Swansboro, NC - 7/21/11

More $tuff & Quest pulled out of Beach House Marina at 9:30 for the 33 mile run to Swansboro, NC. Since we would be traveling through Camp Lejeune today and we had warnings that they close the AICW periodically for an hour or two or even sometimes longer for manuvers, all the folks we talked to on the dock indicated that it probably would be open since no shells or firing could be heard. Apparently when they are active it rocks this marina 15 miles away.

The ride was pretty uneventful except we did fight tide for several miles. We passed several nice places including this one which was all alone on a small piece of land.

This guy must have tried a shorft cut during high tide. We had about 5 miles to go to the swing bridge that only opened on the hour and half hour so we had to step up our speed to 10 mph to make the noon opening.

As we approached the Onslow swing Bridge at 11:55 we were contacted by the Navy Patrol boat that the waterway was closed until 1300 hours about 1/4 mile past the bridge so we elected to drop anchor before the bridge and have lunch. Another large motor yacht joined us just after noon and indicated that he would go on through the bridge at 12:30 so we decided that we would as well then just hang out on the other side until the water opened. This camp was on the downriver side of the bridge.

Here is their tent area.

The Onslow Bridge is owned and operated by the Marine Corp which is very unusual. This turned out to be a good move since we were contacted at 12:45 to "transit the waterway and transit only as quickly as possible".

This is the patrol boat that was stationed on the other side of the river to secure the area.

These guys looked pretty warm as we passed.

Some of their targets?

When we were leaving the 5 mile area the caution lights were on for south bound traffic and the patrol boat was in the middle of turning boats back so apparently they stopped their games just to let us through.

We pulled or rather blew into Dudley's Marina at 2:05. The wind was very strong and has continued being strong rocking the boat as if we were being passed by other boats.

This is the only marina for several miles that accepts transit boats and is pretty rustic. Tomorrow we head for Morehead City which will only be 23 miles or so just for the night.

Our position tonight is N 34 40.806 W 77 06.738