Sailing down the east coast in late-October into November is not a lonely jaunt. You’ll have lots of company. Every other cruiser and snowbird who is hopping down toward the islands is often making the same stops you are. Which means you’re all looking for similar weather windows and often moving (and landing) at the same time making the ICW, anchorages and marinas very crowded.
The return journeys are never as exciting as the outbound one, and thus, much more difficult, but one thing that made it easier was the fact that we left earlier than most of the other cruisers sailing in the Bahamas and in Key West. This meant we didn’t have to deal with the crowd and the parade of boats going north up the ICW. This made the return trip up north much more relaxing and pleasant as we were never fighting for anchoring spots, marina availability or motorboats passing us and leaving huge wakes.
Yesterday we crossed into North Carolina border and tied up at the Holden Beach town dock. Holden Beach is nestled by water on all sides with eight miles of beach strand making it an impressively sized shoreline in the South Brunswick Islands. While other beach towns have seen an explosion of development in recent years, Holden Beach has managed to hold on to its timeless charm, without high rises, storefronts, or stoplights. Life here is slow-paced as Claudia and I spent our time simply walking the beach and taking in the sea breezes.
The following day we returned to Carolina Beach for two days to wait out some strong wind. While waiting out the weather, we attended their annual Mac & Cheese festival and sampled from over 72 different styles of Mac & Cheese dishes. It was crazy but delicious and we were happy to have experienced it.
Next day we continued north and passed by Camp Lejeune where the USMC do their target practices. It was unnerving as we can definitely hear the loud gun fires in a distance and helicopters flying over in some kind of strategic formations. But it was also comforting knowing that our soldiers are working hard protecting our freedom.
We listened to the marine weather forecast and coastal NC was hit with a very strong line of storms that afternoon causing serious damage to buildings and wrecking havoc to boats in the harbors. We watched the storm’s path on our radar and weather apps and try to avoid getting in its way. Seemed like we were hitting our marks with perfect timing, until we didn’t.
The line of storms that formed to the south of us, caught up with us near Topsail around 2PM. I quickly asked Claudia to put all of our portable electronics, laptops, tablets and phones in our oven to protect them from lightning strikes (the oven acts as a Faraday cage which shield magnetic spikes from damaging sensitive electronics).
As Claudia and I watched this line of thunderstorms approached us, with seconds to spare, we slowed down the boat and turned Fujiko into the wind. The front of the squall started hitting us with thunder and lightning. We had heard on the raido that it was packing gusts up to 60 knts. We saw 50+ speeds, packed with blinding rain and hales. We couldn’t see anything but we kept our bow into the wind while the 40+ knts blew past us. I kept watching my chart plotter to make sure we stayed in the ICW channel so we won’t go aground (luckily we stayed in the channel). After what seemed like an eternity, the whole thing was over; It probably only lasted 4 to 5 minutes but it was one of those frightening moments that will stay with you for a long time. We counted our blessings and continued our way to Beaufort, NC.
Interestingly as we pulled into our marina, we were told that electricity and internet were knocked out by the thunderstorms that had passed through.
Was Willow near you in that storm? Bruce said he almost hit a bridge because he couldn’t see anything for a few moments.
Hi Kay, Willow was in front of us during that nasty storm… once the storm passed we contacted Willow to make sure Bruce was ok? I’m glad everyone was unscathed. ⚓️⚓️⚓️
Hi Claudia, FYI, Bruce and I are heading north to the chesapeake for the month of May, then on north to Maine in mid-June. Let’s keep in touch and maybe we will see you on the way up. What are your sailing plans this summer?
Hi Kay, Yes for sure let’s keep in touch .. I’m not sure of our plans yet (since I’m a new grandma) however, do let us know when you get to RI since that is where we keep our boat (a couple miles north of Newport)? We will be happy to host you and help you guys out if needed. 😘
Yes, we will do that. I like your blog and may use it to plan our trip up north. We have never been there so it’s good to read about your experiences. I hope you were hunkered down safely for the blow over the last couple days. It was even windy here in Chapel Hill!
Hi Kay, Sounds good .. I’ll send you my contact information thru Deb, please feel free to reach out to me anytime.
Also, we hunker down in Belhaven for the blow. What a cute little town. They have an amazing little arts center, we had an opportunity to get to know the owners, and even took in a comedy performance. On to Coinjock for prime rib 😋
Love the ponytail!
You look like a Rockstar.
No, you guys are Rockstars!
Scary storm. It’s amazing how something that only lasts a few minutes can feel like hours.
Hi Dennis, there was discord among the consensus on my hair, whether to keeping it long or cut it off to the way it was. Since I have your support, I’ll keep it for a bit until we get home. Thanks for your support and encouragement as always. You are a good friend.
Wow! That sounds terrifying! Glad you made it through safe and sound.
Did you roll out of that Mac and cheese fest? That’s a lot of Mac and cheese!
Sally… I need to walk and play pickle ball with you to lose my weight😞😞😞😞
Wow, you guys are amazing! That storm would have scared me if I was in my house, let alone in a boat 🙂 Glad you are ok.
Ed, We were both scared too.. I took out the rosary beads 😳😳😳 😘
Jimmy’s pony tail looks way better than yours, Claud. The only sure way to fix that situation for certain is for you to……………………………..START FISHING………..Claud………….!!!
Hi Gil, All I can say is 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😘😘😘