We had a 67 mile run from Myrtle Beach to Wilmington, so we got an early start. As was forecast, rain threatened or spit most of the day. The overcast sky’s at least helped by keeping the temperature down. It was a pretty easy going until we neared Southport.
This is where the ICW takes a sharp turn to the north at the southern edge of North Carolina. It’s a great spot for fishing as the Atlantic Ocean rolls in. Unfortunately for us, as we turned north, a storm was approaching from the west and we had opposing wind and current. This made for a pretty rough and wet slog up the Cape Fear River to Wilmington.
Because of the forecast of storms for the next few days, Tim and I decided to stay in Wilmington for a week rather than just the 2 days we originally planned. The idea of traveling in lightning storms doesn’t appeal to us. We had 2 days in Wilmington with Mark and Beth before they headed out. We stayed at Port City Marina which is just a few blocks pst the historic downtown area. It is a new facility and should be great once completed. The restrooms are in a temporary trailer and do leave a lot to be desired- small and not cleaned on a regular basis. Other than that, we had a great stay. We even got a free concert off our back sun deck from “the Shell”, an outdoor music venue at the marina. We used the free trolley to get a feel for the area and took a paid tour to learn more of the history of the area. No tour was necessary for us to find several breweries. There must be more breweries per capital than anywhere else along the ICW.
Not a bad thing.
I have found that a week in one spot is very hard for me. I need to get moving otherwise I get pretty antsy. I had to have something to do, so I decided this was a perfect time to make a cover for our helm chair. I had all the supplies I needed, so Tim hauled out my handy Sailrite sewing machine and I set up shop in my sewing loft, aka the v berth. Tim helped pattern the chair and then I got busy. We now have protection for the chair and I need to start thinking about what I’ll do the next time I start getting buggy.
On the 15th we started off again and had a short day getting to Wrightsville Beach. We needed a little tide help getting out of Wilmington. Even with a couple hours before low, we stirred up a lot of muck getting out of the slip. We also had to consider our tide going through Snow’s Cut, a very narrow passage that put us back on the ICW. We heard a sailboat talking to another boater on channel 16 saying that they bumped the bottom a couple times as they traversed the cut. We figured we’d be going through a couple hours after them and hoped that would give us enough water to make it without touching. Timing is everything and we didn’t see less than 7′.
We stopped for the night at Sea Path Marina in Wrightsville Beach. It was only a 5 hour trip, but our next stop was 3 hours away and we couldn’t see trying to make 8 hrs. It’s just too hot to be on the water that long and we knew we’d have a few bridges to time our openings for. 8 hrs could easily become 9 hrs and that has no appeal. Sea Path was a nice spot for the night, but too far from the beach.
So as I write, we are heading to Top Sail Marina. Our plan was to make the 8am Surf City Bridge opening, we were being lazy and thought about blowing it off till 9am, but the beach at Topsail was calling Maggie and I and at 7:30 we got ourselves in gear. We found that if we hustle we can be off the dock in 15 min. We made it to Surf City Bridge with about 5 min. to spare. I am loving this part of the ICW. Cruising along, on my left, the ICW is lined with elegant homes with beautiful lawns overlooking the water. On my right are green marsh lands with mazes of shallow waterways winding back to narrow barrier islands.
