Day 107 - Beaufort (Bofort), NC not Beaufort (Buefort), SC

Today we would be travelling both the ICW and the Atlantic to reach Beaufort, NC.  We started up the Cape Fear River at 8:25 am, passing the shipping port, to Snow’s Cut, a narrow channel leading to New River.  The shores are still marshy even though we are technically out of the Low Country.  We past the charming town of Carolina Beach and took a starboard turn to Shinn Creek and the Masonboro Sound that leads to the ocean.  Wrightsville Beach is just to the north on the ICW.  A working dredge sat in the Masonboro Inlet – good thing because it is very shallow here, making the Captain a little nervous.

 

Captain Randy powers up at 10:35 am and we have 60 nautical miles to go to reach the Beaufort Inlet.  The Wrightsville Beach area is visible on shore but we have to run out 12 miles off shore in order to avoid the Camp Lejeune military exercise area.  There are regular artillery firing and beach landing exercises across the ICW and into the Atlantic.  ICW travelers are stopped by flags, lights and boats.  Ocean travelers must stay outside of the yellow buoys; unless you want to be fired on!  We passed, but could not see, Snead’s Ferry and Swansboro.  The waves were picking up and when we hit the Beaufort Inlet, conditions were similar to a day earlier when we went into the Cape Fear River:  wave heights were 5-6 feet.  The current, tides and wind all have a hand in how the water behaves.  We pull into Beaufort Dock at 1:40pm.  You need to get the right pronunciation of Beaufort depending on whether you are in North Carolina or South Carolina (hence the title of today's post) or be corrected by locals.

Several islands sit to the south and east of Beaufort, making it very scenic as well as a historic seaport.  It is the third oldest town in North Carolina whose most famous resident was the notorious Blackbeard the Pirate.  He is said to have sunk his own ship, the Queen Ann’s Revenge,  on the shoals here and recovered artifacts can be found in the Beaufort Maritime Museum.  Also in the museum is a "lifesaver" capsule used to rescue people off a ship in trouble off shore.  The one pictured below carried 11 people!  One of the most interesting places to visit here is the Old Burying Ground.  Most of the graves date back to the 19^th Century, and some earlier.  The local Historical Association has marked 28 of them and gives out a brochure with the stories of each inhabitant.  There are officers from the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, and Civil War, emancipated slaves, and local families.  A British naval officer is buried standing up as he did not want to be buried “with his boots off”.  A young girl who died on a return voyage from London was placed in a rum barrel on board the ship so that her father could bring her home to be buried.

 

 

 

Later we sat on the upstairs porch at the Dock House, looking out at Shackelford Island and saw 2 horses at the shore.  These horses had been left centuries ago and run wild on several islands.  It was exciting to actually see them!  We had dinner on another outdoor porch at Aqua, a local tapas restaurant where we had a gourmet meal that included an unusual Caesar’s salad, grouper over noodles and vegetables, and shrimp with kale and lentils.  To top it all off, the Hawks won and kept their chances for the Stanley Cup alive!!

 

Day 106 - Southport, NC, Old Meets New

There was more humidity in the air and bugs on the deck.  We started back up the Little River from Barefoot Landing at 8:25 am.  Thankfully there were only a few boats out so we were able to move faster than on the way south.  We had not seen many critters on this leg and though I looked intently along the shores I still did not see any, not even many birds.  We caught up with a sailboat at the swing bridge and followed him through without having to stop.  At the town of Little River there was a restaurant, Crab Catchers in CW’s Marina that I had taken a picture of two days before.  The Captain had read a note on Active Captain from a patron who said that the whole dock swayed from the wakes of boats and he thought the place might fall into the river at any moment.  Right next door is a similar place called Key West Crazy.  The other notable thing about the town is that the 2 gambling boats, Jacks or Better and The Big M dock here.

 

We were out on the ocean by 10:02 am; the seas were 1 to 2 foot with some whitewater, not as bad as two days earlier. Just north of the inlet we crossed into North Carolina.  We travelled quite a ways from shore to stay in the deep water, but I could see the continuous stripe of large homes on the beach the entire way to Oak Island and the Cape Fear River.  The wind had picked up and because it was going against the outgoing tide, the waves were much higher as we neared Cape Fear (how fitting!).  In the inlet, the boat rode up and down 5 to 6 foot waves in the channel until we reached the river.  To the north were Bald Head Island, a 10,000 acre wildlife preserve (no cars allowed) and the oldest lighthouse in North Carolina, the Bald Head Lighthouse or Old Baldy.  It was first erected in 1794, then replaced in 1817 by the current structure.  The lighthouse was used until 1935.  To the south is Oak Island with the newest light (1950’s) in North Carolina.

 

The Cape Fear region’s diverse habitat includes salt marsh, wetlands, barrier islands, pine forest, woodlands, and many nature sanctuaries and parks.  One-fifth of North America’s white ibis population is hatched at Battery Island, and many other species make their homes here:  herons, egrets, gulls, terns, and pelicans to name a few.

The town of Southport lies just inside the inlet on the Cape Fear River and the Southport Marina is adjacent to town.  We pulled up to the fuel dock at 11:45 am.  As we were checking in, we met a boater from MN who had recently bought a 43 foot Grand Banks, Dollinger, to do the Loop in next year.  He and his wife are travelling with his 94 year-old mother to get used to handling the boat.  We met all 3 on a golf cart tour of Southport later that afternoon, led by a colorful guy nicknamed “Rev”.  Rev is a musician (guitar and piano) who played with Boz Scaggs and other bands back in the day; he has also had a number of other gigs, including running boat tours to Alcatraz in San Francisco and “duck” tours in Green turtle Bay and other places.  He is also a boater with a 60 footer in Southport Marina and has done the Loop twice.

Southport is an old fishing port that now is a more upscale vacation spot, known for its “salubrious” breezes (thought to promote good health).  Besides the numerous restored homes from the 1890’s era (the “old”), it has been the location for movies (Safe Haven, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Weekend at Bernie’s, others) and television shows (Under the Dome, Dawson’s Creek, Revenge) (the “new”).  Ironically, the classic boating movie, Cape Fear, was not filmed here!  Captain Thomas Thompson’s house on Bay Street is the only one standing with the original cupola and widow’s walk.  Southport also claims to have the oldest movie theater, the Amuzu, and one of the first Independence Day celebrations in North Carolina.  It hosts the official NC Fourth of July Festival, a four-day event that attracts visitors from around the region.

No trip to town is complete without a tour of the local Maritime Museum, and Southport was no exception.  Afterwards, we took in some shops and ended up at the Silver Coast Winery for a tasting of local wines, purchasing a few bottles to replenish our supply.  Then it was time to get back to the marina for their nightly weather and navigation talk given by a local retired navy meteorologist who is also a sail boater.  He gave a detailed overview of the ICW all the way to Norfolk, complete with handouts, and showed us some interesting weather sites.

A dinner of bacon wrapped shrimp and grouper at Fishy, Fishy (the setting for Jack’s Bar in Dawson’s Creek) completed our very full day in Southport.