Monday 9/12/16
Up early with the no-see-ums to catch the 0700 opening of the Wrightsville Beach Bascule Bridge at MM 285. An overcast morning after days of sunny 90 degree days. We had a true ICW moment when we were passing the Mason Inlet, we were in the right place but the bottom of the ICW was not. At Green 121 sands had shifted, called shoaling, and I could feel us bump the bottom and slow to a near stop. I pulled back throttles but we could see we were still moving at 1 knot of speed while dragging along bottom hunting for deeper water. We need 4'4" under the keel so were pleased to see a reading of 5' and we soon began moving without the feeling of dragging through the sand.
Our next bit of excitement was a swing bridge that only showed 20' of clearance and we need 22'. It only opens on the half hour so it was worth creeping up to the depth board which showed over 24' due to the lowering tide. Great, lets go, like we were getting away with not needing to wait, then clack, clack, clack, we had forgotten to lower the VHF radio antennas, fortunately no damage excepting our pride. To add to the excitement we were in some strong thunderstorms with overhead lightening that had us letting go of anything metal or electronic. After weather cleared we were passed from opposite direction by a flotilla from a yacht club. As one of the boats passed I was sure to take a photo as it was named Seaquel. Holy doppelgangers!
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First Light at Wrightsville Bridge
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Giraffe and Neptune on your lawn?
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Palm Tree, Flag and Parking meter???
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Clamming?
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| Another Trawler Named Seaquel |
A long day of cruising, we decided to continue further than our original plan of Morehead city having made decent progress during our nearly 12 hour day which allowed us to put 98 miles under our keel by the time we anchored at Cedar Creek MM 187. Everything went on the grill, Sliced potatoes, broccoli, onions and carrots, then 2 T-Bones. Everything taste so good when on a boat. Weather cooled off enough to not need generator and AC and by midnite not even a fan. So quiet. Just the water lapping on the hull.
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Getting close now! MM #s getting lower & lower! Wondering what the # will be when you reach home. Surely seeing a lot of interesting sights along the way! Had to be scary in that storm with the lightning! Hope no more of that.
ReplyDeleteTake care; travel safe.