Wrightsville Beach, NC

     A mere 46 miles and we were exhausted!  Remember back in Louisiana and Texas, we were easily doing 80 to 90 miles a day.  But the ICW is different on the east coast.  Instead of long straight stretches passing slow moving barges, we now were constantly going around a curve in an unforgiving comparatively narrower ICW, with definitely many more shallow spots.  Add in "School's Out!" and now we are dealing with boaters who just don't realize that they shouldn't turn their boat in front of a large motor yacht, especially towing their kids on a floaty tube, because WE JUST CAN'T STOP WHEN THEY FALL OFF!!   So we slowed down.

                                                     Shallotte Inlet Sandbar, NC
                                                                          

                                                                                        
                                                            Dragging for Shrimp                          

                                                                             

     One idiot who shot out of a side channel pulled in front of us, turned and before I could slow down headed for our 4 foot wake to give his passengers a wild ride.  They got it!  The look on their faces as they were headed for our wake was one of shear terror!   They hit the wake causing the entire tube to flip up into the air somersaulting the kids into the water.  The father had to turn quickly and rush to get them out of the way as the lumbering barge behind us could not slow down!

                                                                       
                                                            Carolina Beach Inlet      

                                                                               
                                                    Dredging Carolina Beach Inlet

     The best part of the trip was coming up the Cape Fear River. The river was wide and with the wind, there were white caps over the shallow areas near the east shore. We set the auto pilot, eased back into the helm seat and enjoyed the ride. Docs Holiday easily slid through the choppy waves with almost no rolling. I can only hope we get more of this kind of travelling.

                                     
                                                  Fort Fisher Ferry in Cape Fear River                                       

     We idled into the anchorage at Wrightsvile Beach, set the anchor and had to take a nap.  It was only 4:30 but we were exhausted.  We didn't even cook supper.  Making a peanut butter sandwich took all the energy we had left.

                                                                                 
                                               Our anchorage at Wrightsville Beach, NC