Southport, NC to Hampstead, NC

Today we cruised four and a half hours to Hampstead. 



Some unusual channel markers


This is a unique beach house

Part of the trip was through a “cut” which is a man-made canal to get from one body of water to another. In our case, it got us closer to the Ocean. However, it was not a wide canal

The "Cut", a man-made canal

"Hey, this Cut is taking us pretty close to shore, Cap'n!"

And the water is back to blue.  I think it’s because there are so many inlets from the Ocean.  




Our marina for the evening.  It was a little challenging getting into the slip because the wind picked up just as we got there.  You can see Taurus in the middle.


Now for a story with no pictures.  There was a drawbridge (Wrightsville Beach Bridge) that we thought we would have to have open for us.  It was labeled 20 ft. at high tide.  The height boards showed 17 ft. and we need 20 ft.  There were a couple of boats waiting for the bridge opening in 15 min.  However, we have been under many, many bridges during this Great Loop trip and we have a feel for if there’s room or not.  Our Captain called the bridge operator on the radio and asked two questions:

1.  Does the number on your board represent height to low steel?

2.  How much higher is the center versus low steel?

Her answers confirmed that the closed height at the time was 20 feet.  Technically, we need 19’6”, but always assume 20 ft.  Between the bridge operator's answers and our visual, the Captain decided not to wait.  The other boats waiting were shorter than Taurus, so I’m sure they were watching thinking we were crazy. Bottom line, we went under the bridge with no issues.  But no one else followed us.  🤷‍♀️ 


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