The downside of being on a major river is the debris that comes floating down driven by the 2-3kt current of the ebbing river.
Lots of logs and branches trapped between the boat and the dock. No kitchen sink but, we did have a water heater jammed in there.
This is the mess that was trapped between the boat and the dock. Fortunately for us we were able to back away from all this with none of it around are keel or prop. One of the advantages of having a full keel and protected prop and rudder.
Maybe Spring is not the best time to visit Wilmington by boat.
Our next stop up the ICW is the anchorage at Hammock Bay, at Camp LeJeune. There were about 8 boats already anchored there but room for a few more.
When anchoring at Hammock Bay we had our first mechanical issue this trip, fortunately relatively easy to fix. We got a tangle in the anchor chain that jammed the chain up against the PVC elbow that guides the chain through the deck and ripped off the elbow. This has happened before and we know the repair drill.
Sue has to squirm her way into the locker and she can reach up beyond the windlass motor and rescrew the bolts holding the elbow up to the deck.
On our way up the ICW to Beaufort and we had some companions for awhile escorting us.
Sue wants a tiny house like this one on an island off Swansboro. Not sure if there is any electricity out there but I didn't see any solar panels so perhaps.
At Beaufort we proceeded through the harbor area and out the inlet enroute to Cape Lookout.
Anchored in the Cape Lookout inlet. Looks like we will be here for a few days as there is a front coming through on Friday with heavy rain.
Now comes a decision. If we can get the right weather window, we can go offshore around Cape Hatteras and be in the Chesapeake in 24hrs. If we go back to the ICW it is 5 days plus any delays along the way. We'll take a good look at the weather. It's a bit tricky because the weather at Beaufort south of the Cape is often entirely different from Norfolk north of the Cape.
