Less Than 200 Miles to Norfolk
21 April 2013 | River Dunes, North Carolina
Under 200 nautical miles to go to Norfolk.
We broke off from our raft with Salty Paws and left Vero Beach on Saturday April 6th and once again began our northern journey. After a day of motoring through winds from the north 15 to 20 we dropped our anchor on the south side of the fixed bridge in Titusville. The next day onward to one of our favorite yacht clubs the Halifax River Yacht Club in Daytona where the facility is beautiful and the Tiki Bar where the members hang out is great fun. We met members that we had met on our way south and they remembered us and were even following our blog. St. Augustine was a quick overnight visit but we were still able to get off the boat for a beer in town. One of the spots we missed on our way south was Fernandina Beach. This time we made it a point to stop. Our original plan was to stay for two days and explore the town, but as usual weather plays a factor in everything we do. There was a nice weather window for us to go offshore to Charleston, which meant that we would miss the ICW in Georgia. Not a bad thing. So after one short afternoon and a great dinner we were off the dock at 7am the next morning to go offshore. The transit was great with nice rolling waves and a light breeze. As expected we motor sailed into Charleston just 24 hours later. Shortly after docking at the Mega dock and getting fuel the winds kicked up, to as much as 28 sustained. It was sure good to be in and tied down. Soon after we arrived, Papagayo docked in front of us. George and Franki live in Richmond and dock their boat in Regent Point Marina on the Rappahannock River. We had a great two days with them and we both left Charleston on April 13th but unfortunately they developed some engine problems and had to go back to Charleston. We continued to one of our favorite parts of the ICW - the Waccamaw River. It’s beautiful, scenic and peaceful, just lovely. We anchored overnight by Butler Island, in the Waccamaw River, then proceeded on the next day to the Calabash River. From the Calabash, we motored on up to Southport, just by the Cape Fear River.
At this point, we had to make a decision: if we continued on up the ICW, we would have to try to go under the Carolina Beach Bridge in Snow’s Cut, just the other side of the Cape Fear River. The vertical clearance at the bridge, which is normally 65 feet , has been reduced to 61 feet at mean high tide as there was work being done on the underside of the bridge and the workers had built a scaffold there. Our mast, however, is 62 feet. Our only alternative would be to go out the Cape Fear River Inlet, around Frying Pan Shoals, ands then back in at Masonboro Inlet – 60 miles offshore to gain only 20 miles northward. After agonizing over this matter for quite some time, studying tide and current tables and discussing it with other cruisers, we decided that we could try to get under the bridge at close to low tide. Our strategy was to cross the Cape Fear River and take a slip at the Carolina Beach State Park Marina, staging ourselves to go up Snow’s Cut the next morning at low tide. The State Park Marina is a great facility, with fairly new floating docks, power, water, diesel and fuel, showers, laundry, a lounge and a little store. There are also hiking trails and picnic tables, and we could have spent another day or two there. One advantage we had was that we were traveling with Don and Mary Kay on Beckoning, a 47’ Catalina with a 64 foot mast (taller than ours). We followed them up the cut and they made it under the bridge (twanging their vhf whip antenna). We made it easily, with at least a foot or more to spare. Whew!!
We traveled on to Mile Hammock Bay and dropped the hook. Great anchorage just off the ICW by Camp Lejeune. Overnight, the Marines were conducting helicopter maneuvers but thankfully they stopped just after 11:00 PM. From Mile Hammock, we motored up the ICW past Moorhead City and Beaufort, all the way to Broad Creek, about 7 miles past Oriental – a long day, but we will be stopping here for a day or more as a big weather system with strong northerly winds is heading our way.