"Other visits: Nov 11, 2000, April '01 & April '02" Swansboro Travelogue by grandmaR

Bogue Sound south of Morehead City is very shallow, so in order for there to be 12 feet (the controling depth), they have dredged the Bogue Inlet Canal and put the spoil over on the port side forming some little islands. Sometimes the spoil shifts back into the channel. We see a boat ahead (BIT OF HEAVEN) which seems to have run aground. They get off before we get there. Of course they may just be anchored in the channel. It's hard to tell.

It starts to rain. Gentle at first and then hard. Bob turns on the navigation lights and slacks off the speed as it is harder to see. We went under the Emerald Isle fixed bridge at 11:00, and right afterwards were passed by a J42 named TARTLET from FL.

The current is now about 0.4 knots against us. Our speed is down to 5.2 mph (4.6 knots). There is a boat following close behind us that does not seem to want to pass. It has blue topsides, and proves to be an English boat named FORCE 8. (We have discovered that the ensign that the boats from England fly is a red flag with the Union Jack in the corner, and not the regular Union Jack flag.) They look cold and miserable in their exposed cockpit. We are warm and protected.

This time, we by-passed Swansboro and anchored at Mile Hammock Bay on the marine base.

Surf City Bridge

228.4 Dudley's Marina is a BP station (the station is open 24 hours) and boatyard with fixed docks. There are floating finger docks off the north side of B dock, but the water there is too skinny for us. Between the long dock that goes out to B face dock and the long dock that goes out to C face dock is a marine railway. On the railway being sanded and painted by an old man is a work boat named SMALL FRY. They put two boats on the dock leading to the railway. They have a phone line in the store that you can hook up a laptop to.

Bob took the courtesy car to the grocery store - he complained that they only had one tomato. We took the courtesy car to Riverview Restaurant for dinner after first saying hello to the owner's scarlet macaw which was sitting out on the railing in front of the store. We both had ribeye, which was good, but was too much to eat. They had sweet potato muffins. The waitress brought us both sweet tea, and Bob has decided that he likes to put his own sweetening in, so we were both unhappy. We were driven back to the marina by a young guy who looked as if he'd been working as a dishwasher and was happy to get away for a bit. I got an orange popsicle from the store- they also have ice cream.

There are only 3 restaurants that will do delivery service back to the marina on Monday. Two are steak and seafood places (one is Riverview) and the other is Italian.

From Dudleys to Harbor Village is 38.8 miles and took us 6.5 hours.

Next Oriental

My foulies drip drying on the wheel

We left after 7, and had to wait a bit for the Surf City bridge, but it opened early and quickly.

Onslow Beach was a different story. He said he would open at noon. Got there about 10 before noon, with about 2 knots current toward the bridge. Power boat (DRY MARTINI from NY) passed us and was ahead of us. Bridge did not open at noon. Finally DRY MARTINI called. Bridge tender said he would open at noon. It was 1202 by 3 GPSs, and my watch, and Bob's watch said 1201. Finally at 1203, the gates went down. By this time DRY MARTINI was being pushed quite close to the bridge and we were getting closer to him than we liked because he was having to back, and he can back better than we can. At about 1205, the bridge started to swing, but it swung towards us, and DRY MARTINI had to back up to avoid being hit, so we also had to do some fancy footwork to keep him from hitting us or going out of the channel.

It also started to rain. We got to Swansboro and tied up between rain showers, but it rained so much that Bob didn't want to go out to eat.

Next stop Oriental