Day 6 - First Time on the "Outside"

Today was our first day to leave interior waterways and head into the ocean. We got an early start out of Morehead City. It was clear when we started the engines and the sunrise was beautiful, but by the time we untied from the dock, the fog had moved in. It was very thick and of course we were in an unfamiliar area. Fortunately, we took it slow and all went well. We got under the bridge and through the inlet before the fog started to clear out. We could barely make out the industrial facilities in the Morehead City and Beaufort.

The rest of the day was picture perfect and the water was as smooth as glass. We took a straight path from the Beaufort Inlet to the Cape Fear Inlet. We traveled about 111 nautical miles for the day and were over 20 miles offshore. We were a little concerned to be so far away from land if anything went wrong.  After all, Captain Ron said it very eloquently, "If it is going to happen, it's going to happen out there." We came across a few boats way out there, but it was pretty lonely most of the time.
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Fortunately, nothing happened out there. As a matter of fact, it was a little boring at times. Since the start of the trip, we have kept a meticulous hourly log while underway. We are logging hours, speed, course, fuel consumption, oil pressure, engine temp, etc. We determined that is was prudent to have baseline data and it would be much easier to diagnose potential problems by watching for abnormalities.

We passed around Frying Pan Shoals to enter Cape Fear Inlet. Now I have a visual to go along with the weather reporting from Jim Cantore and Al Roker regarding this area.

Coming into the Cape Fear Inlet and then Bald Head Island Marina was pretty straight forward. We passed a tug towing a barge and Martha was excited that they waived back when she waived to them. The marina is in a nice protected basin, however there is a ferry that comes in periodically and churns things up a little. The boat rocks for  a moment and then settles down. We hope things stay calm in here tomorrow when the wind is predicted to pick up.

Bald Head Island is a very unique area with many beautiful homes. Some in the dunes and others in the woods surrounded by live oak trees. There are no private cars on the island and everyone drives golf carts. We rented a golf cart and toured around the island, ending up in some shops and the local grocery store, as well as the beach.

We have now been traveling on the water six straight days. Strong winds are predicted for tomorrow, so we are going to give the boat a day off and take some time to relax here. Friday we start back down the ICW and have reservations at a marina in Myrtle Beach, SC for Friday night. The blog will continue on Friday.

Thanks for reading.