Once again we got an early start. The weather is always a concern and the forecast was for possible storms in the late afternoon. We always try to be settled and secure before it arrives. Not that things always turn out according to plan. Ross does a great job researching marinas for us to stay in. He uses several websites that provide information submitted by other cruisers. He reads about hazards, fuel prices, negatives and positives about marinas, and such. We also follow the blogs of fellow Loopers who are traveling ahead of us.
Today we traveled 62 miles to Southport, North Carolina. The scenery continues to change and there are many more pine trees. The water color continues to change from the tannin brown color to the grey green color of the ocean the closer we come to the Atlantic and the more inlets there are. The smell of the air has changed. The air no longer smells like a lake, but has the salty smell of the ocean. Not that there’s anything wrong with a lake, but there’s nothing like the smell of the sea.
Our trip today took us through what is called “the rock pile”. It is not a pile of rocks, like it sounds. It is a manmade cut through coquina. Remember that is the stuff that was quarried and used to build forts and homes. It is like coral and very sharp if we were to hit it.
You can tell by the picture how narrow this cut is. And it is only deep in the very center. There is a rock ledge along the channel and if we were to hit that, it would have caused severe damage. Very severe damage!! Before we entered the cut, Ross gave a call out on the radio so if any other traffic was coming they would radio back and we would wait. It is too narrow to safely turn around if you met someone (like a barge). Roscoe once again navigated us safely through.
Most of where we traveled today was just a narrow ditch. This incredible home was located along it. It looks like a villa that should have been in Italy. Their view was this narrow ditch and condos on the other side. That’s it!!! Why spend the money on a place like this here? I just don’t get it.
I never though I would see this! It was a tram that crossed that the ICW. Coming from up north, we see these this sort of thing only on ski hills. And it even looked like they had skis in the outside rack!!!
On closer inspection we saw that they were golf clubs and the tram ended at the club house.
This is a pontoon bridge we had to pass through. It only opens on the hour so we had to wait in the channel, along with many other boats for the opening. The center of the bridge (the part with the white house on it) is floating.
The car traffic is stopped and the center section swings away to allow boaters through. If you look closely at the picture you can see section of the road. This was our first experience seeing a bridge of this type.
We are in purple martin country. Homes and marinas have these gourd type houses for the birds. Purple martins eat loads of mosquitoes and come back to the same area each year. It has been fun to watch them swooping around catching bugs and listening to their chittering.
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