet with a bunch of crab boats. We went over to investigate.

Here is one of the boats in that inlet, with crab traps alongside.

As the inlet joins the river, there was a bunch of crab pots piled up - just like lobster pots in Maine.  

Oh hello Roger!
He is pulling out the filter on the motor in case that's what is causing the mysterious chirping.

Well, whether or not the chirping was to indicate the filter was getting clogged, it sure did need a cleaning. There was an ecosystem in it!

Monday, Nov 15, 2021 Alligator River Marina to River Forest Manor & Marina, Belhaven, NC (mile marker 136)

The Alligator River Bridge was a breeze, the bridge tender was very polite and they opened the swing right away for us. We had some good wind in the wide river and were able to get under sail for a while.  Shortly it got more windy and choppy.

As we approached the end of Alligator River we noticed a sailboat named Grip Fast anchored; they had been on the other side of the marina last night. We couldn't figure out why they would be there; the wind was blowing hard, upwards of 25 to 30 knots. Someone was up on the bow too. We hailed them as we passed by to see if they were okay and the captain told us their engine blew a head gasket, so they had been sailing down the Alligator River but at the west turn to get into the Pungo canal, the wind was right on their nose and they could go no further. He explained he was on the bow deck loosening their stowed dinghy and was fixing to ‘push’ their boat with the dinghy up into the canal. Roger figured that the wind must have loosened some of his coconut's marbles during the day. It happens--that drive to fix the problem yourself.  It was not the best idea, and in fact dangerous with the wind factor. Roger suggested they instead call a tow-boat. It was too risky for us, or any other sail boat, to attempt to tow them too. The captain was determined though to try with his dinghy. We wished him good luck and went on our way, feeling bad that we could not help and also knowing his plan would not succeed.  Getting close to dusk, a TowBoat U.S. boat went whizzing by us, and we heard on the VHS radio that it was headed for Grip Fast!

As we approached the Fairfield Bridge (NC Rte. 94), we were disconcerted to see that there was no marker to give us the current bridge height, but it was a 65' bridge according to the charts, and based on our reading of where the tide level was, we were okay with going under. Our antennae scraped, but we made it!  

Later on, we approached the Wilkerson Bridge (Rte. 264), the only bridge on this part of the ICW that is on record with a height lower than specs require at 64'.  We radioed our new friends on the Majestic (from the marina last night) to see how they had made out getting under the bridge. They have a mast slightly shorter than ours and had left about 1/2 hour to 45 minutes before us. They had no issues getting under, so we felt a little better. We scraped the antennae again but we were so happy and relieved to have overcome this potential hurtle that we celebrated with a wee pirate dance!

While we were underway, Roger patiently waited, listened and watched for the random chirping sound and was able to nail it down to the Yanmar fuel sensor warning.  It still was very erratic and the chirps were short - not easily heard in any wind.

To our dismay, our poor dear Levi was having those periodic painful episodes again so we called Beaufort Vet Hospital and got an appointment for Thursday and had our vet in NH send over his records.

When we arrived at Belhaven, we met Henry, the dock master, a jolly older man, and he took to Levi right away of course. Roger met Greg on the Goodwind; he and his wife Renee, and a couple dogs, are new liveaboards like us and they are going to Jekyll Island in Georgia for the winter because they like staying there better than the busy world of the Keys. There are a lot of nature trails, bike riding trails, and quiet areas to enjoy.  We were looking forward to stopping in there on our way south.

The marina had a loaner golf cart and we used it to get to the Food Lion grocery store. Apparently, it is legal to use a golf cart here (no plates). It was a bit scary when tractor trailers went by us on Route 264,  but not as frightful as going under the Wilkerson Bridge on Rte. 264!  Kim is not a big fan of Food Lion but they did have food, so that was good enough for us. We later found out Food Lion is also owned by Delhaize, the same owners of Hannaford, our go-to grocery store in NH. They are trying to mirror the Hannaford model but they are not there yet. While Kim shopped, Roger and Levi found a huge cotton field by the grocery store and picked up one of the bolls for Kim to play with. In no time, Roger says she was twirling it into braids.

Rog tried to trouble shoot the engine fuel line. Both bowls of the fuel filters appeared clear with no water, however, when he attempted to bleed some fuel from the bottom, only one side worked, the other valve would not let anything out, despite breaking the vacuum seal. It was tough because this system is new to us and he wasn't sure if it was operator error or something wrong with the system. It turns out that Greg from Goodwind has a similar racor filtration system and he thought we were on the right track, but he had never seen one with a valve that would not bleed.

The swing portion of the Alligator Bridge opened for us quickly to start the day's trip.

Cold, windy day, choppy water.  The cold air makes the dingy less inflated.

Ha ha!  This is supposed to be an "escape the winter" adventure!!

You can see by our wake here that the deepest part of the canal is not always dead center.  

A mish-mash lunch. Including left over salad, raspberries and hummus.  Usually, Kim makes sandwiches in the morning.

Autumn leaves in November.

Kim is sporting one of the two-way radio headsets and preparing to go out on the bow for when we get closer to Wilkerson Bridge.  Rog can't miss the admirals orders now!

Looks to be just over 64' but the bridge is recorded as being 64'.  We planned our departure to hit this at low tide and it will still be a tight squeeze.

Yeah!  We made it under the Wilkerson Bridge. Pungo River, here we come!

The cotton field behind the Food Lion.  Looks ready to be harvested!

Roger says some cotton may already be dyed yellow!

 

We bombed along Rte. 264 in the golf cart!

It was hard to pick out those seeds. Kim appreciates more now why the cotton gin was so important to the furtherance of cotton plantations.

And it's finger-spun, single ply.  It was so sticky that 2-ply ruined it.  Not braided.  :-)  Rog wonders if it is close to halyard strength yet.  

This manor at the marina took five years to build and was completed in 1905. In the 1940's it became the River Forest Manor and Marina but closed in 2011 due to disrepair. In 2014, a group of Belhaven residents bought it and brought it back to life.  We wished the manor had been open for us to see inside.

Such a pretty sunset over the breakwater.

Tuesday, Nov 16, 2021 - River Forest Manor & Marina, Belhaven, NC to Oriental Harbor Marina, NC (MM 180)

It was just above freezing at dawn when Rog got up.  He knew it would be on the difficult side to get Kim and Levi going! This would require strategy. Step 1 was to turn the heat on in the boat to lull them out of the ‘nest.’   Step 2 was the smell of fresh brewed coffee. We were underway just after 10:00.

Later in the day it “warmed” up quickly to slightly better than 50, then finally upper 50s/low 60’s later in the day. It was sunny, with a light breeze.  We had regular visits by blue herons, pelicans, king fishers, and cormorants. We are really starting to get used to our new bird friends. It makes us miss all our old feathered friends on the hill in Strafford and wonder how they're doing. We are not sure that the new owners will feed them like we did.  Kim says Roger was the Dr. Doolittle feeding the critters regularly.

Rog made a few calls to see if we could find someone in Oriental or Beaufort that could look at the engine fuel chirp/alarm issue. After several attempts, one of the boat yards recommended a small operator, Jason, that does some work for many yards in the Beaufort area. We planned to meet tomorrow late afternoon after we got on the dock at Homer Smiths Marina.

As the sun got lower the glare was making it tough to see markers and crab pots. We arrived at Oriental Harbor Marina a bit after 4:00. There were also a couple large commercial scalloping trawlers docked on the other side.

Later, after a walk, we went to the Tiki bar they have dockside at the marina.  We met a few folks and had some great laughs and stories.  Levi ended up having another episode just as we were leaving and Rog had to carry him in a tight little ball all the way back to the boat. Poor little guy.

Oriental has a nice feel to us from what very little we saw of it. We were treated to a beaut of a sunset and a home cooked chicken dish with salad and potatoes. Oh yeah, and a bottle of Clos du Bois Chardonnay. 

The backside of the manor and the marina building in the morning

Morning view from River Forest Manor & Marina

Just before lunch, heading down the Pungo River we crossed the Palmico River. We caught up with Goodwind. Roger snapped a picture of Greg on Goodwind while underway.

...and Greg snapped a photo of us.

A mirage?

Kim made us some very yummy ham and French toast for lunch. 

After lunch we passed RE Mayo seafood; they have small transient face dock and a few large commercial fishing boats. We had heard that you can stop and get frozen fresh sealed scallops there. 

 We are also starting to see a lot more recreational fisherman in boats in this section of the ICW, which frequently joins along many rivers and larger creek stretches.

As we entered the Bay River, there was a large open fetch so it got much breezier and we were able to sail for a bit.  We take advantage whenever we can get a sail in.

Lillian Gray dockside Oriental, NC

Commercial fishing boats at Oriental

These boats looking lovely in the setting sun. The dragger arms lower when they are actively fishing.

A blue heron posing for us!

On the way to theTiki bar.

On the way back from the Tiki bar.  Poor Levi  :-(

A treat waiting for us at the marina

Wednesday, Nov 17, 2021 - Oriental Harbor Marina, NC to Homer Smith Docks & Marina, Beaufort, NC (MM 203)

It was a much nicer day on the water; it was sunny with light wind and it warmed up quickly in the morning.  We arrived at Homer Smith Docks in Beaufort (in NC, pronounced Bo-fert) at around 1:00 p.m. after a hair-raising back-in to the dock.  It was tight, only inches between us and the pilings, but we did it without any scraping.  These docks are owned by a father and son duo, and they had expanded from seafood sales.  They are still expanding.  

A little while later, Goodwind pulled in right across from us.  Roger invited Greg and his wife Renee over for after dinner drinks, but it turned out that Levi was having another episode then, so Kim stayed below with him.

Rog had arranged for someone to come over and check the fuel filters.  JJ arrived at 3:30 and removed the sheet metal cup under the primary fuel filter with suspicion of it abrading the wires to the water sensor. Other than that all looked fine to him. 

We had time to take a nice walk into downtown Beaufort. The docks on that side are right in town but the current can get rough there. We had heard of some folks ‘bumping’ into each other trying to get on dock there. There is anchorage there too, but again, it's a rough current to sleep on.

Oh...a half-sunk wreck sticking out near the channel.  A reminder to stay vigilant!

We were starting to see more homes along the canal and narrow river/creek sections.

Kim wonders if the owners of this beautiful home have good flood insurance.

Mile marker 200!

Backed and squeezed in tight.

Enjoying the palm trees.

In town, Beaufort, NC.

Kim is so happy to be seeing pretty flowers in November!

We were still somewhat enthralled with the live oak trees.  We later learned that the bends in the branches used to be used for making curved portions of boats in a process called live-oaking.

Impressive, the size of this live oak.

The view from our marina spot.

For an evening walk, we went to the corner store down the road.  Levi got to meet a couple kitties.  This one, named Taco, disappeared on him down the aisle but he found him alright! 

Thursday, Nov 18 - Friday, Nov 19, 2021 - Homer Smith Docks & Marina,  Beaufort, NC (MM 203)

We spent a couple days at Homer Smiths to get a prescription refilled and to get Levi to the vet. On Thursday, we used one of the two available loaner cars. One was a newer van, but someone had grabbed that and we got the old Escape. It had 176K miles on it, and the gas tank was on empty. The owner, Matt, put a bit of gas in it for us from a can; he said the gas station was a ways down the road and they run out now and then because so many new houses had been built without the gas stations catching up. 

We liked the folks at the vets. They did an x-ray and blood work and nothing obvious jumped out. The vet thought it could be a type of pancreatitis or to do with digestion. Based on our description and the fact that Levi was tender in the pancreas area, she thought the episodes were a pain response with cramping. There is also a rare syndrome some border terriers have  that is epileptic in nature and that gluten can provoke. So, we had to stick to Levi's regular kibbles and only rice cakes for treats. She gave us gabapentin for one week to help settle him down and we would see from there. When we got back to the boat Levi had another bad episode and was clearly in pain for a couple hours. We took videos to show the vet next time. The gabapentin finally kicked in and he was able to lay down and sleep.

On Friday morning,  Levi had a slow start, but came out of it with a bit of jaunt in his step and a wag in his tail. Rog worked on trip planning while Kim did laundry.  We got the prescription and our Covid boosters at Walgreen's.  Later on we had an impromptu gathering of a few boaters at the laundry room just before supper time.  Greg and Renee were there, and filled us in on their day - he had fallen while stepping down from boat his boat, fell to dock and rolled...into the water with his Mac, iPhone, and wedding suit for his daughter's upcoming wedding.  He got three stitches under chin and was laughing at himself and still smiling by late day.  Renee was giving him a hard time about stepping off the boat forwards, instead of doing it more safely by turning around and stepping down backwards.  "Who does that?" she wanted to know.  Well, we do!  But we made a mental note to go backwards when we have our hands full.  Greg got a big kick out of Kim's dry comment that he would have to wear a wetsuit to the wedding.  Some other folks came in from NY and had grounded on their way in--Towboat US rescued them, and then they had a rough landing on the dock due to high winds.  They bounced off one of their unfortunate neighbors. Everyone had their dogs and Levi didn't like it if the other dogs get too close. We had been working with a trainer back in NH and got him to the point where we could've had him meet other dogs with his muzzle on and the trainer present, but we ran out of time before we sold the house and moved on.  We started researching options for boot camp style training in the St. Augustine area where we think we will be held up for a while for boat repairs.

Boats on a lift system at Homer's - something you don't see much up North

Waiting for Levi's blood test results.  He is vigilant in case they come back and give him treats.  He has been conditioned to expect them at our own vet's back north.

Oysters growing along the tideline.  They tend to grow up in tower-like formations here.

And they grow on the pilings.

Driving back from the vet's we could see the marina from the bridge.

New duvet cover for the bed.

Topping off the day with some spaghetti and chianti!

Saturday, Nov 20, 2021 - Homer Smith Docks & Marina,  Beaufort, NC -Swan Point Marina, Sneads Ferry, NC (MM 247)

We left Homers Smith's bright and early and went to head under the US70 bridge - a shorter way to head south than going out around Radio Island. To do this, we had to go back northwards. On our way there, we were hailed by Sea Sloth letting us know that they had just tried the bridge and the tide is still just high enough to cut clearance off for the 63’ mast clearance. That saved us 15 or 20 minutes, but we had to turn around and head back around past Homer Smith's to take the south route around Radio Island.  All in all, that resulted in about 30 to 40 min delay as we followed Sea Sloth back along the south passage and then into Bogue sound.

Shortly after, we came to the Atlantic Bridge in the ICW.  It was only showing a 62.5’ clearance, due to the tides having been running high.  We anchored along with Sea Sloth to wait it out.  Sea Sloth made it through earlier than us - we had to wait another 15-20 minutes or so for the extra clearance we needed. 

As a preamble to what happened next, we want to say that it has been said that there are three general rules of boating. 1.Keep all the people on the boat.  2. Keep the water out of the boat  3. Keep the boat off the land. That makes a lot of sense, especially in Maine where the bottom tends to be unforgiving ledge. The ICW is known for having lots of shoaling with sand built up in unmarked areas, which you don't see on the chart, and which defy the channel markers. This calls for extra attention from boaters, especially when the channel gets narrow with many turns. We had researched all the charts, the Waterway Guide info, and Captain Bob423 notes (he is well known for documenting the ICW route).   

Around noontime as we passed Broad Creek near MM 218, we started entering some of the more heavily shoaled areas. The charts were showing frequent turns that brought you right to the edge of the water, or even outside the edges of the marked channels to avoid shoaling. To make it even  more interesting, the shoaling changes locations over time.  Near MM 224, Roger noticed that the Navionics chart on the iPad was showing one location for the boat within the waterway and the B&G plotter was showing a different position. This happens too often but is particularly unnerving in parts of the ICW like this section.  Visually it appeared we were a bit too close to the starboard side of the channel. Best bring it back over. Suddenly, we were rocked by a jolt and everything stopped! Crap. It took a few seconds for the reality of what had just happened to penetrate our minds.  Hard reverse did nothing.  We were squished solidly into the sand and mud. The tide was still going out, meaning that we would be even more stuck soon. Roger thought about lowering the dinghy to bring the anchor out in an attempt to pull us off. But we (especially Kim) were skeptical it would work and it could complicate other efforts to get out. Was this one of those situations where you could do something dumb for the sake of taking care of it yourself, like Grip Fast?  After more brainstorming, we called Towboat US (covered for free by our BoatUS membership). They are a frequent sight on the ICW.  A passing sailboat called to check on us, letting us know they had found themselves "on the hard" twice yesterday!  We get it from both ends...higher tides means more anxiety for getting under some of the fixed bridges, and lower tides hoping that our nearly 6’ keel draft does not decide to plant in shoaling sands!  Our boat is labelled "ICW friendly," but we are finding that is a subjective term and just barely applying.

After a 20-30 minute wait, Towboat US showed up and pulled us off the shoal under full throttle in less than 5 minutes. We had been nervous with the morning delay of making it to Swan Pt before dark.  We were now another 45 minutes behind, but glad to be floating again nonetheless!

We cleared the next bridge with no problem and were treated to dolphins along side for a bit. They are more of a frequent sighting these days. So are barges with dredging and construction equipment. We passed by Camp Lejeune; this section of the ICW can occasionally be closed for artillery, small weapons firing, and beach landing exercises.  We saw plenty of prominent sign posts in the range area with warnings. There were also navigable areas that were strictly off-limits due to sensitive unexploded ordinances. Hmmm.  It was pretty quiet passing for us though.

We landed at Swan Point at 5:00 p.m., thinking that we needed to start planning shorter day trips!  Between the risk of dark and sun glare in late afternoon, it's rather dangerous actually. With that and the desire to have more daylight time exploring in the afternoons…. it makes sense to do shorter legs as much as we can. Traveling the ICW in the dark is not something we want to ever do.

Jim, the dock master was an older gentleman and had recent surgery and sciatica issues. He could only walk slow with a cane. Kim had a brief internal panic attack when he missed the line she threw him.  But he was nimble enough to step on it and slowly bend down to grab it.  He is a nice guy and lives on his boat on the docks there.  As the guide books indicated, this place was well past it’s prime but we did not have much in this area to choose from. We are taking note because it may not be a safe place in the next couple of years without some repairs; we were on the verge of questioning it at the present time.   

Sea Sloth pulling their anchor in front of the Atlantic Bridge

A screen print from the Aqua Maps app on Roger's phone showing our movement in front of the Atlantic Bridge.  We circled around a bit, attempted to anchor a couple times, and then finally successfully anchored where you see the red arrow.  This was our first time anchoring this boat!

In some places, these homes stretch for miles, along with all their docks, and there were a lot construction too.

An anchorage tucked away in a creek.

Capt'n Rog has to keep his eyes on the chart and not get too distracted by those loads of equipment floating by!

Hard on the eyes and the head.  We both had to look into it to be safe. The pictures does it no justice!

Combined with the glare, images like this on the navigation app were not helpful!
 Land ahoy!

 

Levi is ready to do the do-do

Sunday, Nov 21, 2021 - Swan Point Marina, Sneads Ferry, NC - Bridge Tender Marina, Wilmington Beach, NC (MM 283)

We left Swan Point midmorning, about an hour after high tide.  At MM 252.5 we arrived at Topsail Island Bridge (NC210).  It is a 64’ fixed bridge and the height is below what is supposed to be allowed over the ICW, but Captain Bob measured it at 66’. The board was showing 64.5’ and we passed under slowly and our antenna scraped so we do not think the boards are correct and perhaps Captain Bob is onto something. At MM 261, the boards at the Surf City Bridge showed 67'; our kind of bridge! 

We saw lots of dolphins again today, and there were many sports fishermen along the small inlets and channels throughout the marshland to the east of us. We saw a couple abandoned boats-- they looked old and stripped of anything valuable, leaving just the fiberglass shell which has no value and is nearly impossible to recycle.  They may be there 3,000 years from now.

As we travel along, powers boats will occasionally come up behind us, hail us on the radio, and ask to pass by. We slow down and they slow down, going by us with only a bit of wake. This day, a jerk came by with a beefy powerboat going to fast for the ICW and did not slow down, dishing out a huge wake which we had to take on the side. It's considered poor etiquette and can be dangerous too in the narrow and shallow waters.

At MM 283, the Wrightsville bascule bridge was waiting for us. Our Navionics app was showing us arriving at five after the hour. It only opens on the hour, and it would be a bummer to get there at five after.  We weren't sure if we would make it on time without having that long wait. We chatted on the VHF with another sailboat we were following, and agreed it was going to be tight, and weren't sure if it would be worth pushing the throttle or not. We decided to try. At just about 2:00 p.m. we were still a few minutes away and the bridge was already opening. Lucky for us, it was taking some time for the bridge to open and the waiting traffic to go through one at a time. After hailing the bridge, he said we were good and would not close on us! One can't assume that to be the case based on history and it is considered good etiquette to call the bridge with your intentions and requests.

On the weekend, this place is a busy marina area on both sides of the channel with lots of boats on the move, and a few restaurants; it's a great location on the ICW being right near Wilmington and the beach. 

Morning photo at Swan Point Marina before departing.

Another view at Swan Point - that's the Lillian Gray behind the somewhat rickety dock.

This boat might be waiting for the tide to come in...or not.

Stripped down and looking for a home, well... a different home.

The first Spanish Moss sighting!

Lillian Gray on the dock and a view of the opposite side of the river.  The building with the blue cover on the patio is the Blue Water Grill - we went there a little later in the day.

As we were out for a walk with Levi, we found this post at a park labeling past hurricanes and the corresponding water level for each. Hazel was a real bruiser!
And - yes, it warm enough to wear shorts! Yay!

Lillian Gray on the Bridge Tender Marina dock from across the river.

At the Bluewater Grill across the harbor.

Levi looking out over the river from the bridge we went under to get to the Bridge Tender Marina.

No delay on the Christmas decorations here!

The Bluewater Grill looked so pretty at night.

Monday, Nov 22 & Tuesday, Nov 23, 2021 -  Bridge Tender Marina, Wilmington Beach, NC - Safe Harbor Southport Village, NC (MM 312)

Here's our track part way through Cape Fear River.  Kim couldn't help but think about Robert De Nero in the movie Cape Fear as we went through.  Levi gets upset when we play scary movies, otherwise, we would put it on our watchlist.

About 8 miles into our trip to Southport Village, we encountered Snows Cut Bridge.  The tide was on the high side and the height marker said the bridge was 63.5' high.  Since the tide was going out, we only had to wait a little while for the height to change to 64 feet, which was still very close, but passable and of course, the antenna scraped. During that wait another sailboat called Second Star approached.  Roger hailed them to let them know we were just waiting and that it was clear for them to pass by. Rog then told them he had a case of ‘short stick envy’ as their mast was only 54 feet. After some chuckling, they asked if we had had the pleasure of eating the mad power boater's wake yesterday. He was outraged at that behavior and evidently (according to the cruising world grapevine), enough people complained that they got boarded by the US Coast Guard!  Karma. We also had another boat pass us by named Stink Pot who was good for a laugh with us and kind enough to get a close up reading of the  bridge height for us.

Not long after, we entered the Cape Fear River; it was overcast and the winds were light. A little while later the winds picked up and we could see storm clouds looking like a front approaching from the west.  We were concerned about getting to the dock before it arrived!  As we exited the river, we were hailed by the trawler "Mais Oui," as they wanted to pass, and we were tickled to see they were from Booth Bay, Maine.  And funny enough, the dock master at Safe Harbor Marina was from Portland, Maine and had spent quite a bit of time in Booth Bay too.  Small world!

We spent Tuesday at Safe Harbor too due to a freezing forecast and wind, not fit for sailing.  We went into Southport via Uber  - a character of a lady who just happened to pick up our drive request on her way home from a hair appointment. She was not going to be working later because she was going to go home and take a nice hot bath.  Lol!  So she gave us a number we could call for the trip home and that guy was quite another character.  Fun and friendly people genuinely interested in us.  Southport is a tourist destination; a picturesque town, neat cafes, shops, and a wonderful market! Later, we took Levi to a nearby park to play fetch while we side-eyed the "watch for alligator" sign.  We were also happy to see the new bracket for the barbeque arrive, solving the problem caused as we went through the lock earlier.  

Wednesday will see us arrive in Myrtle Beach, SC! 

A frequent scene in the mornings - putting the final touches on the upcoming day's trip, coffee nearby.

An attractive view from our dock space at the marina

Set up and ready to go - The Captain has the B&G chart plotter in the forefront, Navionics on the iPad right behind, Aqua maps ready to go on the cell phone, and the ICW flip chart behind that.  On one of the bench seats in the cockpit would be the big marine charts.  And of course, the coffee, and the first mate nearby as a sounding board and for moral support.

Getting ready to go under Sea Breeze Bridge in Snow's Cut - heading east towards Cape Fear River

Felty's Cove in Snow's Cut - it looks like it would be nice to visit on land.

And yet another nice bit of scenery in Snow's Cut

On Cape Fear River, we saw this rather impressive set up.  Our research revealed this is Archer Daniels Midland Co - they deal with procuring and transporting grain.

Checking in at Safe Harbor Marina in South Harbor Village, near Southport, NC.

The marina was attached to this attractive community of condos in the same palette of colors.

While Roger was getting some work done, Kim and Levi went for a walk a short ways down the road to Dutchman Creek Park where there was a lovely little cove.

Finding a good stick is always reason to get good 'n fiesty.

Going into the cove, Kim marked this sign with a bit of terror in her heart, after having recently watched a Facebook video of a man wrestling his little dog out of the jaws of an alligator.
No alligator was seen.

Oh!  A bit of blue sky showing up just in time for sunset.

Evening festivities.

 This tree in Southport was particularly interesting to us.  The sign near it said it was an Indian Trail Tree, an oak tree estimated to be more than 800 years old.  It is surmised to have been bent on purpose as a young tree to mark the trail to the fishing grounds. That is what caused it to take root a second time and grow so gnarled.

Roger has his hands full at Lombardo's Italian Restaurant, which was right in the marina community.