Side Trip In Southport

After Osprey Marina we headed for Southport, NC arriving at Deep Point Marina on April 23rd. We passed through the tricky "Rockpile"...

near Myrtle Beach at near high tide so had no problems. The rockpile is one of the few rocky areas along the ICW as the canal here had to be blasted out of bedrock. It is much more narrow than other areas and  any straying off course could end up with a bent propeller or worse!

For you golfers who often see a "Caution: Golf Cart Crossing" sign along a path at a golf course, this may have new meaning. Here there was a Caution: Golf Tram Crossing...

 but it was a bout 70 feet in the air so had no affect on us. It probably is a fun place to golf just for the ride.

There is occasionally a  lighthouse along the way...

and more half sunken boats. Can't figure that one out. Why are they left there as a hazard to the waterway?

Then there were a few buzzards on the beach cleaning up a mess. It reminded me of a cartoon I read yesterday where one buzzard said to the other as they were picking a skeleton clean... "Just once wouldn't it be great to find one with a nougat center".

On the way to Deep Point Marina...

 we decided to take a side trip the next day. So what did we do? Well.... we got off our boat and got on another.

Even though we could have taken our boat there, we took the ferry in our harbor to Bald Head Island for the day.

Bald Head Island is the location of the famous point Cape Fear and is located at the mouth of the Cape Fear River. The island community does not allow any cars on its roads so you get around on foot,

by bicycle, or by golf cart.

The speed limit on the island is 18mph!

You must be careful about renting a boat here though. Not all as seaworthy as you would like them to be.                    

One of the highlights on the island is the lighthouse.

We were told that the 108 steps to the top promised to give a spectacular view. This one of the harbor...

and this one looking towards Cape Fear.  

    

                        
We were not disappointed.

The lighthouse was made up of  brick exterior and interior walls with cemented in rocks on the inside.

It still is very stout. The only sign of aging is the peeling on the stucco type layer on the outside surface.

After a nice lunch at Mojo's...

we rented a golf  cart for the rest of the day. What a great way to get around the island where there are lots and lots of beautiful beach homes...

and huge sandy beaches.

Debi was able to add a few shells to her collection.

There are several golf courses here as you might imagine. One of the holes appeared to be challenging...

especially so if you were distracted by the possibility of a "gator" coming out of the water while you in the middle of your back swing. It's not the water hazard but the hazard in the water!

One of the on going projects on the ICW is continual dredging at one place or another. It seems the Cape Fear River had started to shoal in to the point that it started to affect the shipping traffic in the area. We saw quite a large dredging project in action to try to fix that. The dredging rig in this case was out in the river about a mile offshore.

The "spoils" [dirt and sand] are then piped being carried by a water slurry to the beach through an underwater pipe.
This is then connected to a pipe above ground... 

 to a point about 4 miles down the beach...

 where it dumps out onto the beach. There a bulldozer piles up the sand that settles out working 24/7. Needless to say the neighbors are not happy.

Much of this sand is carried out by the next outgoing tide. It will be interesting to see how long it takes for the river to fill in again. This must be a government job as there is no logic to this project.

We thought this island was a great place for bird watching ...

until we found this one. Aren't these illegal in some states?

Once back at our boat for the evening we were entertained during our dinner time by this Snowy Egret systematically walking down the dock getting the "easy pickings" off the floats for his night time dinner.

Good thing he wasn't pink!

Nautical Word For The Day: [from seatalk.info]

Rack:

1. A mass of high clouds being driven by the wind.

From Great Loop Jargon:

2. That part of the lamb that is best when grilled to medium-rare, lightly seasoned, and served with a fine red wine.