Morehead City, NC - 7/22/11

Shortly after 8 a.m. this morning while I was on the helm getting electronics up for our trip today, I heard a noise over toward the marina building and this is what I saw.

Most marinas have a place where you can put your boat to be lifted out for dry storage and they use a big fork lift to pick it up out of the water. This marina has 2 units mounted on land that lowers a cradle into the water and they float the boat onto it, then it lifts the boat.

Then the fork lift picks it off the cradle and sets it in the dry storage rack. Pretty slick.

We finally let the marina at 9:45 after Skip filled his fuel tanks. The wind was still blowing us into the dock so it was a little challenging to pull off. I had to use the Ohio River method of putting the bow of the boat against the uprights and reverse port/forward starboard to get my stern out into the water. Our course took us up the Bogue Sound for most of the trip which is virtually open water for over 20 miles and it did get a little snotty with white caps.


Our destination was the Sanitary Fish Market & Restaurant just 24 miles away. They have a floating dock that will hold up to 4 boats our size for just $25 per night, no power or water.

This place seats 600 and when we left there was a waiting line of at least 30 people. The food was great.

It was so hot we didn't walk very far around town, just across the street from the restaurant.

Of course grandma found the kids book store. Anytime she wanders off she is normally found looking at something for grandkids. I am thinking about getting her one of those bracelets that tells me her location!

When we returned to the boat and was preparing for docktails on Quest, several folks were walking the dock and talking to us. They just can't believe you can get here from WV & Chicago. While we were talking to a couple at Skip's boat I notice black smoke billowing from our boat and yelled to Ricki, who was inside, to shut down the genset. After it cooled down I started problem solving and discovered a plugged air filter. Problem solved. Now it runs like a charm.

A few stats on our trip to date:

307 days since leaving WV

89 days actually traveling

4216 miles

.97 cents per foot avg dock cost

$3.69 avg fuel cost

1.6 avg MPG

Tomorrow we are moving less than a mile to Beaufort, NC which is supposed to be a historic type town.

Our position here is :

N34 43.181

W76 42.512

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

Surf City, NC - 7/20/11 (pics 7/19/11)

Here are pictures from 7/19/11 (Wilmington, NC & Wrightsville Beach) that we were unable to load yesterday.

Breakfast at the local dinner.

Downtown Wilmington.

USS North Carolina.

Pretty homes.

More pretty homes.

Wrightsville beach.

82nd airbourne buddy from basic training, Adair Graham.

July 20, 2011

At 9:30 Moor $tuff & Quest pulled out of Carolina Beach and headed for Surf City, NC which is next to Topsail, NC.

This scene caught us off guard ....

Our run of 35 miles is ending just on the other side of this swing bridge. It only opens on the hour and when we saw we were not able to make the 1 p.m. opening, we slowed down to idle rpms but due to the tide, we were still pushed along at over 8 mph. We got to the bridge at 1:20 so we dropped anchor and waited until 2 p.m. opening.

We are in Beach House Marina which has a tour boat cruise .....

That gets attacked underway and actually boarded by pirates. They tie up the captain along with some of the passengers. What a show!

The pirate ship coming back to the marina.

Then they mix with the passengers for photos and were really good to the kids.

The beach was really inviting. Ricki & Barb sat in their beach chairs at the edge of the surf for awhile letting the water splash over them.

Surf City is one of those gems that you don't see anymore. Very 1970's with the type stores we used to see at other beaches.

Tomorrow we will (hopefully) pass through the Marine Camp unless there are water shelling or maneuvers happening.

Our position tonight is N 34 25.717 W 77 32.753

Carolina Beach, NC - 7/19/11

Road Trip ....

In our loaner vehicle we decided to go out for breakfast then on to Wilmington and Wrightsville Beach. For whatever reason, I could not get pictures of our outing to load today so all I can do is tell you about the trip.

When we got to Wilmington we took the trolley around town which was basically a tour of old houses. Since Wilmington is one of two deep water ports, it has relied on shipping and rail for most of it's growth over the years. The old Cotton Exchange has been converted into a shopping mall with many stores & restaurants within it. Skip & I elected to wait on the ladies at Paddy's Pub where they joined us later for an appetizer before heading to the beach. At the beach we collected water and sand for Ricki's new crab which she tries to change every day so we need to keep a supply on hand. While in Wilmington I called Adair Graham, a friend that was in basic training with me at Fort Bragg over 45 years ago that I had not seen or talked to since. I had left a message and he returned my call while we were at the beach and actually beat us back to the boat for a reunion. We finished the day off with a dip in the pool and couple loads of laundry in the marina laundry room.

Tomorrow we will return the car to Joey and after a few chores to get ready, move on to Topsail.

Carolina Beach, NC - 7/18/11

Quest & Moor $tuff left Southport, NC @ 9:45 for the 16 mile run to Carolina Beach, NC. We have reservations at Federal Point Yacht Club for the night.

As we left and headed for the Cape Fear River we passed the Oak Island light house.

A large ferry pulled out from shore and ran right beside us for a long time then turned toward another island.

A 41 foot sailboat called for help indicating they were taking on water. The Coast Guard kept channel 16 busy for quite a while and then we heard that the Harbor police had found the boat and was on the scene with help. Apparently the stuffing box had failed and filled the engine room with water.

On up the river we encountered this large tanker coming down river from Wilmington.

After turning off the river into the basin where the yacht club is located, we passed the home of loopers Joe & Rhonda Gebbia. They are currently in the Grand Canyon area but offered us the us of their vehicle which we accepted and will probably tour the area tomorrow.

We went to Kure Beach this evening for dinner at Freddies which is an Italian restaurant recommended by Joey.

It is a very quaint, small restaurant with fantastic food and service.

After dinner we walked out on the pier and enjoyed the view.

Our dinner group.

This guy was hanging around the fishermen just in case they caught something too small to keep.

The fishing pier went 1/6 of a mile out into the ocean.

Our position is N34 02.464 W 77 53.490

Southport, NC - 7/17/11

Skip & I went to the marina office shortly after 8 a.m. this morning to settle up our account and by 9 a.m. we were on our way to Southport, NC ,a run of 44 miles.

Here we sit in our slips at Barefoot Marina. This marina was directly across the AICW from Barefoot Landing which is a tourist mecca with lots of shops, restaurants and entertainment.

The marina was large and very nice.

A shot back at the marina as we started up stream.

This interesting structure is not a flying saucer but in fact a radio tower for aviation.

After several miles we had to have this swing bridge open for our passage.

We have had some mechanical issues over the past few weeks but nothing compared to this bad day.

Passed by this marina that had a very tall storage facility. Don't think I would rest comfortably with my boat this high.

We went by several inlets from the ocean that created this nice beaches. This being Sunday there were a lot of boaters out for the day.

A shot of the Atlantic Ocean through one of the inlets. These places had some interesting currents.

Ricki's new pet is growing. He has moved into his third shell since joining our trip over a month ago. Don't know what is wrong with her since she is talking about having his first shell bronzed!

The evening meal in Southport was a short walk from the marina.

When we were walking to the restaurant we passed another small dock and I noticed the name of another looper boat belongs to the the harbor host at Southport. When we left the restaurant we spotted Bob Creech sitting on his porch across from his boat and spent some time talking with him and his wife Kay. Bob gave a seminar in Marathon on what to expect traveling up the coast with tips that we have used on our trip. This photo is off his porch looking out over the dock. Another place we could live!

Tomorrow we will move on to the Carolina Beach area which is only about 20 miles.

Our position tonight is N 33 55.046 W 78 01.662