Thursday, October 19, 2017

Homer Smith Marina in Beaufort, NC - at their dock


It is not a straight shot through Brown's Inlet anymore. You have to avoid the shoal coming in from the green side that extends into the channel
We heard today that the Camp Lejune live firing exercises would not restart until 10/24. If that holds up, then we're good to go for tomorrow, 10/20. Along the way we will pass through two of the shoaling areas for the fall of 2017, Brown's Inlet and New River. the shoaling in Brown's Inlet has just developed over the last two months. Up until then, it was just a straight shot through.You can see from the survey that you have to stay to the red side of the channel to avoid the shoaling that extends into the channel from the green side.

New River has the same "dip route" it had in the spring. a GPX route is on the blog site (at the left)
New River has the same "dip route" it had in the spring. I've included GPX routes for both the New River and Brown's Inlet passages. I will be taking both of them on Friday so I will be able to comment on how good the waypoints are.

Home Smith now has an official courtesy car
Meanwhile, we've provisioned at s Lowe'Food (no connection to Lowe's Home Improvement stores) which was a step up from the usual fare. Now we're good for a couple of weeks. Last night Homer Smith came through in the clutch with 2 lbs of trigger fish which was just wonderful. It tastes very much like grouper, nice.

Our first sighting of a palm tree. Warm weather con't be too far off now...
We will be taking a shortcut tomorrow on the way out of the marina which is supposed to be good at high tide, we'll see. After that, we're headed for Surf City. It will be the first time we've visited there since the last marina went bankrupt. They are now reopened under new owners and we will see how it is. It's close to the ocean and a walk iin the evening to the beach was always a treat. The stop also positions us for the 7:00 am opening of the Surf City swing bridge the next day. We hope to make it all the way to St. James Plantation the next day.
That sailboat at right has been stuck there for about an hour, waiting for high tide. You have to watch your depth coming in. That said, the shrimp boats that carry 7 ft do just fine, just stay in the channel. 

2 comments:

John said...

Bob,
I have been following your blog. I live near MM 295 (Carolina Beach area). It seems that you are planning to go past me Saturday. If things change and you don't want to go all the way to Southport and instead decide to stay at Joyner or the mooring balls or the State Park, I would be happy to give you a ride if you want to go somewhere (grocery, hardware, etc.). Email me if you decide to take me up on this. John Tyrell john.tyrell@gmail.com

Bob423 said...

John, I appreciate your kind offer but we’re headed to St James Plantation Marina. We need to make time since we’re so late this year and the Cape Fear river current will be in our favor Saturday afternoon. Some year we’ll come down when we have lots of time, we hope, and we’ll explore the area.