By the time we were up and casting off our lines, Kokomo and Grey Ghost had already set off up the Cape Fear River. They were 15-30 minutes ahead of us. The river was perfect other than the tide was going out, so we weren't progressing as fast as we'd like. That's ok. We both would rather have flat water any day!! We just are glad we don't have the current and winds working against each other. This combo creates a very uncomfortable ride on the Cape Fear River. All is good today...in fact it's a beautiful morning. We even got a close pass by the car ferry that runs between Southport and Fort Fisher....just like those on the the Outer Banks.
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| Silver Tail passing us on Cape Fear River |
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| Wrtightsville |
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| Wrightsville |
Today is going to be another long day. We are going to Mile Hammock Bay to anchor in the midst of Camp Lejeune, NC. Three of the bridges today will slow us down...Wrightsville Beach on the hour, Figure Eight Bridge on the half and hour, and Surf City Bridge on the hour. We have to time these right so that when we get to each, we don't have to hover around in tight quarters and wait for their opening. Sometimes it isn't easy to determine our ETA with the constant change in current direction...one minute our ETA is early...the next late...the next on time! I'm a bit worried about the Wrightsville Beach Bridge. When we stayed there on our trip south, we saw how fast the water can rage through this narrow strip of water......luckily we won't be there at max ebb....
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| dredging equipment along the way |
We also have two trouble spots today. Everett Bay which is where we got grounded with Euphoria in the fall and New River Inlet. We stayed on the red side and saw 6.2 feet of water a few times at the Everett Bay. Kokomo called and told us to hug R 72B and R 72 A passing by New River Inlet. They saw no less than 7 feet. Sweet! It would be terrible to get hung up here since it's so close to our anchorage for tonight.
Here are pictures on our way:
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| my favorite pink house |
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| beached boat with osprey nest on top |
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| Osprey at mile marker 275 |
We got to Mile Hammock Bay at 6:00 pm....11 hours later. We were greeted with a black dinghy with 2 young marines. They wanted us to leave a lane open when we anchor because they were doing some type of exercise with their men. There were already 3 sailboats anchored in a row on the south side of the bay. That struck me as being strange. Kokomo was one of these boats and we found out that they were told to anchor there! So....Grey Ghost and Happy Hours II anchored on the north side of the bay. The marines had 2 dinghies in the water while there was a large group of divers in the water until dark. We also had a military helicopter buzzing us for the better part of the afternoon and evening. We'll put up with this as long as we can continue north tomorrow and not get stuck here due to 'live fire'!!
The winds are blowing around 15 kts but this anchorage has 360 degree protection. This is a great place to anchor! Our night was good.....
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