Impulse Cruising Again

The rain ended during the night, but a very strong wind piped up, which left Bill doing mentai gymnastics trying to figure out how to get the boat out of the slip. But he did figure that out and we headed out into the harbor by 8:00. We saw over 40 knots of wind at times – that is crazy! – and the waves often broke over the front of the boat and hit the dodger. It was not a comfortable ride until we passed through Bogue Sound and got into a narrower and more protected part of the ICW. We have noticed many tarps on roofs, and now we are seeing broken up docks and missing siding. This area was hit hard by strong winds and wave action during Hurricane Florence. The wind did subside a little as we moved along, but it was on the bow all day, so it slowed us down quite a bit. The tidal current was against us, and then with us, and then reversed several more times as we passed small inlets. There was no calculating the time to our destination! We finally made it to Topsail Island Marina in Surf City at around 5:00. Fortunately the people on the boat next to us helped us into the slip – there isn’t anyone at this marina to help boats dock. In talking to them, we learned that they live in the Bird Section of Punta Gorda Isles! What a coincidence! We got settled, Bill hosed the storm enclosure to remove the salt, and then we headed into town. Buddy’s, a pub right on the beach, was pretty much destroyed. There were lots of surfers on the beach and fishers on the pier. The town was hopping! Costumed kids were all over the place, so I think a Halloween gathering was going on somewhere in town. We picked up a few things at the grocery store and then we went back to the boat for dinner, TV, and early bedtime. We have three timed bridges to pass through tomorrow and have to get up early to make it through them all.