Southport, NC

We continued up the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway on Thursday, with our destination being Southport, North Carolina. Along the way, we saw this sunken shrimper, next to a deteriorating building. Was it a hurricane, bad economy, or just plain bad luck?? There is a story to tell there, but we never heard it.

This  is the inlet from the ocean at Southport, to the Cape Fear River. These houses must have a spectacular view of the ocean!

When we were in Marathon, a gentleman named Robert Creech, and his wife Kay, put on a seminar for the Loopers, covering the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (the AICW), from the Keys, up to mile 0 at Norfolk, VA. We all brought our charts, and marked the hazards along the route, and the points of interest. Robert and Kay live here, and we can see why. It is a quaint old town, friendly, and with a wonderful marina. However, Robert & Kay are in the Bahamas right now so we could not see them.

As we were getting close to the marina, Chris & Pam hailed us on the VHF.

Remember them? They were the ones we spent a night with and had dinner with at the Sunbury Crab Company. They had also met Marc & Michele in Marathon. They waved to us from their front porch as we motored by! Plans were made to have breakfast with them tomorrow morning. 

I believe Southport is where the Coast Pilots were formed. At least that is what I gathered reading the many plaques along the water front. Back in the 1800’s, prior to the Civil War, the Pilots would stand watch on a tower, similar to the one above, for ships entering the harbor. They would then row out to the ship with their apprentice, board the ship, and pilot it into the harbor, and a few miles up the treacherous Cape Fear River to the port. The river had twenty two navigation hazards to avoid, and has the remnants of many ships who tried to navigate it without a pilot.

The Pilots earned $300.00 for each ship brought safely up the river. It was said that the apprentice went through years of training prior to becoming a pilot. Many pilots became the “millionaires” of their day! And still today, a local pilot will take the helm of ships, and deliver them safely into ports around the world. 

A walk through town was a trip back to the 1800’s. Many of the homes near the water have plaques on them telling the year built, and who the original owner was.

One of the houses was called the Christmas House! It is open year round, and full of Christmas “Kah Kah”. My sister in law Julie would love this place!

In the evening, we went to the Fishy Fishy Cafe for dinner.

It sat right on the water front with a wonderful view of the harbor. 

Just as we finished dinner, the sun made another spectacular  exit, signaling the end of another wonderful day on the water.

It's now tomorrow morning, Friday the 13TH!

Chris & Pam picked up us and Marc & Michele, and took us to a local cafe for breakfast.  We asked the waitress to split the check, so she did! Don’t you just LOVE these small towns!!!

After breakfast, they dropped the girls back at the marina, and took Marc to the AT&T store so he could take care of an internet problem, and dropped me at WallyWorld so I could pick up a new indoor / outdoor thermometer. Ours had died a few days ago.

After our errands were completed, we headed off for tonight's stop at an anchorage in Wrightsville Beach, the home of Greg & Donna from Lady in Red. They left their boat in Jacksonville, and came home for a few days to take care of some business. They will pick us up from a dinghy dock at the anchorage for a visit.

We are running as I am finishing this. Admiral Pat is at the helm, and I am down in the salon. She just called me up to the helm - seems there is a concern of some sort?????  

It was just a little ship trying to pass us.

We only run at 9 Statute MPH, and he wanted to get by.

We slid over and let him by.  Just another day on the water!

Captn Ken