After a great month at home with friends, family and some clinical work for Anne, we were eager to get back to Tilia.
We arrived at our home marina in North Carolina in early December and were underway after a brief time there getting things settled on the boat. Our daughter, Grace, joined us for the week, which has been a delight.
The winds were from the south for the first few days, so rather than beat against waves and headwinds outside, the first part of our journey was in the ICW. The ICW has good protection from the ocean, but it has shallow spots and bridges that have to be navigated. On this trip, the Onslow bridge was a particular headache for us.
The Onslow bridge is part of Camp Lejeune and connects the mainland parts of the base with the barrier islands. The bridge is quite old and was damaged during Hurricane Florence in 2018, leading to a decision to replace it. To facilitate construction of the new bridge, they have been leaving it closed from 8 am to noon and 1 pm to 5 pm for a few weeks. Understandable, but tough for us because we are too tall to go under the bridge when it is closed. In order to make the progress we wanted that day, we started south on the ICW well before dawn so we could get through the bridge before it closed at 8 am. It was the first time transiting the ICW in the dark for us, and not our favorite experience. It is difficult to avoid potential hazards in the dark. Anne stood on the foredeck with a spotlight for about an hour when we were first underway. Happily, we made it in time and had no issues with our navigation.
Because we made it through the bridge in time, we were well positioned when the wind and weather lined up, and we were able to go out on the ocean for a 140 nm overnight journey from Southport, NC to Charleston. The ocean journey went very well — we were going so fast that we had to slow the boat down to arrive in Charleston after dawn instead of in the dark. It’s been COLD (even for Minnesotans), so we are happy to be headed for points warmer.
We’ve once again been really enjoying Charleston, and it’s been great to be able to show Grace the town. Great food and drink, beautiful architecture and lots of history.
