Sneads Ferry, NC to Carolina Beach mooring field, AICW 297.1

April 5-8, 2017 

Even though we only had 48 miles to go to get to Carolina Beach, we still planned to leave Sneads Ferry fairly early to take advantage of the longer daylight hours.  For Sasha’s morning walk and obligatory Frisbee session, there is a nice fenced-in grassy area near a house on the Swan Point Marina grounds.

Lorelei IV docked at Swan Point Marina, Sneads Ferry, NC

Nice grassy field for Sasha

It was a very nice day for cruising – warm but a little cloudy with a nice breeze.  We run the engines at about 1000 rpm’s, which generally means we cruise at 6-8 mph if the tide is against us, and 8-10 mph if the tide is with us.  We generally use 6-6.5 gallons of fuel per hour at this speed.  The scenery was pretty, and we saw enough boats, both local and other cruisers, that it kept the day from being too routine.

These people really like pink

Of the 3 lift and swing bridges that we passed through today, we only had to have first one, the Surf City Swing Bridge with a vertical clearance of 12 ft, opened for us.  Even though we could see the bridge and hear boats requesting to pass through at the 9 a.m. opening, we knew that we would be 5-10 minutes too late at our normal cruising speed.  Instead of maintaining our speed and having to wait at the bridge, we slowed down so that we would reach it closer to the next opening at 10.

Rob at the helm with our new autopilot in control

The next two bridges were the Figure Eight Island Swing bridge and the Wrightsville Bascule bridge, both with listed vertical clearances of 20 ft.  We consider our vertical clearance to be 20-20.5 ft, but we thought that we remembered having plenty of clearance at both bridges when we had come north last summer.  Sure enough, even though the gauges only showed 18-19 ft of clearance, we had 3-4 ft to spare when we passed underneath both of them.

There were several dredging operations going on in or near the ICW near a couple of the inlets close to Carolina Beach, but temporary marker buoys clearly marked the working channel in these areas.

Large dredge on the ICW

It seemed like no time at all, and we arrived at the Carolina Beach Mooring Field.  Even though reservations aren’t technically required, since it is the busy season for cruisers moving north and we wanted to stay for several days, we used the Dockwa app to make our reservations for a mooring ball.  There are 9 mooring balls, which can accommodate boats up to 55 ft, but 2 of the mooring balls didn’t have pennants.  Apparently, new ones had been ordered but had yet to come in, so the mooring field manager told us that he would come run a line for one of them if we couldn’t find a mooring ball with a pennant.  There were 2 open mooring balls that did have pennants on them – one in the middle of the main line of moorings and the other at the edge relatively close to shallow water.

Since we prefer to stay away from shallow water if there is a choice, we went to pick up the mooring in the middle.  While Rob was trying to direct me close to the mooring ball, a guy on the boat next to it called to Rob that he didn’t think we should take that one.  Apparently, the thimble (plastic or metal eye) had broken on the pennant and the bare loop at the end had become worn.  The gentleman told Rob that when he had reported this to the manager, someone had come out and had made a temporary repair with duct tape.  Since 30-40 mph winds were forecast in the next day or two, the gentleman didn’t think we should trust our boat to this line.  If we moved to one of the remaining moorings that weren’t near the shallow water, we would have to run our own line to the ball since the only other ones left were the ones that were missing pennants.  Because of this, we decided to pick up the mooring with the duct-taped loop anyways and to run an extra line to act as a backup pennant.  That way, if the repaired loop should fail, we would still be secured to the mooring ball.

That night a severe storm system with high winds did roll through the area, but our lines stayed secure.  Although the system caused some tornadoes and flooding in South Carolina and some of the Gulf states, by the time it reached Carolina Beach, it had broken up a bit.  We had a lot of rain and wind and a little hail, but the mooring field is in a fairly protected area so it wasn’t bad at all.

A common position for cruising canines

Carolina Beach seems like a nice beach town, and we wouldn’t mind coming back sometime for a longer stay.  Dogs are allowed on the main beach before 9 a.m. and after 5 p.m., but you can also go to Freeman Park at the north end where they are allowed all the time.  One of the dinghy docks for the mooring field was very close, so it was no trouble at all getting to shore for Sasha’s beach play times.  There is also supposed to be a city dock at the south end of Myrtle Grove Sound (where the mooring field is located), but it is currently under repair after being damaged by Hurricane Matthew.  It is a bit of a ride from the mooring field, but it is closer to restaurants and stores so would be handy once it is repaired.

The water was a bit cool, but Sasha didn't mind at all

We usually visit the local Ace Hardware and manage to find something that we need

Our friends, Reuel and Pam Sample, who we met while docked in New Bern, had taken their boat to a boatyard in nearby Wilmington, in order to do a major refit.  They are staying with Reuel’s brother and sister-in-law while their boat is on the hard, and they invited us out to the house for dinner on Thursday night.  Since we didn’t have a vehicle, Reuel picked us up at Mona Black Marina, which was graciously allowing dinghy dockage from the mooring field while the city docks are being repaired.  It was a nice relaxing evening with good food and conversation.  Pam had mentioned wanting to learn how to sew a couple of times before, so I invited her out to the boat on Friday for a lesson.  I have both a conventional and industrial sewing machine onboard, so I could show her the differences with regard to sewing more heavy duty fabrics.  She caught on very quickly, so I have no doubt that she can figure out how to manage the projects she has in mind.

Too soon our visit was over and it was time to take her back to shore.  She is a professional photographer and offered to take some pictures of Lorelei IV with the wide-angle lens that snaps onto her cell phone.  I have included one of the amazing pictures below!

Lorelei IV moored at Carolina Beach (pic courtesy of Pam Murph)

I’ll take the opportunity to say again that it is the people that we have met and the new friends we have made that have been the best part of this new adventure in our lives.  Steve and Liana on sailboat Silhouette – you can follow their adventures at www.svsilhouette.net -- cast off their lines in December, making their way through the Caribbean on their way to Panama to work with Floating Doctors this coming winter.  Eventually, they will go through the Panama Canal and set sail across the Pacific.  Once Reuel and Pam on sailboat September Winds finish their refit– you can follow them at www.overunderexpeditions.com -- they will be headed to the Chesapeake Bay and then to St Thomas, Virgin Islands, where they plan to do charters on their boat.  David and Mona on motor vessel Mad Hatteras are another couple we hope to run into again sometime.  We met them in March after we returned to New Bern from Quincy, and we have a lot in common since we both have Hatteras motor yachts.  There are many others, of course, with whom we have swapped stories, given and taken advice and tips, given and accepted a bit of help here and there, or just shared friendly greetings.  In this fluid community of boaters and cruisers, you just never know who you might run into again or who might become your neighbor for a time, and that is just part of the fun and adventure.