Blame It On The Full Moon And Pass The Nervine

Camp Lejeune to Southport  |  8.8 Hours  |  57.5 Miles  

The full moon shone brightly through our ports all night giving us hope that we could depart a bit earlier this morning. The moonsplashed anchorage provided us with a 15 minute headstart on our day. I had my foot on the button to raise the anchor at 6:45. Off to the east the dawn sky glowed a golden orange. It was the moon, however, that stole the show. I cannot recall it ever being as large on the horizon as it was this morning. I stopped my morning chores and grabbed my camera, trying to capture the moment.  

After a few dozen shots at different settings, I went back to washing the mud off the deck. The moon was almost to the horizon, the sky was brightening, and there was activity on the dredge and barge off to our port. Then there was a bump and I looked to Barry through the pilothouse windshield. He shook his head to confirm that we had indeed run aground as he began working the throttle to back ourselves off the hump. A swift current also assisted our escape efforts. Free, we then had to figure out where the proper channel was to get around the dredge. After a few tense moments, everything returned to normal. We blamed our little unfortunate delay on the full moon and turned our attention to making the 11:00 opening of the Figure Eight Island swing bridge. 

We felt good about a timely arrival, until things started getting weird again. First I noticed that I had done an unacceptable job of cleaning off the anchor. I don't think I had ever done such a poor job. Once again, we agreed to blame this strangeness on the full moon. We had four hours to cover the 29 miles to the bridge. If we averaged 7.4 knots, we'd arrive with time to spare. That's when the same current that moments ago freed us, began to hold us back. We saw our boat speed drop to 5.8 knots at 9:00 and anxiety built. We passed an inlet and the current reversed direction so that at 10:00 we were running at 8 knots and once again looking good. Fifteen minutes later, after another inlet reversal, we'd dropped to 6.4 knots. The Captain called the bridge tender at 10:55 and was told if we were there, he'd open the span for our passage. At 11:00 we were still a good distance out, but the opening sequence began. We watched as the span slowly rotated -- but not slow enough. Crossroads was approaching redline RPMs and we were burning twice as much fuel as normal in an all-out sprint to the finish line.  

By the time the span was in its fully open position it was 11:04 and we were plowing through at 7.9 knots into a 2 knot current. Whew. Time to exhale and regroup for a few seconds. We needed some Nervine. Five miles down river was the Wrightsville Beach bridge with an opening at 12:00 noon. Now we needed to slow down. That proved to be just as difficult as speeding up, since the current had reversed once more. Even in idle, Crossroads was doing a current-aided 4.3 knots. Holding station in reverse idle was nerve wracking, but uneventful. The bridge opened and we were once again on our way to Southport, thankful that we would not be turning left at Green 25. This green servers as a Crossroads historical marker in that she has found the bottom on each of her prior two trips through this turn. No more pressing our luck today we mused. We passed the channel for Masonboro Inlet and commented on how low the water was.

Yes, we were at dead low tide and the water seemed to disappear. Mudflats sprung out of the shallows. The high water markings on the pilings confirmed what the tide tables read -- a four foot drop between high and low water. We bumped one more time before we reached Snows Cut to the Cape Fear River. Awaiting our exit from the Cut were two Army patrol boats. At this point we joked that at least their machine guns were not pointed at us. We could see the turn for Southport, but it was quickly obscured by the two car ferries that crossed directly in front of us (of course). The waves in the Cape Fear Inlet were choppy and we caught several just right that sprayed the windshield. Even with all these challenges and excitement we arrived at Safe Harbor South Harbour Village at 3:30, half an hour ahead of schedule. Bob and Todd were on the dock awaiting our arrival and in record time had us tied up and plugged in. We each needed a few hours to chill before dinner. Both of us were still looking for the Nervine.