Butler Island Anchorage, Waccamaw River, NC

---

We started off the day on Oct. 28 in cloudy, drizzly weather leaving our Calabash River anchorage at 7:35.  We cruised by Myrtle Beach – one of the busier areas on the ICW. 

We passed a surprisingly large casino boat – probably the biggest passenger ship we’ve seen on the ICW.

By 9:30, a torrential rainstorm hit for a short while but fortunately there was no thunder or lightening.

We soon entered the Waccamaw River which rivals the St. John’s River in Florida for beauty.  It is a gorgeous river winding through lush greenery and comfortable waterfront homes all equipped with their own private docks. 

About midway through our journey we stopped at the Osprey Marina for fuel. We waited for a thirsty  power boat to finish fueling before it was our turn.  We had stayed at this very pleasant and conveniently tucked away marina on our way north but it was only noon so we planned to continue our cruise  after taking advantage of their excellent fuel prices. 

Speaking of fuel – we had anticipated that the biggest chunk of our cruising “kitty” would be spent on diesel.  However, we’ve been able to take advantage of the dip in fuel prices throughout this trip.   So instead of fuel being our highest expense category, eating out has taken its place!

It eventually stopped raining but the day remained overcast.  For the last few days, we have frequently been in a procession of boats all making their way south towards warmer weather.

We reached our anchorage around 3:00, an early “quitting time” for us.   We debated if we should proceed further because it was so early and the current was in our favor.  But we decided not to  and we took the rest of the afternoon to relax.  Jonny actually slowed down enough to read and take a brief nap!

Our anchorage next to Butler Island was indeed a beautiful setting.  We were the only vessel there amidst a completely undeveloped landscape of open shoreline and waving grasses.  The only sign of civilization was a backhoe on the shore that may have been there to repair a nearby dam (we hope it wasn’t a portent of encroaching civilization)!

Lynn made an extra good dinner that evening (chicken breasts with bacon and vinegar) along with acorn squash (stuffed with apples and dried cranberries) and sautéed zucchini and onions.  All the while cooking and eating, we were on the phone with Stephanie who is considering a couple of job opportunities that are likely to have her working in New York City.  She has been faced with a lot of job placement  decisions since she’s been at Aramark, and she is definitely exhibiting a strong ability to manage change effectively!

The day was topped off with an awesome sunset.  Afterwards, we had a very quiet night at anchor.  It was so calm it felt like we were sleeping in our land bed!

Calabash River, North Myrtle Beach, NC

---

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’.

Figure 8 Bridge Anchorage, near Wrightsville NC

---

We left Morehead City at dawn on Oct. 26 bound for an anchorage in either Sloop Creek or Topsail, NC.

It was a cloudy day and somewhat windy.   This is the reason why we didn’t take the alternative route to Manteo.  The seas were kicking up as high as expected and we are much more protected here in the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) than we would have been on the outside passage. 

We passed a dramatically netted fishing boat.  It looked like a giant butterfly on the water!  A flock of seagulls was following it hoping to benefit from its catch.

Cruised by some beautiful (and interesting) waterfront homes – so many of which line the ICW. 

Lynn has been capturing photos of clothes hanging on clotheslines, though none until this entry have made it into the blog.

This part of the ICW still has many stretches of pristine shorefront.

We passed through Camp LeJeune but didn’t see the kind of practice activity that we saw on the way north. 

We spent a good part of the day listening to Terri Gross podcasts and catching up on the blog. 

At one point we were nearing a swing bridge only to discover that it wouldn’t open for an hour.  We, along with four other boats, had to circle the area waiting for it to open. When it finally did, the sailboats asked us to take the lead and we stayed in the lead for the remaining time. 

We ran into some areas with a lot of shoaling but fortunately did not run aground, though we heard on the radio quite a number of boats that did.  

We decided to go beyond our original destination and anchor just before the Figure 8 Bridge near Wrightsville.  This anchorage was not on Active Captain or in any of the guidebooks.  We had stayed at an anchorage on the other side of the bridge on our way north.  It was there that we ran aground and were stuck for several hours.  When we reviewed anchorages for the area on Active Captain, we saw a write-up about that same anchorage by our friend Joel who was unable to get his anchor to set.  As he left, the bridge tender told him about this new anchorage and he wrote it up in Active Captain next to the original anchorage.  We were lucky we saw it.  It turned out to be a perfect spot just for us right off of the ICW.  It was located in a channel leading to a marina.  There was a lovely bend in the channel lined with marshy grasses and very well protected.  We spent a quiet night there, always a plus in a new spot. 

Lynn made a vegetarian Indian  curry with cauliflower, chick peas, potatoes and peas – a Cook’s recipe, of course!  It was just the right degree of hot and served over brown rice, it made for a healthy and delicious dinner.  Another “early to bed, early to rise” evening had Lynn going to bed before Jonny – most unusual!

Morehead City, NC

---

Continuing our cruise down the intracoastal, we  are trying to visit towns that we didn’t see on our way north.  This time, instead of going to the little town of Oriental (one of our favorites on the way up)  we decided to stop in Morehead City which is just across the river from Oriental.  Our travel day was not quite as long as we had anticipated.  We left our Belhaven anchorage  at dawn and had another uneventful (and somewhat boring) trip.  The weather was just right – sunny and fairly warm.  We are definitely not complaining about the weather and we’re noticing a warming trend as we head south!

We decided to stay at a marina in Belhaven so we could go into town and get some groceries though we are trying to use up what we have on board.  But fresh produce and bread are always a must.  Our first choice of marinas was fully booked because there are so many boats traveling south at this time of year. It turned out that they managed the town dock and invited us to stay there instead.  This particular marina had few services including no dockhands but the price reflected that fact and we were fine with it.  We tied up with the help of a fellow dock mate  and made our plan for the rest of the day.

The grocery store was a bike ride away so Jonny, master grocery shopper, assembled his bike and took off.  Lynn did a little cleaning but mostly relaxed and reviewed the trip planning that she had been working on during the cruise.  Jonny arrived soon after with the groceries, but wait, the freezer needed to be defrosted before we loaded it up again.  So Lynn got out her trusty hair dryer and proceeded to defrost the freezer – a fairly satisfying job as large chunks of ice broke off in response to the heat.

We planned to walk through town and have dinner at a somewhat interesting restaurant named Floyd’s.  But we had a new dock mate who sailed in and introduced himself to us.  We had him come aboard and heard his story which is always a fun thing to do. He was a young man from Long Island sailing down to Florida alone.  He was quite the entrepreneur and regaled us with some of his exploits and accomplishments including the creation of an oyster farming enterprise.  He also generously gave us a bottle of NY wine from the North Fork of eastern Long Island.

By this time, it was getting dark and we walked into town for dinner.  Floyd’s was featuring a prix fixe German menu which sounded great so we chose that one.  It’s kind of funny that the last two meals we’ve had out were German!  Floyd’s was  a very local and rather homey restaurant.   Its two appealing aspect to us were that it was not located on the waterfront and it had an eclectic menu.  We were very happy with our dinner and especially so because there was enough to take home for lunch the next day!

After heading back to the boat, we had another early night – Lynn is now engrossed in the critically acclaimed Nurse Jackie television series which Jonny is studiously avoiding!

Belhaven Anchorage, NC

---

After a very calm night in our Lutz River Anchorage, we left at dawn on Oct. 24 for an anchorage on the Pongo River. 

This was another long travel day on the intracoastal as we made our way back to Florida.  Unfortunately, we did not have time to linger on this return journey. We need to get back to South Florida to help get Jonny’s mother settled in and so we can move back into our Miami Beach home in time to host Thanksgiving there.

The weather was once again beautiful with sunny skies, warm temperatures and little wind. 

Our original plan for today was to go to Manteo and Ocracoke which are side trips off the intracoastal requiring us to cross the very large Pamlico Sound.  We hadn’t been to these barrier islands near Cape Hatteras before and the trip would give us a break from the long stretches of the intracoastal.  But the winds were expected to kick up considerably over the next two days when we would have had to make a big crossing across those open and shallow waters so we decided on the more prudent route continuing on the intracoastal.  We couldn’t afford to be delayed by a few days.

It was a long day of travel on the intracoastal waterway  through some very isolated areas.  For much of the day we had no phone or internet access which doesn’t happen that often.  The landscape was beautiful and serene with wide stretches of open grasses and fields as well as wooded banks.

We decided to find an anchorage at 5:30 and chose one just beyond Belhaven.  We could have stayed at a town dock there but decided to bypass this small town and stay at an anchorage.

 

Lynn made what we expected to be a good dinner with  the mackerel that had been given to us a while ago and that we had frozen.  She had a recipe for baking it in a foil pack with black beans and corn but it didn’t come out that good so we chucked the leftovers which is unusual for us.  Lesson learned – mackerel is best when it is cooked fresh!

We made another early night of it as we expected another long travel day as we make our way to Morehead City.