7:30 AM Thursday, May 14, 2015
A beautiful morning. Moderate E winds. Sixty degrees. No bugs. All
boats here last night are either gone or leaving. By 8:30AM we are alone, in
Mile Hammock Bay, this very beautiful place which is really part of US Marine
Base Camp Lejeune. The Marines let transient boats (like us) use this anchorage
and small local boats come in to fish. But you cannot step ashore. Lejeune is,
among other things, a training ground for marine operations. They have lots and
lots of big, expensive, loud and dangerous toys, helicopters, tanks, armored
personnel carriers, etc. etc. Just think of it – all that stuff in the hands of
eighteen year old young men – highly competent and well trained young men for
sure. They use this small bay as a staging area for training ops. As we left
today a contingent of four small boats came in carrying marines. They passed by
and waved with big smiles on their young faces. Very friendly.
I saluted those young marines and although I probably looked comical to
them, the salute was genuine and serious. In saluting them I was also saluting
all my friends who are marines, a very fine breed of men and women indeed.
This area, where we are, is in the Camp Lejeune Firing Range and
sometimes they close the ICW when they have that going on. Lucky for us that is
not happening today.
Our plan; make the 10:00AM opening of the Onslow Swing Bridge and go to
Swansboro, another small NC hamlet, where last fall we discovered the Saltwater
Grill, where they serve the world’s largest bowl of delicious New England Crab
Soup. You can tie up at their dock, stay the night, and even connect into shore
power for free, simply by eating in the fine restaurant.
Approached the Onslow Bridge, called for permission to pass at next
opening and slowed down to make the bridge at the proper time, as expected by
the bridge master. We were the only boat in sight, thus theoretically first in
line. The proper etiquette, if there is such a thing, is to line up in order of
arrival, stay in line, and wait your turn. Admittedly this can be difficult
because tidal currents and wind can push and pull boats differently and
different boats have different handling characteristics. The trick is to time
your arrival and listen to boats calling the bridge for permission to pass.
Everybody is listening to the same channel so you can get a sense of the order
and procession of things.
So just about the time we were feeling confident this was going to go
well for us, four big power boats come charging around the corner, all calling
the bridge at once. Three of them passed us, throwing up big bow waves which
knocked us off course. The three raced down to the bridge and started playing
bumper boat. Mind you they all have big
engines and bow thrusters (propulsion capabilities to quickly turn the bow) and
with a kind of mouse control on their bridges, it’s pretty easy to move those
big boats around quickly. Out boat, like most sailboats, handle very
differently. Backing up can be a mysterious experience, and, without bow
thrusters, turning can be slow and laborious.
The last boat at least stayed behind us, which I thought would be good,
until he closed fast and hemmed us in. So ahead we had bumper boat extravaganza
and our escape route was cut off from behind.
And the bridge had not opened yet.
A few tense moments for sure. Finally the strain was too much and we
pealed out, did a quick mid-channel turn and fell in back of the line. So much
for etiquette.
But the bridge finally opened and we made it through safely, in some
kind of order that magically, it seemed, happened at the last moment.
Serendipity I suppose.
We proceeded north with changing currents and winds with Lejeune lands
on both sides. We passed gun placements and what looked like old APCs that
might have been used for target practice.
Past Bear Inlet, Queen’s Creek and finally to Bogue Inlet and
Swansboro. We pulled into Casper’s Marine for fuel and oil (remember the oil
story from yesterday) and finally docked at the Saltwater Grill at 3:00PM. I
had called ahead for permission and was greeted on the phone by the usual
courteous and chipper invitation to come on in. Mile 228 ICW, a short seventeen
miles.
Crab chowder is waiting. I’m
even going to change my shirt. At about 5:30PM David came out to check on us
and announced that a band was playing, starting soon. We cocktailed up and went
for supper. For me and Emily, a bowl of the best she crab soup on the planet.
For me, Wanchese oysters and for Emily, shrimp and grits. Yum! Yum!
We went inside to listen to the band “Scearce and Ketner”, aka, “Scared
of Kittens”, playing Carolina Pyrate Rock. Pretty damn good. By the end of the
night I had, as usual, weaseled myself on stage to play a blues tune.
Tomorrow, Dave is picking us up for a run to Piggly Wiggly to
provision. Then off we go.
Marines from Camp Lejeune
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