November 21, 2013 Day 7 South
for the Winter
At
anchor Carolina Beach, NC
This was another early morning as we pulled
anchor at 0730. We were the fifth of the eight boats to leave the anchorage in Mile
Hammock.
This seemed like “bridge” day and three of
them needed to be opened for us to proceed. By 0830 we passed under the 65’
Topsail Beach Bridge – if only they were all that tall. North Carolina still has some swing bridges
and our first encounter was a badly timed one at Surf City. We had to wait 45 minutes because it only
opens on the hour. Joyce decided to use the time to do some baking and made an
apple cobbler! We also waited a short
time for the Figure Eight Swing Bridge.
We knew we could not make the hourly opening of the Wrightsville Beach
Bascule Bridge at the rate we were going, so we pushed up the speed to be able
to make it. Good
decision! A Catamaran that was farther behind
us did not make it in time, and the bridge operator would not hold it for him.
 |
| One of many large homes that line the ICW |
We had a good day at any rate with
a sunny sky and fairly calm water. This
portion of the ICW is dotted with homes and we enjoyed looking at them as we
passed by. We also saw a few dolphins today
(and they eluded our cameras) – still always fun to see them!
We arrived at our anchorage for the night at
Carolina Beach. This is a different view from our usual anchorages – we can see
houses and condos everywhere as they line the ocean front.
This is our last night in North Carolina and
tomorrow we will need a very early start. There are definite areas of shoaling
and we need to be there at high tide. Boats run aground here frequently. We
will go to another anchorage south of Myrtle Beach, SC tomorrow.
