April 7, 8

Shannon had sent me the picture she took of us the previous day  so I’ve included it here.

In the morning at our Cedar Creek anchorage, a cold front along with rain, thunder and high winds passed through.  We were playing canasta at the time, and didn’t notice at first, but the wind had moved us about 50 feet further into the crab pot field.

We waited until the rain quit, and then slowly pulled up the anchor, so as not to catch on any of the pots that were surrounding us.  We decided it wasn’t safe to be here and since it was clearing we decided to move to a better anchorage closer to New Bern.  We entered the Neuse river at about 11:30, and traveled  north-west for about 2 hours,  the river was choppy due to the wind and shallowness of the river.

  At one point the GPS screen went blank—not sure if it was because of bad reception or jammed, as we saw 3 jets fly by. Once we got into the marked channel we turned east after marker 15 and sounded our way into Goose Creek, around several shoals.  At times we were in 7-8 feet of water, but were protected from the winds and waves.  We proceeded up the creek, past a house and dock to where it turned north and weighed anchor in 9 feet of water.

The GPS showed this as uncharted water.

We hardly moved, unlike the previous night’s anchorage.

In the morning we pulled up the anchor at 9:45, and reversed our route back to the marked channel, reaching it at 10:30.  We continue in a north-west direction to the city of New Bern.  We tied up at the Galley Marina at 11:30.

In the afternoon we ventured downtown.  Andy found a barbershop and made a 3:00 appointment, while we waited we went for ice cream.  Andy  went back for his appointment  and I went walking   farther  down  the street and found this church,

 

with amazing stained glass windows, as well as a  bell choir—took this picture for Susan  S.

I walked back to the barbershop and waited for Andy and talked to a couple of locals. Here’s the barbers- very  professional looking.

We then went over to the drugstore where Pepsi Cola was created, I’ve included the original formulation that was written on the wall.

We checked out some other stores  and saw several bears around town, with different painted costumes- similar to the polar bear exhibit in Winnipeg a few years ago—I’ve included a few…

Even a Pirate Bear standing with Andy.

We walked by the waterfront, where people were catching sea mullet.

At 5:30 we went up to the Galley store for wine and beer tasting.;  There were 5 wines ( 2 whites and 3 reds) and 3 beers as well as snacks that you could  try for $5, but because we were guests at the marina it was free.  We returned to the boat shortly after 7:00 and met Denise and Paul who are from Petoskey MI  loopers on Zephyr.

We saw ducks a few times today, this first  one was near our anchorage this morning and the second one  swam by the boat after we were tied up in New Bern

&  later  we saw this pair  in downtown New Bern disrupting traffic.

We plan to go to the Farmer’s Market in the morning and then borrow the courtesy car to go to pick up some groceries and do laundry.

 

April 4-6 update

We borrowed the courtesy car and did some grocery shopping and went out for lunch.  Later that afternoon Emma-Jean docked beside us, we had met them last week at Osprey.

At about 4:20, Betsy Rhew arrived from Timberlake NC, which was over 3 hours away.   She was Andy’s Grand Representative counterpart in 2012, and is currently Grand Adah for the state of North Carolina.  We had met Betsy at North Carolina’s Grand Chapter in 2012 at Raleigh.

We went to  an Eastern Star meeting at Stump Sound Chapter #338, and enjoyed a delicious supper and a great meeting- their 1st of the year, as installation was only a couple of days ago.

Here’s Betsy and Andy.

We met some very nice people, who asked Andy to speak about our boat trip.There is  no shortage of men in this chapter- 7 of the officers were men.

Betsy stayed the night and she and Andy had a good visit chatting and looking at pictures.

 

In the morning, the winds started to gust at about 6:00 and there were whitecaps.  After Andy made breakfast, Betsy left to drive home.  We conferred with Larry and Shannon on Emma Jean, and learned that the Swing bridge 7 miles up the ICW, was not opening because of the winds.  So we stayed an additional night in Sneads Ferry, as there was no place to go.  On Tuesday afternoon, we once again borrowed the courtesy car and drove into Jacksonville.  Our mission was to go to the Verizon store and determine why our Mifi had not been loaded with the Gigabytes that we had purchased in Myrtle Beach.  We had called the Verizon call centre several times over the last 2 days and had not been successful in having our jetpack credited.  Finally at the second Verizon, Kimberley, with the aid of someone on the phone was able to get us our data.

On our return we had Shannon, Larry and Brian, another boater who tied up to stay out of the wind over for docktails.

We had an early night,  the forecast was for temperatures close to freezing, so extra blankets came out.

On Wednesday, we departed at 7:50 and headed for the cut through Camp Lejeune.  We made the 9:00 opening of the swing bridge and continued on through the base.  Here’s a picture of military vehicle along the waterway.

 

Here’s the view of the Atlantic near Bogue inlet,

by the village of Swansboro, which we passed through at about 10:30.    We continued up Bogue Sound for many miles and reached  Moorehead City just before 13:00.     Here Beaufort inlet flows into the ICW.  The water flow from the Atlantic ocean affected our progress– at times we were going almost 11 miles per hour and at other times less than 6.  At 13:30 we entered the Adams Creek canal.  We caught up with Emma Jean, and passed them, as they were going to a marina along the cut whereas we had opted for anchoring out about 5 miles farther along the canal.

Here’s their boat and then Shannon and I taking pictures of each other’s boats.

Also saw this house along Adam’s creek that caught my eye.

At 15:15, we set our anchor in Cedar Creek, where one other boat, Otter, was already anchored, along with about 30 crab pots.

Here’s the sunrise from our anchorage at 7:00, I was up as I had very little sleep because of the winds gusting most of the night causing us to swing.

We left our anchorage at 7:35, and proceeded north on the ICW.  At about 9:30, we came across this marker- which would have confused me but the captain knew it was a bifurcation marker, stating you could go on either side but the top colour is preferred.

We arrived at the Surf City swing bridge at about 9: 45, and had to wait  with another boat until the 10:00 opening, as the clearance was only 14 feet and we draw just over 17

Here’s a view of the bridge closing behind us and one of the Surf City water tower.

I’ve noticed the last couple days that the crabbers around here use very small boats- here’s one of their crab pot stockpiles on this  island.

 I also saw this house with its own  light house somewhere near Alligator Bay—it’s not purple but it is memorable there seems to be some type of bird painted on one of the sides.

We arrived at Swan Point marina  in Sneads Ferry at about Noon, mile 246.9—this is more of a working yard than marina,  We’ve noticed already  that we get rocked a bit as boats go by on the ICW.

The marina has a courtesy car which we plan to use tomorrow to go for groceries and then in the evening to go to an Eastern Star meeting.

Sneads Ferry is located very near  to Camp Lejeune, a US  Marine Corp base, once we leave here  the ICW will take us through the base.  At times the ICW is closed while they are conducting military exercises.  I think they are currently doing something as every few minutes we hear big booming noises  which may be guns going off.

 

Here’s the North Carolina coastline showing some of the places we will see this month.

Remember the 17 boats in our anchorage—I think most of them are only being stored there, as only one other boat had a visible anchor light.  It did rain several times through the night.  We left the anchorage around 10: 00 and made our way into Southport which  seems like a quaint place.

Here’s a picture of the Oak Island lighthouse which marks the Cape Fear inlet.

 

Once we turned into the Cape Fear River, Andy  had  the wind, tide and current to contend with, and there were some big waves.  Nothing the Captain couldn’t handle.

Going up the channel we had a ferry pass us, and we ended up meeting another one, within a few minutes .  They take cars and people back and forth between Southport and Bald Head Island.

 

We later saw a crabber picking up traps and surrounded by birds.

We had to go through a narrow cut called Snows Cut from the Cape Fear River into  the ICW along the coast—didn’t see any snow here!   At the end of the cut is Carolina Beach which had several marinas.  We continued up the ICW  and went through Wrightsville Beach, just passed the Wrightsville Bridge I saw this shoal marker, that the birds seem to enjoy.  The tree was fake.

I also saw this many-sided  house, which was unique looking,

and a  vessel called Cape Fear.

We tried to anchor around mile 283 at 2:00 ,  but the anchor didn’t hold, so we moved on.  We ended up going another 5 miles and anchored in a canal  north of the Figure 8 bridge between the ICW and the Figure 8 Yacht club around 3:00.

When we first anchored there was a storm cell blowing through, and we weren’t sure if we would stay  put for the night, it’s now 500 and we are still here.

Tomorrow the plan is to move on to Sneads Ferry at the mouth of the  New River and stay at  Swan Point Marina.

We left Osprey at 8:15, after saying goodbye to Myles the dock master, Becky and  her dog Emme from Turas.

 

Back on the  ICW  we went by the Bridge construction, where progress had been made since the last time we passed the site.

Just before reaching Little River swing bridge the skies opened and it poured for about 30 minutes. Near the crab catchers dock where we had gone several weeks ago a Casino boat was docked.

We entered the state of North Carolina at 11:50.   Very soon after we had three dolphins along the port side of the boat, they stayed with us for almost 2 miles and only left because Andy had to slow down for people fishing in the channel.  Here’s a couple pictures of our followers.

 

We passed through the Shallotte Inlet at 1305 and the Lockwoods Folly Inlet  about a hour later—here’s the view of the Atlantic Ocean from these two inlets.

Just  after mile marker 325 ( North Carolina actually has  markers), near Holden Beach, we saw these shrimp boats tied up.  Also saw this abandoned fishing boat in the channel.

We arrived at pipe line canal located at mile 311 and set our anchor at 15:20.    There were 17 other boats at this anchorage, most of which were sailboats.  One of the sailboat is here permanently as only the mast is visible above the waterline.

We are about 5 miles from the Cape Fear River entrance,  we will follow the Cape Fear River for about 10 miles and then cut back towards the coast on the ICW.  We hope to get past Wrightsville Beach tomorrow, but it will depend on the weather as there is a thunderstorm forecast for later this evening.

Update  March 26 – 31

On Saturday, Andy went golfing, and I stayed at the Marina and read a book.   It began to rain around 10 AM and continued on and off for most of the afternoon and evening. He returned after 3:00, with the contents of Fred’s fridge, as Fred was flying home to Winnipeg on Sunday.  That evening we went to Red Lobster with the Vermeerschs and the LaBries.

On Easter Sunday morning the plan was to go to Mammy’s Kitchen for brunch, but there was a lineup and since there were 12 of us the wait would have been quite long.  Instead we went back to Pan Am pancake and omelet house, where we had been the Sunday before.  It once again began to rain, and continued into the evening. That night Brian and Helen came over for Easter dinner of Ham, scalloped potatoes and salad, with fudge for dessert. Helen brought me a towel with a crab cake recipe on it which I can’t wait to try.

Monday morning the sky was blue and the temperature had risen to the mid 70’s by noon.  Andy returned the car rental to the city and I washed the floors while he was away.   In the afternoon Andy made scones, and we had the boaters from  Summertime and Turas over for drinks and scones.

Pat and Becky stayed for supper, which was leftovers from our Easter dinner.  On Tuesday, Brian picked up Andy for golf—I wasn’t feeling well so lazed around for most of the day.  In the evening we went over to Summertime and Andy showed them some of the places he had anchored in the North Channel.

On Wednesday we did some preparations for our trip north; I printed some charts and then we figured out which Canadian charts we will need for the Trent Severn and Rideau Canals.  Andy had to catch a ride to Home Depot as our water hose sprang a leak, because the Admiral forgot to turn the water off.  Oops!

In the afternoon Brian and Helen stopped by to say goodbye as they will be heading north on Thursday morning.

On Thursday; March 31^st, our last day at Osprey, we saw Summertime leave with Wally and Darcy,  I’m sure our paths will cross again along the loop.

I walked to the Waccatee Zoo – there were no animals near the fence except this deer.

Instead I focused on the colourful flowers that were popping or climbing  up everywhere along the way.

The Wisteria had climbed up to the  very top of these trees.

I think this is spider wort and it was growing in the ditch.

The dandelions are out as well.

 

It’s hard to believe we’ve been at Osprey a month—the plan is to leave tomorrow and enter the great state of North Carolina,  which I believe may be the 13^th state that we will pass through on  this adventure.

March 20^th to 25

Sunday morning we met a group of friends for breakfast at Pan am pancake and omelette house.

Brain and Helen were kind enough to pick us up and we did a little shopping afterwards.

On Monday, we had expected the mechanic to come and take another look at our leak, however he changed it to Tuesday and then Wednesday, as Andy had a golf date on Tuesday.   I walked to the Waccatee Zoo and back to check on the animals.  Got this great picture of a Cardinal up in a tree.

On my return to the Marina, I also checked out the road construction  farther down Enterprise Road.

On Wednesday, Brian the mechanic came and tightened up some of the fittings to hopefully end our diesel leak.   In the afternoon Brian V came and picked us up for the River Walk potluck BBQ. This event has been on-going for the past 12-15 years, this was the 3^rd time that we had attended.  It is organized by Bonnie from Bancroft Ontario, but there are both Canadian and Americans in attendance, a few of the American’s live year round at Riverwalk, which is adjacent to the Arrowhead golf course.  The food was great and the men who assisted/watched  Brian H BBQ the steaks did a great job.

Following the meal we had a group picture taken.

 

We spent the night at Brian and Helen’s and watched the movie Churchill’s secret before going to bed.

On Thursday we had a busy day planned with Brian and Helen.  In the morning we went to Brookgreen garden, which is south of Myrtle Beach.

This garden was developed in the 1930’s on 4 former rice plantations. It is a haven for indigenous plant life and a nature refuge for animals.    The  gardens protects over 2,000 species of plants and has 9 different ecosystems ranging from salt marshes to long leaf pine, mixed hardwood and river bluff forests. Exhibited within the garden is a large collection of American figurative sculptures, created  since the early nineteenth century. Here’s a few  of the sculptures.

 

These 2 thought they’d could be part of the artwork!

Many of the flowers were starting to bloom- so I have to include a few of them.

We had been to Brookgreen one other time, but it was a year with a cold spring, so very few of he flowers had been in bloom.

At the gardens for a limited engagement there was also a “Nature Connects” display of art made with Lego.  Some of these works had more than 75,000 lego bricks and were spectacular.

 

Who knew that you could make such life-like figures from Lego.

At the gardens, there was also a zoo, and here is where I finally saw a live gator or two.

Other animals included, otters, foxes, goats and a variety of birds and waterfowl. I really liked the blue billed duck.

 

After spending 3 ½ hours at the gardens we went to Cracker Barrel for lunch and then returned to Myrtle Beach.  That evening, beginning at 5:00 we had tickets to Hot Jersey nights at the Palace Theatre.

The 4 vocalists, sang many well-known Frankie Valli and the 4 Seasons songs as well as some from the Beach Boys.  Great show.

We then went out for burgers and returned to the condo and watched a western Forsaken, with Kiefer and Donald Sutherland filmed in Alberta.  Great scenery, so-so acting I preferred “24” this was a very slow movie with a predictable ending.

On Friday, we picked up our weekend rental car and then did some shopping and banking in Myrtle Beach– everything was open — business as usual on Good Friday.  We returned to the marina with our stuff and in the afternoon went to Murrell’s Inlet to do some additional gift and grocery shopping.  When we returned to the marina, we noticed a looper boat  “Summertime”  and another one called  “Linda Jean”  had taken up residence on the end of our dock- so we invited them over for docktails.  We met some very nice people from Maine.

We have no  special  plans for Easter.  Andy is going golfing tomorrow with the guys, and I’m going to relax.

Hope everyone has a great Easter!

We went to Fred’s on Saturday night for supper Chris and Chrystal had cooked a pork scallopini with curried red sauce that I quite enjoyed along with a salad with Blue cheese, apples and pears and ice cream revels for dessert.  We played a board game and had a great evening!

On Sunday, once we got use to the time change– we did some shopping and took another Looper couple, Dick and Kathy  from Great Escape for groceries as well.

A fellow boater stopped by wearing this shirt and I need to include it.

On Monday it was boat cleaning day again, we washed and waxed  for several hours.

Later in the day the pine trees started releasing their yellow pollen, which meant our once clean boat was covered with a yellow powder.  Early Tuesday morning Brian Hayton picked us up, so that we could spend a couple of days with him and Muriel at their condo at Waterway Village.

Tuesday was a golf day, so while the guys went golfing, Muriel and I walked around their complex, checked out the pond where I saw these turtles and fish.    Later  went to AC Moore’s and a couple of other stores.  That evening we ( 8 of us) went to TBonz for the prime rib special (2 for $20)  everyone was  pleased with their cut of meat and the desired ‘cook’ on it.

We returned to the condo and played Canasta as well as Hand and Foot, way past our normal bedtime.

Wednesday was more of a lazy day  it was in the mid 80’s, the guys went out to get a light bulb for our anchor light, and later we went to Michaels and Walmart.  The Vermeersch’s came for dinner, Muriel had made  baked spaghetti,  garlic bread, Caesar salad, and a pumpkin cheesecake for dessert- delicious!!

Once again we played cards in the evening—the men had  the luck of the Irish and Scots, as they won almost every game.

On Thursday, St. Patrick’s day, Brian brought us back to the marina.  While we were gone for 2 day; the pine trees were relentless, and had once again covered the boat- so instead of being a white boat- it was more like butter yellow.  Guess what we spent the afternoon doing?   A couple of  loopers arrived at the marina in the afternoon, Lori and Bill on a Perfect Day, they came over for docktails and met Fred and Tim, who had dropped by after golf.

On Friday, we were up before dawn—(alarm went off at 5:47 a.m.) as we were going on a little boat cruise today up the ICW to Crab Catchers in Little River.  We had one swing bridge in Socastee to go through, that had  limited openings in the morning, because of school buses.  We had to be there prior to 7:45, or we wouldn’t get through the bridge until after 9:00.  We left the marina in the dark

—and made it to the bridge by 7:30.

After passing under several more bridges,  and by River Walk, where we had rented a condo in 2014,

we made it to the dock at waterway village by 8:20—this is where we were picking up Brian V, Helen, Brian H and Muriel.

 

After coffee and scones made by the captain on Thursday night, he fired up the engines and we went about 25 miles south, passing through Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle and some other communities arriving in Little River by about 11:45.  Here’s Helen and Muriel  on look out…

Saw lots of interesting houses– those that know me will understand why I snapped this one.

Here’s some of the other scenery we passed by.

We originally thought this was a person at a distance- but up close it’s a mannequin.

First  tow  we’d seen in awhile.

This lighthouse marks the entrance to light keeper’s marina in Little River.

We also saw the Coast guard doing some repairs to the aids to navigation markers.

We tied up and went into the restaurant for lunch, where we all ordered seafood.  As we were seated on the patio, we watched fresh fish being delivered and filleted at the next building.

We returned down the river, and enjoyed the fresh air and sunshine, saw many golf courses and other familiar landmarks- like Barefoot Landing shopping centre.  We couldn’t get either of the  guys sitting in the captain’s seat to stop and shop!

 

After dropping off the crew at the Waterway village dock, we had planned to go to the boathouse for drinks and appetizers,

but we quickly found that the depth at the dock was less than 5 feet, as we churned up quite a bit of mud.  We decided to pass on the boathouse, and continued down the river to our spot at the marina.  Here we are passing through the Socastee swing bridge for the second time.

Saturday was a lazy day, Andy did some re-wiring of the anchor light, and I did a little cooking.  There was no sense in washing the boat again, as rain is predicted for this evening and we thought we’d give mother nature a chance to clean up the boat on our behalf.

^{March 6th- 11th}

^{Andy went golfing Monday afternoon as the mechanic wasn’t available.  Here’s some picture’s from the Zoo as I got him to drop me off there and I walked back to the marina.  With the nicer weather, flowers are out and the trees are starting to bud as well.}

These goats are in a field right by the marina-  they have been known to come running to the fence if  they think you have food– none came running to me and my camera- and this one only seemed to glare at me.

 ^{The mechanic  came on Tuesday and helped Andy change the Olive seals as well as the fuel and water separator filters.  On Wednesday, Andy went golfing and I took down the fly bridge canvas so that I could wash the windows.   After golf,  the Bancroft crew of Brian V, Brian H and Bob stopped by when they dropped Andy off.     Wednesday we both did a little more cleaning on the outside of the boat- removing more of the salt film that we had accumulated.   On Thursday Brian V, Helen, Bob and Kymm came to the boat for a 10:30 departure to Wacca Wache Marina for lunch at K-Rae’s restaurant. Kymm  and I shop at the same stores as we were dressed alike.}

It was about a 1 1/2 hour trip each way. The temperature was in the mid 70’s and partly sunny with a little breeze.  We saw lots of birds, and a few turtles sunning themselves.

      ^{On our return, I  finally made some star connections and we borrowed Brian’s car for the evening so that we could go to Conway for an Eastern Star meeting.  Prior to the 7:30 meeting, there was meal provided,  we didn’t get there until 6:50—but there was still plenty of  food to try.  The chapter is putting together a cookbook so many of the members had brought their favourite dishes for the book.   At the meeting, there was elections, balloting and draping so the meeting wasn’t over until close to 10:00—well past our usually bedtime of 8:45.  Here are pictures of  Waccamaw Chapter #89 and one of us with Barbara Hardwick the Worthy Matron and Les Chavus, Worthy Patron, who is also the Grand Warder of the Grand Chapter of South Carolina.}

  ^{We arrived back at Brian & Helen’s condo after 11:00 and stayed the night.  In the morning I did a load of laundry, while Andy went to pick up our rental car for the weekend.  Andy, Helen and I then went to the Tanger Outlet mall to do some shopping.  We later returned to the boat with our purchases, we went back into Myrtle Beach for supper at the Boathouse restaurant where I ordered fried pickles, I had first tried them  here in 2012 and I insist we go back every time we are in Myrtle Beach.  We met Fred, and his 3 friends from Winnipeg, who had flown in for a week to golf, there were 10 of us in all at are table.}   

^{On Saturday morning,  before going golfing Andy checked the starboard engine, and found we still have a bit of a leak so he’ll call the mechanic to come back again.  I stayed around the boat, did some cleaning and enjoyed the sunshine, as we are once again in the mid 70’s.    Brian V, Brain H and Bob stopped by for a beer after golf, when they dropped Andy off.  Fred and the other golfers from Winnipeg – Chris, Chrystal and Tanya stopped by as well. Lots of visitors- considering we are 10 miles from Myrtle beach out in the boonies!}

March 2nd to 6^th

We’ve been relaxing since we got here on Tuesday.  I did some cleaning inside the boat on Wednesday and Brian and Helen Vermeersch came in the afternoon for a visit.   That evening we went to Pat and Becky MacDonald’s boat Turas for docktails.

On Thursday Brian picked us up in the morning.  Andy was going golfing with the guys and I took our laundry to their condo.    Following the golf game, we went to Burro Loco’s for supper- a place that has cheap beer and wings, which we had been to before on our previous visits to Myrtle Beach, there were 16 people at our table, mainly Canadians from Bancroft Ontario.  We spent the night at the Vermeersch’s condo—our first night in over 4 months that we hadn’t spent on the boat.

On Friday morning, Brian took us to pick up the rental car that we were getting for the weekend.  We subsequently did some shopping, and picked up or ordered a number of items including  the echo charger at West Marine, filled the propane tank, new fan belts and fuel filters and groceries.  We also had a package to drop in the mail, so it would get to Canada before Easter.

On Saturday, there was another golf game booked, so  Andy took me to the Vermeersch’s  condo, so I could spend the day with Helen.   We  went to the Coastal Grand mall and to Lowes the grocery store for some retail therapy.  After the  golfers returned  we  went back  to the marina and had  Pat and Becky over for a drink.  I then decided to bake Chocolate chip cookies—a first on this  trip so far- I realized buying a hand mixer would be a good thing as creaming  shortening, sugar and eggs is a little difficult with  only a fork .

Sunday morning the plan was to meet the gang at Golden Corral for brunch at 10. I think there was 11 of us including Fred Kemp from Winnipeg who  had arrived late on Friday.  In the afternoon we had invited everyone to come to the marina.  Muriel, Brian H, Brian V, Helen and Fred all spent a couple hours on our back sundeck, enjoying he weather.

 

Brian V, Muriel, Brian H

Fred, Helen

 

After we return the car in the morning, the plan is to start scrubbing the outside of the boat.  We have a mechanic coming later in the week to help resolve the leak in the return fuel line on the starboard engine, provided the parts that Andy ordered arrive.  There is a zoo not to far from here I’m hoping to check it out and add some animal pictures in my next post.