Friday June 17, 2016
We decided that we needed to find someplace sheltered from the north east for the weekend. The weather forecast was for gale force winds on Saturday. I poured over anchorages and marinas on Active Captain. My first choice was the Morehead City Yacht Basin. Reviews on Active Captain said that they were protected from wind in every direction, and that they were a great Marina. I called, and they told me that as long as I could wait to arrive until after 6pm, they would have a spot for us. Turns out that the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament was going on. About 170 boats were in the tournament, and 40 of them would be coming into the Marina in the late afternoon. The Marina would be glad to help us tie up, after they had taken care of all the sport fishing boats. I was glad to have a spot for two nights, in a very busy town.
We were lucky that the ICW thru Fort Lajeune was not closed for firing maneuvers. We had two bridges during the day. For one we dawdled and went as slow as we could for 45 minutes before the bridge opened on schedule. For the second, we put the pedal to the metal, and raced along the waterway, just making it to the bridge in time. Phew!
Thunderstorms were in the forecast for the late afternoon. The sky to the north grew darker and darker. We were approaching Morehead City, but it was too early to arrive at the Yacht Basin. We pulled into the area south of the city where boats anchor, and dropped the anchor. Soon after, the storm hit. Jim thinks the winds were in the range of 50knots. It was a white squall, with almost no visibility. Our anchor held, and I had kept the engine running. I didn’t want to end up on the sandbar to our leeward. We sat inside and ate dinner, while the rain came down. An hour later, all was clear again. We pulled up the anchor and motored around to the other side of Morehead City, to the Yacht Basin.
Our Marina was the happening place when we pulled in. All the fishing boats had just come in. Boats were being washed, beers were coming out of coolers, and it was a festive place!
2 nights at Morehead City Yacht Basin.