Windy, Windy Morehead City (did we mention it was windy?)

We had a peaceful night for our first anchorage of the trip near Camp Lejeune and enjoyed a nice sunset.  By dusk, six other boats were anchored with us, all preparing for the Onslow bridge.  Happily on the weekend, the work stops and the bridge opens every hour.  We passed through on the 9am opening without issue.

Sunset on the hook.

Onslow Beach Swing bridge in the closed position.

Onslow Beach Swing bridge opening for us

Onslow Beach Swing bridge fully opening, clear for our passage.

As we continued past the bridge, we were passing through the Camp Lejeune military reservation and there was no shortage of signs along the way prohibiting landing.  The areas are strictly off limits due to highly sensitive unexploded ordnance in the area.  Recreational boaters like us are permitted to pass through during periods of non-military use.    The guide book we are using as one of our many navigational aids said this section of the ICW is occasionally closed for artillery, small-weapons firing and beach-landing exercises.  We saw the signs at each end of the range area.

Warning sign as we passed through the Camp Lejeune range area.

We saw many, many practice bombing targets such as this one.

More warning signs.  They were plentiful and prominent.

Sign at each end of the Camp Lejeune military exercise range area.

We passed through the entire area on a Saturday and there were no military exercises that we saw.

Once we were through this area, we traveled the length of Bogue Sound on our way to Morehead City.  The wind was picking up and there was a TON of shoaling.  At one point, there was a vessel coming towards us and the red/green markers marking shoaling were so tight, we had a quick conversation on the marine radio and then held back until that vessel passed through and then we went through.  No room for two boats to pass, single file only.  The tide was going with them so they got priority.  

After a 35 nautical mile day traveling mostly east/west, we arrived on Saturday afternoon at the relatively unprotected city docks in Morehead City where we stayed three nights in unrelenting winds and rocking and rolling.  Docking was a challenge, but as always, our Captain did an incredible job getting us in the slip while navigating tide, high winds and lots of Saturday afternoon small recreational boats out for their weekend fun.  

During our time in Morehead City, we made sure we spent time off the boat each day to get a break from the uncomfortable conditions.  Hilary was able to pick up a new set of flip-flops to replace the ones that were sacrificed in the boat yard in Carolina Beach.  Bert was able to do an engine alignment on the port engine after our strut/prop work.  Kudos to Bert being able to work down in the engine room for nearly six hours with all the rocking and rolling from the wind.  We also took a lengthy ebike/escooter ride to re-provision (Harbor Freight, West Marine, Wal-Greens, Food Lion, Ace Hardware, etc.)

04-05-2025 Camp Lejeune to Morehead City.
A day of east/west travel with much along Bogue Sound.

Our wheels when we provision. 
We covered about 15 miles one day in Morehead City.

Morehead City has an annual Big Rock Blue Marlin fishing tournament annually.
Each marble tile in the fountain wall is for the tournament winner each year. 
The tile has the year, the vessel name, the port it hails from and weight of the Blue Marlin.

Bert working on the engine alignment.
It's better, but he's not quite satisfied yet.

Our final night in Morehead City culminated in a massive thunderstorm, with winds in excess of 50mph, torrential rain, and forecasted hail.  We got all of it except for the hail between 11:00pm and midnight.  On the bright side, it did wash the salt spray off of Make Me Smile.  This morning the three days of wind was finally passed and after a quick stop at the fuel dock we were back underway today.

We had an uneventful 31 nautical mile journey today and are in a 100% protected basin in a resort type community called River Dunes Marina at Grace Harbor in Oriental, NC.  As we continue north, we are in a section of the country with less tide.  Now our tides are 2' vs. the 8'-10' we were experiencing in Georgia and South Carolina.  Soon we should be through the heaviest shoaling areas as well.  Good news on both counts.  

We got off the boat this afternoon for a run/skateboard ride to see the massive property.  It is 2 miles to the front entry gate.  And best of all, there is no wind.  Hooray!  We will have a very peaceful evening here and will be on the move tomorrow.  We have a good weather window and will move the boat every day this week.  

When the Dock Master helped us tie up, he said he had seven boats held up here for the last few days due to the wind.  They all moved on this morning and we are the only transients here this evening.