We knew one of Windara’s drawbacks would be her draft. On our way south, we had to skip Southport this year because we weren’t able to get a reservation – Southport Marina (now Morningstar Marina) can only put us on their face dock, and it was already booked. This time around, they could only take us for a day, so we also booked two days at Deep Point Marina and the rest of our two weeks here at Safe Harbor South Harbour Village Marina. While it’s a bit of a pain to have to marina hop, it’s kind of cool to get to check out other parts of the area, and I’m glad we could get in at all.
We took advantage of our one day close to town and went to Flava’s for ice cream. We were feeling lazy afterwards and decided to hit up Dry Street Pub & Pizza – we’ve both been itching for a good pizza, and while it wouldn’t hold up in NY, it’s some of the better pizza we’ve found in our travels. It was also a little sentimental – it’s where we made the decision to buy Windara when we were northbound last year. I was bummed that we couldn’t stay close to town for longer, but Morningstar is supposed to be dredging over the winter, so hopefully that means more options for us next spring.
While we were at Morningstar, we took the opportunity to run some cleaner through the aft head pipes along with a bunch of fresh water and pump it out again. It’s SO nice to have a usable aft head again, and I’d really like to get both holding tanks and all the hoses clean. Although with Windara’s age, a revamp of the entire waste system is really in order.
Deep Point Marina is kind of out in the middle of nowhere – it’s a couple miles into town and shares space with the Bald Head Island Ferry. We were on the face dock right next to the ferry terminal and it was a little unsettling to have the ferries so close, but we got used to it. The marina is really well protected, with only a small bit of wrap-around swell making it through the channel . We gave Windara a quick bath, I got a little metal polishing done, and since the marina has free laundry, I took the opportunity to get a few loads done. Since we were on the fuel dock, we were able to fill the other tank with diesel and get pump out again (excessive, I know, but it doesn’t hurt!).
We then settled in at the Safe Harbor South Harbour Village Marina, and I was glad to be done marina hopping. It’s a little farther down the ICW from Morningstar and unfortunately it’s not walkable to get to town, but it’s in a beautiful location. There are a couple restaurants right at the marina, and Oak Island is a short cab ride away, as is Southport itself (if you can get a cab!), and we found a beautiful little park to walk to with our morning coffee. David on Flight was here for a couple days, and we got to catch up on our passage.
For our anniversary dinner, we went to Joseph’s and had a nice night out. We were going to go to Salt 64 on Oak Island, but we were nervous about whether or not we could get a cab – David had just been telling us how hard of a time he had getting one. Joseph’s was nice, but it wasn’t anything all that fancy, so we decided we’d do a second celebration in either Beaufort or Annapolis.
Since Chris needed to travel for work, we had to pass up a good travel weekend, but we made up for it by renting a car and visiting some of the surrounding towns. Of course a stop in Southport wouldn’t be complete without a trip to Burney’s Bakery, and our first order of business after picking up the truck on Saturday was to get a half dozen of their glazed croissants. I got cherry, cinnamon apple, and Bavarian cream, and Chris got orange creamsicle (their flavor of the month), chocolate, and lemon.
We then grabbed our beach stuff and headed over to check out Oak Island. We drove to the lighthouse, which unfortunately wasn’t open for tours, but it was still cool to see up close. We then found a spot to park and go to the beach, and it was WEIRD being at a beach with so many other people. In the Bahamas, Tahiti Beach was the busiest beach we visited, and there were maybe 20 people there. We grabbed a late lunch at Koko Cabana – the food was good but the service left a lot to be desired. Our waitress clearly couldn’t have cared less, and we only got served after I asked another member of the waitstaff to send her over.
Sunday we drove up to Wilmington, NC, which we’d both been interested to check out. A few people had mentioned it, and the Waterway Guide also made it sound interesting, so we figured why not. You can tell it’s a town in the middle of gentrifying and that it was not in great shape in the not-so-distant past, but now it’s a cool little town with lots of craft breweries and tattoo parlors, interesting shops and restaurants, pretty old homes and an art community. There’s also a nice riverwalk, and while we didn’t get to visit, the battleship North Carolina is there too. We had lunch at the Fork ‘N’ Cork, a casual, tiny little pub that wouldn’t have felt out of place in Ireland.
Before heading back to the marina, we drove over to Potter’s Seafood, a local seafood shop that’s become a favorite of ours. Almost everything is locally caught, and you’re buying direct from the fishermen, so everything’s fresh and reasonably priced. We’d hoped to get some shrimp but they were out, so we got some grouper instead, which Chris coated in coconut flakes and served with grits and curried veggies.
Monday morning, Chris had to fly to New York for work, and I had a mostly uneventful week here by myself. I got all the metal polished, and I think the worst of the rust that we acquired between the Bahamas and some sporty offshore passages is now addressed. I also buffed out a spot where we’d brushed against a piling that had been driving me crazy. I took myself out to dinner at Josephs and so typical of me, managed to be super awkward… one of the other waiters said “good evening” and I didn’t hear him the first time and when he said it again, in my haste to respond as he was walking away, I replied “thank you” half under my breath. I later flagged him down to apologize for being both rude and awkward in the same breath. By then I’d ordered myself a piece of raspberry cheesecake, but he said the key lime was better and brought me a piece to take home. Possibly the first time being super awkward worked in my favor!
I have to give a huge shout out to the marina staff here at Safe Harbor. As the weekend approached, weather was not looking good, and we didn’t want to have to head out in a storm. I asked about extending at the marina office, and they originally said they were completely full. I tried calling Morningstar and they were full also, and I was dreading having to deal with the Cape Fear River to get up to Deep Point. Fortunately Safe Harbor was able to shift some things around and make space for us, and it turned out that they had a bunch of cancellations with the wonderful weekend weather we’ve had.
Overnight Friday and into Saturday, the wind came up and we got pouring rain. As marina guests, we were invited to the Cape Fear Yacht Club’s Memorial Day Weekend cookout. The weather was absolute garbage, but we went anyway. We got two complimentary drinks and a burger/hotdog/Italian sausage each, and we had fun chatting with our dock neighbors and friends of theirs who they’re traveling with and a couple members of the club. Apparently Safe Harbor is a sponsor of the club, so marina guests are welcome to visit the club bar on Friday and Saturday evenings. The clubhouse is small but nice, and the property is on a beautiful little marsh/pond. Also, I feel like they’re super smart to welcome visiting cruisers. Yacht clubs are always looking for ways to get new members, and while most of us are transient, someday if we choose to settle down (or if we know of friends who are looking to), those kinds of community connections definitely weigh into decisions.
Today we took care of a few more projects. On the way into Charleston, the mast block for the first reef exploded, so we replaced it along with the dyneema line that the blocks are all attached to, which was nasty and worn. We filled our water tanks and both the diesel and gas jerry cans. We also re-ran the reefing lines since they were all criss-crossed and a mess. As I was re-running the lines, I heard someone whistle – it was our friends on Minx passing by on the ICW! I taught myself how to properly whip the end of a line, which I’d been wanting to learn for a long time. Not too bad for my first try!
We’d thought about leaving today, but it’s been gusty and squally, and while conditions weren’t anything we haven’t seen before, we didn’t see a good reason to push it. We plan to get up before dawn tomorrow and get under way, with the intent of getting to Cape Lookout by tomorrow evening. If weather’s not looking good for that when we get up, we’ll head to Wrightsville Beach instead. Either way, we want to put some miles under our keel again!
