Friday – 13 November
Leaving Wrightsville Beach near high tide, and keeping the markers to port, we successfully navigated the shallow channel and back into the ICW.
There was shoaling at every inlet today with challenging currents.
When you approach Carolina Beach it could be easy to misread the charts and proceed straight. But to stay on the ICW you must take a right at G161 and enter Snows Cut. There is a tall bridge that usually has 65’ clearance, but as the tide was high when we passed under there was only 63’ This was no problem for us as our mast is around 55’. But later, on the radio we heard other boats needing to wait at this bridge for lower tide with concern that they would not clear the bridge.
So, if it is not the depth, it is the height you have to also worry about traversing the ICW.
We proceeded down the Cut winding our way through a slalom course of markers before it opened into a wide tributary channel of the Cape Fear River which although appeared to be a large expanse of water, was actually a narrow channel to stay in.
Once this was cleared we were in the wide Cape Fear River with 45 foot depths. We rolled out the genoa and motorsailed with a favorable current and good wind, on a crystal clear 70 degree day we were making 8 mph (this is fast for us).
Active Captain warned of a misleading red marker in the middle of the channel that, if followed, would take us up a different channel to the Military Ocean Terminal Sunny Point, the largest military terminal in the world. It serves as a transfer point between rail, trucks, and ships for the import and export of weapons, ammunition, explosives and military equipment. We read that if you do find your way up that channel, you are greeted by a US Navy gunboat. We decided not to go there.
We saw this big container ship with cranes from a distance, and before we knew it we were passing a bit closer than expected.
We left the expanse of the river and turned right back into the ditch of the ICW. Immediately after this turn we entered Southport Marina where we would spend the rest of the day and evening.
We arrived before noon and enjoyed an afternoon of exploring the town.
Tomorrow we leave North Carolina and enter South Carolina arriving in North Myrtle Beach.