Life Aboard: Morehead City Yacht Basin to Bull Creek

November 3rd through November 8th

On November 3^rd, 2011 Escape once again took to the water.

We left with Ken and Margaret and their wonderful dogs, Biscuit and Auggie on Rocking B, a 44’ sailing catamaran.

We took off from the Morehead City Yacht Basin heading south to warm water. There is a boat saying “go south until the butter melts in the winter and north until it firms up in the spring”. So we are in search of melting butter or in our case melting margarine. We are ready and off we head to Mile Hammock for our first night out. There is a lot of traffic heading south and we got in line. There are not many anchorages in the area, and sometimes they get full. Everyone is wondering where everyone else is going and if we’re all going to the same place will there be room.

Our first stop, 11-4-11 is again Mile Hammock, part of the Camp Lejune Military Base. We are the second boat in, but by the time the night was over there were 31, which made the anchorage very crowded. There were only 2 tower boats and the rest were sailboats. Sailboaters tend to be more frugal and are more likely to anchor out than power boaters.

Escape at Mile Hammock

The next morning, 11-5-11, before sunrise, the wind got up and it started raining. The wind wasn’t particularly hard, maybe 15kts. At least 2 of the sailboats drug anchor and one of them wound up across the nose of another sailboat, doing damage to both boats. We had planned to leave at sunrise, but cranked our engines and left early to get out of the mess in that anchorage. As we left the anchorage, there was a caravan of others behind us, as if they thought we knew the way in the rain and darkness. If they only knew.

A rainy day on the waterway

Waiting for a bridge to open

We were stopped waiting to go thru a bridge and noticed we had lots of company. Dolphins were all around us. We enjoyed watching them play around the boat.

The next day of travel, was to Wrightsville Beach. We had lots of boats traveling with us and again were all wondering if we were headed to the same anchorage. The rain had stopped and it was overcast most of the trip. By the time we got to Wrightsville Beach, the wind was getting up and it looked like an impending storm.

We dropped anchor and decided to see how we would set. Shay decided that we were really too close to another boat and we should move as soon as the wind let up some. Usually, when we are taking up the anchor, I am at the helm and he is bringing up the anchor. Since the winds were so strong, we decided to reverse positions and I would be handling the anchor.

We started paying attention to a small sailboat, with no one on it that looked like it was dragging its anchor. We soon realized he was coming toward us and we would have to take evasive measures. We quickly cranked the engines and I went down to start taking up the anchor. I took up as much of the rode as I could and we realize the boat was over our anchor, so we headed toward him. I knew we were going to hit the boat and grabbed the handrail so I wouldn’t go overboard. Shay quickly reversed both engines and got us away without damage. I was go glad he was at the helm and not me. I know I would not have reacted as quickly as he did. I told him later he did a great job.

We had already discussed where we would move to so moved down the channel to the back of the anchorage. We found a spot and dropped anchor and we pleased with our decision for a while. The wind continued to blow hard but our anchor was good. Next we notice chatter on the VHF about the small sailboat again. It was loose and heading back toward us. We watched the boat and shay decided to call the Coast Guard to alert them to the situation. While he was talking to them, the sailboat eased into a dock and seemed to be put. They kept asking us where the boat was located. We told them at the low bridge at Wrightsville Beach anchorage, in front of the Blockade Runner Hotel, near the water tower. We even gave the longitude and latitude. I told Shay you would have thought the boat was lost in the middle of the ocean, not ½ mile from the Coast Guard Station. When the Coast Guard finally got there, the winds were blowing too hard to try to get to the boat. They tried several times and Shay finally told them to go back to the base and bring the jeep out and walk out onto the dock and tie up the boat. They left and shortly after we saw them in their orange jumpsuits on the dock.

Later there was more chatter, about other boats near where we were dragging. One of the other boats decided to move and of course came back near us. Shay had been keeping an eye on things and just after dark he saw another boat anchoring in front of us. He called them on the radio and told them we had out a lot of anchor chain and he probably didn’t want to get too close to us. We laid down about 8 pm and set the alarm for every hour so he could check and see how things were holding. He got up every hour until about midnight and then the winds got worse and he stayed up. He kept talking to Chris on the sailboat in front of us to make sure things were staying put. About 6 am things settled down and he rested down until about 9. Terrible night.

That morning, 11-5-11, the winds were still blowing but calmer. We called Lauren and made plans to eat lunch with her. We started getting our dinghy ready to lower and Ken let us know he had his going again. He had taken the dogs to shore last night at Mile Hammock and had problems. We were glad we didn’t have to get our dinghy down, since the wind would have made it difficult. He took Margaret and “the girls” to shore for a walk and came and got us. We met Lauren at Tower Seven a Tex-Mex restaurant we had eaten at during our visit during the spring. We all enjoyed our lunch and then Lauren volunteered to take us where ever we needed to go so of course the guys said West Marine. Ken needed a new fuel tank and hose for his dinghy, we off we went. Back to the boat to rest for a while after the sleepless night before.

We had checked on the weather and it was better for the next day so we made plans to leave early the next day. After plotting our course we settled down but not for long. Shay was up a lot that night, watching things and making sure we were safe.

We pulled out of the anchorage at 6:15 the next morning, 11-6-11, heading for St James Plantation Marina, south of Southport, North Carolina. We had good wind, water, and weather. The marina is nice, but there were pooping birds everywhere. They didn’t land on our boats, but on the masts of the sailboats. When they pooped, the wind would blow the poop onto our boat. The poop was hard to get off since it was colored by the berries the birds had been eating. I know I would not want to leave my boat here a long time; it would get covered with poop like some of the boats we saw.

We left with Ken and Margaret on Rocking B and Don and Margaret on Refuge. We had an uneventful trip down the beautiful Waccamaw and pulled into Bull Creek about 4 pm. We had all planned to meet on Escape for dinner and were anxious to get together and visit. We all anchored near each other and met on our boat at 5.

We had a great time. We all enjoyed the delicious meal prepared by the ladies. After our meal, we all sat around and told boating stories. There are always a lot of them to tell.

Refuge and Rocking B anchored in Bull Creek.

When Ken and Margaret left we were not sure if we were leaving the next morning or not. We were still tired from our sleepless nights at anchor. Refuge had an appointment with a mechanic in Georgetown the next day so they had to leave. Shay and Margaret wanted a “lazy day”, Ken wanted to move on and I didn’t care. We checked the weather and saw we might have some rainy days to stay put, later on, so decided to move on in the morning. Shay plotted our course and we were ready