Meandering Magees: Still in North Carolina

Sunday, May 20, 2018
Day 413
4,853 miles

With rain moving in last Wednesday, we left Bald Head Island at 8:45 am and went 4 miles across the Cape Fear river to Southport, NC. Before the bad weather moved in, we were able to walk the few blocks into downtown Southport, another southern town that oozes history. This time, the information signs along the riverfront explained the importance of the river pilots. For over 250 years, river pilots residing in Southport have spotted ships approaching the Cape Fear River entrance, gone to meet them in small craft, guided them past treacherous shoals, and brought them safely to port. In the early years, when a pilot spotted a ship, he and his mate sailed or rowed out in a small boat to meet it, and pulled up alongside. The pilot would climb up a Jacob's ladder, take control of the ship and guide it to a port, which was often Wilmington, NC. The mate would take the small boat back to the dock. Today's river pilots still go out to meet ships, still climb up a Jacob's ladder and still guide the ships to Wilmington.

Many historic houses in Southport had plaques that stated who built the house and in what year. The top house was constructed in 1877.

A Jacob's ladder used by the pilots to climb on to ships.

A picture from the museum of a pilot boat pulling away from a ship after dropping off the pilot who would guide it to port.

During the Civil War, Southport pilots could command up to $3,000 per trip guiding blockade running steamboats through the Cape Fear Shoals.

Southport was a two night stay for us. On Thursday, it rained sporadically, we had our generator oil changed, several other Looper boats came in to dock and I visited the North Carolina Maritime Museum, a small but very well done collection of displays.

Friday we traveled 42 miles north to Harbour Village Marina. It took longer than normal because the Wrightsville Beach bridge is too low for us to clear and it only opens on the hour, not on demand like some bridges. The problem was we got to it at 10:30 am. We knew it only opened on the hour, we just timed our travel speed wrong.
A little farther down, we approached the Figure 8 bridge. We timed this one right and hailed the bridge master on the radio to confirm an "on the hour" opening. He said that is the usual schedule but there was an emergency situation on the island that the bridge went to and the bridge would not open until all the emergency vehicles had gone over and come back across. He warned that it literally could be hours. After asking our air draft, he thought if we lowered our antennas we should be able to fit under the bridge. We are getting more proficient at this task as it is a coordinated effort between 3 of us. The bridge master suggested we approach slowly and he would be able to eyeball True North and give us a "good to go" or "Stop!". We were good to go.

Harbour Village Marina is not in a town, but in a housing development. The dock master sent Mike, via text, a video (taken by a drone) of exactly how to enter the marina. That was a first. It was an easy in and tie-up for the night.

Notice the osprey nest on top of the sign.

We have 267 miles to go before Norfolk, VA which is the northern end of the ICW.

We anchored on Saturday! Not because we intended to, but circumstances made it necessary. We left Harbour Village at 7 am. ( I will say that I love being on the bow of the boat while pulling out of a marina in the early morning hours. For those few minutes when the lines are off and we are barely in gear, the stillness envelopes me.) At 9:30, we discovered that the ICW was closed to all water traffic until 2 pm as the Marines at Camp Lejeune where conducting live artillery drills. They were firing across the waterway. As my brothers always say - "You can't make this stuff up!"
We had just passed a side channel so we turned around and followed a sailboat into a cove (for lack of a better word) and put the anchor down for a 3 and 1/2 hour wait. The quiet of the anchorage was interrupted by "BOOMS" from the military exercise. At times we could even feel the vibrations.

The firing did stop at 2 so we, along with many other boats, were able to proceed along the ICW and we arrived at Beaufort, NC at 5:30. Not to be confused with our earlier stop in Beaufort, SC, this one is pronounced "Boe-fort". Another quaint town. Karen pegged it correctly - it is like Pentwater back home, where the marina is right across the street from the downtown area. The shops were close enough that on Sunday morning I was able to walk less than a block and get a foo-foo coffee before we left. You have to be thankful for the little things . . .

Next up - the Outer Banks!