Wrightsville Beach, NC

 TRAVEL DAY 31 - Southport to Wrightsville Beach

April 11, 2023

3.47 Hours/27.1 Miles

    The wind layed down, the rain moved on and the temperature moved up, time for us to move out.  We slowly motored over to the fuel dock for a pump out, a couple bags of ice and some beer since we intended to anchor out the next couple of days. 

Some "Looper" dogs have the best life

    Another important factor for this travel day was the direction of the current in the Cape Fear River. The mouth of the Cape Fear where Southport is situated is broad and can provide some pretty wicked waves and current, especially when the current and wind are opposing each other. Today with slight wind and an incoming tide, we should have no problem and the current should "push" us along nicely. Once on the river we found that to be the case.

Southport is a busy ship area with tows, barges and ferries

    Right around Carolina Beach we were momentarily distracted and continued to head on the left split of the Cape Fear, when in fact we should have turned to our starboard to pick up the ICW markers. We figured it out pretty quickly and suffered only a 15 minute delay. Once passed Carolina Beach State Park we turned again to the east and into Snow's Cut. Here the current was stiff and against our hull and slowed us down to just below 7 mph. The cut is short and once we rounded the corner heading north again we got a more favorable speed.

Glad he's not after me

    These are our favorite travel days; easy and short. We had less than 4 hours to our destination giving us plenty of time to explore before dinner.   I think the Loop is really "Speed Dating" the US coast. We spend just enough time to get to know the stop before moving on to our next location. Along the way there have been a few places we could commit to live, but we have a lot more to see.

Carolina Beach Inlet

    Our chosen anchorage was fantastic, it had all of the right elements; wind protection, deep water, free dinghy dock and access to town. There were a few sailboats in the anchorage and there was plenty of room for us and the two other loopers that dropped the hook after us.

Dinghy Time

    We dinghied over to the boat ramp and floating dock and walked the little beach town, a quick snack, a couple beers, a free sticker for the the fridge and a walk on the beach. We even managed to place another Pau Hana sticker. 

Wrightsville Beach

Selfies on the beach
 
Southport to Wrightsville Beach


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