1.15 – Tuesday

Today is a much-needed day of respite. Kyle and I looked at the weather and discussed our plans, and the weather isn’t favorable for an offshore hop. We’ll be stuck in the ditch the rest of the way to Charleston. Today is the last cold cold day, after today temps will be in the 50s. We had a pretty rough weekend with all the cold weather, so we decided to stay at the dock today, rest, relax, and stay warm. Kyle is knocking out some work projects and I’m catching up the blog, social media, and cleaning up. It’s hard to keep the boat tidy when we can’t even keep ourselves warm.

We wandered around town to stretch our legs this afternoon. It was a gorgeous sunny day (still cold though!). We found a Little Free Library a few blocks from the boat, so we detoured back home and downsized our book collection. Of course we took a few new ones home too!

1.16 – Wednesday

We had a big challenge today. We needed to make it just over 50 miles, but we’re back in tidal regions so we knew we’d have strong currents plus four bridges today. Skipper Bob doesn’t show any anchorages before Wrightsville Beach, so we have to make it there.

I was bringing the recycling ashore and nearly slid across the dock – it was covered in frost. We left the dock this morning just ahead of sunrise, but had a 1 knot counter current all morning and wind on the nose.

We made the first bridge and waited 6 minutes for the opening – we timed that well! As the second bridge came into view, I hailed them on the VHF just as Kyle said “Hey Darce? I don’t think there’s a bridge there anymore.” We got out the binoculars and saw remnants of the swing bridge, now replaced by a 65’ bridge. According to Active Captain the Surf City bridge closed on December 4^th.

We had long waits at the 3^rd and 4^th bridges. However, this area is full of beach houses and we are both practicing snark-itects, so we had plenty of time to make fun of the gaudy homes. For example, when you love dangly earrings so much you put them on your house…?

And this really confused layer cake house. You have to imagine that top floor is at least 50% stairway/landing aka totally useless, unless they have a ladder in which case no one goes up there. Kyle figured that must be the butterfly house.

The worst one, though. The absolute worst. If this was my house, I could not look at it from the outside. This house has windows sloped to match the roof line…except the windows at the very apex. Not only do those not match the roofline, they also aren’t centered under the peak of the roof, making them look like really weirdly trimmed eyebrows.

Probably the most interesting thing that happened today was a swarm of helicopters that passed by this afternoon. Oh, and Kyle called the boatyard and they said they couldn’t haul us out until Wednesday next week, so now we are in no rush to head south.

We couldn’t make the 4pm opening of the last bridge, so we had to wait until 5pm, which meant we pulled into the anchorage just after the sun slipped below the horizon.

54 miles today, just over 10 hours. We probably lost an hour waiting for bridges, but I have a hard time believing our average was 5.8 mph.

1.17 – Thursday

Another cold, humid day. The difference is that now we have foot warmers! They were lukewarm for the few hours that we were traveling today, they didn’t get hot until after we docked.

Our waterway guide says that cruisers can dock at the Provision Company in Southport for the cost of one meal, and if they are closed for the season (as they are now) cruisers can stay for free.

We arrived around noon, debated if we’d fit into the slip but it looked alright. Kyle was at the helm, and we were dealing with some really weird currents and wind, he had trouble maneuvering into the slip. The boat wasn’t turning like it should, so we figured there was a strong cross-current pushing us. He aborted twice but we finally slid in without touching a piling. Success!

26 miles today, I think it took us 4 hours (6.5 mph). We rode a magic carpet outgoing tide through the Cape Fear River at about 8 knots so we made good time.

I knew we’d arrive in Southport early, so I made a list of projects I wanted to complete that afternoon. The biggest thing on my list was rebalancing the boat – the bottom transom steps have both been underwater since we left, and the bows are sitting high. I took a photo of them early in the trip, and I took another photo today because it looks like they may be getting worse?

Before we could start that project, the starboard bilge pump kicked on. I investigated where the water was coming from. Thus began an everlasting gobstopper of compartments of water. The water in the bilge was coming from a bilge compartment in the aft berth. The water in that bilge was coming from the engine compartment. The water in there was leaking in from a locker with our starting battery, which had many gallons in it – if this sounds familiar, it’s because we ran into the exact same issue a year ago. Water is somehow getting into the rudder compartment, and when that fills up it spills into the starting battery locker, and when that gets high enough it goes into the engine compartment. We were violating Rule #1: keep the water out of the boat.

The starting battery locker was dry when we left, so the water was only coming in when we were moving. We have a very small access to the rudder compartment and it looks like the hull might possibly have a crack in it. We’ll check that when we haul out.

In the meantime, we had a whole lot of water to move. Kyle pumped out the rudder compartment while I took a manual pump to the starting battery locker. It was a cramped position and I was there for a while, so I’m probably going to be sore tomorrow. The happy ending: the starboard transom is out of the water, and the port transom (which has always been the heavier side) is looking better too. In an inadvertent, roundabout way, we completed the project that was at the top of my to-do list.

In the midst of all this, we had another boat dock at the other slip available, so we helped them with lines and invited them over for drinks, but they had to take their dogs to shore and we were gone by the time they got back.

A couple of Charleston friends just moved near Southport, so after work they picked us up and we went out for drinks. They had a habit of going to Lowe’s grocery store in Charleston (half off beer night!) and now they have a new Lowe’s that they’re quickly becoming regulars at. Hilariously – but unsurprisingly – they already knew the people at the bar when we arrived.

They generously hosted us at their nice warm house, with their nice warm showers and laundry machines. I can easily wash my hair onboard, but I have no way to dry it, so with temps in the 40s it had been over a week since I washed my hair (Kyle keeps telling me to stop saying that out loud, but sometimes that’s boat-life reality!). Major thanks to Shari and Evie for such a wonderful night!

It was nearly midnight when we went to bed on the world’s most cloud-like mattress. Unfortunately our wake-up call was pre-6am, they had to drop us off at the boat before work.