Surf City

OK it has happened. Somewhere along the way I have lost a day. Not sure where it went or what we were doing, but it is gone.

Yesterday we travelled the Cape Fear River up to Surf City NC. It was another beautiful day, with a heat warning for 100 degrees. Definitely a day to be on the water. With the breeze it was quite comfortable, but when the breeze stopped it was HOT.

Look at the birds following the fishing boat!

A better picture of Waypoint our companion.

There are few marinas in this stretch of the ICW. I spent a LONG time trying to find somewhere for the night. As much as we would like to anchor out, it is way too hot; we need power for the AC in the evenings. Settled on Beach House Marina. Active Captain said they were closed, however we called anyway and found they could take us. They said they were in bankruptcy and the bank will takeover soon, but in the meantime it is business as usual. It is the most expensive marina so far at $2. per foot. I told them so, and their comment was they charged this because they were so close to everything; grocery store, liquor store, restaurants, etc. That is certainly the only reason. It is merely a dock, with a table and umbrella for their office. They do provide showers, laundry, and washrooms in a building.  Docks are floating docks in good shape. Not what you expect for these rates, but there is not much to choose from.

This is all there is for an office. I wonder why they are bankrupt. Or, perhaps we Canadians have it all wrong. I wonder what Ken MacDonald would have to say about this. The good thing is that it is a 50 mile run from Southport (the only one), it has floating docks that are really easy to get onto, just off the ICW, has a nearby grocery store and DQ. A great location.

We headed for the grocery store and got a few things we needed. Had a light dinner on board as there was a DQ 1 block in front of the boat that needed some attention. We then walked down to the beach and then out on the pier. We had a rain storm front come through just after dinner that we had watched from the flybridge. The surfers were having a great time in the after storm wind and waves. We know why this place is called Surf City. There were about 10 different surfers. A lot of fun to watch.

The pier itself goes out into the ocean for about 500 to 600 feet. The fishermen line the pier.

We returned to the boat and noticed sheet lightning off in the distance behind the boat. What a show it was. I have never seen anything like it. The entire sky behind the boat would light up and flash. There was at least a 45 degree panoramic view of sheet lightning.  The sky danced with the flashes. We told Bob and Linda that it was really good of them to arrange this light show for us. We sat out and watched it for at least an hour and finally went to bed, it still was going on.

The plan is to be off to Moorehead City NC today. This will be a reasonable distance for the day and there are a number of really good marinas there. The next day will be a long one, apparently we will need to travel about 70 miles to get a decent marina. There just aren't many marinas in some areas of the ICW. And there can be long runs between.