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April 8, 2013 Day 332

At Anchor, Mile Hammock
Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base, NC
Total miles to date: 5580.6

We travelled 64 miles today for just under nine hours, which made for a long day. Over an hour of this time was spent waiting for three bridges to open. We left Southport at high tide and entered the Cape Fear River. No fear here – it was calm!   There were fewer boats out today which we attributed to it being a Monday, since the weather was good!

Pink house - complete with pink lighthouse!  Got our attention!

We arrived in Wrightsville Beach at 10:45, much too early to stop for the day, so after waiting for the bascule bridge opening at 11:00, we continued on our way.  We arrived at the Figure Eight Island Swing Bridge at 11:40 and waited for it to open at noon.  Our last low bridge was the Surf City Swing Bridge. We waited thirty minutes and passed through it at 3:00.

The Wrightsville Beach Bascule Bridge opens on the hour

Another lovely sunset at our anchorage

We saw many houses today along the ICW and in many places such as Topsail Beach and Holden Beach we could easily see the homes along the oceanfront.  We also saw several dolphins and osprey. The ICW is scenic and has different characteristics each day and we enjoy the view as we motor along the waterway.

At 5:00, we arrived at our anchorage in Mile Hammock which is the property of Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base.  Dinghying ashore is not allowed! There are six boats anchored here but there is plenty of room for more.  We did see the unique V-22 Marine Osprey Helicopter fly overhead after dinner.

Tomorrow we need to get another early start to make a bridge opening. We will go to a marina in Morehead City for one or two nights.