Spring Grove?!?!

I think I left us in Georgetown, SC when last I wrote...

Next stop might have been Osprey Marina (one of our favorites) but we decided we should try to get more miles under the keel, so we went past Osprey, enjoying the peaceful beauty of the Wacamaw River, for  a while, but... it was a weekend and EVERYONE was out in their small runabouts and we were passed (in both directions) by no less than 50 noisy "Sunday" drivers. I had done a "tree study" five years ago as we traveled the Wacamaw and I remember why.  It really is beautiful.

This barely does the river justice...

We stopped at Barefoot Marina, not to be confused with Barefoot Landing Marina, the Landing is on the right (heading north) and the Barefoot Marina is on the left.  We had stayed at the Landing on the way down, where we were able to shop in the large shopping mall and got a ride to the local grocery store.  This time we enjoyed a more conventional marina that included a pool and hot tub.  Jeanne and I made fast work of heading up to check out the pool area.  It was beautiful, large and FUN.  

The weather has been cooperating these last few days and we are moving right along.  We have been averaging about 50 miles a day.  Our next target was South Harbor Village in Southport.  We had stopped on our way south and remembered the good restaurant, so we made good time and had enough time to do a laundry before heading to the Dead End Saloon for dinner.  We asked the crew of Osprey, a Catalina 34, to join us for dinner and enjoyed swapping cruising tales with them. Susan and Bill are from RI, but leave the boat at Bock Marine on Adams Creek for the summer.  

On the way we passed Lockwood's Folly Inlet, a spot notorious for shifting sands and moving buoys. We had run aground on our way south in the fall.  We were studying the Active Captain comments everywhere we noticed a "caution" symbol, and found one comment that included a link to a video of a drone trip through the questionable buoyage.  Boy has navigation changed!!  Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaWnUKm9AXY.   We breezed through this trouble spot easily!!

This time I decided to do a study of Osprey nests.  These are just a few!

Early departure from Southport put us heading up the Cape Fear River on an incoming tide, so we made good time and, even with the ever changing currents as you pass inlets, we made it to Harbor Village Marina in Hampstead, NC by mid afternoon.  This time we were on the gas dock and in easy reach of the office and bathrooms.  Ever since we were in Spanish Wells in the Bahamas Dan has been dealing with an ever increasing numbness in his feet and lower back along with some pain, so we were glad to be close to the shower...and yet he ended up falling on the dock as he headed up to take a shower.  It solidified our desire to move ahead as quickly as possible and maybe head home by car if we felt we could leave the boat is a secure place.

Another early departure with three possible stopping spots.  First was Dudley's Marina in Swansboro, but it was just noon as we passed Dudley's, and the wind was beginning to build, so we moved on.  The next possibility was Spooner's Creek Marina, about 10 miles before you reach Morehead City.  The trip across Bogue Sound was pretty wild, the wind, luckily not on the nose was blowing upwards of 20 knots and we were glad not to try negotiating the narrow entrance at Spooner's Creek.  We pressed on and made it the Morehead City Yacht Basin around 4 pm.  Landing there was still a challenge as the wind had not lessened much.  

We studied the current tables for the area leading to Adams Creek and decided on an eight o'clock departure.  That would get us up to the Neuse River and on to River Dunes by early afternoon and hopefully before the predicted thunderstorms.

True to our current MO, we left earlier than planned (7:15) and faced a small amount of current against us as we made our way up Adam's Creek! We still made it to River Dunes a little past noon.

Can't leave you without sharing a beautiful Trumpy picture, My Bernadette, from Newport, RI who passed us oun our way to Morehead City.

We decided River Dunes was the safest spot to leave Brunelle, so we got a rental car, loaded it with as much of our stuff that we figured we didn't need for the rest of the trip back to the Chesapeake, and drove home Saturday the 30th.  We visited our Orthopedic and Spine Specialists Urgent Care center Sunday morning, Dan had an MRI on Tuesday and this coming Tuesday, May 10th, he meets with a spine specialist to find out "what's next?!?!"  ~~~_/)~~~M&D