The Marines have got us... we're in Mile Hammock Bay

The wind had died, the rain blew on through during the night and the day dawned crisp and clear. The moon was getting ready to set as we headed off just after 6 am.  After checking the current tables, we decided the bast way to face the Cape Fear River was EARLY. We had the tide with us until we reached Snows Cut which takes you away from the river.  Unfortunately the currents were not so favorable the rest of the day.

The early light on these Ibis accentuated their hooked beaks.

The strong north wind didn't help.  We knew we had a long day and had hoped for some help from currents!  We ended up pushing the engine to it's limits to make it to the Wrightsville Bridge by 10 AM.  We hadn't counted on being accosted by hundreds of SUPs!  It seems the Wrightsville Beach Paddle Club was holding it's 2014 Carolina Cup this weekend!.  It was quite a sight.

They even crowded us as we went through the bridge and re-visited our favorite Wrightsville spot - Brunelle rudder hump!  Just to add the the insult we  (I) managed to drop one of our favorite cushions overboard right at that spot and had to do a quick rescue!  No pictures please.  

The next bridge was also going to cause us to put the pedal to the metal and we hadn't gone far when alarms began going off.  The hot water alarm alerted us the fact that the water was registering above 220 degrees!  We quickly dropped the anchor and Dan checked out the engine. He still isn't sure exactly what it was, but he added more coolant to the system and we proceeded without any more overheating.  We didn't push it tho and as the wind had come around to the SW, we rolled out the jib to help move us along. 

 We saw plenty of wildlife - mostly birds, and lots of Saturday runabouts. They were everywhere, buzzing us at every turn.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               We also went by our old friend the giraffe.  I had forgotten he lived along this stretch.  Dan got a good picture of him.  We see that his home is for sale... who wouldn't want a waterfront home with giraffe!                    

We made it Mile Hammock Bay (right in the middle of Camp LeJeune around 5:30 pm without anymore mishaps and anchored with several boats, including one (Spartina) from Clairborne, MD who we met 5 years ago at Emerald Rock in the Exumas.  We'll give them a hail in the AM.  

Another early start tomorrow as we hope to make it to River Dunes (71 miles), just past Oriental.  ~~~~~_/)~~~~~M&D