Little River, SC and Southport, NC

We spent 3 nights at the Myrtle Beach Yacht Club in Little River, SC. We enjoyed several great meals with friends Andy and Julie and Hot Tomato, Crab Catchers, and the Flying Fish restaurants. The Myrtle Beach area has sooo many restaurants- I think it's possible to eat in a different one every night of the year! We took advantage of this stopover to retrieve our van from Andy and Julie and drive it to New Bern, where we are headed.

We had a great meal here with friends Andy and Julie in Little River

Our friends have a great view of the ICW from their condo

We moved on to Southport, NC, and met up with more Looper buddies- Robert and Kay, and Patsy. We met some new friends, Harry and Karen. Good times!

Lighthouse near Southport

Southport

Sunrise

Early morning shrimping

The shoaling at New River Inlet was the worst that we have seen so far in our travels. We were within about 45 minutes of low tide and saw 2 boats that had just run aground. Mark radioed a boat that we knew was half an hour ahead of us for advice. We made it through the Inlet with no problem but there was some nail biting involved. 

Our next stop was the anchorage at Mile Hammock Bay near Camp LeJeune.  This was our first day of brand new territory on the Loop- from here on, it's a new path for us!

Journey's End- For Now

Days: 182-183
Miles: 45/25
Total miles: 3,655

Yesterday we started early and cruised 45 miles from Myrtle Beach, SC to Southport, NC. We made it through the infamous "Rock Pile" without incident. It was very windy, but the scenery was great!

Docks need to be extremely long here!

We were welcomed to the Southport City dock, and North Carolina, by Harbor Host extraordinaire Robert Creech, who helped us tie up. A bit later we enjoyed porch time at the Robert and Kay's home just across the street. It turned into a Looper reunion, with Patsy, Mark and Jane, and Roger and Mary. A couple of neighbors joined us, too. It was Southern hospitality at its finest!

Porch time!

Later we walked over to the Yacht Basin Provision Company for dinner- fresh fish, of course. Along the way we picked up Michael, another visitor in town. After dinner we went back to Mara Beel, along with Roger and Mary, Mark and Jane, and a new Looper acquaintance, Tanya. Tanya is well-known among Loopers for single-handedly doing the Loop last year in her 25-foot Ranger Tug- a brave woman!

New friend Michael

Today, Friday, was another 0600 start for us to take advantage of the tide. We needed to travel 20-plus miles up the Cape Fear River, so an outgoing tide would really slow us town. We traveled on the rising tide and tied up at Bennett Brothers in Wilmington at slack tide- perfect! The scenery was entirely different today. We saw military installations, huge tankers and container ships, several tugs, small crab boats, and plenty of pelicans.

Off to an early start

Cape Fear lighthouse

Takeoff is slow for pelicans

The bird on the left has a band on his right leg.

Pelicans just love crabbers!

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Notice the orange lifeboat on the stern of this tanker.

Unloading containers

Tug boats

They must love pelicans around here!

Wilmington and lift bridge

USS North Carolina

BIG guns!

Mara Beel will be spending the next few months tucked away in this "hurricane hole" marina while we head home. We will miss our Looper friends a lot, but we are so excited to be with family and friends at our river house.