13th-16th.May.2019 Southport to Wrightsville Beach, NC

pelicans in flight at Southport, NC

(this is where we saw flocks of ibis, but my camera didn't capture any)

We waited in Southport's small harbour until the tide was rising in the Cape Fear River. The mantra amongst cruisers with slow boats like ours seems to be "mid tide and rising" as the time to go, so as to ride with the current and speed us along the way. 

I can't imagine the cost of these long docks!

We rode with the current upstream on the Cape Fear river all the way to Snow's Cut, lined on both sides by red sand banks, and popular with fishing enthusiasts.

Serenada going through Snows Cut

red sand banks and fishing enthusiaists

Banks Channel at Wrightsville Beach was our anchorage for the next few days. We'd been here with Jorge & Kim on our southbound travels ... brought back memories. I remember it being the first place we saw palm trees (southbound), so I guess that's it for palm trees, as we're northbound now. The beach was much more popular now than it was in the fall of 2013 when we had it all to ourselves. What a difference the season makes.

Wrightsville Beach in the heat of Spring

quite the project, but not sure what the goal was

Gil walking the beach for my sake ;)

Wrightsville's fishing pier

Back on board Serenada, there was much to watch even in the anchorage....  this motor boat had anchored close beside us. It's crew of 8+ were all young men. Some sights never get old, eh? I had to snap a photo, and I tried to get one discreetly through an open port window, but judging from the guy at center, I was caught in the act... but he didn't mind. 

eye candy for Serenada's mate

regatta race in Banks Channel anchorage

Here, the "coast of living" is always within reach if you have a boat or a float to get you on the water.

We lingered here a bit .... did some provisioning; visited the hardware store - captains are constantly repairing something. The hardware store sold crab pots. We now have a crab pot again. What is it with men? How much crab would we have feasted on if we just bought crabs instead of crab pots? Not to mention the chicken legs we could be eating vs. using as bait. ???  This time, however, Gil has added a weight inside. Hopefully we'll manage to hang on to this pot long enough to bring in a harvest.