June 9, 2008

Monday, June 9, 2008 A week gone by? Hard to believe, but true! Last Monday we were at Isle of Palms Marina near Charleston, Mile Marker 458. Today we are at Belhaven, NC, Mile Marker 136, Moving North! The calendar says that Summer is two weeks away, but folks in NC are telling us that not only has summer arrived, there was no spring this year. One day it was cold, and the next was, like today, HH&H. At 8 this morning it was 82 degrees, and now, at 10:30 pm, it has about come back down to that! Our generator with it’s 2 zone a/c has kept us in the 77 degree area, and mercifully takes away the humidity, which is way, way up there! So while the smells of NC--such as ocean, foliage, paper mills, etc. are lost to us, we certainly have enjoyed the sights and especially the people. Before leaving Isle of Palms last week, we were ‘boarded’ by three Coast Guard Ausillary members who conducted a Vessel Safety Check for us. Once underway, we were amused by the huge homes with long long long docks--and in the center of one such row, the proverbial ‘junkyard’--a mobile home with junked boats and boat parts to offset the elegance. The Army Corps of Engineers commits to keeping the ICW Channel at a constant 12 feet deep, but the channel is NOT wide in many places, and in those stretches the boat bears constant watching to keep it on course. We touched bottom once in this stretch--and others, but kept going. Porpoises jump out of the water off our bow frequently, and a flock of egrets surrounded the boat in one narrow patch. By 6 pm we were in historic Georgetown where we dropped the anchor, but we pulled it right up again and went to the dock. (The man watching us anchor from a nearby boat was very glad we didn’t stay--given the wind and current, there just wasn’t enough room) We were tied up next to a group of Power Squadron guys, and had a great chat with them. Wednesday was our first ‘low bridge day’. Most waterway bridges are 65 feet high, but there are many that are 20‘ or less, and so road traffic must be interrupted for boat traffic. Many low bridges open on schedules, and we only had a 15 minute wait at the first one we approached. We crossed into NC around 4:30, after passing many many new condo construction projects--one of which actually looked pretty enough to live in. Most are cookie cutter copies of each other. The only pontoon bridge (zero feet clearance) left on the Atlantic ICW (There are several on the Gulf Coast) floated to the side so we could pass through just as we approached. Neat. The NC coast has a very different character from SC! The ocean is just a mile or two away--separated from the ICW by barrier islands with rivers and inlets every few miles. That means that the currents are unpredictable, and the bottom even more so. Every storm changes it, and ‘shoaling’ is the by-word! The anchorage we’d planned on turned out to be one of those shoaled areas--we ‘kissed the bottom’ and could see that it was very unpredictable as we headed for the lovely smooth water around the bend, so we very carefully retreated and headed to the next marina. On the way there, we saw a “dockage” sign and a man on said dock. Looked good to us, and 15 minutes later we tied up with him. New dock owner, getting established with his seafood store, and for dinner that night we had huge shrimp--fresh caught-- in a fine scampi sauce. Thursday found us in the Cape Fear River--felt like home (very Hudson-like) to Fred with it’s wide shores. Our Marina choice was at the end of a ‘cut’ , and although we were only a short walk (¼ mile) from the ocean, we decided to simply veg on the boat. It was a delicious afternoon and evening. Friday we jockeyed for position while waiting for 3 different bridges. At Wrightsville, the marina and lots of small boats made it interesting. Four miles later the Figure Eight opened 5 minutes after our arrival. We crossed the 18 miles to the Surf City Bridge in record time, (the current was pushing us to 8.2 mph!) but still had a 50 minute wait for the bridge. Very exciting as more and more boats arrived--including one rude one who plowed through to be first in line! The Stump Sound and Alligator Bay were a lovely passage, and Fred did a great job with tricky currents of docking us at the Swan Point Marina--just across the dock from the big guy mentioned above! Paul and Becky are new marina owners and have a fabulous ship’s store. We got fuel ($4.30/gal--50 cents less than SC, where we’d decided to wait) and a great buy on an adaptor for our power cord! We celebrated by taking their courtesy car into town for dinner at the Riverside Café, and topped it off with ice cream from our freezer! Saturday we motored through the Bogue (Bogus?) Sound--water just outside the ICW channel is 1-3 feet deep as it extends to the barrier islands. Makes for interesting water movement, though, as you cross inlets to the ocean. We passed right through the twin cities of Morehead City and Beaufort--where the water is ocean green and clear! We had reservations at the Sea Gate marina (which surprised Becky when we called--Betty’d not written us in the book the day before). Ended up at the fuel dock, which worked just fine. And diesel fuel was 35 cents/gal. more than we’d paid at Swan Point! This is a community marina with a clubhouse and most of the slips are owned by the member-neighbors. The ‘gang’ was drinking coffee on the porch at 7:30 am, and there I learned of the tragic run of Big Brown at Belnont. So sad. Sunday was a totally different sort of day. We were in the widest river in America--the Neuse--six miles across--followed by the Bay River, and then an ICW ‘cut’ to the Pamlico River. Here we left the ICW and motored into the Pongo River to stop at Belhaven Watrway Marina. All that wide and deep water required very little navigating, so I cleaned and puttered and Fred took long breaks and read! Wow what a day! After we were docked, we spent over an hour showing the boat to Brent, a man who’s spent as much time on Mirage Mfg.’s website as Fred did before we ordered the boat. He heard us on the radio and recognized the boat’s name from Ewen’s lightning webpage (remember that?) and hailed us, hoping to see a Mirage boat live and in person. It was fun to see how much he enjoyed the tour! So here we are. And there you are--perhaps given TMI, but hey, you are big kids and get to choose what you read and what you discard. We’re just sending it out there! Until next week, love and hugs from Linda and Fred