Week 50: May 14 – May 20 – Around the Great Loop on the Answer

Week 50: Myrtle Beach, SC to Hampstead, NC

We had a pleasant day at Osprey Marina. They have a porch outside their office and a number of rocking chairs. We were advised by New Hope that this is mandatory in the south. They were both born and raised in southern Virginia. We spent some time on the porch chatting and rocking.

At Ease arrived in the morning just to get fuel but we also had a visit from the AGLCA Harbor Hosts. They finished their loop and have moved to the area and have their boat Kissed Some Frogs docked at the Wacca Wache Marina a few miles away. We have met a number of Harbor Hosts along the way and they have always been gracious and helpful.

Osprey Marina is down a long narrow channel with plenty of boats. The slips we had were tight and did not offer much room to maneuver. When we left in the morning, the bow thruster decided not to work creating a very difficult exit. This is the first time it has failed since it was fixed in October in Demopolis, AL. We will need to find a mechanic when we get to Southport.

We left on Friday to head to Southport for two days. New Hope will once again move their vehicle and leave it in Southport until we arrive in Morehead City. They have friends who live on their boat in the marina will keep an eye on the car until we get to Virginia. Morehead City is about 4 hours from where they live so it will only involve one more move before they go home. Their current guests were also leaving today since their car was in Southport and took them to Enterprise to rent a car to do the transfer. We will have Saturday to explore Southport together.

On our way to Southport we contacted the Harbor Hosts for the area. We met them at Looper Palooza in January and they always tell loopers to touch base when they are passing through. Another reason for the call was to have them identify a mechanic in the area. Fortunately there are mechanics onsite (not part of the marina) and we were able to schedule one to check on the bow thruster as soon as we arrived. Once we docked, within minutes the mechanic was on the boat. It only took him about 15 minutes to identify the issue, rusted connections. He was able to fix it immediately and suggested that we consider changing the connections once we got home.

With the bow thruster fixed, we can now enjoy Southport. The Harbor Host came to the marina and was happy to hear that the bow thruster was already fixed. He provided some flyers about the town – historical and interesting places to see, plus a list of local restaurants that were providing take-out. While the town is beginning to open up, they still do not have outside dining. We were also invited to their porch for drinks that evening. They have a large porch and outside area where we could all social-distance. At Ease was also in Southport so we all enjoyed the Harbor Host’s invitation.

We walked around town and explored a few historical sites and areas where a number of movies and TV shows were filmed. On the lawn of the park, there were placards with names and photos of all the graduates from the local high school. It was nice to see that the town wanted to honor their accomplishment since all graduations have been cancelled. We also ordered seafood from one of the local restaurants to continue our pattern of at least once a week to help support the towns.

We had a visitor from one of the boats in the marina. It seems that their dream boat is a Manatee and they watch out for any that show up in Southport. They are interested in purchasing one soon and asked what we planned to do with ours. We advised that we would be selling the boat after we finish the loop. They asked us to take their phone number and call them when we were ready. The following day, they also brought one of their friends who is also interested in the boat. Who knows, we may have buyers waiting for us to finish.

Southport Marina is right off the ICW and there is considerable boat traffic. Our slips were on the end of the fuel dock so we were rocking for much of the day. Evenings were fine since the fuel dock is closed. We needed to track the current to plan our morning departure. At Ease had sent a message the day before to let us know that the current was strong on a falling tide. We watched the time/water and left at slack tide making it much easier. However, the wind picked up shortly after we left – winds @ 17mph with gusts up to 24mph. We arrived at Harbour Village in Hampstead, NC just off the ICW. The projection is that we will probably be staying more than overnight as planned since tropical storm Arthur was on the way.

Harbour Village is a quiet, safe marina where we needed to stay because of Arthur. We experienced heavy wind and much rain most of the week. What was a one night stay turned into more. The weather projections did not seem to change much and it looked as though the best day for us to leave would be on Friday. We were prepared to leave every morning just in case things changed. I called Morehead City, our next stop, daily, to push our reservation to the next day. With Memorial Day the following weekend, I could not just cancel since it would be possible that no slips would be available. Better to make daily calls. We took advantage of the down time to get a mobile mechanic to come and change the oil on the boat. That will be the last change we will need until we are home in New York.

We were safe and that was the most important thing. The marina is in the middle of a residential area quite removed from any commercial activity. There is only one pizza place that would deliver and no where to walk to explore. In the rain, we weren’t anxious to walk around anywhere. One issue we had was that WiFi was close to non-existent so I walked to the marina office and sat outside when it wasn’t raining to download some movies and TV episodes to provide something besides all the reading we were already doing. I did not see a WiFi extender anywhere on the docks so the office was the only shot I had to get a strong enough signal.

We are waiting, not so patiently, for Arthur to leave the area so that we can get back underway.