Barefoot Landing Marina at Myrtle Beach

Around 3:30 this morning Molli shook me awake and told me the boat was tilted and must be aground!  She demonstrated the tilt by putting something on the floor and watched it roll away.

I staggered awake and up and outside. I looked at the depth meter and it claimed there was 4 feet under the keel...we weren't aground, but we were indeed tilted, about 10 degrees.

I looked around the boat and found that one of the lines looped around a piling (meant to keep us close to the dock) had gotten pinched at dock level and as the tide came in, raising the boat, it trapped the port side of the boat and wouldn't let it rise...hence the tilt.

I clambered off the boat (I was still in my underwear, but was pretty sure no one would be awake to notice) and unsnagged the line....the boat literally popped up! Happily nothing was damaged (Molli had noticed the tilt before the forces got too large for the cleats and line to handle) and we went back to sleep

We cast off our lines at 7:25 and headed west and south to our next destination....Barefoot landing marina which is actually at an outlet mall at Myrtle Beach.

It was, as always, an interesting journey

The sun was just rising and Hayden took a great picture of Prioirity as we followed him down the ICW.

Again we saw lots of interesting houses on the waterway, some large and elegant

some painted all different colors (there was blue, yellow, lots of different shades of brown and green and one painted an amazing shade of fuschia

We passed some interesting boats

A shrimp boat heading towards an inlet and out to see

A Casino boat, doing the same

Another boat that was having a bad day

One interesting part of the waterway today was a two mile stretch called "the Rock Pile". Its a part that was blasted out the the army engineer orps(who maintains most of the ICW) but they must have run out of funding because the channel they blasted  was narrow and they left many boulders and rock ledges in the waterway

As you enter this stretch a sign warns you of what is to come

I was too busy steering and avoidng rocks to take any pictures, but you can imagine the channel lined with sharp rocks just waiting to rip a hole in the side of the boat.

In about 20 minutes we came to an interesting structure off to the port side called the Vortec. I have no idea what it is, but imagine it is some sort of communications or radar system. Its about 100 feet across and fenced off. 

This marked the end of the rock pile and in a few more minutes we were at the marina. 

Priority (foreground) and Island Packet at the dock

The Outlet Center, across a small man-made lake as seen from the promenade adjacent to the dock

To Southport

We cast off from the dock at SeaPath at 8:45am, headed down towards the anchorage and met up with Island Spirit. We got back on the ICW and headed south. 

We had several possibilities for places to put in this evening.

The first choice was Carolina Beach State Park, a Nature preserve with several docks just 12 miles south of Wrightsville Beach, but when we talked to the Dockmaster the marina is too small to handle our boats (both about 40 feet long)...there simply wouldn't be room to turn around, so we might be able to get in, but we wouldn't be able to get out!

We had several other possibilities.

One was a restaurant in Southport (the Provisioning Company) that has several docks which are free if you eat dinner at the restaurant, but they don't take reservations and it is first come, first serve.

The second option was a marina in Southport, but on calling them we found they had no room

The third option was a marina a little further (about 5 miles) south called St. James Plantation which by report is very nice. They had plenty of room so we kept that as backup.

The cruise this morning took us down the iCW past some interesting houses

A geodesic dome house

One of the many really large houses, this one with palm trees and a large dock

and some nice beaches.

A bunch of 4 wheel drive cars and jeeps and pickups on the beach, probably fishing early on a Saturday morning

We passed through Snow's Cut which led us to the Nature Preserve, and on looking in we confirmed we wouldn't fit so it was on to Southport.

We went down the Cape Fear river (a remarkably wide and fast flowing river) that quickly led us down to the next part of the ICW and soon into Southport at around noontime.

Lo and Behold...there were two slips in front of the restaurant beckoning us in!

The slips are narrow, with a high fixed dock on one side and a low floating dock on the other, with pilings on both sides of the slip. I just barrolled in, making sure to come to a stop before we the restaurant. ..People - lots of people - wiere busy eating and drinking at the open deck of the restaurant and took no notice of our arrival (the food is really good, so its understandable). One nice guy came out to try to help....he didn't know much about tying up a boat, but its the thought that counts (I redid all his lines). Once I was in I helped Hayden and Radeen tie up.

Island Spirit on the left, Priority on the right, and some tourists on the dock admiring the boats

Priority on the right, Island spirit on the left

After tidying up we went into the restaurant for a great lunch. 

The Provision company restaurant as seen from Priority's cockpit...what could be better

After lunch we wandered about 20 paces to a wonderful ice cream shop, where Hayden and I enjoyed ourselves (we both love ice cream and look for a parlor wherever we travel)

We then walked into town, stopping at a neat toy/candy store (Bull Frog corner) and then walked towards the maritime museum. Along the way we came across some "Facebook" friends of Hayden and Radeen who are musicians (guitar and banjo) who were just setting up to play. We sat and enjoyed some wonderful songs, mostly shanty's and I bought their CD so we could enjoy the songs even more later. 

We then walked down to the Maritime Museum, which was mostly about the history of Southport (initially called Smithville) which was founded areound 1706. As was the case with most eartly settlements in North Carolina it didn't do well in the early years, but started to come into its own after the civil war. Its history is tied up with the sea...shiping, sailing, ship pilots and such.

Its a neat, very small, town in a beautiful setting

As required, as a condition of our free dockage we went for dinner at the restaurant (which we would have gone to even if we weren't docked there. It was a fine evening to end a wonderful day

Dressed for dinner, waiting for Hayden and Radeen to walk down the dock to the restaurant

The Sailors

Sunset as seen from the restaurant

A fine way to end the evening

To Wrightsville Beach

The plan for today was to go to Wrightsville Beach, a distance of only 32 miles (about 5 hours). Unlike previous days, we hadn't discussed details of the trip, such as what time we would be leaving, but I assumed it would be sometime around 9 am, to get us there around 2 pm.

We awoke at 6:30,  got dressed leisurely and was about to make some coffee when I got a call from Radeen saying we had to leave at 7 30 to make the 10 am bridge opeing at Surf City, about two hours down the ICW....it was now 7 15....It was a  "Chinese Fire Drill" (am I allowed to say that) but we had the anchor up at 7:30....and we were underway.

The rrest of the trip was anticlimatic, excepting for one wonderful thing...This summer we had installed an inverter/Charger that allowed us to  have regular 120 volt AC on board, which meant we could run our Keurig coffee machine...and we did. While underway we turned on the Inverter, plugged in the Keurig, and brewed what we consider to be great coffee....it was wonderful!

We can now use our coffee machine, our microwave and even our hair dryer while underway or at anchor...and you know how much I look forward to using the hairdryer..

Of course what makes all this possible is that our brand new alternator is working like a charm, generating tons of current to replenish the amperes that the Keurig or microwave (not to mention the hair dryer) takes.  Life is good!

As has been the case so far, the ICW is beautiful. Nice vistas, tons of different birds (no dolphins this day), lots of neat houses to look at.

The passing view

We made the Surf City bridge opening with minutes to spare, and then the "figure of 8" bridge and then the Wrightsville bridge (all bridges that have to open to let us pass...there are other tall bridges (65 feet tall) that we just pass under, and they don't count.

Waiting for a bridge opening...a bunch of boats milling around and trying not to hit each other

We arrived at the Seapath marina in Wrightsville Beach at 1:30. It is a beautiful marina, attached to an 11 story condominium with only a few transient slips. As has been the case every where south of Maryland, the people were courteous, helpful and considerate....its getting hard to take!

Looking East from our spot in the marina

Some of the gazillions of other boats at our marina...and there were many other marinas in Wroightsville beach

We hung around, did some minor chores, read and talked over plans for the rest of the trip with Hayedn and Radeen when they dinghyed over ( they ecided to anchor out nearby)

Sunset in Wrightsville Beach as seen from our cockpit

We decided to eat in...I grilled a fantastic steak using the grill pan that Rich Fieldhouse taught me to use, and added a salad with garlic flavored olive oil and raspberry vinagrette (that I had bought in Beaufort)...fantastic!!

Tomorrow we head towards Southport

More sunset at Camp Lejeune

I couldn't resist

Back to the ICW

On to Camp LeJeune

After a very nice two days in Beaufort, and two wonderful dinners, the first at Greg and Kate Kerwin’s house and the second at the Spouter restaurant on the waterfront in Beaufort, 

Views from the restaurant

we set sail again at 8:30 in the morning, heading south (actually, we set motor, as there was no wind to speak of, but it was warm and sunny…we’ll take what we can get)

Leaving the marina was a bit tricky, we had to go up a side channel, then take a small short channel across a sand bar to join the main channel…that small channel could have been better marked..we missed running aground by inches..but we didn’t!

The trip down the ICW was pleasant. There were dolphins jumping around the boat as we passed through Bogues bay, then pretty houses to look at, some with palm trees in the yard. 

One of the many houses with palm trees in the yard, someplace near Swansboro, NC

Lots of nice birds and we didn’t run aground even once!

We only traveled about 33 miles today to 1 Mile Hammock anchorage,, arriving at 3:30 (we were slightly delayed waiting for a swing bridge to open..but thats part of the ICW.. 

This is an anchorage at the southern end of Camp Lejeune that was dug out by the marines to have a place to practice amphibian landings and such…usually it is open to the public, as it is today. But there is always the risk they'll start practicing maneuvers

. 

Today, as I write this a VTOL (Vertical Take Off and Landing) airplane is practicing and circling over  the 8 boats anchored here (4 of which are Island Packets). I’m hoping he doesn’t practice all night.

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VTOL circling the anchorage, passing over Island Spirit and Dream Catcher, both Island Packets

VTOL over Priority (courtesy of Hayden)

The new alternator seems to be working, but I’ll know better when we start up in the morning and see if it recharges the batteries…I surely hope so.

Sunset over Camp Lejeune

Layover Day in Beaufort

We stayed in Beaufort today, in part to finish the repairs to our electrical system and in part to rest up some more.

During the night our water pump failed, so we had one more problem to add to the list of things that have broken during the trip, but at least we were in a good place to have repairs made.

Jeremy, the most wonderful electrician, came to the boat at 9am, finished the repairs to the alternator, and then went to work on the water pump (this is the one that supplies water to the sinks, the head, and the shower)

We ended up installing a new pump

All the work was finished by 2pm, and we called a taxi and went into town.

Downtown Beaufort is about 3  blocks long, along the waterfront, filled with restaurants and Tchotsky shops, all of which we visited.
The most wonderful shop was an Olive Oil store....who knew there were so many different types of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. We tasted way too many and ended up buying 5 bottles. I'm looking forward to mixing Garlic flavored olive oil with Capucinno flavored balsamic vinegar!

We returned to the boat, rested up for a bit, and then joined the crew for dinner at the Spouter restaurant back in downtown Beaufort.

Left to Right:
Hayden, Radeen, Kate, Greg, Pat Me, Molli Eric

Wonderful dinner, great time

Tomorrow it is back onto the ICW, heading south again

On to Beaufort

We cast off the lines at 7:30 am (actually, we didn't cast off the lines - they go for $20 a line...- we hauled them in!
But we only went as far as the fuel/pump out dock. The goal was to empty all the "stuff" we had inadvertently been putting into the hold tank for the last week..it was full to overflowing (almost).

So we pumped out, poured fresh water in, pumped again...till we felt we had returned once more to having a clean holding tank

Priority and Island Spirit at the Pump Out station Dock

We finally left River Dunes at 8:15 and headed out into the Neuse river, setting a course for Adams Creek, on the opposite shore.

It was a beautiful, albeit windless, day. Our course took us close to Oriental, where we had visited Rich Fieldhouse the day before.

Oriental as seen from the Neuse river

Looking forward down Adams Creeek

 We were soon across the Neuse river and traveling down Adams Creek, a beautiful, wide, tree-lined canal connecting the Neuse river to Beaufort.

Looking back up Adams Creek

As we neared Beaufort Island Spirit headed off to stay at Greg and Kate's marina just north of Beaufort while we continued into Beaufort to stay at the Town Creek Marina

Shortly after we arrived the Electrician we had arranged came to the boat and began making the repairs to the wiring and most importantly replaced the not-working alternator with a shiny new one...wonderful.

The Town Creek Marina at dusk. note the bridge being built

That evening we went to Greg and Kate's house (they used to own an Island Packet, and ever since have befriended Island Packeters traveling up and down the ICW)