Slogging up the ICW

We made the decision to come in at Cape Fear instead of going to Beaufort because the forecast was for thunderstorms and squalls over night Thursday so we thought rather than get caught in them offshore we would go in at Cape Fear and in a day still make it to Beaufort. The thought of more time on the ICW wasn't appealing but the risk of being offshore with electrical storms was even a bigger concern.

Morning of our last day offshore.

Making landfall.

Our anchorage in Carolina Beach.

So after a beautiful evening on the mooring (it never did storm) and a good night's sleep we got up early, well not that early, and headed up the Intracoastal. We dropped the mooring about 0630 when we needed to leave about 615 to make the first bridge which only opens on the hour. With the current against us it was clear we weren't going to make the bridge so we throttled back to avoid being caught in the current and traffic at the bridge for a long time.

With the frequent inlets the current changed frequently from being favorable to being against us. We made our way through the bridges and past Camp Lejeune without and significant slowdown and we decided to stop for the night in Swansboro and fuel up at Casper's Marina. The last fuel we had gotten was in Marsh Harbor and we took 125 gals at Swansboro @ $1.61 so we made the trip back from the Abacos for about $200.

Casper's Marina in Swansboro.

Our first night ashore in the US we had dinner at the Icehouse just a few blocks from the marina and enjoyed another cool but peasant evening.

The next morning we got an early start and went the short distance to Beaufort where we met some friends Polly and Dave of Illusions who live in New Bern and drove down for dinner with us at Spouter's in Beaufort. We used the loaner car from the marina to run to the store and for the first time in about 2 weeks got fresh food and stocked up for the remainder of our return.

After another pleasant night we motored up the channel towards the Neuse River with wind behind us. We saw one of our friends on AIS and called and found he was gong to stay not far from where we would be at Cherry Point so we made plans for lunch in a couple days.

Hancock Creek Marina at MCAS Cherry Point.

After we turned up the Neuse River we were able to sail right up to the channel into Hancock Creek where we tied up at the Base marina to visit my son and his family for a few days before we contnue our trip up the ICW.