Mile Hammock to Carolina Beach, NC

Today:  48 miles, 7.5 hours, ICW St. M 295.1

Total:   488.2 miles, 70.75 hours

Our view aft

  

Our view forward

We were up, dog taken to shore, dinghy and anchor up by 7:15 this morning. As we headed south from Mile Hammock, I looked back.  Not only was PEGASUS and CHRISMA behind us, but the rest of the boats from the anchorage!  We went to Channel 17 as PEKABU made its way using the weigh points.  It was disconcerting to head into a point of land. While Pete navigated, I called out our progress and total depths every minute or so.  Everyone followed safely including the rest of the boats.

Timing is difficult for the 3 bridges we have to make today. The first 2, Surf City and The Figure Eight bridges, open every half hour, but the third, Wrightsville, is only on the hour. As result, we slowed our speed so we didn’t have to wait too long. It is amazing how fast and close the small boat pass us.  Some are less than 10 feet!  But, then there are the big boats, who are very considerate; come up quietly besides up us and do a slow pass. It was low tide for most of the way south from Wrightsville Beach, so everyone tried to stay to the middle of the channel. 

Hard aground. . .

Near this are where BRUNELLE
went aground a few years back

Kids waiting for the bridge opening

Pete had made reservations for the Carolina Beach Mooring Field using the Dockwa App.  There was a confirmation, but there was no “reserved” on any of the moorings. We wonder what would have happened had the mooring field been full. The moorings themselves are great.  There is a cup on top of the mooring balls, where the line is kept.  The line itself is about 2 inches thick with a large, 6-inch, stainless thimble. It would be nice if Annapolis had a similar setup in their mooring field instead of the smaller line and plastic thimble.

The rules

Stranded jellygfish

View north on Carolina Beach

View South

Very happy Bailey

Once secure, the dinghy was lowered and Pete, Bailey and I headed for the dinghy dock and the 2-block walk to the beach.  On the beach, we saw a small wedding party heading back after the ceremony.  There were lots of dogs walking with their humans and lots of empty beach.  What a beautiful beach and day!  After our walk, it was back to the boat to make dinner and clean up.  Pete fell asleep right after dinner, but I managed to stay awake until 9.  Pete took the dog to shore one last time and we called it a day.


~~~ /) ~~  K & P