HEADING FOR THE CHESSAPEAK BAY

May 22, 2016

SUNDOWN IN THE SOUTH RIVER

At 6am the anchor was up and we motored quietly out of  Myrtle Grove Sound, Carolina Beach, North Carolina.  The skies were grey and it was cold and wet outside.  Nice to have our enclosure and hard top.  We headed up the ICW with a hot cup of coffee in hand and shirt sleeves, while other boaters without protection were bundled up like it was winter out there.  We are heading north and very happy to finally be underway.  The weather forecast was for light showers off and on all day, ending about late afternoon.

JUST PLAIN RUDE

The ICW is shallow most of the time.  Today we sometimes saw only 8ft under our keel.  This makes us a little nervous.  Boaters on the ICW are normally aware of other boaters and take care when passing in the confined space.  But this is not always true.  We watched as a 50ft yacht approached our stern pushing a huge wake.  He pulled over to pass without slowing.  As he passed his wake knocked It's Perfect over, rail to rail.  The two sailboats ahead of us suffered the same treatment.  Most large boats call on the radio to let a boat captain know their intension to pass them and then slow down to do it.  There are always some rude people anywhere where you go. 

After a short day with 2 swing bridges, 1 bascule bridge we knew we were close to Camp Lejeune Marine Base.  The helicopters were flying over and the boom of big guns were all around us.

We arrived in the Mile Hammock Bay anchorage.  Where we dropped our anchor in about 7ft of water with 2 other boats for company.  Our plan is to leave early for a passage to the South River to anchor.

MILE HAMMOCK BAY

We had time to do a few chores before dinner.  During the night 9 other boats came in and anchored.  The small anchorage was crowded by sunrise.

Our anchor was up at 6am and we were underway along with several other boats.  The day was cool and cloudy.  It's Perfect was running with the outgoing tide at 7 knots.  It was going to be a long day. 

  

The VHF radio was busy.  The Navy announced they were starting an exercise offshore.  Warship 555 kept calling
to warn all vessels to stay out of their sector.

The next thing you could hear was the boom of the big guns as they conducted live fire operations offshore.  As the guns went off there were Marine Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft flying overhead.  Lots of excitement all morning.

FOLLOWING THUNDERSTORMS

After a long day of being chased by thunderstorms we finally turned into the South River and the water calmed and the clouds began to breakup.  We have anchored here before and we soon dropped the anchor in about 10ft of water.  It had been a long day on the water.  As we sat in the cockpit with a glass of wine the clouds began to clear, just in time for a beautiful sunset over the water.   Another day of travel on our journey north is done.

Anchored in the South River