Cruising to Wrightsville Beach

Cruising Heaven.. The only way to describe today.

We left Mile Hammock early – 7:30am to round the New River Inlet as close to high tide as possible. We did good, and apparently it has been dredged. We saw plenty of water.

We had a fine run down the Intracoastal through one of the prettiest sections of the Intracoastal. When we approached the Surf City Bridge we bunched up with the boats that left earlier – the obsessive cruisers that have to be first out at first light and first in… . We hit the bridge on a dead run with the “hammer”down and made the opening with no wait time. That doesn’t happen very often. Now we all formed a long parade of snow birds heading south. It was ideal conditions riding the in Intracoastal today. We hit the Figure 8 Island bridge with a short wait but got through at 12:30pm.. The Wrightsville Beach bridge is just 5 miles away but opens on the hour. With an adverse current there is no way to make the 1pm opening so we just drifted with the current to make the 2pm opening. About 1:20pm the bridge tender hailed us and said if we could all bunch up quickly she would open at 1:35pm – we put the hammer down again. I thought I had a lot of power but Ol Ralph passed me easily.



The lead boats were reporting skinny water at the entrance to Motts channel and by Green 19 in the channel. When we turned I had plenty of water but the current was so swift I crabbed into the channel – a little scary since I did not have full control. We made it to Banks channel with plenty of water and did not find the anchorage too crowded. We picked a spot near the homes (hope for a “Free WiFi connection) and dropped the hook. That big old Lemar claw hooked first time.

Jim and Ralph came in later. Apparently Jim found the bottom near green 19 – stopped dead in the water according to Ralph but got off easily – note it was near dead low tide when we got here.

After launching the dinghy and cleaning up we just relaxed awhile. Did a little visiting via dinghy, had dinner aboard then we all met at Jim’s boat to heads to the beach about 7pm.. What a night. Full moon, cool evening, and fine breakers on the beach. It was a beautiful walk on the beach. Then back to our boat to relax in the moonlight till cruisers midnight – 9:30pm.



Looking forward to a nice couple of days here at Wrightsville Beach.