Harbour Village, here in Hampstead, had very nice facilities and understood that cruiser’s want to get up and go. The dockmaster came back last night after hours to let us and another boat pay for the night so we could get going early on Saturday.
Casting off at 0628 we were only a few minutes behind Kattanah, the Hinckley that nervously helped us squeeze beside them into the face dock last night. After computing the time to get to the Surf City Bridge, we pushed the throttle to the max against a knot of unfavorable current and just made the 0700 opening.
The waterway was calm with the exception of ocassional passes by large sportfishing boats that didn’t practice common courtesy or look backwards to see what their wakes did to the boats in the waterway and at people’s docks. Between boat passes we drained the last 15 gallons from our cruising stash of diesel fuel into the main tank. At 0926 Mile Hammock Bay was off to starboard and we happily bypassed this anchorage where we spent a sleepless night on the way south.
Arriving at the Onslow Beach bridge in time for the 1000 opening we were ahead of Kattanah who was motor sailing as fast as she could to make the opening. The overcast day didn’t have many people heading over to the beach, so the bridge tender kindly held the opening until 1009 so Kattanah wouldn’t have to wait another twenty minutes.
The next stretch of the waterway passes through Camp Lejune where today, there were no live firing excercises so we were not delayed. I guess they were busy with the aircraft carrier out in Onslow Bay. We could hear them discussing Harrier landings and helicopter tenders on the radio. Noah came up on deck to look for military hardware as we passed through the base. The few tanks and missle launchers we found had been used for target practice.
Clearing out of the firing area at 1045, the next thing along this stretch of the waterway is the big Hatteras yacht manufacturing plant. All closed up on Sunday we passed them at 1100 and were turning the corner at Swansboro by 1132.
Entering the Cape Fear river we passed a sign of home as one of the NC State Ferries was sporting Duke logos. Shortly thereafter, a sailing ship popped up on AIS. We were surprised to see the size of this British ship when it rounded the corner heading out to sea. Their next destination was Williamsburg, VA.
Still pushing against an unfavorable current we reached the south bridge to Emerald Isle at noon. Motorsailing up the waterway we passed only the second sailboat of the day s/v Wreckless Abandon. By 1400 Spooner’s Creek was abeam with two large condo buildings erected that had only been in the foundation stage when we stopped there last fall. We were joined by dolphins for a little bit of the journey. They seem to be interested in looking at Noah and swam close to the boat rolling on their sides looking up at us.
Curious Visitor
Noah Stands Dolphin Watch
By 1429 we passed under the Emerald Isle north bridge and were soon in Morehead City waters. A helicopter carrier was docked at the state pier, so we gave it a wide berth.
Right at 1500 we were tied up on a very nice floating dock at Morehead City Yacht Basin. Fifty six miles in just under nine hours passing two of our southbound anchorages made us feel like we’d made good progress for a day.
We had been pushing because the weather was forecasted to sour overnight at the remnants of tropical storm Barry were moving into our area. We secured the boat and took the liferaft down below as we were done with ocean legs. Beth untied the life raft and started to pass it to me when she quickly pushed it back into position. The inflation line was still tied to the handrail. A few more inches of tugging and we would have had a life raft inflating in the cockpit!
After hot showers in the very nice dockhouse, we asked for a recommendation of a dinner place within walking distance. We donned raincoats and set out for “Floyd’s 1921.” We arrived just in time to get the last unreserved table. The food was excellent as was the service. Beth had ribs and I enjoyed a spinach salad with feta cheese and mango topped with lightly fried oysters. We’ll be coming back there again.
Back at the marina we visited the upstairs boaters lounge. Noah was fascinated by the big brass telescope. Unfortunately the skies were rain filled so there wasn’t too much to see. We took advantage of the book exchange and avoided looking at the television. Reboarding the boat we checked the fenders and lines before heading below to finish “Around the World in 80 days” and turning out the lights.