Wilmington August 6th, then Wrightsville Beach 7th, then Swan Point 8th

Thursday morning (8/6) we departed North Myrtle Beach and headed further north along the ICW up the Little River (passing many hurricane damaged docks & marinas). Departing SC and entering NC near Calabash (a famous seafood stop for anyone visiting the area).

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By late afternoon (after a few shallow spots) we reached the Southport Marina and entered the deeper water of the Cape Fear River on the way to Wilmington. It was a long day on the water and we did see quite a bit of debris on the water (dock posts with nails, etc.).

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We arrived mid-day at the Wilmington City docks where were located right downtown with several dining and entertainment options very nearby. Our overnight dockage was directly across from the battleship USS North Carolina.

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Oysters, drinking and dancing….

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On Friday (8/7) we departed the Wilmington City Docks to make a quick trip around to Seapath Yacht Club at Wrightsville Beach on the ‘beachy side’. This beautiful marina is located very close to several local restaurants such as Poe’s Tavern (yes there’s actually 3 Poe’s Tavern’s and now we’ve been to two of them) we had access to a courtesy car that allowed us to visit the farmers market and Harris Teeter to re-provision.

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Saturday (8/8) was not our best departure as it started with the discovery of a failed bow-thruster and then just missing the bridge opening (which delayed us for an hour).

We stopped to top off the fuel at New River Marina — best price so far at $1.52 / gal Diesel, then just a stones throw away was our overnight port Swan Point Marina. The entry at Swan Point is ‘very shallow’ and we would not recommend this for any vessel drafting >4′ and definitely don’t try it at anytime other that high tide. This location is a working marina and they had a lot of dock repairs underway. Definitely not the best facilities.