Our sail over
was supper swift: the current alone
pushed us to 5kn, the wind another 3…! While
we were on the ICW for most of the way and protected, we would have to go “out”
a bit on the River and face the winds/seas.
We heard over the CB a sail was capsized in the inlet…so our sail was
staying down!
 |
| A little too much heeling for me |
There is only 1
marina on Bald Head Island, one ferry, and NO cars. The entrance to the marina is located fairly
close to the ocean inlet and very well “protected”…or hidden. At first glance, it looks like you are trying
to beach the boat (yes, I asked Mike this)
before you turn into a very narrow breakwater.
The marina is surrounded by very, very nice homes! Immediately you are struck by the …beauty of
the area! We had heard tale this island
was the “block island” of the Carolinas: we LOVED Block Island! Once we were settled at dock, we ran to the
showers, then prepared to bike around.
The island is
gorgeous! Sandy white beaches, large
cape houses arranged in clusters, a salt marsh reserve, wild animals (was almost taken out by a deer)…Best
part is the “no cars” rule. As you go
along the shaded roads, what sounds like The Jetson’s come to life will pass
you by! I really want a golf cart now!
Ha. The only shopping on the island is a
little “village” of stores: grocery,
restaurant, knick knacks, art gallery, clothing, and a bike shop. We were getting a lot of comments on Salty
and her bike cart throughout the island:
specially since there are no cars, we left the screen open for her to
stick her head/body out! We saw at the
bike shop one of the designated “doggy” carts for 300.00, used! While it is smaller than the child’s one we
are using, I saved a ton of money on NOT getting one meant strictly for dogs,
joy! Ha.
Salty misses George
Since we were on
the island, of course we had to get to the cape area itself! The water at the cape…dear lawd, I now
understand why its cape “fear”! Seeing
the different currents mixed together with the winds…and the waves crashing
into each other, shooting spray 10’ in the air…yea, really happy our boat will
never experience coming into that inlet J.
We got back to
the marina a little past 1830 and were pooped from all that riding! The morning tide to get us out wasn’t until
12oo the next day: we would explore the island on foot a little more in the
morning!
10/14/2012 Bald Head Is, NC => St. James Plantation
Since we are at
the marina this morning and not rushing off:
Pancakes!!! Yum! After a nice leisurely breakfast, we walked
up to the lighthouse (not Cape Fear
Lighthouse, as that was removed in the early 1900’s, but another on the island)
and explored a little bit more. Pretty
sure we will have a beach house on this island…when we can afford it!! We set off for an anchorage about 3 hours across the sound, just south of
Southport NC. We arrived at the Pipeline
Canal around 1400. We tried to get into the main area, but no dice: we were at slack tide, about to go to high
with 4’10 showing on the depth finder…which would mean in the middle of the
night, we would be on bottom…so we crept our way back out and headed even
further south the only option around: a
marina called St James Plantation. They
offered Towboat US discounts (we
technically have SeaTow), so ended up only paying 1.00 ft! This is a marina enclosed in a gated
community..and very, very nice! We
almost felt bad about taking the discount…almostJ. There
was a nice outdoor restaurant just up the dock we were on. They had a guitar player out there for a
couple hours, which was really nice to listen too! The complex also housed a gourmet convenience
store, with rave reviews about their coffee, so a must stop in the morning for
me.
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