Day 61: Swansboro to Oriental, NC

Under a threatening grey sky we pushed off from our dock on Swansboro, NC and 50 yards later were in the ICW heading east. Within minutes we were passing the spoil bank from Bogue Inlet. This is one of the biggest inlets between Cape Fear and Morehead City. The cruising guide says not to use it in anything drawing more than 4' in stinky weather. Having once entered it on a 55' boat drawing nearly 5' in nasty weather, I concurred.  This day we stayed in the ditch.

Across Bogue Sound the channel was very narrow with unforgiving shoals on either side; we maintained a speed of 8 to 9 knots in Bogue Sound.

We arrived in Morehead City at noon to discover a dozen small boats with anglers fishing on the channel. Proceeding north we entered Core Creek. About that time we were hit by a summer squall. We were hit by 25 knots of wind on the nose and that along with our 8 knots gave us an apparent wind of 32 knots. While the crew was all on the fly bridge and piloting, one of the cushions on the aft deck was blown overboard by the squall. We went back and tracked for three miles once we discovered the loss, but no cigar.

At 1:45pm, we reached the Neuse River and the first open water we could travel on all day. The river was a few miles across to our destination, Oriental, NC.

We were welcomed on the dock by Dave Wright and Walter Lane, both brokers for Beneteau’s local dealer St. Bart's Yacht Sales which has an office in Oriental.

The Great Loop was on display all day Saturday, Aug 25 for the public to view. The boat was tied up at the Oriental Marina and Inn.