April 1, 2019 to April 7, 2019
Our stop in Southport was fun and relaxing. We visited many of our favorite shops and restaurants and added a new favorite to our list. Moore Street Oyster Bar was outstanding. It offered a variety of oysters of which we choose four raw and six broiled with a unique topping of cheeses and spice to share. The Costal Outfitters shop has a vast assortment of beach, boat, and sports wear. Bob and I both found items we "needed" there. We were able to ride our bikes around town even on Tuesday when it rained most of the day.
On Wednesday we waited until 12:45 PM to leave Southport so we would have a favorable tide on the Cape Fear River. The Cape Fear River has approximately a three knot current and if you are fighting a tidal current like that it can slow your progress considerably. We traveled 26 Miles that day and anchored at Wrightsville Beach around 5:00 PM. It was great to be able to grill and Bob fixed a delicious dinner of marinated pork chops and cucumber salad.
Thursday we hauled anchor at 8:30 AM in order to make the 9:00 AM opening of the Wrightsville Beach Bridge. We had two more opening bridges that day so we paced our speed to eliminate circling around in front of the bridge waiting for the opening. This strategy worked well until we came upon the third bridge of the day only to find that the bridge had been replace by a fixed bridge and we didn’t have to slow down at all. We made it to our anchorage at Mile Hammock Bay (part of the Camp Lejuene property) in the early afternoon. It was a quiet anchorage once the pilots of the vertical take off and landing planes stopped practicing touch and goes. I helped Bob trouble shoot the problem we had with the starter that morning. After checking the starter and battery connections we discovered that the battery charger had been on "two" instead of "all". Could that be the problem?
We were the last of the four boats anchored in Mile Hammock Bay to leave in the morning at 7:20 to make the 8:00 AM opening of the Onslow Beach Bridge. We just made it.We were tied up at Beaufort Docks (North Carolina) by 1:00 PM in time to enjoy a pizza and salad at the Black Sheep Restaurant (maybe I should make this a foodie blog).
Friday and Saturday were spent changing the oil, doing laundry, visiting shops, provisioning (with the marina’s loaner car), and relaxing. We both enjoy Beaufort with it’s dockside boardwalk, numerous shops and restaurants, and boating atmosphere.
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| Fritha, a 74 ft. Brigantine, was docked at the marina. |
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| A bow view of Fritha |
On Sunday we ate breakfast at the Cru Wine and Coffee Shop. (just a note - Southerners have no idea what a good bagel is. They should stick to their delicious biscuits.) I completed cleaning the boat after which it was time to relax. We had lunch at a new Mexican restaurant, Mezcalito. The food was delicious, especially the fried ice cream dessert.
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| This logo was displayed all around the restaurant and on the wait staff. Sorry for the reflexion! |
We plan to leave in the morning for three days of anchoring out on our trip north.
Thank you for reading my blog.
