Woke up to find two shrimp boats tied up right behind me fueling up. I waited for them to leave and did the same before paying my dockage which was a good value at only $1.00/ft.
I headed out the channel and made sure I heeded the advice of the locals I spoke with the night before. It was a little dicey making my way out to the ocean but keeping the red markers where they told me too made it more comfortable.
After clearing fhe mouth of the channel I had all three sails up and engine trimmed up and out of the water cruising along at 7 to 8 mph.
Bong, Bong, Bong.... what the heck is that? All night and morning I kept hearing this bell ringing but couldn't pinpoint the source of the mysterious tone. As I sailed further offshore it became apparent that the winds were building and the bell was ringing more often. I soon passes the source of the bell ringing when I passed the navigational bouy that housed it. Mystery solved Scooby.
The wind became a bit shifty and the sea was rough and bouncy. Both me and the plants were getting greener. It was a long day and I had to motor for about half the time.
As the day dragged on it was time to move inshore for the night so I headed toward Cape Fear. As I made my way through the channel I realized why it was named that, there were a bazzilion boats zipping back and forth throwing big wakes everywhere.
After passing Cape Fear through the ICW and dodging some Coast Guard boat when my gps showed an old channel as the current route, I made it to Southport, NC. I anchored in a small harbor with restaurants lining the shoreline.
I dinghied to shore and wandered up the dock to a funky little fish shack named Fishy Fishy where I was able to enjoy wifi service and some tasty morsels. I was even able to talk my bartender Kat into giving me a big bag of ice for my cooler.
The dinghy motor was running poorly so I pretty much pull-started my way back to the boat for 50 yards. Once back on boat I started the generator and turned on the air conditioning... no Mr. Polite tonight.
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