After a pump out & topping off water tanks, It's Perfect left Beaufort, NC at 10AM. We are heading for an anchorage about 50 miles South on the ICW. It was a rainy morning, in the low 70's & wind 15 to 20 knots. Most of the rain passed behind us as we motor sailed through Moorehead City on the Crystal Coast & on into Bogue Sound.
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| View from ICW |
We passed most of the day keeping an eye on the charts & watching a host of small towns & neighborhoods on the waterfront. As the afternoon wore on the wind let up & we were making 6 to 7 knots with the benefit of the tide.
As we approached mile 236 at 4PM the radio came alive with a call from a U.S. Navy patrol boat in front of us. They were closing the ICW for U.S. Marine Live Fire Exercises. We were instructed to stop immediately & anchor. The exercise would last until 5PM. Camp Lejeune Marine Base is just a few miles up the ICW.
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| Marine watchtower on the canal |
After our submarine adventure in St. Mary's Inlet, we are well acquainted with changing our plans for the military. As long as we were not being used as the target, we had no problem dropping the anchor & waiting for what came next.
By the time I had made us a sandwich the gunfire began. We could not see it but it certainly sounded very close. Across the sky in front of the boat Osprey Tilt Rotor aircraft made sweeps back & forth across the ICW. Looked & sounded like the real thing. While waited on the war games, a Main Ship trawler, named Millennium called on the radio. It seems that at channel marker 60 he skimmed the bottom with his 4 1/2 ft. draft. Since we will be there next, it was nice of him to let us know.
True to their word the gunfire stopped & we were radioed that we were free to move on. Mile marker 60 was about 2 miles ahead just before the swing bridge at Camp Lejeune. Thank goodness for the Internet. Rod looked up the mile marker on Active Captain web site & found instructions to stay close to the red buoy to avoid a shoal. As we approached we could see a sailboat coming north towards us that was not making any progress. Sure enough he was stuck on the shoal & could not work himself loose. Rod cut back the engine & we slowly passed the red nun buoy on our starboard & the stranded sailboat on our port. Just passed the buoy It's Perfect hit the bottom as the depth meter registered 5.6 ft. As we slid along the bottom the depth quickly increased to 10 ft. Active Captain saved the day! The U.S. Navy was on its way up the canal & we left them to see to the stranded boat.
We finally approached the swing bridge just in time for the 6PM opening. Only 3 miles to go to our anchorage. As the sun set we pulled into a large cove just off the canal & joined 2 other sailboats & Millennium at anchor. One of the sailboats, No Quarter had been at anchor with us in Portsmouth. He summers in Virginia & winters in Miami. Small world.
We poured a glass of wine and discussed our day. It started out quite uneventful, but we have learned to expect the unexpected. Life is never boring on It's Perfect.
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