Bridge delays, strong currents and wind on our nose made for two long cruising days. First, we headed from Barefoot Landing (Myrtle Beach) to Wrightsville Beach. We thought we were terribly clever to wait for the tides to be just right, but very soon ran into a pontoon bridge that couldn't open at low tide. We dropped the hook and waited for 1 1/2 hours, but felt marginally better than the boat we had tied up next to at Barefoot Landing. They had left the dock 2 hours before we did, and we met them at that same bridge! We persevered and made it to a nice anchorage at Wrightsville Beach by about 7:30 that night. Currents were strong, but we tried a new anchor arrangement with a bridle to keep the two hulls straight, and slept well. The next day we found ourselves doing a near 360, so we reset and spent one more night. After clouds and some rain, the sunset was pretty great (see the picture with the large house outlined in red).
The next day, we headed for Swansboro and very nearly didn't make it. We were held up at 3 different bridges, fought the current and about a 20 knot headwind all the way, and got seriously wet in multiple rain storms. Finally made it to Swansboro, where we've been ensconced for the past 2 days. Note yet another sunset shot, but this time showing the pink of sunset and a nearly full moon rising. In fact, there are two of the same shot, one with the camera (lighter one) and one from my phone. The other picture shows our dock neighbor - a Corps of Engineers dredging vessel. Watching them dock so easily within about 5 feet of our bow without so much as a ripple made us envious! One day our docking skills will be just as good (I hope.)
In Swansboro we found a bike shop with folding bikes, so we now have two, and have been riding everywhere. Yesterday was gorgeous, so we took the dinghy out to the nearest sandbar and pretended we were back at our house in Sea Level and waded in the warm seawater. Mindy got a haircut and a bath today (poor old girl) and we got to the laundromat, so there's nothing left to do here. (!) Tomorrow we head through Morehead and Beaufort up to Oriental, on the Pamlico Sound. More thunderstorms predicted for the next several days, so it will probably be another wet day. Oh well.....
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