Left Harbor Village Marina at 9:40AM. A sunny day, soon warmed the cabin and helped Kathy's potted basil to grow nicely. It sits betweeen the nav table and the windshield while we're underway. Like I said, this boat is almost a floating delicatessan. Tonight's dinner was pork chops glazed in wine, grilled onions, peas and the remainder of our mac and cheese. Sunday's breakfast will be lox and cream cheese on bagels.
Except in no-wake zones, we ran at 2000 RPM all day - that gives us about 16 knots of speed while burning 12 GPH. Luckily, we slipped under the Figure Eight Bridge after dropping our VHF antenna. The bridge did not open at 11AM as scheduled. The taller vessels which were waiting for that opening, were stuck there until 4PM. Don't know if it opened then.
Knowing that luck beats skill every time, we passed every Atlantic Ocean inlet at its peak high tide, giving us the most water available under our keel. Normally troublesome Lockwood Folly and Shallotte Inlets were easily traversed! After entering the Cape Fear River with a following sea, we had a slightly bouncy ride - no problem, but the boat was heavily coated with salt. After we stopped and fueled at Dock Holiday's Marina for the night, I gave it a good rinsing.
The ICW is now relatively uncrowded. We pass about a dozen southbound sailboats and a few powerboats each day. Most of the sailors are Canadians. There are some northbounders, plus lots of fishermen in smaller boats everywhere. The scenery is wonderful and our weather has been good. We finally saw a herd of wild goats on one of the barrier islands. Tomorrow, we'll stop in Georgetown, SC followed by three nights in Charleston.
Ebb Tide II underway
