Week 4 Log - Georgetown, SC to Beaufort, NC

The end of week four and 26 days underway from Vero Beach finds us at Beaufort City Docks, again waiting out some nasty weather. Although spelled the same way as Beaufort, South Carolina, this one is pronounced “Bow-Fort” rather than “Bew-Fort.” We are now 202 miles from the end of the Atlantic ICW at Norfolk.

                                                                      

From Georgetown, we did a short day to the Osprey Marina near Myrtle Beach, where we did a major provisioning run to the Publix, helped out by some folks we met in Georgia who have a car there. Up early next morning for a long run to the Cape Fear River, where we enter North Carolina. We had a spanking ride up the Cape Fear against a 3-4 knot head current and stopped at a lovely little marina at Carolina Beach State Park (cheap, too)! As we rounded into the Cape Fear, we had a total WTF sighting. We passed a bowrider runabout towing a smaller jon boat. Nothing too unusual, except when we went by, we could see that the jon boat was still strapped to its trailer!

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Our next stop was a bit of a side trip up the Cape Fear River to Wilmington, NC where we picked up our cruising guest Marty, who will be with us the next week. Today we timed the tides just right and got a nice boost from the current all the way. Timing the tides is sort of a black art with all the different inlets and creeks contributing to the boost or head current. So far we have been pretty lucky, getting the boost at least 75% of the time. We were docked right in downtown Wilmington, and got a chance to tour the Bellamy Mansion, a very well-preserved antebellum home. After picking up Marty we continued north, with stops in Wrightsville Beach (anchor), Surf City (marina) and finally up to our current location at Beaufort. On our way to Beaufort, the ICW passes through Camp Lejeune Marine Corps base. This area is subject to periodic closures for live fire and amphibious assault exercises, and we were instructed to cool our heels for an hour or so before we could proceed through the exercise area.  We anchored and had a nice breakfast while listening to the sounds of everything from small arms to major artillery. Bella was not happy with the big booms.

Entering Camp Lejeune

Live fire exercises at the Marine Corps base

In the coming week, we hope to get all the way to Norfolk, Virginia, where we will attend a “Looper” rendezvous with lots of seminars and parties before entering the next phase of the journey, the fabled Chesapeake Bay.