3.22.08

We had the anchor up at 0715 and were cruising while I made coffee. At 0730 we crossed into NC...sunny, warm and the water a beautiful light green. We arrived at a pontoon bridge about 10 minutes before it opened....our timing was great...and we had never seen one in operation....traffic is stopped...and the cable that pulls the bridge to the side and opens the channel has to be lowered and then he signals you to pass thru...The bridge master works from the building on the moveable bridge.....very interesting.....

Visited with Mitchel and Martha aboard M&M Journey..via radio...future "Loopers".

There are a lot of interesting homes along the route....these are a bit "gingerbready" for my taste...but I still thought they looked good together...

I have been aprehensive about cruising the Cape Fear River....today was the day....it can be a very dangerous place....the wind was right...the tide wasnt...we were a bit early...so had steep rolling waves but not quite as bad (or as much fun for Jim) as Winyah Bay...this time we had other boats crossing and wasnt sure we enjoyed the company...when they flew by us the "confused" seas were really confusing...but all in all it was a fun ride...

At the Carolina Beach Inlet at G155 a tug and barge were grounded...we'd been hearing about their problem for quite awhile on the VHF radio. A beautiful boat, Sequel, had passed us in the morning and he was calling for a tow as he was grounded in front of the tug....by the time we got there...Sequel was off the bar...8 or 10 boats were milling around trying to find a way thru.....we tried going behind the barge but the wind was so strong we were being pushed towards shore so spun around and tried crossing in front of him ...in the main channel...we lightly grounded....and we only draw 1 ft (maybe a few inches more with all our stuff). We could feel the bottom as the waves bounced us...Jim raised the motor and the wind blew us into deeper water....and off we went....3 more boats grounded and were calling for tows a few minutes later......Many of the boats at docks were sitting on the bottom...I dont know if that is normal or not....perhaps an unusually low tide? We are still trying to figure them out...

We found a spot off the main channel to anchor....near R130....had to cross 2 1/2 ft of water at the entrance but anchored in 6' and the tide was still out so we should be good....we'll just have to watch going out in the morning.....

It's 2am...the wind is kicking up...and colder....will be on anchor watch till it lets up....

The ICW is full of boats...sometimes it's a worse ride than either of the rough bays...you not only have to watch out for big boat wakes but some of them dont even realize they could be shoving you into shallow water or a marker or even a smaller boat...we have always tried to avoid weekends or holidays....but here we are...Easter Weekend...in a narrow channel with alot of miles to go....