Wrightsville Beach and Wilmington

Well, we finally did it! We took off the lines and started our journey south. Our first destination is Wrightsville Beach. The weather is beautiful, so we are going outside. If we did an inside trip down the ICW, it would take us two days. A day to Mile Hammock anchorage and then the next day down to Wrightsville Beach.

Oh, My, our dock buddies. See you down the waterway!

Bye, Bill!

Cassandra, from Cameron Bennett, on her way to school. See you next year!

They live here full time. For the time being.

We decided to go outside since its so much easier than inside. We can set the autopilot and go back to bed. No, just kidding! We are still at the helm keeping watch, but its so much easier out there. No "no wake zones", no slowing down for shoaling, no being passed by go fast boats. Oh, there are boats out here and some are go fast boat, but they aren't usually close to us, so the wake is less.

As  we are getting ready to leave, we notice other boats with their lights on. We won't be the only boat leaving today, as a matter of fact, we weren't the first boat to leave. One boat snuck out about 6:30. I guess he was the "early bird trying to catch the worm".

aCapella following us out of the marina.

One of our caravan.

Sunset on the ocean

He went to work early.

Everybody speeding up in the inlet!

The lighthouse, with the light on!

See you later, Jeff and Karen!

We left in the middle of a caravan of Kathy Krogens,  DeFevers, and others. We all stayed in our places until we got to the inlet and then they all left us. That's ok, we'll get there with more fuel in our tank.

One of the boats. aCapella, is owned by Jeff and Karen. They have an online "interactive cruising guide" that is a wonderful resource for anyone with a boat. It has loads of current, up-to-date information. Cruising books are ok, but most of the time the information is months old or older. The information on Active Captain is entered daily, so it is current. We use AC constantly and it makes our travels so much easier. So if you are a boater and don't know about AC, you are missing out on a great resource.

We had a beautiful sunrise and calm water. Not as calm as some outside passages and not as rough as others. They can't all be perfect, if they were we wouldn't appreciate them as much!

We left MCYB at 6:55 and got to Wrightsville Beach at 5:05. We traveled 69.52nm in 10 hours and 10 minutes. Our moving average was 6.8 kts. We traveled a little faster than our normal 6.25-6.5kts, so we would get to the anchorage and get anchored before dark. It was 52 degrees when we left Morehead. Yes, its time to head south!

Looking at Masonboro Inlet, Wrightsville Beach.

Rock jetty leading into the inlet.

Our anchorage

Coast Guard Station Wrightsville Beach.



As you can see. we were anchored very close to the inlet.

Shay researched the tides and current for our next leg and decided if we left Wrightsville Beach at about 9:15, we'd get a good push from Snow's Cut all the way to Wilmington. We'll take it!

We left at 9:20 and had a great trip. No problems in Snow's Cut, an area that can cause problems if the wind and current are against you. We had a push from the incoming tide all the way to Wilmington. We got to the dock at about 2:30, just as we planned. Yes, I said dock. If you know us, you know that we are not dock people once we start south. We prefer to anchor or take a mooring. We only go to a dock if we have no other choice. Well, Lauren lives 4 blocks up from the Wilmington waterfront and we wanted to spend time with her, so we docked. We usually anchor at Wrightsville Beach for a few days and she comes to visit us, but since we planned to stay longer this time, we went to her.

The infamous Snow's Cut. It can be tricky!

Fishing in the cut.

Dolphin in the tea stained water!

Ferry boat that lets you off right on the beach!

Fishermen at Carolina Beach Inlet

Pretty houses along the way

Carolina Beach

  

We headed up the Cape Fear River toward Wilmington. Escape hasn't been up here before, but we have in our other boat. We met a hug cargo ship in the river. It was 738' long and 108' wide with a draft of 24'. It was traveling 7.9 kts when we met it! You definitely want to stay out of his way!

 

 This bridges lifts up the green section for boats to pass under. Not us.

We traveled a little over 5 hours at 5.2 kts and traveled 26.36nm. We went slow, took our time and got all we could out of the current. We weren't in a hurry, Lauren was teaching.

USS Wilmington

 

Us and the USS Wilmington. Dock buddies!

This shows our travels since leaving Morehead City.

Beautiful sunset for our back deck dinner.

Row, row, row your boat!

Our dockmates, Harry and Leslie heading back home! Nice meeting you!

We had a great visit. The weather was beautiful; temperature mid 70's, blue skies and gentle breeze. We docked behind the Hilton in downtown Wilmington. Lots of restaurants and shops close by. And Lauren was just up the hill. We had a great visit with her on the boat and at her place. We helped her with some chores at her place, took her out to eat, and had her, Roux. Emily and Maggie to the boat for dinner one night. Shay got special treats for Roux, big flavored bones. She loved them! We borrowed Lauren's car and did lots of errands while we were there. It's always nice have a car, once you start traveling.

We are leaving in the morning. It's been fun, but we have places to go and people and things to see. Shay did more research and we don't have to leave until about 10 in the morning. That will get us a nice push down the river. And its nice to not have to get up and crack dawn every morning!