Southport, NC was our first stop after crossing into North Carolina from the theme park and vacation rental strewn metropolis of Myrtle beach, South Carolina. We spent a week, unintentionally, at St. James Plantation Marina about five miles south of Southport, part of the gated community of St. James Plantation. I’ll get to the ‘unintentional’ part in a moment.
St. James Marina, Southport, NC - Image Courtesy St. James Plantation Marina
A few of our friends tried to warn us off St. James, with justifiable reasons. For one, it is quite isolated. It lies within a sprawling gated community with golf courses, pools, restaurants, etc., all of which are available to residents and members of the St. James community. However, as a transient boater stopping at the marina, resources are limited to the basics. The marina advertises a marina restaurant and convenience store, both of which are closed. There are showers – one women’s and one men’s – and bathrooms, also one a piece – and one washer and one dryer. At the time, we were the only ‘non-resident’ in the marina, but with more than two or three transient boats docked, the meager facilities would become overtaxed.
This is not to say it was not a good place to be; the marina staff is incredibly accommodating and hospitable, the dockhands knowledgeable and quick to respond, the facility in good shape, and the resident boat owners friendly and more than eager to share local knowledge. The dockmaster’s office had a range of basic materials and equipment for sale. We were able to arrange a grocery delivery to the marina and hired a local driver, also a resident of the St. James community, to take us into the town of Southport for an afternoon.
The town of Southport is situated on Cape Fear, at the mouth of the Cape Fear River and the Atlantic Ocean, with a charming small downtown area featuring quaint homes, bars and restaurants, along with a variety of shops. We had a delicious seafood lunch at a waterfront spot called Provisions and then walked into town where we found a small wine shop. Lisa found an amazing white Boudreaux which we had with that evening’s dinner of sautéed triggerfish and veggies. We spent an hour or so at the fun and informative Southport Maritime Museum. Katy, our driver from St. James, insisted we stop at a bakery who’s specialty was glazed croissants – for our southern friends, imagine a buttery, flaky croissant made by Krispy Kreme. Delicious!
We had initially planned to be at St. James Marina for three days to wait out squally weather, but the weather lingered and we extended our stay there for a couple of days, planning to leave the following Saturday. On Friday, as we were making preparations to go, I felt a familiar twinge in my lower back. We decided to extend for a couple more days and see how things were feeling. I spent most of Saturday and Sunday taking walks and stretching. By Monday morning, we were underway in the waterway, bound for the harbor of Wrightsville Beach, some 30 miles northeast.
Homes Along Banks Channel, Wrightsville Beach, NC
By three that afternoon, we were anchored in Banks Channel just off of Wrightsville Beach. We wanted to sit at anchor for a few days, as there was a nice, but warm southerly breeze blowing, and the anchorage was mostly empty, with only three or so other boats there. It seemed a good place to sit and relax. The town has a great free dinghy dock for shore access with a fantastic Tex-Mex restaurant and bar and grill just steps away. There was even a small and surprisingly well stocked grocery store close by.
Wrightsville Beach Sunset…
While we were there, our friends Frank and Jessica from the sailing yacht DESIRE came in for a one night stay in the harbor, and joined us for an evening of drinks and conversation. A great surprise came when our friends Ron and Fran, whom we met while sailing in the Keys, contacted us after seeing our FaceBook post announcing our arrival at Wrightsville Beach. Ron and Fran now reside in Wilmington, NC, at the upper reaches of the Cape Fear River, and invited us to lunch and for an afternoon relaxing at their beautiful home situated along the Intracoastal Waterway, which we had just passed a few days prior. We lunched on absolutely delicious hamburgers at, of all places, a beachside gas station and made another quick grocery run, all courtesy of Ron and Fran. It was a fun afternoon.
As the weekend approached, more boats arrived at our quiet anchorage. We had a good weather window to sail north to Morehead City, NC, with a planned to stop at the Morehead City Docks for a couple of nights. We planned a visit to Cape Lookout for a few days, and then would spend a day or two in the town of Beaufort. We had been closely watching Hurricane Ida as she made her approach to the Louisiana coast, keenly aware that we too may be dealing with her on some level after she had done her worst there. Having been through several major hurricanes, including Category 5 Hurricane Andrew in Miami, in which we lost nearly everything we owned, Lisa and I can fully empathize with the people living in the landfall area. We know and understand better than most what they would experience before, during, and after the storm.
We weighed anchor and left Banks Channel late Friday afternoon. After heading east into the Atlantic Ocean through Masonboro Inlet, we pointed our bows northeast for the Beaufort Inlet sea buoy, some 76 miles distant. We set all sail, as we had hoped to make this leg under sail power alone, but the winds were light and the swell, gentle as it was, made it a challenge for the sails to hold their wind. The trip turned into a combination of motoring and sailing, known as ‘motor sailing.’ The sun set and darkness settled in around us. Soon, the stars were glittering overhead and we coasted through the rolling swell at five knots or so. We saw no other vessels save the USCG (United States Coast Guard) Buoy Tender MAPLE which was servicing a NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) weather buoy situated off of Topsail Beach, some 10 miles or so to our west. The night passed quietly as the breeze fell lighter and lighter. Lisa and I changed watch at around three in the morning. She reported we were approximately 16 miles from the Beaufort Inlet sea buoy, and that all was good. The sails were flapping about in the ever lightening breeze and not wanting to wake Lisa to help in striking the staysail and jib, I sheeted them in as tightly as possible so as to calm them.
Not long after, I picked up the winking white light of the Beaufort Inlet sea buoy, and soon after, the red and green flashing lights of the outer channel buoys came into view. This portion of the North Carolina coast, known as Cape Lookout, turns sharply east and then north, forming the southernmost portion of the famous arc of the Outer Banks. The entrance channel into Beaufort is oriented in a south to north direction. As we were on a course heading northeast, we were approaching the channel from the southwest, at a slight angle. I woke Lisa and soon, we turned into the channel proper. We furled the jib and dropped the staysail, leaving the mainsail up to provide some resistance to the swell induced rolling. Soon, a nearly endless stream of fishing and dive boats passed us, heading out for the day. We watched as some of the smaller boats pounded hard on the faces of the incoming waves, their crews hanging on, fishing rods swaying and wobbling all around. Lisa shook her head and muttered, “you gotta really love to fish.”
The Tiny Morehead City Transient Docks Marina, Morehead City, NC
Once inside the channel and out of the ocean swell, we struck and secured the mainsail and proceeded to Morehead City Harbor. The Morehead City Docks, or ‘Morehead City Transient Docks’ as they’re formally known, is a dichotomy of sorts. As the name suggests, the marina is a city operated and managed facility. The marina is also free for the public to use, up to 4 hours per day in any one 24 hour day, and overnight stays are available for a very reasonable charge, required to be paid in advance. We’ve stayed at many different marinas in many different places which have been managed by local city or county governments. Most are well run and quite basic, but sometimes communication from the facility isn’t the best and the facilities can be less than desirable.
JO BETH at Morehead City, NC
And it’s here that the dichotomy arises: the Morehead City Transient Docks are a tiny facility. There are a total of eleven slips available, with power and water installed between each set of two slips. There is one bathroom and shower for men, and one for ladies. There are no laundry facilities, no waste pump-out facilities, and no fuel services, but there are trash disposal services. The docks, while well maintained, are lightly built. But perhaps most startling of all, is the marina has only one full time employee, who isn’t there on weekends and hasn’t been here most of this week, which is the week before the Labor Day holiday weekend. In spite of all that, this has been one of the most attentive marinas with which we’ve dealt. Dockmaster Mike was in constant communication with us prior to our arrival, giving us incredibly detailed approach and docking instructions, as well as a list of the resources available to us within walking distance. When we realized we would be dealing with the remnants of Hurricane Ida and asked to extend our stay, everything was done with one phone call in a matter of minutes. Kudos to Morehead City and to the singular marina staff.
Through dockmaster Mike, we found a local laundromat which picked up our laundry and had it returned to us the same day, all washed, folded and neatly bagged for $45.00, including the $5.00 pick-up and delivery fee. We also had lunch at one of his recommended spots shortly after our arrival, after which we returned to JO BETH for extended afternoon naps. The marina is fronted by a small park and our first night there a local band, which performed an endless stream of Beatle’s covers, kept us entertained.
The one downside of the Morehead City Transient Docks is the WiFi – or lack thereof. The marina does provide free WiFi, but the signal barely reaches the docks. It is quite good if you carry your laptop or tablet to the office and sit on the small porch area directly in front of the window. After some complaints from previous visitors, the marina did install a signal repeater…inside the office! We found a coffee shop a short walk away which offers not only fantastic (and strong!) coffee and WiFi, but quite lovely picture framing. Thanks Reed’s Coffee and Framing! (Gotta love small towns!)
Downtown Morehead City, NC…
We had planned only a short stay at Morehead City, but Ida changed our plans. On Monday a boat arrived from Beaufort with tales of a crowded anchorage and poorly anchored boats, dragging hither and yon in a moderate breeze. The local forecast was becoming increasingly intense as Ida’s remnants, which would pass well west and north of us, were dragging a cold front along the system’s backside. We extended our stay in Morehead City until Wednesday, when we planned to go to the Beaufort City Docks and wait for Ida to pass. However, the winds began to pick up much earlier than forecast across the miles wide fetch of Bouge Sound, to the southwest of the marina. On Wednesday morning, it was quite clear that exiting our slip at the Morehead City Transient Docks would be a dicey proposition. We decided to stay through Saturday. By mid-afternoon Tuesday, the winds were sustained in the mid-twenty knot range and gusting well past thirty, with even stronger winds occurring in the fast moving rain squalls streaming past. In early evening, winds were nearing 30 knots sustained, and waves were breaking over the marina docks. JO BETH was bucking so much, I fit a ball fender at the dock in front of our bow to absorb any contact she might have with the marina dock structure. The docks were twisting and writhing in the harbor chop. One of the unattended boats tucked into the small anchorage just across from the marina began to drag her anchors, and after another brief squall, had disappeared from view. We later found she had been secured alongside an empty dock in the northeast section of the harbor.
Inside the cabin, it felt as if we were underway, sailing along at speed, the fruit and veggie hammocks swinging about and our tea mugs clanking together. Our dock neighbor Todd, a singlehanded sailor on his Beneteau 38 sailboat, said the motion was so much that he actually felt seasick! Every so often, Lisa or I would go on deck to check docklines and the protective chafe gear we had fit where lines were subject to chafe and wear. Fortunately, by three AM, things had settled down substantially. And the cold-front produced a noticeably cool change in temperature. For the first time in several weeks, our refrigerator and freezer were able to ‘catch-up!’
Morehead City Honors its Seafaring Heritage Throughout the City…
We’ll be at the Morehead City Transient Docks until Saturday, when we plan to leave and sail the short distance to Cape Lookout to anchor for a few days. Cape Lookout is a National Seashore and part of the National Park system. We can sail in behind the ‘hook’ and anchor in a large and well protected basin where we’ll have access to quiet beaches, nature trails, and beautiful scenery with unspoiled night skies. Afterwards, we plan to head to Beaufort for a few days and then further into the North Carolina sounds and rivers.
An upcoming stop will be some 30 miles up the Pamlico River at the little town of Washington, NC. Pacific Seacraft, JO BETH’s builder, is based there, and we plan to have the old and tired insulation around our refrigerator/freezer rehabbed. Hopefully, this will take some load of our overworked refrigeration system and improve the performance of the refrigerator/freezer. We’re planning for a few other small projects to be done while there. Washington is a neat little town, and we’re looking forward to our visit. We’re especially looking forward to dinner at The Bank, a local restaurant situated in the original town bank building. A stop at the small village of Bath, also on the Pamlico River, is planned, as are a few days in the town of Belhaven, along the banks of the Pungo River. From there, we will cruise through as much of the Outer Banks area as we’re able to do before turning JO BETH to the south once again.