April 21: The weather improved enough for us to take leave of Wrightsville. The first obstacle of the day was the Wrightsville Bascule bridge which at an 18 ft vertical draft we cannot clear. The bridge tender is a stickler for protocol and so we and several other boats had to battle the current (which is particularly strong here) for the scheduled opening which is only on the hour. Finally, the bridge opened and we proceeded north to our next obstacle on the course: Figure Eight Island bridge.
Initially, we thought that we would have to wait for this bridge to open but were pleasantly surprised when the water height marker on the side of the bridge indicated that we could make it through without waiting for the scheduled opening.
We were not so lucky with the third and final bridge of the day. With only a 12 ft. clearance, we definitely needed a bridge opening. Unfortunately, while we waited for the scheduled opening (only on the hour) the wind really picked up and the bridge tender informed us that he might not be able to open the bridge at all. Yikes!! We idled around waiting for the appointed hour and lady luck was with us. Even though the wind was gusting at around 25 miles per hour, the bridge tender opened the bridge for us. We concluded that the several sail boats that were still making their way up would not be so lucky.
Our original plan was to anchor in Mile Hammock Bay which is a small man-made bay and is part of Camp Lejeune. This harbor was built during World War II so that the Marines could practice amphibious landings. Camp Lejeune is an active military training base and maneuvers are still conducted in the Bay. Given the increasingly strong winds, however, we elected to stop at a small marina prior to Camp Lejeune. Fortunately, the marina owners were on hand to help us tie up but we found that the depth at the slip was not as advertised and our depth alarm went off when we touched the bottom at less than 4 feet. We were assured that the bottom was only mud and that we were at low tide. Translation: we will only be able to leave at high tide.
April 22: The wind howled all night but abated somewhat in the early morning. We debated whether to try and leave or not. Eventually, we made the decision to leave as the weather was predicted to deteriorate over the next few days and we did not want to wait out the weather at this location. The marina owners true to their word arrived at 7:00 a.m. to help us leave. We definitely could not have left the dock without their assistance as the current and wind were both working against us. We were able to power our way out of the marina on our second attempt.
Breathing a sigh of relief, we cruised on by Camp Lejeune to Onslow Bridge which is operated by the military to provide access for the Marines and their heavy armored equipment to cross the Waterway. We rushed to catch the scheduled opening and the Military Bridge Tender was kind enough to hold the opening until we arrived.
Things were looking up or so we thought. One of our cruising guide books stated that there is heavy shoaling at one particular stretch of the Waterway boaters are advised to favor the green marker side. Which we duly did....until a very loud thud announced that we were well and truly grounded. The Captain tried to back the boat off the shoal-fortunately all sand and not rock here-but we did not budge. What to do? Wait for the tide to rise? Call Tow Boat US? We took a deep breath and tried to back off again, very slowly the boat moved a little, we waited and tried again. This time the boat moved slowly back into the channel and we were able to find deeper water. So much for following guide books! If we had stayed in the middle of the channel we would have been in deep water. Oh well! The annals of boating state that there are only three types of boaters: those who have run aground, those that will and those who lie about it.
The engine sounded fine, no vibration, so we proceed on our way to Morehead City. The wind continued to increase as we crossed Bogue Sound and really picked up steam as we crossed the busy commercial harbor of Morehead City and adjacent Beaufort. We arrived in the marina and were tied up safely before the wind reached over 30 miles per hour. We were pleased to meet up with our friends on Third Reef and Last Dance here.
April 23: Strong winds and thunderstorms dictated that this would be a two night stop. Food shopping and laundry were also on the agenda.
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