"ICW Trip 2001 Leg 11 Harbor Village Marina" Hampstead Travelogue by grandmaR

Same bridge from the other side

SM 235-245 - the ICW at this point runs through the Camp LeJeune Marine Corps base, and they occasionally conduct drills on the firing range which will close the ICW to traffic when they are using live ammunition. Listen to AM radio for information. There is also a sign at the beginning of the stretch that goes through the base.

Chart showing marina location

Tonight we are at Harbor Village Marina. We got there while the manager was not there. He promised that someone would be there to help us dock, but while the manager is away, the dock hands slack off.

This marina was dredged out of existing land fairly recently, so the chart doesn't show the location yet.

Boat with black scrubbed off

They put us in a slip that someone had knocked severely into a couple of days before, and the float at the end of the floating dock was askew and the rubber rub rail was off of it. As a result, it made a gash in the side of the boat. Bob was upset. I called the marina manager, and he refunded our money. We ordered Chinese take-out as usual as this marina is very isolated and there is no nearby restaurant.

After looking at it, Bob says the 'gash' in the boat was just rubber off the dock pressed into the side of the boat. He used a scotchbrite pad and scrubbed it off. The only damage was that some of the protective polymer that we put on the boat to make the fiberglass shiney (sort of like a wax) was removed. It looked real bad. Like about 5 feet along the side of the boat. But Bob thinks it wasn't so bad.

He was upset particularly because when he told the marina employee about the dock that was damaged, the marina boy acted as though it was an over-reaction. And the marina manager was upset because there was no one there to handle the dock lines.

Surf City Swing Bridge from yesterday

We got underway before 7.

Today, we need to go through two bridges that are 5 miles apart. We normally travel about 5 knots or 6 mph. The first bridge - the Figure 8 bridge opens on the hour and half hour. The second bridge - the Wrightsville bridge - opens only on the hour. Last year we got from the Figure 8 bridge (which is a private bridge and only people who have passes to that island can go over it by car) to the Wrightsville Bridge in 1/2 hour. Therefore, I was convinced that the distance was mismeasured.

As before, we went through the Figure 8 bridge on the half hour. We reached the half mile from the bridge marker at 8:29. Also there with us was FAIRWIND (a clueless green ketch - probably an Irwin), trawlers OUTBOUND and GALLEY HO, JAZZEBELLE a big new sailboat from Canada and GALLIVANT (a *large* motor yacht from Palm Beach). All had been at Harbor Village last night with us. We all were through the bridge by 8:33.

Fixed bridge

We come down to the Wrightsville Beach bridge assisted by the current at 6.5 knots, but we don't get there in time for the 9:00 opening. Neither do the others in our group except for GALLIVANT which was speedier. So we slacked off.

Wrightsville Beach bridge 2003

Suddenly at 9:11, the Wrightsville Beach bridge tender announced "I have a maintenance opening, and if all you sailboats get up here, you can go through". We could see a person in a Tyvek suit running around on the bridge, and then the cars stopped and the bridge raised. We were all through the bridge (in spite of FAIRWINDS getting crossways in the channel and blocking everyone) by 9:16. The distance between the bridges was actually 4.7 miles and not 5, but it wasn't as much of a difference as I thought.

Oak Island Light 2000

Next stop Southport