May 5, 2010 - Day 20

More fog this morning. Visibility is about 1 mile when boats start leaving the anchorage. We weighed anchor and start moving north about 0720. One bridge to clear this morning at Onslow Beach. It was a struggle and I ran the engine harder than I like to but we make it to the bridge in time for the 0800 opening. There were nine boats jockeying about waiting on the old swing bridge to finally get fully open and then everyone took off.

About a mile north of the bridge, the fog closed in and visibility drops to 150 yards. Suddenly nine boats came to a crawl. I had all my running/steaming lights on but cannot see any lights on the boats ahead. I can barely make out the shape of the boat ahead of me and I am thankful to be the last boat in line. This is definitely when having radar would be helpful.


After 0930, the fog began to clear a little and we picked up speed. We struggled against the current as we approach Bogue Inlet and Swansboro. We entered Bogue Sound where the channel is narrow but fairly straight. We got a little breeze and did some motor jibbing. We soon crossed the tide line and begin fighting the incoming tidal current from the inlet at Beaufort.


Around 1100 or so, the wind turned cool and began to pickup. Fog began coming in and obscured the Emerald Island and Bogue Banks to the south. As the fog rolled across the sound toward us visibility got less and less. When we finally reached the Atlantic Beach Bridge, we could not see the land mass to our south.


Things looked better as we approach Morehead City. From the big channel I saw two sailboats at the Sanitary Restaurant dock. That meant 2 of the 3 so called “free docks” were taken. Having learned our lesson on the last trip, we avoided the shoaled small northeast channel and took the main channel to the port area and round Sugar Loaf Island to the Sanitary.

Once docked we took a walk about town and explored the construction at the Municipal Dock area. The town is building a Shower/Restroom/Laundry facility next to the docks. This should make these docks another possible stopping area. We also checked out a few shops including a great upscale bakery/gourmet foods place.

After the walk we dined at the Sanitary to qualify for the “free” ($10) slip usage. Next door at a newly opened place called Jack’s, there was quite a Cinco de Mayo celebration going on. A live band, lots of hot rod cars, custom motorcycles, and a celebrity of sorts. Mikey Teutul from Orange County Choppers and the TV show “American Chopper” was there with some of their custom bikes.

Location: Sanitary Restaurant Dock, Morehead City, NC - MM 205

Distance Traveled: 39 mi

May 4, 2010 - Day 19

Light drizzle started about 0500 this morning and things went down hill from there. By the time it would have been getting light, fog settled in and visibility was way down. A check of the internet radars said more heavy rain was to come.

We decided to take the day off. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast with a great omelet and lots of hot coffee. Later Donna worked on her art stuff while I made log entries.

Tomorrow is supposed to be better weather so we’ll try to make it to Morehead City or Beaufort. The sunset was beautiful and we were almost at the end of a rainbow. The marines continued their training operations way late into the night with helicopters flying and gunfire in the distance.

Location: Still Anchored in Mile Hammock Bay, NC - MM 244
Distance Traveled: None

May 3, 2010 - Day 18

We got a late, 0730, start today. I wanted to be underway at 0700 so we could time the bridges we had to transit. The late start caused us to arrive early/late at the Wrightsville Bridge. I tried dragging my heals by idling the engine back and even idled back and put the transmission in neutral. The wind was directly behind us blowing 18, gusting to 22. Add that to the favorable current and the boat was traveling at 4.3 mph with no engine or sail help.

Arriving at bridges with lots of wind and current is no fun. Heading into the wind/current with just enough speed to keep the boat near stationary is not too hard. But when you get inexperienced skippers or big powerboats who cant idle low enough, it becomes a dance of sorts as you try to maintain position and dodge boats out of control.


After getting through the Wrightsville Bridge, we played the same game again trying unsuccessfully to arrive just in time for the opening of the Figure Eight Island Bridge. After watching us jockey around for about 15 minutes in wind gusting 24, the bridge operator said he would try to open the creaky old swing span early. By the time he got it open, it was at the normal scheduled time.


The next bridge at Surf City was 18 miles away. The GPS estimated with our speed we would be either 20 minutes late or 40 minutes early depending on how you looked at it. No amount of sail trim and safe throttle could get us there any faster so we settled back and dragged our heals again.

When we got to our anchorage destination, Mile Hammock Bay, there were already 5 boats anchored. We found a spot and dropped the hook at 1630. The bay is a basin dredged out by the Marine Corps for use with Camp LeJune. By 1800 three more boats joined the anchorage making a total of nine boats (make that ten counting the permanent resident). Considering the high wind situation (20 gusting to 24) we all needed maximum swing room.


The wind stayed strong until sometime after 0130. The Rocna held firm with a 5:1 scope.

Location: Anchored in Mile Hammock Bay, NC - MM 244
Distance Traveled: 51 mi