The portion of the ICW that runs through this part of North Carolina is in protected waters, and we were glad for this today. It was clear and sunny but windy. If we had been on the Chesapeake Bay, we may not have been moving today, but here we had a very comfortable trip. We spent most of the day in the pilothouse, as the winds were really strong on the flybridge.
We had two swing bridges to wait for today. At this one, we waited while this tug and barge went through. We would have liked to have watched them 3 miles north on the waterway, at an area that had badly shoaled. There, it was shallow enough that Monarch ran aground. We were able to back off and find our way around it. A sail boat ran aground five times in this area today, before we arrived there. There were temporary marks to help guide boats through, but it did not seem like there was enough room for this tug and barge to maneuver. We figured he just powered through the soft ground.
With the confined space and many boats moving south, we once again felt we were on a marine highway. The weather is calling for freeze conditions west of the waterway and everyone is in a rush to get south and to warm weather. We are at anchor tonight in Top Sail Sound, just south of Surf City, NC.
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