Wrightsville Beach, NC to Calebash River, SC

Blue Heaven Rendezvous #3

The beginning of November (Saturday, Nov 1) saw us in Wrightsville Beach where we put the dinghy in the water and motored to the nice public dock next to the bridge. This community welcomed boaters with their great facilities for us. So many places don’t provide dinghy docks and it seems like they are saying, “Go away!”

We explored to see what was available here. The nice beach was two blocks from the dinghy dock, as well as a small grocery store. Our cruising buddies knew of a Mott’s Channel Seafood Store which was over the bridge near the ICW. When returning, Al said he had never seen his prop in Chesapeake waters but could see it here. It was good we had wanted to go ashore and explore because they were having an Ironman Contest and swimmers were in the channel, until about 10:30am and so it was closed for boaters.

We left Wrightsville Beach and went down Masonboro Sound, through Myrtle Grove Sound, and then through Snow’s Cut into the Cape Fear River. We learned how the currents change, one moment they are going with you and the next you are fighting it depending if you pass a small inlet.

Blue Heaven and Estelle arrived at Bald Head Island Marina mid afternoon. Since the wind was blowing from the north this was a comfortable very nice marina. However, if it was a south wind it would probably be a bit uncomfortable unless you were way back in the basin.

Al and I were finally able to get out our new folding bikes, to explore this southernmost barrier island in NC. I had read in the cruising guide that it is the most northern semitropical environment on the East Coast. It is also one of the East Coast’s most significant nesting grounds for the endangered loggerhead turtles. The only transportation allowed on the island are golf carts, bikes or by foot. The only way to get to the island is by boat such as we did or by the hourly ferry. Bicycling around the island definitely gave you the feeling that only those who have done well financially could own the homes here. We did not see any loggerhead turtles but we did see a fox along the side of the road while biking. We stopped at the small grocery store and just then Jim and Jeannie pulled up in a golf cart that they rented for the day.

Back to the marina for showers, to do some laundry and to have drinks on Estelle. We chose to eat at the very casual Eb and Flo’s Steam Bar. Hoorah….a night off from cooking!

Sunday dawned another bright and beautiful day. Al hosed off all the salt build-up while I tended to de-frosting the freezer and some other clean-up jobs. It can’t always be fun and games while cruising! Once our chores were done, we took our bikes and headed off to see “Old Baldy.” No it was not some old famous guy, but the lighthouse which was on the island. Unfortunately, it did not open until 11am on Sundays, so we did not get to climb it for the scenic view.

We left the marina around 11am for a twenty-five mile outside run to Little River Inlet. The weatherman, whom we affectionately call Larry the Liar, said it would be 10-15 out of the NE. It was at first but then dropped to more like 8 knots which caused us to have to motor-sail and finally just motor. We got in to the Calebash River and anchored at the entrance with about ten other boats. The water was a bit thin since it was low tide but we made it. Luckily, no bad weather was had, so we had an uneventful night except for seeing the brightly lit casino boats heading out and returning on Little River throughout the evening.