To Morehead City, But Not Quite As Planned



A beautiful sunrise

Looking down the entrance to River Dunes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jeanne on RAGTIME

   

   We were up early and ready to cast off by 8AM. Unfortunately, the marina was understaffed and there was a line of 10 people waiting to checkout.  SEVILLA and PEKABU needed fuel, so that delayed us even more.  PINNACLE would be leaving later and traveling a different route due to the water depths and bridges.  Hopefully, we will meet up again in our travels.      It was closer to 9:30 when we exited the marina, but didn’t go far.  BRUNELLE’s engine kept cutting out. After 40 minutes or so, Dan managed to get it up and running, but there were still issues.  As a result, we traveled slowly just in case BRUNELLE needed a tow.  The Wind and Current gods were not favoring us.  BRUNELLE could get no assist from the wind.

Nothing like a big barge  needing
to make the turn coming at us!

     At the top of Adams Creek, we had to swing far to the extreme right of the channel.  A tug pushing a barge was just about to make the turn towards us. There were reports of “lots of logs” in the Creek.  We looked hard, but didn’t find any. Due to the hazy overcast, this area was not as picturesque as our initial trip, but still interesting.  The creek is about 150 feet wide, with many houses lining the banks.  What I did find interesting, were the signs.
 

BRUNELLE's stop tonight

    Partially down the creek, Dan called to say that they were going into Bock’s Marina for engine help.  Hopefully, they will catch up tomorrow or the next day.  

Another busy industrial port

    RAGTIME, SEVILLA and PEKABU continued on.  The original plan was to stay in Dudley’s Marina in Swansboro, 68 miles from River Dunes. With the late start, slower travel and the strong currents against us, by 3:30 we had only made it to Morehead City. After a quick discussion about the time needed to make Swansboro figuring on the currents (it would have been close to 10 PM!), we went to ‘Plan B’. We did a U-turn, headed back under the bridge, and called Morehead City Yacht Marine, booking dockage for the night.
 

Morehead City displaying their finest colors

    The others took a taxi to Beaufort to look around and catch up with PINNACLE, who docked there due to currents and water depth at the bridge.
     We did some chores, trip planning for tomorrow and reading. We plan to leave early to catch the flood tide heading south, so by 9:30 we called it a night.



ICW Mile Marker    204

 5.5 Hours       (Total 62.5 Hours)

 37.4 Miles      (Total 373.2 Miles)