Swansboro, NC to Wrightsville Beach (SOUTH of the bridge)

For those of you who have slogged through all our blog posts, you might remember the significance of a certain spot just north of the Wrightsville Beach Bridge.  That's where we ran aground and with the help of Towboat US pulled off our rudder!  The tide was lower as we passed "Brunelle's little island, so it was much more noticeable, and a palm tree still graces the site.

We also enjoyed watching a pair of dolphins' antics as three of us jockeyed about waiting for the bridge to open.  I especially like the otherworldly effect the sun gave their glistening bodies and spray.

                                                                                                                                                                              We started the day with a call to the Marine Base at Camp Lejeune and were assured there would be no activity along the ICW today.  That didn't preclude a few sights and sounds (from a slew of vertical take-off planes) to remind us where we were.

A good bit of the day was spent worrying about Green Marker 61A.  We had a call from a former Catalina 400 owner before we left the Chesapeake warning us about this spot where the Brown's Inlet has caused so much shoaling you have to be very careful to follow the buoying.  We also read about it in several of our guide books and noted that there were 56 comments in Active Captain about it.  We also listened to lots of chatter from all the boats that preceded us through the area.  With all our foreknowledge we made it through without seeing anything shallower than 10.9 feet!  I decided to "spell it out" for you on the picture Dan took.  Note the green day beacon on the left side of the picture and the red nun to the right.  The new buoy 61A is farther to the right than the nun!  You'd think you should follow the dotted line, but no, out and around did the trick.

As soon as we went through the Wrightsville Beach Bridge. we tied up at the Bridge Tenders Marina. 

As soon as we were tied up, we took a walk to West Marine for a few small items.  It turns out the West Marine is in a shopping center with a Harris Teeter!  Our first visit to one of our favorite food stores on this trip.  Dan wanted to get a picture of me in front of the store... not gonna happen.

Dinner aboard with fresh produce from Harris Teeter.  ~~~_/)~~~M&D