Underway and Headed South

The Figure Eight Island Bridge, covered with tarps, only opened at noon

February 7, 2008

Tonight are anchored in the harbor at Carolina Beach, NC. So far we have had only a few minor glitches on our trip south.

We left New Bern, NC on Monday, February 4 at 1430 (that is 2:30 pm for the un-nautical) and had an uneventful motor trip to Cedar Creek. We anchored at sunset and spent a noisy night. It takes a day or two to adjust to the boat's nighttime creaks, groans, and slaps. We left in the morning with overcast skies but otherwise nice weather. We motored down the Intracostal Waterway's ditch to the Newport River north of Morehead City where fog completely enveloped us. Water dripped form the rigging, and these two sailors couldn't see more than a boat length in front of us! We navigated by radar. Adair steered and Bill called out courses. We were suprised by two fishing boats coming in from the sea but thankfully managed to avoid any collision. Fog is not for us. The fog lifted later in the afternoon, and just before sunset we motored into Mile Hammock Bay in the middle of Camp Lejeune to spend a night at anchor surrounded by the US Marines.

Wednesday was foggy to start with but cleared later in the morning. We arrived at the first of the three bridges we expected to pass under that day, Surf City, NC. The bridge tender told us that the next bridge, Figure Eight Island, only opened at noon due to maintenance. We couldn't make the noon opening, so we pulled into the Beachhouse Marina in Surf City to spend the night.

Thursday morning was beautiful; clear blue sky, cooler but still not cold... yet. We motored through the last two bridges on this stretch without any problems. Our next hurdle was the Carolina Beach Inlet. It is notoriously shallow, and we were to cross at dead low tide. Well, we found the bottom. No damage done except to the Captain's pride, an hour wasted waiting for the tide to rise and get us off, and maybe a little bottom paint left behind.

We are headed to Southport, NC tommorrow and then to Little River, SC on Saturday for a visit with Adair's sister, Elaine, and brother-in-law JP. We aren't yet low on food or booze, so should just be a fun visit.