Southport, N.C.
We left Manteo and had a beautiful windy 60 n.m sail to Ocracoke. We averaged about 8 kts. We quickly toured the town (which was quaint) and decided to move on as we’re getting anxious to return to the comforts of home.
We left Ocracoke in 20 kts of wind. I decided to take a channel out of town (to the Pamlico Sound that isn’t listed in any of our guide books. The depths were all over 8 ft so I figured it would be a piece of cake. The channel is several miles long. Half way through the waves became 3-4 ft high. It occurred to me that our bottom (we have a 4 ft draft) might hit bottom with a thud in the trough of a wave. By that time were were past the point of no return. It was quite nerve racking but we never hit bottom and got into the Sound. It was a close reach (about 60 degrees to the wind) all the way to Neuse River which got us back to the protected ICW. We anchored at Cedar Creek with 4 other boats. Coincidently one of the boats knew my fellow Lagoon 35 owner and email friend Marshall. He introduced himself and took a photo of our boat to send to Marshall. For some reason though the photo Marshall received was of a different catamaran?
The next morning we motored from Cedar Creek to Mile Hammock Bay. We stayed there on the way north. It’s on Camp Lejeune marine base. There was only one other boat on this large bay. We had purchased the recent version of Skipper Bob’s ICW guide. Going north we used one that was 6 years old. The newer version mentioned that they had received reports of boats being ordered to leave day or night when the marines wanted to use it for maneuvers. I spent the whole night worrying that that would happen and we’d have to travel the ICW in darkness 3 in the AM. Of course it didn’t happen.
We left there this AM with Southport, NC as our destination. We had stopped there on the way north and stayed at the Provisions restaurant dock. The food is great and the dock is free, what more can one ask for.
This trip the wind was directly behind us at 20-25 kts. The current was against us. In the situation on the Cape Fear River (I know now how it got its name), large, closely spaced waves develop. We experienced 3-5 ft waves closely spaced. We’d ride up the crest of one and drop to about 2 kts, than down the next we’re we hit 12 kts. It was quite a ride for a couple of hours. Was glad to reach Southport harbor.
We may spend a second day here. Obviously we have internet access.