Day 49 Cape Fear!!

Are we having fun yet?

Woke to a beautiful sunny morning with a cold crisp air temperature. Peter spotted a motor boat near us that carried the name, "O'Dea", his mother's family name. He had a nice conservation with the couple on board about their ties to Ireland.

Our last 18 hours was not the bestof fun so we were hopeful for today. Jane had the tide tables for our trip into the Cape Fear River to Southport. We were advised to do it on a falling tide so the current is with us. Anchor lifted at 7:15 Am. Unfortunately our anchor float drifted under the boat and we heard a thump! It was our line cutter on the prop so our float disappeared. As we motored out of the anchorage there was a lot of vibration. Thinking it was going against a strong current Peter turned into the current. That didn't solve the problem. So we motored back into the anchorage and dropped the hook again. It is now 8:30, all the boats have left for the day, and we wait for Tow Boat US to take us to the nearest marina and get a diver to take a look. Peter suspects part of the float line may still be wrapped. We hope it's nothing to do with yesterdays grounding!! So we sit & wait!

UPDATE: Tow Boat showed up at 8:45 and he (Tom Morgan) decided to do the dive himself since another boat also called in for dive services. Five minutes after diving he surfaced with the offending float!!

By 9:15 we had our anchor hauled and were on our way. The only nervous part of today was passing by Carolina Inlet. To look at it you see only surf breaking over a sand bar but the currents were pulling us away from the markers toward the ocean cut.

Yesterday we heard lots of VHF chatter about bumping bottom there at day marker 155 due to shoaling. Tow Boat told us to favor the green side (left). However we passed by only 2 hours after high tide (again high due to full moon) so we had no problem what so ever. We hit a really strong opposing current going through Snow Cut that joined the Cape Fear River. It was like trying to get through the Cape Cod Canal against the tide. After this Woods Hole is a breeze!!!

We sailed along the Cape Fear River and decided to stop at Southport Marina for the night to get everything cleaned up.