Have you read any Nicholas Sparks? Message in a Bottle became a movie, starring Robin Wright who you’d swear was the MUCH nicer twin of the Robin Wright in House of Cards. A huge percentage of the books we find in the marina book exchanges have a seashore, nautical or sea adventure theme and Mr Sparks is predictable in his choice of settings; North Carolina shoreline. But other than smiling and thinking, “oh we know that place”, North Carolina is not my favorite state, which is too bad because it consumes 307 of the 1,095 official AICW miles; Florida has the most with 382 but that only takes you into Key Biscayne near Dinner Key Marina, the official end of the AICW.

North Carolina offers cruisers many great stops whether you want a marina or just an anchorage, but the way Cape Hatteras sticks out, beckoning the weather in, well, all I can say is that Fall or Spring we always have some sort of weather issue once or twice in NC.

Let’s set that aside and I will focus only on the good stuff.  THE END.  Kidding.

After Southport, NC I’d hoped we could head across the Cape Fear River to Bald Head Island. But imagine this- the weather was to turn to crap with rain, chilly temps and maybe even a day or two of thunderstorms! So up the Cape Fear River we did go, all of 20nm to Carolina Beach, following along in a line of boats through Snows Cut.

Felt like old times, all of us creeping along against the current at low tide in the cut, the power boats waiting to pass the sailboats after the turn by Carolina Beach. Not us. We turned right, hot on the donut scent.

At Southport we’d done our weekly good deed and assisted s/v It’s Perfect at SHVM at 8:30pm. We also tipped them off to the mooring field at Carolina Beach (9 balls and more to come?) Guess they liked it; staying almost as long we did.

Cocoa Village, FL was the start of us picking up the donut trail again. We had to pass up Charleston’s offerings in favor of Firefly but no way was I missing Britts on the boardwalk at Carolina Beach. Not gonna happen.

While waiting for weather (did I say that?) and Britts to open at 4pm on Friday we found more reasons to like Carolina Beach. Randy serves as Harbormaster and runs three small marinas including the town mooring field; you can go in to pay your $20 nightly fee but Randy comes out every evening. A nicer man you may not find.

Russ points out a PDQ34 on the T-head of a nearby dock; why yes. This would be the fifth one spotted since Vero Beach. So who’s this guy on the paddle board? Meet Don on m/v Ripple, here for a month with wife Robbin and AussieDoodle Dory.

We talked PDQ stuff- seems every single one is unique. I got all excited for a minute when we heard that our boat might have been one of seven to do the PDQ Flotilla from Finland to Holland in 2008. We always wondered why other PDQs didn’t have their anchor light centered (sticking out toward center on an arm from the mast) but instead just located on the mast. Turns out that across the Atlantic, requirements for lights and other boat equipment are very strict and the boats heading for the Baltic needed a centered anchor light. Sadly, Twins was not one of the seven, but several built around the time she was (2006) do have the same set up we do.

A time to plan, a time to rest, a time to eat donuts, a time for the Ripple Effect and for catching up on the blog.

We’ve coined two new terms as a result of meeting m/v Ripple: The Ripple Hour-defined as: when you have happy hour before 5pm. The Ripple Effect is whatever causes an early happy hour, and/or what results from an extended happy hour. 🙂  Meeting Don, Robbin and Dory gets a big thumbs up from Twins.

We also found WakeNBake Donuts, but shhh don’t tell Britts. This was unintentional and all because Russ checked TripAdvisor for a phone number for Britts. An easy 20 min walk if you leave the dinghy with your new friends or Randy will find a spot for it somewhere in the marina.

Saturday, despite the early morning rain, turned out a very good day.

After a mere 20 minute wait, we ordered a dozen because the price was a MUCH better deal than for six. These delightful donuts aren’t filled or topped with anything more than a delicious, not overly sweet glaze, thus easy to eat more than one!

 

Seeing how Saturday was the one sure non-rainy evening we turned to that trusty TripAdvisor app and found the #2 dining spot in Carolina Beach; an easy 4 min walk from the southern dinghy dock. Why not #1 you may ask?  Well, #1 is Kate’s Pancake House and we ate there the day before.

 

Sunday, the mooring line that had become firmly embedded on our cleat 🙂 was cast off and we putzed up to Wrightsville to stage for a coastal jump up to Beaufort, NC. . Would we, could we, should we?

Ready, set, go! Or was it ready, aim, fire!?? The inlet was calm, the newly repaired jetties standing guard and we wondered (as we always do here) why so few boats were taking the offshore route. For most sailboats and slower trawlers they must contend with several opening bridges that are not on request, several spots of skinny water where you better be in the exact right place, an often crowded Mile Hammock anchorage spot AND the maybe announced, maybe not ICW closure by Camp Lejeune. When possible we have always passed up on all that fun and taken the offshore route. This only takes a day- easier accomplished in spring- whereas taking the ICW means a two-day event.

An Osprey of the military sort

Before the rain ever reached us, a huge rainbow appeared. A pleasant evening after a good trip mostly at 8kts with several dolphin sightings, military exercises and no rain underway.

 

Belhaven, a pretty town with a gorgeous artsy restaurant named Spoon River clearly the belle of a once vibrant town that is trying hard to stay on the map. Belhaven Waterway Marina is like the new town (inexpensive) dock but with amenities- like a free washer and dryer, spotless shower rooms with shampoo and soap provided and the welcoming on-site owners are former cruisers.

Lunch was good at the Gingerbread Bakery & Cafe. They make homemade potato chips sliced very thin the length of the potato not the usual crosswise. Great prices and fast friendly service make this a popular eatery for locals, including the marina owners!

The star of the day’s show was Spoon River, located in a former antiques shop about a block from our marina.

Clever and unusual cocktails, many with fresh herbs, couldn’t have been more generously sized or thoughtfully prepared. Kudos to owner Theresa. Gotta love the names. Prices very reasonable.

I could go on and on, but let’s keep it at “we’ll be back”.  Many thanks to our friends Glenn & Linda of Mintaka and Mike and Ann of Traveling Soul, both with excellent taste in dining as well as fabulous cooks themselves, for making sure we knew about Spoon River. Worth noting that most of the ActiveCaptain reviews for the marinas and the anchorage mention Spoon River. The Tavern at Jack’s Neck sits across the street, no doubt with its own following. Maybe next time… if we stay longer.

After leaving Belhaven, we’d transit the 22-mile lonnnngggg mostly straight canal that connects the Pungo and Alligator Rivers. Other than being careful not to wander over to the sides where you will encounter shallow water and possibly ancient tree stumps, and hoping that passing go-fast vessels are courteous, it’s an easy stretch.

After 25 miles in the Alligator River itself, you cross Albemarle Sound ( a mere 15 miles)  and consider yourself lucky if the winds are low and the fog is nil. One year we waited days for strong winds to subside which would allow the Alligator River swing bridge to open. This time, no waiting, no problems. Life is good.

You may have guessed that North Carolina offers a variety of opportunities to see military assets in use. You never know what might be around the bend, coming up fast behind you or flying low overhead.

After crossing the Sound we pushed on another 13 miles to anchor in a new spot. This meant trusting the reviews, the chart and the Captain’s ability to stay in 5ft or more. Oh and dodging crab pots. No problem mon. The next day sailboat Hafli hailed us wondering if the chart was accurate at 6 ft (ish), yes we told him, sorry.

 

Where the waters run brown, can’t see the anchor go down. You just gotta believe “it’s better in any Bahamas town”!!

I know you are so curious to get the lowdown on our crossing.  On a scale of 1 to 7 with 7 being SUPER Excellent, I’d rate this one a 4 ½ . The first part across the banks was fine and we moved right along at 12- 13 kts. The plan was to get about 8-15 miles past the banks (into that deep dark Atlantic abyss), then slow down. Had to time our arrival at Ft Pierce inlet for close to 7:30pm slack. Before that, the current would be ebbing out. The ocean currents run across the channel, and if the winds are out of the SE AND an ebb tide, the entrance is rough. Forget that. We departed out of Ft Pierce a couple of years ago in the wrong conditions and that was a lesson learned.

I offer this VHF conversation as proof we were smart to wait. S/v Elan to s/v Sam the Skull: “What’s your ETA? We did the inlet at 5pm and it was horrendous (well yes, they nailed maximum ebb).”  The reply; “ETA is 7:30.”  This guy knows his stuff, he’s also from Glasgow Scotland and the accent is enthralling.  We came in at 7pm with no difficulty. Yes, I prepped for worse; my favorite magic trick.

So now what?  Sunset was 7:50pm with last light 8:15.  Thanks to manatee zone stretches of “Slow, No Wake” we couldn’t know for sure how far we could go with daylight. So we pressed on, checked out a spot on Google Earth and dropped anchor 80 ft off the ICW near a spoil island where the charts indicated 5ft of depth. In this part of the Indian River, the waters shallow quickly once you leave the ICW channel so finding 5ft was perfect for us.  Russ called Custom/Immigration and cleared us in, lowered our Q flag and we dined on Tuna Macaroni Salad (yes I even had the celery), considering ourselves lucky to have such a fine meal with the last of our wine. 🙂

The next morning’s pancake breakfast never happened as the one egg I saved ended up being cracked and oozing. I had one bowl of granola left, but Russ was left with protein bars and coffee. Good lord. The anchor windlass remote decided to fail as we began to raise the anchor, but a 15 min repair fixed that and we were on our way to “the land of plenty.”

As has become SOP we stopped at Melbourne Beach, anchoring off the long fishing pier that has two lower side docks for dinghies. Florida is great that way; so much fantastic water access.  A low flying Sheriff chopper got our attention with his continuous swooping down and in maneuvers. What or who was he looking for?  Listening to local radio next morning heard it was a wanted someone.

And then it happened; I knew the day would come. Extra worrisome in a power boat, but even worse in a power boat with only one engine; we have two. The starboard engine oil pressure gauge showed a very high reading after we’d been underway at 12kts for just a short time. Twin Sisters has two helms, one in the main cabin and one on the flybridge. We like to use the flybridge as it offers great visibility. However, the flybridge helm does not have the oil temp and pressure gauges so my job is to check on them. Uh oh. Russ was surprised that the gauge read high, rather than low which is the typical problem. Keeping the rpms to less than 2400 kept the gauge happy and Russ researched the issue while I ran the boat.

 

We stopped to anchor close in at Cocoa Village and while I shopped Russ tried to find the pressure valve, with no luck. The most likely problem was an easy one; the sender busted and sending bad data to the gauge making us THINK the pressure was too high. But two other causes would mean more serious trouble so to be safe we booked a slip at Camachee Cove Marina in St Augustine where they have on site engine mechanics, and kept our speed down to 8kts and 2000 rpms. Boy that seems slow now, when with Ms Ortolan we’d seldom exceed 7kts unless we pushed or were sailing.

A few nights at a dock with power, water and all the other marina amenities would be just what we needed. Twins needed a good wash-down, I needed some “no worries” time and with rain and T-storms arriving in a few days, this was perfect timing. Plus, we met PDQ34 Traveller, who’d be heading north for the PDQ Georgian Bay rally.  Competent and friendly marina staff, floating docks with good power, wi-fi, large boaters’ lounge with book exchange (Russ met sv Voyageur– heading up to CT) and newer front-loader washers and dryers. What’s not to like?

We delayed our departure one day for a good reason; to celebrate our May 5 anniversary with dinner out at Collage in downtown St Augustine. Only a $6 uber ride away; we went in early to shop and walk around.

Next stop- Georgia.  Heading north at this time of year (later than we ever have) we are definitely at the tail end of the snow bird pack. I like it: fewer boats to pass or be passed by and no problems getting a spot at any marina on very short notice. But what we have seen, mostly in South Carolina, is plenty of shrimpers heading back to unload their fresh catch, but also in SC and NC several derelict fishing vessels- more than we’ve ever see along the ICW. What’s up with that?

The local tourist boats are out in force now and only the bravest cruiser dares travel certain ICW stretches on busy weekends- oh wait we did that; more on it later.

A place we’d read about, but never saw due to it not being right on the waterway, is Dataw Island Marina. It’s near St Helena Island, about 15 miles north of Beaufort, SC and you need to go about 3 miles off the ICW but it’s a marked and easy detour. With a long face dock, they could accommodate a major PDQ rally, not just little ole us and one sailboat.

What’s the attraction? How about: easy docking, excellent restaurant, Sweetgrass, at the head of the docks, loaner bikes so you can explore the tiny island and marvel at the award-winning golf courses (two scattered throughout the entire island), admire the butterfly garden and if given the correct directions, visit the plantation ruins. All doable in less than 3 hours, unless you want to keep biking around.

Dinner, service and ambience at Sweetgrass were so enjoyable that one night wasn’t enough so we returned the next. You can get lunch, coffee and smoothies at The Outpost also at the marina where the same kitchen services both.

 

We don’t make a habit of marina hopping but right after Dataw Island would be Charleston and how could we pass that up? More to the point how could we pass up Firefly Distillery??   Thinking about it, Firefly may be the first distillery we ever visited (two years ago) and we’ve been finding more ever since.

 

Spending time in Charleston is fraught with decisions. Several marinas offer easier and more available docking but aren’t close to downtown. Others are an easy walk or have water taxi access but the current can be challenging and many boats try for slack. Others, like St Johns Yacht Harbor are across the way (not on the peninsula) at all, but they have one thing the others don’t; a short distance from Firefly on Wadmalaw Island and a loaner car to get you there. Two hour time limit and we used every minute of it. In our defense, certain faves, like Southern Lemonade Vodka and a new one, Grapefruit Juice Vodka are only available at the distillery. Due to no preservatives they have a shelf life and need to be kept cool and refrigerated once open. Our motto: consume quickly for maximum enjoyment!

We knew of the collapse. Luckily a long boardwalk leads from the docks all around to a smaller parking lot across from the inaccessible main entrance. Unfortunately the on-site restaurant, the Stono Breeze, closed down when access and parking came to a screeching halt.

 

 

 

 

You can see on the charts and as you go by, the abandoned rice fields of days long gone. Plumfield is the only colonial plantation in the Carolinas to grow rice for commercial sale. We purchased this rice (I’m afraid to say how long ago) keep it in the freezer and it stays just as flavorful and aromatic as the first day.

 

As I was selecting this photo for the blog, I realized it showed something odd. Red ATONs (aids to navigation) are red, not yellow with a red outline. So what’s going on? Testing of a new, more visible color scheme? Change happened once before (late 70s/early 80s); Russ loves to tell me that today’s odd-numbered green ATONs were once black. Can you picture that? Black- who could see them?? Even green is no prize but at least it’s a medium green.

We haven’t had too many weather worries and have easily coordinated marina stops with hiding from rain and T-storms. The forecast for traveling north of Charleston (May 14-22) promised many days, not all consecutive, of rain and/or thunderstorms so we devised several itineraries for getting our donut-desiring selves to Carolina Beach by Friday (Britts only open Fri-Sun until Memorial Day).

Being underway in rainy conditions with poor visibility is not our idea of fun, especially since we like to operate from the flybridge which has the bimini top but no enclosure.  We also wanted fresh shrimp and cheap diesel. Oh and I didn’t want to travel between Myrtle Beach, SC and Southport, NC on a weekend day.  As things worked out we snagged that shrimp (surprised that no other boat was on the daytime-only free dock), made a quick stop for diesel and a pump out and did that stretch I didn’t want to do, on Sunday.

Weekend local boat traffic increases five-fold in spring and so does the need to concentrate and be watchful. I balked at doing 84 miles that would include the narrow Rockpile stretch (North Myrtle Beach) at low water and the problematic Shallotte and Lockwoods Folly inlet crossings in North Carolina on a weekend day where we’d likely have to deal with all the small boats fishing by the inlet. But weather and the likelihood of a good trip up the Cape Fear River the next day prevailed; with our little zoomie boat we could do it. PWC were out in force and the Captain used the horn once to alert a distracted boater, but other than a tiring day (9:30-5:15) where we moved along at 13kts when we could, nothing awful happened. Whew!

 

Shortly after Sea Screamer we slowed down to let the casino boat enter the ICW channel from the Little River Inlet

 

And there you are- right at the SC / NC state line at Mile Marker 341. We pulled into South Harbor Village Marina (SM311) in Southport, NC ahead of schedule, but we sure gulped fuel and the gauge showed 3/4 after being extra full at Osprey SM373. On our way back from dinner we stopped to talk with the guys delivering a sportfish from FL to NJ. They’d just put over $1,500 worth of diesel in the tanks. I had to ask, “where did you start your day?” Fernandina, FL. Oh wow- gee that’s 400 miles in 10 hours. I still felt good about our 84 miles and even better about our fuel sipping compared to theirs.