Savannah to Wrightsville Beach NC

We had a great time in Savannah, meeting up with old friends, staying at our sister-in-law's HOUSE (which doesn't rock, has unlimited hot water, has a yard to walk in, etc...). But the journey calls, and we are ready to continue on to Roanoke.

We watch about 3 or 4 different weather sites on the internet, as well as listening to Bahamas and southeast coast weather on the SSB radio. All that said that we were to have a good weather window for an offshore passage (moderate winds and seas from the right direction) starting Saturday morning through Sunday evening.

After taking Friday to do chores and prepare for an overnight voyage of 230 miles, we left our guest dock at 7:30 AM on Saturday, April 18th. Luke and I take turns sleeping, 2 hour shifts, during our overnighters; Wickie waits patiently in the bed for the whoever has the next turn. It's not a perfect solution, but works well enough. We also plan a meal together around 2AM, something like soup. Shifts are usually boring, with the only duties to keep a log of our longitude and latitude (in case something goes wrong and we have to call for help), monitor our position and direction, watch for other ships (almost ever see any), and generally just keep an eye on the surroundings. oh, and a few midnight snacks. Winds and waves were indeed moderate as predicted, requiring that we motor sail to keep our speed up (average about 6.9 kts), but also making it smooth enough that we could sleep, below. We were treated to a starry night and the crescent moon creeping over the horizon of the Atlantic about 3:45 AM on Sunday.

Luke had the dawn shift and got this great picture of the sun emerging from the Atlantic. We're always glad for daybreak.

Our long and uneventful motor sail averaged about 5 miles offshore until around 1PM on Sunday, when we arrived at the Cape Fear River Inlet in NC. As we entered the Cape Fear, we passed Bald Head Island, with it's lighthouse, now an exclusive development, accessible only by ferry from Southport.

We considered several anchorages for the night, but decided to keep pushing up the ICW until 5:30pm to Wrighsville Beach. The weather forecast for the next few days is very windy with showers, so we opted for a known good anchorage plus the opportunity to go "to town" and explore Wrightsville Beach during our non-moving days. The forecast has lived up to the prediction - winds have picked up from the 5 - 10 knots we saw on our crossing to at least 20 to 25 knots. The forecast is for up to 30 kts later this evening/night, plus showers. We are looking for a good day to make the next outside move, the 75 miles to Morehead City. That will put us in the ICW for the remainder of our trip home and include locations like Oriental, Elizabeth City, and the Great Dismal Swamp canal.