North Carolina

The run out of Georgetown for Myrtle Beach was relatively easy: the weather has been fantastic with crisp mornings and warm afternoons. The wind has been cool and out of the north so the humidity is down making for pleasant days and having to pile on the blankets at night. Now that the meandering part of the trip is over, we had hoped to hoist sails and at least motor sail to boost our speed against adverse tides and currents. Alas, the direction has been right on the nose so we motor on.

We arrived in Myrtle Beach around 6:30 and tied up at their fuel dock [see photo of Great Escape at dawn just before we left for Wrightsville Beach]. Great marina and we saw several of our fellow north-bounds already in slips and well into happy hour. We left at 7:30 am for Wrightsville Beach and a 62 mile run. All went well until we got to Cape Fear and turned north into the Cape Fear River. The current was running about 3 knots against us, and the wind was blowing 20 kts from behind which made for some serious sea conditions. Great Escape was surfing down the waves but making only about 4 kts forward progress speed over ground. The autopilot got completely confused by all of this, meaning manual steering required, and then you add ships coming up and down the channel. After about 2 and a half hours of slogging through this, we entered Snow's Cut, and were back in the usual sheltered ICW conditions.

The tides at the moment are fairly extreme, and we hear frequent calls to the Tow Boat from yachts aground. The second photo shows a low tide situation where the end of some dude's dock is high and dry, and so are his boats.

We docked at a restaurant [since the bona fide marinas were full] and are enjoying listening to the boozers carry on. Actually, we had a very nice dinner there, and met up with a friend from Marathon which was special.

Tomorrow we leave at first light for Moorhead City, a 75 mile run, that will put us at less than 350 miles from home. We are really looking forward to completing the voyage and getting on to all the stuff that has been put off for the three months that we have been away. Sticking to the theme that the voyage is the destination, viva la voyage!!!

Rob