Cape Fear

A highlight of the trip was visiting the Waccamaw River. Moss-draped cypress trees line the waterway, ospreys make their nests on the channel marker posts, bats haunt the trees at dusk and an alligator cruised by as night fell. From our anchorage among the overhanging trees we awoke to a magnificent chorus of birdsong. This is some of the loveliest boating that we have ever experienced.

In the first week of May we enjoyed the hospitality of Holden Beach, North Carolina. Holden Beach is the home port of our friends Lois and Lorenzo. Lorenzo was waiting on the dock to wave us in when we arrived and then over the next few days, with much help, we managed to sort out the motor for our dinghy (new parts fitted and carbeuretor cleaned and refitted), repair the seams of the Zodiac (dinghy) where they were starting to separate, borrow the car and get to the Home Depot to buy some new outdoor carpet for the top deck, get a replacement computer (for the one that died the week before) and new navigational software set up and do general maintenance including touching-up the paintwork. These jobs are never straightforward and waiting for paint and glues to dry in the high humidity and regular thunderstorms just make them all the more interesting.

When a river has a name like "Cape Fear" you should think twice before heading out onto it in a small boat but as we were slipping and sliding in the waves of Cape Fear River John said "the guidebook does recommend that 'northbound vessels should leave Southport one hour after high tide to ensure a comfortable ride.' This was great information as we were ploughing along having left Southport one hour before low tide instead. Eventually the river calmed as we distanced ourselves from the mouth and the sun began to shine. We anchored that night at Sloop Point behind Topsail Island. This island sits between the Atlantic Ocean and the Intracoastal Waterway. In the 1700s, the small channels in this area were used by pirates as a hiding place from which they attacked merchant sailors. The merchant ships soon learned to keep a lookout for the topsails showing above the sand dunes and so giving the area its name.

As we move north we discover a lot of lovely places. One such visit was to the town of Oriental where we picked up supplies, called home for Mothers Day and then stopped briefly at the fuel dock to take on some more diesel. The Town Dock news reporter happened to be on the dock and wrote a piece for the website with some very candid photos.