Arms and Bridges

December 4, 2015

Coordinates 34.20704N, 77.79830W

8.75 hrs, 48.2 nm, 5.5 kts

Wrightsville, NC

ICW mile 283.2

I am going to start adding the ICW mile marker to the heading.

  Here is Wrightsville, NC where we are anchored last night.

December 2nd was a fun and interesting day in Swansboro, NC. We met several boaters and one couple was from Maine. They probably went past Rockland as we were leaving for the ICW.  All 6 or 7 of us stood on the dock chatting and not one of us was smart enough to pay close enough attention to the black clouds even though Rob and I knew about the predicted rain. We were so wet when we arrived at the boat our clothes dripped water on the floor and of course we had left the windows open to the driving rain.

While we were in Swamsboro we constantly heard Camp Lejeune firing artillery, machine guns and Gatling guns.  I wondered if the young men thought about who they were practicing to shoot, I can’t imagine they did.  I also wondered if I would get use to it if I lived in Swansboro.  We heard that sometimes the ICW is closed due to the young men practicing to shoot people.  As we left I anxiously waited to see if we would see warning lights flashing preventing us from passing through.  My heavens, please look on a map and see how many acres Camp Lajeune covers! Unnerving!  There wasn’t any firing as we started out but at 0900 hours the practice began.  We could feel the boat bottom shake as we continued on.  Rob says some of the sound was from new machine guns. I hated it!

As an aside, I am writing this while it is 47F outside. I know that isn’t Maine temps right now but...

We had to contend with 4 bridges yesterday.  Onslow Beach swing bridge, Surf City swing bridge, Figure Eight Island swing bridge, Wrightsville Beach bascule Bridge (draw bridge).  There are different times that the bridges are open sometimes on the half hour and sometimes on the hour.  It is very hard to hit it just right so there isn’t any waiting time.

We arrived in Wrightsville before dark but stayed on the boat having no interest to explore the town.

Off to Southport, a four hour trip.

Only one picture today since the biggest event was the artillery at Camp Lejeune and I can’t send you a picture of the feeling of being there.

Tricia