We delayed our departure on Oct. 27 until 9 because it was windy and raining and we wanted to make a 10 a.m. bridge opening. We were bound for the town of Southport, NC. This was one of the towns we had to bypass on our trip north and we wanted to see it this time around. By the time we left our anchorage by the Figure 8 Bridge it had stopped raining and the wind had died down. As it turned out we didn’t have to wait for the hourly bridge opening because the bridge was opening for the barge that was right in front of us and we were able to follow it through.
The ICW here is lined with many homes with docks and there is definitely plenty of boat traffic in this busy boating area.
Shortly thereafter, we were stopped and boarded by the Coast Guard! They were doing impromptu inspections. They instructed us to keep up our speed as they they boarded the boat – a remarkably smooth process. The two young, handsome, and very cordial “Coasties” (one of whom had recently moved from Miami) inspected the boat. This was a first for us and they were very surprised that in all our time traveling, we hadn’t been stopped for an inspection. Fortunately for us, we passed with flying colors and we continued on our way!
It started to rain again and the current was running with us causing us to arrive in Southport earlier than expected.
We called a local restaurant that offered free dockage for patrons. We learned that they were closed due to flooding but we could still dock there for free. We arrived at 2:00 and successfully docked in the rain. As soon as we did so we realized that it was expected to rain for the remainder of the day. We also realized that Lynn had miscalculated the next day’s trip destination making it too long of a run for one day. Because we didn’t want to visit Southport in the pouring rain, we decided to pull up our stakes and proceed further down the ICW. Maybe we’ll visit Southport next time!
We continued on our cruise through off and on rain storms until we reached a very nice anchorage on the Calabash River. It was very quiet except for the occasional passing shrimp boat and we were surrounded by pristine views. We had another lovely evening on board eating leftovers and watching ‘Being Julia’.
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