St. James, Old Baldy, and Wrightsville Beach

When Linda got back from running on Thursday morning thru the St. James Plantation, she said, "This place is so huge I couldn't find the end of it!" We found out later that the road from the Marina to the highway is 5 miles long and houses are far and wide on both sides. It is a small city.






We departed their small city to motor east in the ICW, past Southport, into the Cape Fear River. Our original plans called for us to go upstream to Wilmington, but we decided to bypass the urban city for the remote island of Bald Head.

When we exited the ICW into the river, we turned right (south) and immediately picked up speed as the ebb tide was running out to sea. At it's peak, this current reached 3.5 knots (4 mph) on Thursday. So before noon, we were entering the channel to the Bald Head Island Marina. The strong cross current died quickly as we entered the Marina. On the south end of the Marina we could see "Old Baldy," North Carolina's oldest lighthouse protecting ships from "The frying pan," 30 miles of sandy shoals extending out into the Atlantic.


We rented bikes to explore the island, comforted by the knowledge that private cars and trucks are not allowed here. All human transportation is by golf cart and bicycle. We rode out to the Eastern tip to see the infamous shoals. On the way back, we stopped at the grocery for provisions. We came back to the Marina to feast on a lunch of soft shell crab and fish tacos.



The Marina was quiet, except for the ferry boat that came from the mainland every 30 minutes. We cooked shrimp on our grill while we watched the comings and goings of the workers and tourists. We went to bed
early knowing that we needed an early start to catch the flood tide in the morning to head up the Cape Fear River toward Wrightsville Beach.



We left Bald Head at 8:00 and I had my fishing rod rigged for trolling as we went North, with the strong current. We eased along at about 8 mph while I was hoping to catch dinner. When we got back up to the point where the ICW enters the river (yesterday's turn) I pulled in the line and discovered that something had eaten my lure. Lures cost almost as much as fish, so I'm questioning the cost/benefit analysis of fishing.

We ran up the river and then took the cut into the ICW running North to Wrightsville Beach. We arrived at the SeaPath Marina at 11:30 and pulled up to a an east/west dock where the Southerly winds pushed us against it. We put out 4 fenders knowing the the southerly wind flow would press us against the dock all afternoon.

The wind was supposed to taper off. It blew, and blew, and blew -- at 20 knots all afternoon. Olive's ears were askew all day.

We walked over the bridge to the beach and then back to Invictus for lunch. Later, we took the marina's courtesy van to West Marine to buy more fishing lures. After cocktails on the boat, we walked back to the beach for a nice meal.

At dinner, we made the observation that we will never look at the Eastern coastline of the U.S. again in the same way. Now we will recognize every bump and curve, knowing what life is like in that place. Isn't that the purpose of a great voyage...to change the way you think about the world you live in.

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