Saturday, October 16, 2010 – Carolina Beach, NC (ICW mile 295.1)

 
 
 We hung out at the marina in Masonboro for as long as we could and then set out for Carolina Beach at 3:30 pm. On the way into the anchorage, we were hailed by Bill and Margie of Tortuga, another Gemini, whom we had met in January 2008 when we were in Crystal River, Florida, with our friends from Toronto, Ken and Nancy. We couldn’t make contact on the radio that night, evidently their VHF was turned down too low, but we did talk by radio the next day and learned they were on their way down to Florida as well.

The windlass control failed when we dropped the anchor – it was stuck in “down” mode so all 100 feet of chain was pulled out at once. We had to disengage the control and go back to the “old fashioned” manual way of doing things. Fortunately, it was only 5 pm and not dark yet. It would have been a little dicier had we been trying to manage it in the dark.

Gale was able to take the handheld control apart and make a temporary repair. The “up” switch was worn out so he switched the wires to make “down” into “up.” This repair got us through until we could order the replacement part and have it shipped to Charleston.

Friday, October 15, 2010 – Masonboro Marina near Wilmington, NC

Josh, the mechanic, arrived shortly before 9:30 am to check the engine valves – routine maintenance only. He found that two of the four valves needed adjustment and had that task taken care of in about 25 minutes. At 10:30 am, Craig, the dockmaster, gave us a ride into town and dropped us off at the Super Walmart in Wilmington where Maureen started on the grocery list and Gale walked over to the nearby Radio Shack to take a look at their televisions. He ended up purchasing a 19-inch digital flat screen TV that would fit nicely atop our refrigerator. We gave Craig a call and he was back to pick us up and take us back to the marina before 1 pm.
 
 


By 4 pm, the staples were repackaged and stowed, the fruits and vegetables were cleaned, salads were prepared for the next five days and the meat was repackaged into serving-size portions. While Maureen started the laundry, Gale worked on boat chores. It is always so busy when we come into port!

Maureen had been craving pizza lately, so we had a Hawaiian pizza delivered to the dock around sunset and settled in to watch a movie on our new TV! It was hard to believe that we’d been without a television set for sixteen months.

Thursday, October 14, 2010 – Masonboro Marina near Wilmington, NC (ICW mile 288.1)

 
It was a rough night on the hook. The current and the wind worked against each other at times which gave us a bumpy ride and made it difficult to sleep. We were also anxious about getting up extra early because we knew we had a long travel day ahead. We didn’t waste much time when the alarm sounded at 5:15 am and by 5:45 am, we had the anchor up and were motoring through the channel. Even with Maureen at the bow with a flashlight, we felt the channel was too narrow to be navigating in the dark so after about 20 minutes, we dropped the anchor in the channel and waited another half hour before getting underway once again. The sky brightened up by 7 am as we moved down the waterway.

We did get a little rain in the afternoon as we waited for the 4 pm opening of the Wrightsville Beach Bridge. With the isinglass enclosure over the cockpit sides, we were very dry and cozy in our shorts and tops as we sat back and relaxed. The two other sailboat crews waiting at the bridge were not nearly as lucky. They were all in their full raingear and getting pretty wet as the squall passed through.

 

We arrived at the Masonboro Marina just before the 5 pm closing time and were assisted into our slip by the dockmaster and a couple of other neighboring boaters. We found out the essentials for the night; i.e., WiFi password for the marina, access codes for the laundry and shower facilities, etc., before the dockmaster left for home. We settled in for a nice, quiet evening in a very friendly marina.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010 – Swansboro, NC (ICW mile 229.0)

Double yuk! The boat was covered with dead mosquitoes when we got up. At least we didn’t get the green slime all over like the fish fly hatch. We were counting on the breeze blowing away most of the carcasses, but we were still in need of a good fresh water scrubbing to get the boat cleaned up properly.

We were on our way by 8 am and heading out into another lovely day. It took eleven hours to travel sixty miles with a stop in Beaufort (say: ‘BO-fert’) North Carolina for fuel and water. We had hoped to take about two hours in Beaufort to walk around the city and get a feel for its history, but during the afternoon we set up an appointment with a mechanic to meet us at the Masonboro Marina on Friday morning at 8 am with a cold engine. The only way we were going to make it to Masonboro by the time the marina closed on Thursday was to keep moving.

We arrived in Swansboro as the sun was setting and dropped the anchor just outside of the channel. There was a lot of current and we had some difficulty getting the anchor to set. Finally, at 7 pm we had good holding and made our dinner. The lights in town were very pretty at night and the traffic on the waterway died down after dark.

 

Tuesday, October 12, 2010 – Neuse River near Maw Point Shoal (ICW mile 170)

 
 
 
 
 We spent the morning walking around town (which really didn’t take long) and then stopped in at SmacNally’s on the waterfront for a bit of lunch. It was a lovely day with temperatures in the upper 80’s and a nice southwesterly breeze. Seemed like a good afternoon for a sail, so we pulled up anchor at 1:30 pm and left Ocracoke and the Outer Banks of North Carolina to reenter the Intracoastal Waterway.

At 7 pm, we dropped anchor near Maw Point Shoal in the Neuse River and settled in for a nice evening. Remember the fish fly hatch we had Saturday night? Right after sunset we were driven inside and under the covers by hoards of mosquitoes! They were relentless and managed to find their way into the living quarters. Lights out because of the bugs at 8 pm again!!
 

Monday, October 11, 2010 – Silver Lake, Ocracoke, NC

 
 
 
It was another long travel day – 60 miles in 10 hours against a strong SSW wind. It was clear and sunny with a temperature of 68°F to start the day rising to the mid-80’s by afternoon. At 5:30 pm, we anchored in beautiful Silver Lake on Ocracoke Island. The most famous former resident of the village, Blackbeard the pirate, met his demise here in 1718 when the Governor of Virginia sent troops to Ocracoke to capture him. It took twenty sword wounds and five gunshots before he was killed and beheaded. His body was tossed overboard and his head tied to the bowsprit of the schooner Adventure, which then returned it and hung it on display in Hampton, Virginia, to warn other piratical types.

After settling in, we hopped into the dinghy and rode over to a couple of other boats anchored near us to inquire as to the “lay of the land.” We learned where the dinghy dock was but did not get much information on where we might find a sandwich place. Not to worry – the town was so small, we parked the dinghy, walked a few blocks and found Dajio’s where we enjoyed a great meal and a nice conversation with a couple who used to cruise on their sailboat.

Sunday, October 10, 2010 – Rodanthe Island, Pamlico Sound, NC

 
 
It was a gigantic fish fly hatch! Dead bugs and green slime was everywhere. Yuk! We tried washing off a bit of the gunk with our bucket, but left most of it for a later time when we could get to a marina and give her a good scrubbing.

Bugs or no bugs, the sunrise was fabulous and we kept on going. We glided through Coinjock, NC, a lovely little fishing village with two very nice marinas on either side of the channel. We were soon in Albemarle Sound and navigating our way to the Outer Banks of North Carolina and Pamlico Sound. We passed Roanoke Island where Sir Walter Raleigh dreamed of establishing the first English-speaking colony in “the New World” in 1587. The colonists made their way to the island, built homes, had babies, but within three years, the inhabitants were gone without a trace.

At 6 pm, we anchored near an island of dredge spoils just off Old House Channel near Rodanthe Island and watched the birds come in for the night after a good day of fishing.