16. Spooner's Creek

Our next interesting stop was in Spooner’s Creek which used to be a marina at one time and now was a paradise of homes with private docks surrounding this small creek. The entrance was tricky and narrow and all the way in and all the time we were there (2 days) our depth meter read 0 which meant that we sitting on the bottom but we managed to get in and out on an inch or two we figured. Chad and LeeAnn with their smaller draft had no trouble at all. The great thing about this anchorage was that, once we rowed to shore on our dingy, it was only a short walk to a large mall which had a Best Buy and a super Wal-Mart which had groceries. We had meant to stay only the one day but there was a gale warning over the Atlantic and even though we were inland on the ICW the winds and rains were too strong for us to continue. We had thought about going to a marina about 10 miles up the ICW to wait out the storm and to have a shower but they were full. Everyone was taking shelter.

It turned out to be a good decision to stay where we were. We ventured ashore out during a lull in the rain but by the time we made it to Best Buy it was raining cats and dogs. We purchased a WIFI antenna to hopefully increase our ability to get WIFI. I have become quite the techie on this trip. I also bought an 80 GB ipod and LeeAnn and Chad were quite willing to lend me a hand with the itunes programme and to download songs on my ipod. Both were wonderful and helpful. Here is their boat after the rain.



Leaving Spooner Creek turned out to be quite an adventure. We left later in the morning so that we would be navigating the extremely narrow channel on a rising tide. We followed Chad out to Bogue Sound. I was reading the chart and steering: I turned starboard (right) to stay inside Marker #9 as indicated on the chart. Chad and LeeAnn had gone to the left. Roman abruptly yelled go right while pointing left. He took over the steering and steered exactly where we should not go. Chad and LeeAnn ran aground. Chad was yelling and waving at Roman to go the other way (the way I had originally gone; I am rubbing it in). At the last possible moment, Roman swerved and managed to avoid the shoal at the entrance of the channel. We circled around but could not get close enough to Cambyration to help them out. The wind was blowing fiercely and the current kept blowing us toward the shoal. Chad finally got into his rowboat and rowed towards us with a long rope. He struggled against the current with the waves and the wind while we willed him to make it. When he got to our boat, he looked pale and exhausted. I grabbed the rope and tried to tie around a cleat while Roman struggled to keep the boat out of the shoal. I was getting rope burn and the line kept slipping out of my fingers. I could not hold it. I yelled and Roman came to help; it took both of us to secure the line around the cleat. Roman raced back to the wheel and we watched as the current and wind helped Chad make it back to his boat. Cambyration is a lot lighter than our boat but it was still a bit of a struggle to pull them off the shoal. What a relief! Unfortunately, there was no time to take pictures.

In Spooners Creek we saw our first palm tree and we knew that we were on the right track. You can see the palm tree behind Chad and LeeAnn. Coming to the Cedar Point Bridge we saw our first dolphins. They would jump out of the water too quickly to get a picture. The scenery changed to large sand dunes along the ocean side. In Swansboro we saw many kayaks, windsurfers and surfboards on the lawns. I remember thinking that Evhen would love this area.



About 25 minutes past Swansboro, we ran aground on a shoal and no matter what, Roman just could not get us off! Fortunately Chad was further behind us and only we went aground. We phoned Boat US for a tow and a great guy came out from Swansboro with his dog Skipper. Skipper would bark and dolphins would jump out of the water. It was worth going aground just to see that. I could not get a picture of the dolphins but here is Boat Us. One of the best things that we did was to get unlimited coverage from Boat Us for the ICW. For one sum, we are covered for UNLIMITED towing on the ICW.




We arrived in Wrightsville Beach about sunset. This is where we said goodbye to Chad and LeeAnn over a nice bottle of wine. It is sad to think that we will not see them for another year when they will make their way down south as well. Right now they plan to stay in Wilmington for the next 6 months or so and travel back up to Annapolis during the hurricane season and then head down to the Caribbean.