Southport is at mile 309 at the edge of the Cape Fear river so we were pleased that the wind and waves had diminished and decided to cruise about 65 miles to a quiet anchorage near the Camp Lejeune Marine base at mile 244. The Mile Hammock anchorage is within a small basin dredged by the Marines for their drills and, while boats are allowed to anchor, no boater is allowed to go ashore. We were the second boat into the anchorage and began to watch the Marines practicing assaulting a derelict ship moored in the far corner of the basin and helicopter drills circling over the anchorage. Fortunately they stopped their activity by dinner time and we had a quiet evening with about ten other boats.
As we left the anchorage the next morning we passed through the area of the ICW sometimes used for live-fire exercises by the Marines. The warning sign flashes when the ICW is closed-- and you really want to obey that sign!
As you look across the canal and over the tanks used for target practice, one can see the ocean just a short distance away
These large bodies of water can get quite rough so we were happy the weather was still with us.
We got another early start with plans to stop at an anchorage just short of the Albemarle Sound in the Alligator River. As we moved through the narrow canals we would occasionally see a huge barge coming around the corner. In the photo below note the size of the trawler compared to the barge! We'd make a quick call to the barge on channel 13 and ask which side of the canal we should move to get out of their way!
Along most of the daymarks at the sides of the channel we saw hawks had built large nests
And we passed many watermen checking their crab traps
We arrived at the night's anchorage to a beautiful sunset
The next morning, May 23rd, we only had a short 30 mile trip to Coinjock, kind of a rest area on the ICW! Boats just pull over to the side of the narrow ICW and tie to a long dock. The attraction at Coinjock is a good restaurant famous for its 32 oz prime rib dinner. Chris ordered it and had plenty left over for another dinner the next day!
On May 24th we set out for the last 50 miles of the ICW to Portsmouth, VA. We knew we were back in civilization by the many bridges with restricted opening schedules. Several times we had to wait for a drawbridge to open on the hour, even though it was only 30 minutes from the prior bridge that opened on the hour. We also had to pass through the Great Bridge Lock to raise us 3 feet to the level of the Elizabeth river into Portsmouth/Norfolk. These locks are always a challenge because the wind can whip through them and shove the boat against the steel wall. After all the lock of the Okeechobee Waterway were we old hands and knew exactly what to do
After the lock we moved into the Portsmouth/Norfolk's large port area. The bridge in this picture is big!-- notice the boat of our size under the open span!
As we reached Mile Zero of the ICW we saw the familiar lightship on display... we traveled 965 from Fort Pierce in three weeks after our return from the Bahamas. Now on to the Chesapeake!
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