And Back to the Chesapeake – Day 27

Today we left the dock at about 7:45.  The weather was great with bright sunshine which lasted all day.  In my infinite wisdom, anticipating strong winds later in the week, I decided to take down the bimini, not only because of potential winds, but I didn’t think the temperatures would be that high, and the sun would feel better than shade this time of year.  Well today proved me absolutely wrong, at least on the second count.  By this afternoon we were taking turns driving so we could get some shade.  It was pretty hot in the sun, and we both ended up with quite a bit of sun on our exposed skin…sunburn.  Needless to say I was glad when the sun started to set.  Sitting in that much sun really wears you out believe it or not.

Throughout todays travels there are several “trouble” spots you need to be aware of.  Well, we got through those problem areas in the morning with a rising tide.  A rising tide is a good thing, and compensates for a multitude of stupid mistakes.  Fortunately during the week while I was waiting for Jan to arrive in Myrtle Beach to join the crew, I was able to access the Army Corp of Engineers web site where they publish depth sounding for these trouble spots, and produce a “heat map” if you will of the area, and a chart of waypoints to get you through.  I was able to take the waypoint and upload them into my chartplotters and create a track through the areas, giving me a path to follow.  Worked like a charm.  We had no problems at all.  Some areas had a pretty convoluted path, but… whatever works.

Today was expected to be a long day, I had estimated 80 miles or so, so we had to keep moving to make it to the anchorage at Spooners Creek.  After we left Carolina Beach I expected to get to Wrightsvile Beach in time for the 9:00 bridge opening.  This bridge only opens on the hour, and I estimated it to be 5 miles to the bridge from Carolina Beach.  I don’t know what I was thinking, well it was more like 15 miles, and we were there 30 minutes early for the 10:00 bridge opening.  So we had to wait 30 minutes.  Bridge tenders cut you no slack.  We weren’t alone, there were two other boats waiting as well.  The next bridge came up pretty quickly, Figure 8 Island Bridge.  This bridge opens on the hour and half hour, so a little more flexibility.  Turns out we could fit under the Figure 8 Island Beach Bridge with the antennas down,  so no need to stop and wait there.  Our next bridge was the Surf City Swing Bridge.  This bridge only opens on the hour as well.  Guess what, we had to wait 30 minutes for this bridge to open.  So much for keeping moving today.  Our last bridge of the day was Onslow Beach Bridge on the edge of Camp Lejeune live firing range.  This bridge opens on the hour and half hour.  Yay!!  Guess what time we got to the bridge.  Yep, missed the hour by 5 minutes, and had to wait 25 minutes for the opening.  Crap, what else can go wrong.  80 miles today is going to be a stretch at this point.  After we cleared the bridge, we entered Camp Lejeune’s live fire area.  There is a big sign that warns you of the live fire area with red lights that flash when exercises are in progress.  Well guess what, the big red lights were flashing.  Are you kidding me????  In the distance were Navy patrol boats waiting to stop anyone foolish enough to proceed.  The guidance we had on hand said the exercises could last 1-2 hours at a time.  So we had no choice but to drop anchor and relax for a while.  Can this get any worse?  Turns out we had to wait about 45 minutes. Finally, one of the patrol boats came up and said we could “traverse the area, but, do not stop.”  Yes sir!  So we upped anchor and started moving again.  Let’s see, so far we lost over 2+ hours stopped and waiting for bridges and marines.  Can we still make it to Spooners Creek anchorage?  The other place I had originally thought we might anchor was in Swansboro.  When we reached Swansboro we still had about 3 hours of day light left with 20 miles or so to go until we reached Spooners Creek.  We decided we could just make it  by dusk.  Well currents and tides can be cruel sometimes.  The currents in and around Bogue Inlet are quite strong and slowed us down quite a bit.  Also as we approached Spooners Creek the current there also took its toll, slowing us down almost to a crawl.  As a result of all that we didn’t get to our chosen anchorage until after 8:00, in the dark, and had to thread our way into the narrow channel and entrance to Spooners Creek.  Fortunately I had been there before so I still had the image in my head.  With the spot lights on, the chartplotter and the image in my mind, we made it with no problem.  By the time we were anchored was almost 8:30 and we still had to finish cooking dinner.  Jan had put together a crock pot meal, chicken cacciatorie.  It had been cooking all day from 11:00 on.  We threw some spaghetti in boiling water and finally had ourselves a nice dinner.  Needless to say, we were both beat.

But here is the kicker, remember the 10 mile difference between my estimate and the actual distance to Wrightsville Beach?  Well instead of an 80 mile day it was closer to 90 miles.  87.9 miles to be exact.   Total miles traveled back to the Chesapeake so far is 966 miles.  Our travel time today is 11hrs. 47mins.

So boys and girls, until next time….

P.S. Hi Tyler