April 26-27, 2013 - Morehead City to Belhaven

 

Said goodbye to Bucket List and pulled out of Morehead City.  Saw dolphins feeding around the barge facility there as we pulled out.  It was very windy out in the channel and we looked forward to a reprieve in Adams Creek Canal - not much reprieve to be had!  The canal opened up into Adams Creek (which is huge).  The creek was covered in white caps and crab pots.  Adams Creek opened into the Neuse River which was even larger.  We took on a rolling beam sea for a while then turned into the 3'-4' waves with some 5'-6' ones thrown in for fun.  We set a course for an anchorage and rolled with the punches - not at all fun...

 

Upon entering Gale Creek a sailboat off our starboard suddenly dropped his sails, went to power running across our bow, and ran aground just to our port.  Fortunately, Jeff saw they were acting erratic and gave them plenty of room.  We stopped to give them a tug trying to avoid the shallows and crab pots.  The first try failed and Jeff told them we'd only try once more and that would be it as we got pulled into the shallows the first try.  The second tug worked, and we broke away from them asap.  After that encounter, we wanted to put some distance between us; so, we bypassed the first anchorage and decided to make our way up to Campbell Creek.

 

It was a beautiful anchorage, and we enjoyed grilling out and relaxing at the end of a somewhat harrowing day.  The moon rewarded us with its full orange ball glowing across the water.

 

 Morehead City barge

 

 Sailboat aground

 



 In route to Campbell Creek anchorage

 



Beautiful shrimp boats

Finally at anchor...

 Sunset over Campbell Creek

 



Full moon shining over the water

 

We awoke early and decided to have an easy day so we headed to Belhaven.  We got in by 1030, washed up SeaGlide, our laundry, and our persons.  We then toured downtown and the museum - known as a cross between the Smithsonian and Ripley's - a totally accurate description as they had anything from button and shell collections to an 8 legged pig and 2 headed cat.  The downtown buildings are mostly empty now, but the people are extremely friendly and welcoming.

 

As the day wore on several loopers made their way to town, and we were able to have dinner with some familiar faces - Bucket List, Blue Heron, Rick & Roll - as well as meeting some new looper friends. 

Belhaven's Waterway Marina

 A nice gentleman asked to take our picture as we exited the museum. 

 



Just me...

Main Street Belhaven

 

 

 

 





April 24-25, 2013 - Swansboro to Morehead City

 

Pulled out of Swansboro late a.m. as we didn't have to go far - only a few miles to Morehead City where we planned to spend a couple of days.  Got to Portside Marina around lunchtime and Bucket List pulled in right behind us.  Barefootin' was already there, and we all planned to do dinner together that evening.

 

We had our own tour of boats so we got to see both Bucket List and Barefootin' from the inside - very nice!  Barefootin' pulled out the next morning and we shared a rental car with Bucket List and went to see the sites.  The ferry to Cape Lookout was not running due to winds, but we went to Fort Macon and did some shelling on the beach there.  We made the rounds to WalMart and West Marine then went to dinner to celebrate Cindy's birthday.

 

 Fort Macon 

 







April 23, 2013 - Southport to Swansboro

 

Pulled out of Southport at 0700 in route to Swansboro, NC.  There was a 3'-4' chop with headwind in the Cape Fear River - down right chilly!  We were behind a tug, Royal Engineer, a good bit of the way going through Snows Cut.  There was an abandoned sailboat in the middle of the channel and Royal Engineer called to report it to the Coast Guard.  He was unable to provide registration numbers, etc to the Coast Guard so we got the info and called it in. 

 

Allegria and Bucket List caught up with us, and we all passed Royal Engineer together.  After that we were able to squeeze under Wrightsville Bridge then found out that Figure 8 swing bridge was closed for emergency repairs.  They let us and Bucket List pass on through even though the Coast Guard said it was closed to all traffic. 

 

We thought we had it made only to reach the Onslow Beach Bridge and the operator had mechanical problems with the traffic stop bar.  We had to wait 40 minutes for the police to arrive and stop traffic.

 

Had quite a day with bridges today, but all's well that ends well and it did, as we went to dinner with Bucket List - more "seasoned" loopers and greatly enjoyed getting to know them.

 

Royal Engineer

 Wrightsville Bridge

Figure 8 Swing Bridge 

 Strange... 

 

 Onslow Beach Bridge finally opens... 

 



and the traffic speeds through...

Behind us were Bucket List, Allegria, and Barefootin' 

The sun set at Dudley's Marina

 





April 22, 2013 - Southport

Spent the day in port exploring the quaint town of Southport.  Went on a bike ride to Indigo Plantation Marina, through downtown, out to River View Rd to check out a house we saw for sale last year, then discovered an old cemetery and explored that for a while before heading back to SeaGlide for lunch.

 

Indigo Plantation

Great old cemetery close to downtown.  Has headstones of folks born in 1700s.

  

Amos makes his first venture up to the flybridge

  

Southport

 

We've already been so fortunate to meet several "seasoned" loopers and have greatly enjoyed our dinners together hearing their stories.  Below is a pic with couples from Blue Heron, Blue Moon, and Lightfoot.  They have all shared valuable advice with us.  In addition to the group below, we also enjoyed dinner the night before with Rick & Roll.

 

Dinner at Provision Restaurant

 

 

 

 

April 21, 2013 - Southport (South Harbor) to Southport (Southport Marina)

Awoke to high winds this morning and had second thoughts about pulling out.  Decided to give it a shot and said goodbye to South Harbor...

It didn't take long to rethink things.  We stuck our bow out into the Cape Fear River and decided to high-tail it back to Southport Marina.  Critt Gore, our neighbor at Grande Dunes, had recommended Southport Marina to us and luckily, they made room for us as wind gusts were reaching 37 knots throughout the day with 3-4 foot white caps out in the Cape Fear River.  Small craft advisories are in effect and gale force wind alerts were issued for the coast. 

As the day wore on gale force wind alerts were put into place for Southport until 1400 Monday.  Luckily, we've always enjoyed Southport; so, now we have plenty of time to explore on foot.

SeaGlide next to a fellow looper in Southport

 



Southport Marina C Dock

 

Luckily we arrived early (1015) as now they are turning boats away - no room at the marina....  Jeff  helped out other boats as they arrived to the dock in gale force wind conditions... In fact, the dock manager, Gary, just brought over a nice bottle of wine to thank him for his assistance.

 

Walking around Southport

 

White Caps in Cape Fear River

 

A penny for your thoughts...

 

With so many boats and Loopers held up in Southport, we're looking forward to dinner with some new folks.  As we learned last year, you meet the nicest folks while held up in port due to weather conditions!!  Jim and Pam Shipp... if you're out there, we're thinking of you...

 

 









April 20, 2013 - Grande Dunes to Southport

 

Said goodbye to Grande Dunes on April 20, 2013 at 0830 headed for Southport.  Had a champagne toast using Tom's (Jeff's Dad) John Deere mug and Beulah May's (Grace's Grandmother) handpainted coffee mug to ensure that our guardian angels are along for the trip.

 

Grande Dunes Marina

Champagne Toast

Got bundled up as the temps were in the 50s and the winds rather brisk.  About a mile upstream incredibly we heard someone calling out to us from ashore - our wonderful neighbors, Johnny and Elaine, were there waving us off to a good start on our journey.

We then made it through the Rock Pile and came to our first swing bridge opening at Little River. 

 

The Rock Pile



 

Little River Swing Bridge Opening 

 

This next photo is for all our biker and golfing buds... its a shot of one of our favorite hangouts... Captain Poo's from the waterside!!   We've enjoyed many an hour here with some of our very best friends! 

We then crossed on over into North Carolina and passed Shallotte Inlet.  From there it was on to Holden Beach and Lockwoods Folly Inlet.  Approaching Lockwoods Folly we passed a sunken fishing vessel, Cap'n Jeff's fishing vessel, and a house we once looked at on B Var Road.  It has new owners now who recently built a new dock - beautiful home!

 



Lockwoods Folly Inlet

 

We decided to call it a day and pulled into South Harbor Village Marina - just west of Southport, NC.   It was great facility, and, in fact, we had visited here before via land looking at properties.  It was interesting to visit there via waterway.

 

 SeaGlide at South Harbor Village Marina 

 

The clouds finally cleared to give us a beautiful sunset over South Harbor...

 

 





Off to a slow start...

Sitting on go this morning anxious to start the loop, however, the weather is a good reminder for us to not plan on sticking to any schedule.  One more wave of rain that should be through here by 1000.  Guess we'll wait a bit and make sure the fog has lifted before we hit the Rock Pile area - after all we're in no hurry....

Had a great send off dinner last night with our Potato Branch neighbors, Johnny and Elaine Gossett. As luck would have it, they happened to be staying at their Myrtle Beach house.  We've been doubly blessed to have them as neighbors in two locations - they always keep a lookout on things for us!  It was fun having some sit-down time with them and showing them SeaGlide.