mile 357- mile 311.4
The next stretch was not far and again we wanted to go further but a cold front was on the way and we were perhaps due for some north winds and rain in the afternoon. We decided to try and tuck in before the weather. It was hard to determine how bad it would be but the next section of waterway was tricky and we did not want to be in it in bad weather.
This was a journey of inlets with associated shoaling and cross currents. We wanted to catch Shalotte and Lockwood’s Folly inlet around high tide. We left about an hour after low tide at dawn. Our first bridge was the Grand Dune’s Bridge which is quite beautiful. Geese were honking as we passed.
Our first inlet was Little River Inlet which is navigable to the outside. The anchorage nearer the inlet has large dunes and a beautiful beach. We had no problem crossing here.
The next inlet, Shallotte’s had some recent reported shoaling and is known for cross currents. We stayed on the track. At one point we had only 4 feet below our keel near high tide. There was a lot of current at Lockwood’s Folly Inlet but our depth was better.
It was still a nice day though cloudy. I entertained the idea of fishing in the marsh since we would arrive in Southport mid-afternoon. It was easy to purchase a fishing license online but we waited to see what the weather would do.
We got in and docked on the outside of the straight dock in front of a large work boat. We turned before docking to come up current. As soon as we got the boat straight, the skies darkened and the winds picked up from the north, gusting in the high 20’s.
We opted to do some travel planning and then go for a walk. There were several parks near the marina and an italian restaurant a little over a mile away. We decided to head out, even though it was only 415.
We walked along the edge of the parks and checked out a little creek and beach at one park. It was about 445 when we reached the italian restaurant, Castuci’s, which was packed and would be until 730 pm. They reccomended the place next door, Sebby’s Pizzeria. Castuci’s is a family operation and two young brothers were playing behind the hostess station. One of them highly recommended the pizza at Seddy’s. We took his advice.
The pizza was indeed delicious and we had enough left for our passage tomorrow. We walked back to the boat. The night sky was beautiful but it was getting cold.
