Myrtle Beach to Wrightsville Beach
We departed
the marina at 0700 knowing we had a long day ahead of us. Our destination was Wrightsville Beach which
is 75 statute miles north resulting in a travel time of close to 12 hours. We came through “The Rock Pile” which is a
man-made canal blasted through rock resulting in rock ledges which can severely
damage a boat straying outside the narrow channel. A few miles after crossing the SC/NC state
line, we passed Ocean Isle Beach which is a community built on man-made canals
which allow residents to take their boats out onto the ICW and Atlantic Ocean
through Shallotte Inlet which can be a trouble spot for those traveling the ICW
since the tidal flows create shoals in the ICW channel. We made it through both Shallotte Inlet and
Lockwoods Folly Inlet which lies a little further down the ICW without any
problems. Eventually, we reached
Southport and entered the Cape Fear River.
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| Shrimp Boats |
The Cape
Fear River is wide and runs swift. It is
a very busy river with vessels of all types heading in every direction due to
the intersection of the river and the ICW.
A shrimp boat was heading into the ICW as we were leaving. A large motor yacht was at the same time
crawling up our rear wanting to pass us.
To our port side, a large container ship could be seen a short distance
away and it was certain she would overtake us on our way up the river. To our starboard was a dredge barge. For the next hour and a half, we both had to
be alert to what was happening on the waterway.
Besides the traffic, the river currents and wind require the helmsman to
pay attention. We have encountered few
waterways as busy at this stretch of the Cape Fear River.
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| Container Ship - Cape Fear River |
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| Ferry - Cape Fear River |
We stopped at the Joyner Marina at Carolina Beach for fuel and a pump-out. It is an easy on/off fuel stop and we won’t have to delay our departure from Wrightsville Beach in the morning. The next ten miles from Carolina Beach to Wrightsville Beach on the ICW is through narrow channels in shallow sounds which lie between the barrier islands and the mainland. The ICW is periodically dredged to maintain the channel; however, the inlets from the ocean move sand around with every changing tide and we must be careful as we pass inlets to avoid any shoals. We rely on Active Captain (a crowd sourced site) and advice from BoatUS (our towing service) to get us through the “trouble spots”. The Corps of Engineers has done much to improve navigation on the ICW since Hurricane Matthew. Their dredging has really helped and our journey north so far has been much easier than when we were heading south last fall.
We arrived
at Wrightsville before dark and took our spot in the Banks Channel anchorage
along with a couple of ketches. It was
the second time we anchored here and we laid out all of our chain knowing it
was to be windy and we were in 14 foot of water when we anchored.
Dwayne made
shrimp scampi for dinner. We cranked up
the generator and watched TV before heading to bed. It rained all night long.
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