April 28, 2018 - May 4, 2018
We left Ocean Isle Marina at 7:15 just after sunrise. Bob’s strategy worked! We made it by the troublesome inlets (Shallotte and Lookwoods Folly) without touching bottom a single time. The reason the inlets are so treacherous is the current coming in from the ocean is strong and brings sand with it which causes shoaling. Bob was at the helm and I was the navigator. Armed with binoculars and the chart book (which had notes about where to be most careful) I looked for buoys and day markers to help Bob keep on course and away from the sand bars.
Cape Fear River proved to be a challenge, too. The current from the falling tide was so strong against us that we were only making 3 knots at times. Going slowly is much better than going aground though. We arrived in Wrightsville Beach at 4:00pm and settled into the Seapath Yacht Club . We were both exhausted from hand steering the whole day (Bob’s efforts did not fix the auto pilot) and decided to relax on the boat and leave exploring the area for tomorrow.
In the morning we walked to a little cafe for breakfast and walked around a bit.
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| Wrightsville Beach is wide and long. |
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| The causeway is lined on both sides with houses each with it’s own dock. |
We rested most of the day and walked to the Bridgetender Restaurant for dinner. The food was superb. It’s so nice to splurge every once in awhile on a great dinner. Monday was consumed with chores - changing the oil, checking engine fluids, doing laundry, buying provisions, and filling water tanks. We took a break at lunchtime and ate at a great Mexican Restaurant near the beach. Bob and I both agree that we will return to Wrightsville Beach in the future if only to enjoy the food.
We left to continue North the next morning at about 8:30 am and caught the Bridge opening at 9:00am. There were three sailboats behind us all day. You begin to recognize boat names as you listen to them call each other on the radio, see them in anchorages and marinas. We anchored in Mile Hammock Bay which is near Camp LeJuene, NC. We were the first boat there out of the ten that anchored there that night.
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| Sunsets over water are always beautiful, but some are spectacular! |
Day two of this leg of our journey was crazy. We started at 7:00am and didn’t anchor until 6:30pm in Bay River. We made 84 miles in those 11.5 hours. During the last part of the trip the wind picked up with gusts up to 25 knots. We were in an open body of water which allowed the wind to cause swells that rocked us around making hand steering more difficult, but we made it through. That will be our last long day on this trip back to Baltimore.
When I’m in the Carolina low country I always read a Pat Conroy book. His stunning descriptions of the low country and small town southern life makes the scenery come alive. This time I’m reading Beach Music which I highly recommend.
My next blog post will be about the final days on the ICW as we make it into the Chesapeake Bay.
Thank you for reading my blog.
