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Published: October 24th 2006
Cape Fear
As far north as we are going to get this year- oh yeah!We left Charleston to continue our trek north. Our goal was to go up to the Chesapeake for the rest of the summer and then onto Annapolis for the boat show in October. Our first off-shore leg of the journey would land us at Cape Lookout, about 140 miles up the coast. However we were only able to make it to Cape Fear, North Carolina (a little bit over half of the distance). It was a difficult and painful sail, with wind on the nose the whole time and seas building up to 8-10 feet. But we slogged thru it, getting bashed around and only able to go 5 knots most of the way (we typically travel 8-9 knots offshore). Needless to say, it was not much fun. That is why we stopped here at Cape Fear instead of making it all the way to Cape Lookout (that and the fact that the seas were going to build up to 20-25 feet by the night). We had no choice, we were exhausted and the thought of sailing into rougher seas for another 30 hours was unbearable. But fortunately we got into Cape Fear Inlet safe and sound.
After a good
Resort Town
A cabana at the Island Club, overlooking the beach. nights rest we thought about continuing on north, either up the intercoastal waterway or offshore again. However the weather was not co-operating. The rivers were flooded from Ernesto making the intercoastal waterway impassable (we couldn’t fit under the bridges because our mast was too high with the water at flood levels) and the seas were too rough (20+ foot seas) making offshore travel impossible. As sailors, we must go where the wind takes us and plan our travel around the weather. So we decided to stay at Bald Head Island marina here at Cape Fear for a few days and re-evaluate our travels once the seas lay down and the weather becomes favorable for travel again.
Fortunately, Bald Head Island is a great place to explore. It is a cute little island and a resort town with two golf courses and an amazing tennis center with an olympic size pool. The island has tons of big, beautiful houses (which are summer homes for the rich and famous) nestled among the natural beauty of a barrier island with sand dunes, turtle nesting grounds, and wonderful beaches. The tallest structure on the island is Old Baldy, a lighthouse, which you can
The Beach
North Carolina has beautiful beaches, too bad it is too cold to go for a swim. climb to the top of for stunning views of the North Carolina coast. There are no cars allowed on the island, only golf carts and bicycles for transportation. So we rented a golf cart and have gone all around the island, enjoying the beaches, admiring the homes, and climbing to the top of the lighthouse. It was absolutely a wonderful place to visit and we were glad that our plans changed to include a stay here.
After a few days there was a break in the weather and we decided to set sail again. But we changed our plans and decided to start back south and not continue north to the Chesapeake this year. The weather was getting colder and colder the further north we went and we spent the whole day looking at the charts and the calendar and realized that we left too late this fall to make it up there. So North Carolina is as far north as we will go this year. We have decided to sail back down to Charleston, making a stop at Georgetown first, and stay there until November when we will leave for the islands again.
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Margie
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Cheers to Friends
HI, I have to get my chart to figure out where you are . Sounds like fun as usual , glad you are making some nice friends -in the bar? Cheers! MG