A lot of things have happened since our land voyage in
early January. Ann had her operation (a success but residual pain), she
found that she has a hearing problem (work in progress), Bob's knee is
acting up again, and Levi is still dealing with his arthritis. Today
, we decided to take Jule III out for a little spin on the Cape Fear
River. The weather is nice so Ann will not strain her new stitches and
'stuff'.
This is the first time we have been on
the water since our arrival here in Carolina Beach in late October.
Medical issues have kept us land locked. Our 'passage' would include a
trip out of Carolina Beach harbor, a westerly trip through Snow's Cut,
a trip up the northern cut to the Cape Fear, a slog down the River
against current and wind, and then back to Snow's Cut and our slip at
Mona Black. It is funny what caught our attention cruising today. A
little graffiti on the old Snow Cut bridge foundation seemed fun today.
During our slog, we encountered a large tanker at the
narrowest part of the navigable river (of course). We were a little
closer than we liked but we managed to stay out of the way of S/R
Wilmington. It is amazing! The channel goes from 45' to 5' in a matter
of 100' . With our AIS we 'saw' him when he was over 10 nm from us.
Not bad.
Jim of Wanderer II and Linda of
MV Etc were kind enough to help us with our lines as we came to the
dock. The wind was on our stern but we had little difficulty stopping
before the dock did it for us. Of course Bob and Jim chatted about
important things while Ann had the honor of cleaning up the boat. Lucky
;
