May 28 thru 31, 2022 South Harbour Marina, Southport, NC
We were excited to go to Southport, NC, because of a legendary
Harbor Host that lives there, Robert and Kay Creech. Apparently, their house has a big front porch
and looks out onto the Intracoastal Waterway.
Their boat, C-Note, is docked right by their house. We see postings in the Looper Forum and on
Facebook about the famous Porch Tales at the Creech house. They watch Nebo (software that tracks Looper
boats) and meet the boats at the dock to invite them to their house or to offer
rides for provisioning, etc. We’ve seen
pictures where 8 or 10 people all have gathered on the porch!
Well, unfortunately, we weren’t able to get into the marinas
that are right by the Creech home. South
Harbor is about a 6 mile drive, and not good biking terrain. So, the first and second day we were there,
we did boat chores, met and socialized with other Loopers and MTOA folks, but
didn’t hear from Robert. I was so
disappointed! On our last day there, I
decided not to be shy, and I called Robert.
He said he couldn’t come get us because after “Porch Tails” he couldn’t
drive us back. He suggested Uber, and to
come around 5 or 5:30. Around 1:45,
Robert called, said he’s like to come get us, show us around town, drop us off
to explore a bit on foot, after which we could walk back to his house. Done!
He came around 2:30, drove us around the pretty little town, then
dropped us off in the middle of downtown.
Dan and I stopped off at the Oyster Bar, had couple of
appetizers and a beer. From there, we
strolled along looking for ice cream! We
found some delicious ice cream at Southport Market, and sat in a pretty park to
enjoy it.
Continuing the stroll, we continued to the waterfront. On our way to the Creech’s we were ‘waylaid’
by the town Lion’s Club who were selling raffle tickets for a bass boat. I was of the opinion that we have as much
boat as we can handle! But, Dan and
those guys got into talking about our journey, as we often do! We bought a ticket, and spent a few minutes
on our continued walk discussing what we’d do with the boat should we win the
raffle!
That evening at the Creech’s we had the whole porch and the
Creeches to ourselves! What gracious
hosts they were. We stayed until the sun
started going down, when Kay, who had done no drinking, was comfortable driving
us back to the marina before dark!
After Southport, we had planned to anchor out for two nights
at two different anchorages. We had a
perfect cruising day and arrived near the first planned stop very early in the
day. We decided to cruise on to the next
stop, another 40 miles up the ICW.
May 31 – June 1, 2022
Mile Hammock anchorage, near Marine Base Camp LeJeune.
We arrived at around 5:30 after a long cruising day. The cruise wasn’t stressful, just longer than
we usually cruise in one day. We had
left Southport around 9:00, so we were cruising 8-1/2 hours. There was one boat in the anchorage, but
there is room for many boats. We had a
little problem getting the anchor to grab – had to pull it up once and reset
it. But, it set well, and we had no
concerns about the spot.
While I was fixing dinner, three other boats pulled in. At least two of them had Looper flags, but
neither of them appeared on Nebo.
Interesting!
We had a lovely evening, turned in early, about 9:30. I got up around 7:30 – two of the boats were
long gone. By the time we had coffee,
the other two boats had left. We took
our time, had breakfast, then got ready to go.
Dan handles the setting and pulling of the anchor. Once we started getting the chain onto the
boat we found they chain caked with fine black mud! Yuck.
Dan used the washdown pump on the bow to clean as much off as
possible. Once the anchor is out of the
water, I start to slowly exit the anchoring spot.
Great anchorage – always nice to find the boat is in the same
spot in the morning as when we went to bed!
On June 1, we headed to Beaufort, NC (pronounced BOfort in
North Carolina!). Since we had done two
days’ travel in one day, I called the marina to see if we can get in one day
early (we can).
June 1 through 4, 2002
Beaufort City Docks Marina
On our way to Beaufort, about a 44 mile cruise (so 5-6 hours),
we enjoyed seeing the homes along the waterway.
The ICW at this point is very close to the ocean. On our right as we travel north are barrier
islands.
One thing interesting thing we saw was 14 paratroopers coming
down – we never saw the plane that dropped them! As Dan was a jumper himself, he was
interested to see two boats with marines sitting in the waterway – waiting in
case any jumper came down in the water.
Fun blast from the past for Dan!
We enjoyed our stay in Beaufort, NC. There
were several other Looper boats there:
Silver Linings, Blessings, Tranquility Eh!, The Wright Place. We did
some socializing, including dinner , and Tranquility Eh! In stops after
Beaufort.
Beaufort had an interesting museum about Blackbeard, the
pirate. His ship has been discovered
where it sank, and many artifacts are being brought out and recovered. There was also a facility where volunteers
actually build boats. You can stand on a
higher level in the building to observe their activities. If we lived there, I imagine Dan would enjoy
some of that work.
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