And you thought all the bridges were done.....

Today was supposed to be an easy but long run of about 60 miles from Carolina Beach to Calabash Creek.  We started off a bit later than usual, with the clock change, around 9 am.  We made great time through Cape Fear River and the inlet, and had a pickup of almost 2 knots from the tide going with us.  By around 2 pm, we were about 10 miles away from our anchorage, and were planning to go through a pontoon bridge that opened on the hour at 3 pm.  We were moving along in a convoy of about 10 sailboats, and a few power boats approaching the bridge, when we heard on the radio that due to the very low tide, the 3 pm opening was canceled!  The bridge tender said he would most likely open at 4 pm, after the tide had a chance to come up a bit. 

We decided to anchor in the middle of the ICW rather than do wheelies in the channel.  We dropped our anchor, and hung out for almost an hour, when the bridge announced he would open at 4 pm.  We cruised through the bridge in the company of all our sail and power boat friends, and all converged on two cozy anchorages about 3 miles on.  Most of the sailboats anchored off in the shallower anchorage, and we anchored in a slightly deeper, wider channel, that is the inlet from the Atlantic Ocean called the Little River Inlet.  Since we anchored, we have seen the most fantastic sunset with the new moon over Myrtle Beach, as well as two “phantom” fishing boats coming home from fishing in the ocean.   

By the way, we just heard on the radio that the pontoon bridge we crossed earlier is now shut down for a malfunction!  I guess we got lucky to get through even though we  thought at the time we were unlucky!!  Anyone who didn’t make the  4 pm opening is totally screwed!! 

We just saw the big gambling boat “AQUA-CINO” go by in stealth mode, with not many people on it (it is pretty cold here tonight) but way too many slot machines!!

Tomorrow we arrive at our destination in Myrtle Beach.  I just put the bottle of champagne in the refrigerator so it is nice and cold when we get there mid-afternoon!

We will write the Part I Epilogue to our journey tomorrow.  We leave Myrtle Beach on Sunday to fly back to Boston. 

Katharine, we are taking photos tomorrow of us just for you!




White headed pelicans



Crossing the pontoon bridge






Moonrise over Myrtle Beach...



Ghost Fishing Boat