One change, now that we are retired and not on any schedule, is we can sit at anchor or in a marina when the wind and storms blow through and wait for the good transiting weather. This has significantly reduced the stress level of traveling the ICW.
Here we are entering Snow's Cut which connects the ICW along the Outer Banks with the Cape Fear River. This used to be a quite treacherous section with strong currents and a winding old river bed path but, it has been dredged and is plenty deep now. You just have to follow the buoys and take the current into consideration as you maneuver through.
We came through the cut and entered the Cape Fear River. This can be a tough section of water when the wind is against the current but today we had basically no wind and only 1kt of opposing current.
As we entered the river we had a tug and barge alongside, both of us traveling downriver at about 5kts. Fortunately the river is plenty wide.
There was a lot of traffic on the Cape Fear River. In addition to the tug and barge next to us, there were two different ferries shuttling across the river and three large merchant ships that came up the river during our 3hr transit down to Southport.
Getting to Holden Beach requires successfully passing through the Lockwood's Folly inlet area where there is always bad shoaling and navigation buoys out of position. Normally, green buoys go down your port side and red buoys on the right as you proceed southerly on the ICW. But this Green buoys ahead is not an ICW buoy. It is a Lockwood's Folly inlet buoy that has been blown off-station into the ICW, so you need to disregard it.
The great news is that new internet technology is letting boaters collaborate on sharing information on the safe channels along the ICW. There is now a "safest course track" available on the internet you can load on your tablets and chartplotters and boaters share information to keep you informed how accurate the track is. There is a complex track through Lockwood's Folly that you follow that takes you safely through the shoals. Also, we came through just after high tide so we saw deep water the whole way through our transit.
At Holden Beach we were able to meet up with two of my brothers and their wives. Can you see any family resemblance? We had a great time snacking, reminiscing and playing dominos.
Sue loves Holden beach for the shells. She was up at 0630 to walk the beach at low tide and came back with a bucket full of shells. We then walked again that afternoon and picked up another bucket full.
Tomorrow we are off for the Wacamaw River. Weather reports say we have a couple of cold nights ahead. At least tonight (forecast for 27 degrees) we will be plugged in and have our heater running.
