Here we go again....it was another early morning departure. We knew we had our work cut out for us. There were many potential shoal areas ahead, and the warnings were right on. This was a grueling transit for the Captains on " Chasseur", "Blue" and "Shin Dera". There were many "inlets" on this stretch of the ICW. Every "inlet " from the Atlantic Ocean has shoaling into the channel. If you are lucky to reach them at high tide it usually is not a problem. "Blue" and "Chasseur" have 6 + foot drafts, "Shin Dera" has a 5 foot draft. At one inlet "Blue" touched bottom and kept going. "Chasseur" followed shortly after, touched bottom but continued through. "Shin Dera" approached the same inlet and BOOM - hard aground. Martin and Bridget had to wait for high tide to get free for several hours. There was no helping them with an out going tide. It was another day of radio chatter and radio calls for "Tow Boat U.S."
Terry took a break below decks and gave Suzanne the helm. The ICW widened and there were no inlets for a while. "Blue" appeared to be slowing down. Suzanne focused on the depth sounder......10 feet.....9 feet....."7 feet" she yelled down to Terry and throttled down - Terry was up on deck in a flash. Once again we made it through without a grounding. This was a repeated scenario through out the day. Everyone was exhausted when we finally reached Carolina Beach. Terry said crossing inlets on the ICW at low tide is like playing a game of Dodge ball - once you are aground "you're out".
Another storm weather pattern is running up the coast, with 20 -25 kts of wind, rain and back to being cold. We have decided to wait it out in Carolina Beach. This would be a great vacation spot- in season. We are experiencing unseasonably low temperatures (again), and are back to wearing jackets, foul weather gear, and hats. We cannot wait to get further south to warmer temperatures, and finally on to Marathon...still a long way to go.
(Lost the beach photos, will try again later)
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| A more common site along the way |
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| Aground and deserted, just a few feet away from the middle of the ICW |
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| Hanging around town, Carolina Beach, just not ready for this... |
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