Last night we anchored off of Camp LeJeune, N.C. For those that are unfamiliar with this - it is the Marine Corps Base. It covers a lot of waterfrontage, in fact, many, many miles. We anchored at a place referred to on the charts as Mile Hammock. We were just in front of where the Marines were doing practice take offs and landings with the CH-53 helicopters (the biggest and fastest ones they have), as well as the Osprey (plane). It was very impressive! I have posted pictures of both. Then, this morning about 7:00am, I was in the cockpit and heard something loud and low, meaning big, coming from the south towards us. I watched and listened, expecting to see a barge and tow boat, but instead there were four camoflodged (sp?) boats heading into the anchorage area. It was awesome!!! They headed straight for the bulkhead dock - there was a platoon of men on the dock waiting for them. They loaded on the boats and left the area. I was dissappointed in the other boats at anchor - they showed no respect for the marines. They hoisted their anchors and proceeded to get in the marines' way as they were trying to get out of the anchorage. I guess Jeff and I have a respect for the military that is not present in a lot of people. We felt very priveleged to watch the training excercises, both this morning and yesterday afternoon/evening.
So, we are in Wrightsville Beach this evening, after a tedious day of hurry up and wait. We really didn't make that many miles today (only 40), nor did we intend to. We are exactly where we wanted to be tonight, but we had to wait for almost 2 hours to get through the last bridge, at Wrightsville Beach. We took the dogs ashore early this evening and walked for a short time on the beach. The surfers are out! The waves didn't look very big to me, so I'm not so sure why they are out there. We have had on again, off again rain today, as well as 15 - 25 knot winds. This is the first day of semi-yukky weather we have had since we started south. The forecast is for the next couple of days to be like this. Perhaps we will just stay here and wait it out. I am looking forward to a long walk on the beach tomorrow morning. Now that we have passed Oct 1 the dogs are allowed on the beach.
We are meeting all kinds of people along the way. It is an interesting bunch of people going down the waterway. Some have no clue. Jeff and I are feeling much better about our boat handling skills after watching the boats around us. It is interesting that we are seeing a lot of the same boats day after day in the anchorage. But then again we may not see certain boats for several days, and then there they are again. Everyone has their places/towns/marinas that they like to stop at. And tonight there are a half dozen boats in this anchorage that we have never seen. And they are not local boats - how have we missed them? Boats from everywhere! And all different kinds and sizes, of boats as well as people. Some people travel alone, as in alone on the boat by themselves, others have two couples on one boat, some boats have all men, some all women.
Better get this posted before I lose my wireless signal again. It sounds like there is a storm getting ready to hit us - it is thundering and the dogs are frantic. It's here!
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