Sunny Windy Start, Rainy Finish
26 April 2012 | Wrightsville Beach, NC
This morning was bright and clear but the winds were blowing 15 to 20 mph at 8am. Fortunately, our course today was such that the winds were behind us all day, so it was a help, not a hindrance. Of course it made docking a challenge, but we are now well practiced at docking in all kinds of conditions so we docked safely. The stop the admiral did not want to miss was only about 4 hours away so we arrived there by noon. That was good because the winds blew gusts as high as 29 mph much of the afternoon while we were safely tied to the dock. It is one of four marinas that line the two sides of the ICW channel just south of the Wrightsville Beach drawbridge. The bridge only opens once an hour on the hour which results in a lot of interesting boat traffic to watch as they maneuver to stay in line waiting for the bridge in the narrow channel between the marinas, complicated by the wind and the current both pushing the boats towards the bridge today, and by the boats pulling into and out of the four marinas. As we sat in the restaurant at a second floor window overlooking the marina a rainstorm rolled through with moderate rain but a show of lightning that was really something to see. Our destination tomorrow is the anchorage in Mile Hammock Bay on the edge of the Camp Lejeune Marine Base. The Captain
Dockside Marina was a scheduled stop for me because of its being the favorite place of my former principal at Mansion Ave. School. He just loves it here and even gave me a t-shirt from the marina for a retirement gift. We tried to stop here on the way down but, since we were coming through on a weekend, it was almost impossible to see the dock because of all the boat traffic. We couldn’t have hoped to dock here. Instead, this time we came through during the week and secured our overnight docking space with no problem. We spent a peaceful day walking around the neighborhood and sitting in the cockpit watching the boats, and then Bruce’s brother took us out to a delicious dinner at Dockside. We sat in the upstairs dining room and had a gorgeous view of our boat, the ICW, the barrier island, and the sporadic lightning in the clouds. The Admiral