From Swansboro to Bald Head Island ( and Jacksonville, N.C.)

This is another dredge heading north,

 I don't know why they are leaving, 

they are sorely needed south of where this picture was taken, 

shallow water everywhere! Careful, Careful, Careful.

We are in the midst of Camp Lejuene,

 military debris scattered about like playthings, 

of course around here they are playthings.

Definitely not your everyday sign on the ICW!

Big Brother was watching,,,

but the next thing we saw,,, go figure!

and then there was this, weird place to go through.

Onslow Beach,

 not much between the ICW and the Atlantic here.

Military housing in Jacksonville, NC.

 this is actually not really on the ICW but that's a  story in itself, 

have you ever been under I-95 in a Boston Whaler?

Ginny and I have decided that we will take our love bugs,

 no-see-ums and mosquitos as long as we don't have 

to deal with these huge and painful horseflies.

Imagine tooling along in all of eight feet of water when your boat needs five,

 your nervous and all of a sudden something hits your leg like a blowtorch.

Not a pretty sight or sound!

Before we left essex, Ct. I measured the height of our mast

 to see what our "air draft" was, or in other words, 

how much room we needed to fit under a bridge.

 As we approach the "Figure Eight" swing bridge

 we realize that we are about to prove me right or wrong.

pretty close,,,,

Made it! A sigh of relief,,,,

Finally the open waters of the Cape Fear River!

 Deep water, wide expanses and commercial boats not jet skis! 

I don't recommend transiting Wrightsville Beach to Carolina Beach

 on a beautiful Saturday afternoon!

This is the Bald Head Island ferry.

It was crossing our bow headed into the mainland 

as we were headed to the island itself.  

Bald Head Island is Useppa on steroids,

 it is huge by comparison but shares some of the same qualities 

that make Useppa so cool. 

It is bridgeless, it is fairly private, 

the property is beautiful and it has croquet! 

We plan on spending a couple of days here and see what it's all about. 

After the trip from Beaufort to the Cape Fear River I can stand a rest. 

Did I mention a side trip to Jacksonville, N.C.?

Old Baldy, Ginny and I will be exploring this wonderful island 

for the next day or so and I'm sure there will be lots of pictures.