Getting back to Morehead City 2018

We had a great time in Wrightsville Beach. We got to spend time with Lauren and that's always a plus. We were there 4 days and saw her everyday. But it's time to get back to our slip so we're making plans to head on up the ICW. We've calculated the distance, bridge openings, currents, times and have decided to go all the way to Morehead City on the inside in one day...and we're stopping for fuel! This is usually a two day trip inside and one long day outside. It will be a long day but we have lots of daylight now so we're going for it!

Leaving our anchorage

Looking our Masonboro Inlet

It's been a while since we've seen any mile markers along the way.

We left the anchorage at 6:10. It's funny, when we came in the anchorage was the fullest we've every seen it and now we're the only boat around. We got to the Wrightsville Beach Bridge about 6:30, so we could request an opening, but we had enough water when we got to it so we just went on thru. We have several bridges to go thru today, some we will have to open and some we won't. Figure Eight Island we don't need to open so it's no problem. The next bridge is Surf City and we know we will have to open it, it's only 12'. But when we got there we had a surprise. They are building a high rise bridge and soon we can just zoom thru here. Yeah! We had timed our arrival just right and we didn't have to wait very long at all. Who knows, it may be our last time to wait here. We haven't been thru here in a while. We've been going outside on the trip south and north the past few trips.

Nest along the way

New bridge for Surf City! And us!

This may be the last time we have this bridge swing for us!

Old and new

Not the color I would have chosen

 Shrimp boat heading out. Good luck!

We got to our fuel stop at noon and had no problems getting in, getting the fuel and getting out. But it does take a while to take on 600 gallons of fuel. Shay had checked around and this place had the cheapest fuel around. Get it while the price is cheaper.

We passed by our usual anchorage spot at Mile Hammock and headed to the Onslow Beach Bridge and again had timed our arrival just right and didn't have to wait long for an opening. Again, its a 12' bridge so we had to open it.

Passing by Mile Hammock anchorage. Maybe next time.

Passing thru the firing range for Camp Lejeune. We heard guns in the distance but at least we didn't have to stop like boats do sometimes.

Swansboro is a cute little town on the ICW

Met these three army boats near Swansboro

 Morehead City waterfront

Our last bridge for a while

We had some shallow areas to go thru today but had no problems. We got to our marina at 5:10 after traveling over 11hrs, at 6.4kts for a total of about 72nm. a long day for us but we are home!

It's good to be here. We have a long list of projects to do this summer and of course we want to spend lots of time visiting family and friends. I didn't realize I hadn't taken a picture of Escape in her slip until after dark so I'll post it next time.

We've had a great time on our travels this season. Saw lots of old friends and made new ones. Saw beautiful places and had lots of fun. Well, we've got lots of fun projects planned for this summer. Let's get started.

Some stats for your enjoyment. We left Morehead City on 10-20-2017 and returned 5-7-2018. Our total distance traveled was 1686.69 nm. Our engine hours for this season were 186.7 port, 203.6 starboard, and 117.9 generator. Our total fuel consumed was 965.19 gallons. Our nm/gallon was 1.86 or 2.14 sm/gallon. Our gallons/hr  were 3.53. Our moving average was 6.65kts. We keep getting a little faster each year. I guess we're trying to spend all our money on diesel!