North Carolina (Part I)

Our first stop in North Carolina was St. James Plantation Marina (MM 315) in Southport. We were originally planning on anchoring in the basin in Southport or trying to get a free slip at one of the restaurants but it was a Saturday and didn't want to take the chance of nothing being available. And we're glad we made that decision! We were able to connect with our friends, Tom and Colleen, who we bought our dream boat from 10 years ago. They live across the street from the marina, invited us over for dinner and drinks and even offered to let us use their car (before the drinks) to get provisions and use their washer and dryer. They are big time RVers and ready to get their coach on the road mid-June. It is so nice having family and friends all up and down the East coast!

Little River Swing Bridge

Tom and Colleen

Leaving St. James Plantation Marina

Sunday we headed to Surf City. This took us up the Cape Fear River which we naturally hit right when the current was flowing at it's hardest against us. We crossed the river and went as far outside the channel as we could where the current wasn't as strong. We were able to gain 2-3 knots in speed by doing this 'trick'. After ten miles on the Cape Fear, we went through Snows Cut which can be a 'log flume' with the current if you hit it at the right time. Next was Carolina Beach and Wrightsville Beach -- remind me NEVER to transit this area on a weekend EVER! There were so many boats and jet skis it was mind numbing! We had two bridges we needed to clear. First was Wrightsville Beach Bridge that only opens once an hour, on the hour. I don't know how, but somehow we got there right at noon. Whew! The second one was Figure Eight Island Swing Bridge. I contacted the bridge tender who told me we had 24 feet. No problem! Something tells me the tide boards are not accurate because we only cleared it by maybe six inches. The guy in the boat behind us was cheering and holding up his fingers showing how much we had cleared it by.

Our journey ended at Harbour Village Marina (MM 267). This was the first marina where the dock master sent us instructions via text. That included a drone video of the channel and marina, where our dock and slip were, what side we were tying up to, and more! Usually it's a garbled VHF 'description' and we're both looking at each other hoping the other one heard and understood what was said. The dock master was also top notch and made Sharon's life easy. This trip actually required a shot once we were tied up -- first time that I can remember needing that! Sharon even offered to get me a shot while we were underway (which I reluctantly declined). A quick shower, power nap, packed up and my sister and brother-in-law, Wendy and Jeff, picked us up to stay at their house. 

We love hanging with Wendy and Jeff! They live on Topsail Island and we enjoyed good food, good conversation, the beach, doing FIVE loads of laundry and provisioning. We hadn't done laundry since Vero Beach almost three weeks ago. We also had a few pieces of mail delivered along with several Best Buy and Amazon packages!

Wendy and Jeff made a run to the Exchange at Jacksonville last weekend
so we could stock up on beer!

Tuesday we left 'bright and early' to head to Swansboro. This section of the ICW took us through Camp LeJeune and a 'live fire' zone. I called the day before to see if there was a live fire planned and there was. A four mile section of the ICW was closed from 0800-1200 and 1300-1700. Immediately before that four mile section is a swing bridge that only opens on the hour and half hour. I called the bridge tender to confirm they would open and was told they would as long as they got permission from the base. We saw three other boats leave our marina heading north much earlier than I had planned on leaving. That made me nervous and afraid we might have current against us so we took off around 0800. We ended up catching the current in our favor (which rarely seems to happen) and spent the last hour and a half cruising at idle speed only to still get there 30 minutes before the bridge was scheduled to open at noon. Well, it didn't open at noon. We and another trawler sat fighting the wind and current for 30 minutes waiting for the 1200 opening. Then at 1220, another trawler came up the river and kept coming at us. I have no idea where they thought they were going but they were dangerously close to us. So I 'floored' it to get away from them and they followed me! Seriously!?! Finally at 1230, the bridge tender announced he had permission to open and we needed to 'hurry'. There was a total of four trawlers and none of us 'hurry' anywhere.

We arrived in Swansboro (MM 229) which is on wide open water and the wind was blowing hard! After a little circling around the city dock we had a 'plan'. Somehow we managed to get right into our slip and tied up no problem. As we were getting settled in, another boat pulled in and turned out to be a couple, Scott and Sue Ellen, we knew from Herrington Harbour! It was nice seeing them and catching up with them.

The wind from the day before blew through the night and continued into the morning. Going southbound, we would have stayed put. Not this trip! It was blowing 15 knots with gusts in the 20s. Fortunately, it was blowing mostly in the direction we were traveling and where we were traveling was reasonably protected. Soooo.... we both decided to go for it. We had a plan A, B and C. Plan A was to go to Oriental. Plan B was to anchor in Beaufort if it was too rough. Plan C was to anchor in Cedar Creek right before the Neuse River if the Neuse was too rough to make it to Oriental. 

The trip was actually pleasant with very little traffic. We skipped Beaufort and Oriental. Oriental has a couple of free docks but you can't run your generator unless you want to risk getting a fine. And there really isn't much to do in Oriental. We talked about anchoring in Oriental and Sharon suggested Plan C. So we anchored in Cedar Creek (MM 187.5) That made the most sense since we would be going up the Neuse River to Belhaven.

Dredge rig. Always pass on the side showing the two vertical diamonds (diamonds are your friend).
It's also a good idea to hail the captain to confirm the safe side to pass.

Morehead City Bridge and MHC Railroad Bridge. Luckily the railroad bridge remained up.
We heard a train in the not-so-far distance and were afraid it would close right when we got to it.

Cement Plant [what this is courtesy of Nancy Bonnema]

Cedar Creek anchorage is less than 190 miles from Hampton.

The Neuse is one of several rivers (and sounds) along the ICW not to transit in any kind of rough weather. It can be nasty. We left Thursday morning figuring we could turn around and go back to Cedar Creek if it was too rough. It wasn't bad at all even though NOAA called for 'moderate chop'.

After the 'dreaded' Neuse River, we went through Goose Creek, Pamlico River and the Pungo River to Belhaven (MM 136). We went to Belhaven's free dock where there are no services (no electricity, water, restrooms, etc). It is in the middle of nowhere and again, wind was blowing. Not sure why the wind always kicks in when it's time to dock!?! We got tied up (for the most part) and Sharon and I were laughing trying to get a final spring line around a high piling. She got it! Once we were settled in, it was nap time and then a walk into town just to get off the boat. Ace Hardware was open along with a couple of shops but no restaurants. They opened later in the evening so we just went back to the boat and had grouper, rice and a salad for dinner. Yum! We spent several days here last October so there wasn't anything new to see. Tomorrow we head up the Alligator River and will anchor near the Albermarle Sound.

All by ourselves on the free dock. It is at the 'end of the world' in Belhaven.

Perdue Agri-something or other.