Tense moments on ICW and Cape Fear was a pussy cat today

We had a nice quiet night in Wrightsville Beach last night. One poor cruiser - a Canadian - on MYLADY had double trouble yesterday. They ran aground just south of Figure Eight Island bridge and called for a Boat US tow and then about an hour and half later they called Boat US for another tow -- they were hard aground at G25 - entry to Motts channel. Boat US was good natured about it and told them they didn't need to pass their member info again.. Big Whup.

We left the anchorage at 7:30am and hit the Carolina Beach trouble area around 10am and about 2 hours before high tide. There were 5 can buoys there marking the channel which did not match the chart (Garman Blue Chart) but I found a lot of water -- minimum 11 feet. The only problem there was a very strong current coming across which moved to the red side and I had to take a sharp turn to offset. There is shoaling in Snows Cut but well marked. Follow the buoys and not the chart through here.

Cape Fear River was nearly a mill pond. Never have we found it so docile. We did have to fight the current most of the way but not too bad. Lots of small debris in the water which caused us to be ever vigilant and not use the auto pilot.

We made Southport Marina around noon and went in for fuel and a slip for a few days. Strong cold front coming across tomorrow so we elected to stop here till probably Sunday. This will give us a chance to explore this picturesque town.

The marina is fine but the dock hands are not fully up to the game. Not good line handlers. they didn't do us any favors. After fueling at the fuel dock I had to turn around and cross back across another dock and work may slowly around a corner to the slip. The slip is okay but a starboard tie is inconvenient since we have to walk around the power cord. The dock we were warned is quite "tender" in that it rocks vigorously as you walk across it -- these are floating docks.

The docks themselves are very nice and easy on the feet.

Well we are going to be dirt dwellers for a few days. The ground felt funny since we have not been off the boat since last Saturday.