Swan Point Marina - at their dock, we miss bridges galore

The inside docks are too shallow for us at low tide

We left this morning from Carolina Beach State Park around 6:40 since the tide was dropping and we were docked on the shallowest facedock. As it turned out, we had 6.1 ft of depth on the way out, no problem for our 4 ft 9 in keel.

Sculptures by the residents

Entering Snow's Cut the tide was ripping, against us naturally and it was going to be our undoing. There's been severe shoaling at the inlet just north of Carolina Beach and you actually have to go outside the channel and pass the green buoys on the wrong side to get good water! The Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) surveyed the inlet and associated ICW channel and published waypoints that took you outside the channel and on the "wrong" side of the greens. If you follow the channel as shown on your chartplotter you will go aground, even at mid tide. BOAT/US and Seatow must be happy indeed with all the business. I found 7 ft MLW just by hugging the extreme side of the channel. At some point it will be dredged a soon as they get the money but don't hold your breath.

And that's not all

We had a foul tide all day, seven hours in all. Due to the adverse current, we missed all the bridges (one by 5 minutes which resulted in an hour of circling)  which delayed us about two hours from our planned timing. We had thought about going on to Swansboro but with all the delays, there was no chance of that. That put us at Swan Point Marina which is a place unto itself. It's about about rustic as it gets but with outstanding customer service by the owner and her daughter. They have a courtesy car which I think is the owners personal car and it's all hands on deck when you arrive. We took the outside face dock (not inside the marina which is too shallow for our keel) since we wanted to leave on Sunday at 8:30 am which is also low tide for the day.

The outside dock is open to wakes from passing boats but it's secure

Hopefully we can make Cedar Creek by the afternoon and then we'll see what lies the weatherman is handing out for the weather on the Neuse River. We need either no wind or some wind if it's out of the southwest. Anything with an easterly component is not good news for going up the Neuse. If we're successful we'll dock at RE Mayo and stock up on local shrimp and scallops, none better.