Total Pageviews

Friday, November 3, 2017

Oriental NC to Swansboro NC



Start time and hours                        0900                                    3416.16
End time and hours                          1515                                    3428.14


     Armed with the invaluable knowledge of how deep the water is under our boat we left Oriental NC for Swansboro NC.  We crossed the Neuse river and headed down Adams creek and the Adams creek canal.  This canal empties into the Newport River on the way to Moorhead City and Beaufort NC.  In North Carolina it is pronounced Bo-fort and in South Carolina it is pronounced Bew-fort.

     We turned southwest at the Beaufort Inlet and went past Moorhead City and into Bogue sound.  Bogue sound is very wide but very shallow outside of the ICW channel.  The channel is wide and the cruising is easy if you pay attention. 

     After Bogue Sound the ICW narrows in spots just like a canal.  The scenery is just like the rest of the ICW in North Carolina.  There are inlets, creeks, wildlife, and homes lining the waterway.

     Just before the anchorage in Swansboro NC we encountered Dudley Marina. https://www.dudleysmarinanc.com/  It was very tempting to pull in and stay for a night to see if we could get a family discount. 

     We came into the Swansboro http://visitswansboro.org/ anchorage and saw that they had installed three no-wake buoys in the anchorage.  They were spaced apart so that it made anchoring a challenge.  We had to drop the anchor where we thought we would be out of the channel.  We also had to estimate the rode length so that we would not swing into any of the no-wake signs, the channel, or the down docks.  We estimated almost perfectly.  Because of the tide changes the boat swings with the tidal currents.  We ended up perfectly between the no-wake buoys and still managed not to block the channel or the town docks.


     Being Saturday in North Carolina, there were numerous fishing boats passing us by in the anchorage.  It is a no-wake zone (remember the buoys) and about 80% of the local boats honored the rule.  After dark the boat traffic stopped and the anchorage was calm.

No comments:

Post a Comment