We left bright and early this morning from Camp Lejeune. Murphy didn't get another shore trip so we promised him a quick day and an early afternoon trip to shore. Ha.
The day was mostly uneventful. but we fought current the whole day and were reminded how slow we are in the face of a 2 knot current. As we went through each inlet the current would switch, our spirits would rise and then it would just as quickly reverse. Oh well. We also had 3 bridges to contend with but fortunately the wait for each wasn't all that bad until we got to Wrightsville Beach. At this point, between the wind and current we had a 2 knot push and a half hour wait so we got to do the bridge wait and circle. One of the cruiser's that we'd been traveling was about an hour behind and unfortunately ventured into the shallows on the north side of the bridge. As of 5, they were still there. A Towboat had been there since 2 o'clock trying to free them. Ouch.
We went on to Carolina Beach to try a new anchorage for us. Murph had not been to shore since last evening, so we were anxious to get the dinghy down and the dog to shore. What's that old expression about "Haste, makes....." As we slowly explored the edges of the anchorage, the ground jumped up and we were stuck, hard. We tried kedging, we tried pulling the mast over, we tried waking with the dinghy, we were stuck. It was almost low tide so we resigned ourselves to tipping a bit and waiting for the tide to rise. Jim left with Murph for the long awaited shore time and two fisherman with a nice big motor showed up and asked if we wanted help. I called Jim back pronto and with a few tugs with real horsepower, we were off. Hooray. We quickly anchored in deeper water and as I speak, Friday night pizza is in the oven.
We are also listening to the news for the first time in days. Guess our problems are really minor. Our thoughts go out to the servicemen and families at Fort Hood.