After two months in a wonderful marina (Ortega Landing) in Jacksonville, with numerous side car trips to places like Stuart, St. Augustine, Amelia Island, and Corpus Christi, we began to move north. We had about had our fill of the shallow Atlantic ICW on our previous journeys, so this one entailed a lot more offshore time. We moved over to Mayport, the area just off the Atlantic on the St. John's River entrance toward Jacksonville, and at dawn the following morning headed offshore bound for the Cape Fear Inlet at Southport, NC. Other than some choppy seas the first few hours, it was a delightful passage with a near full moon. We arrived in Southport late the following afternoon, and tucked into the same slip which we occupied for so long last winter. It was good to see the great Southport Marina staff again, and even some townspeople we had met on our previous stops there.
As the weather appeared to be deteriorating, we didn't stay long, but moved up the Cape Fear River and then offshore again at Wrightsville Beach. That same afternoon we arrived at the Beaufort Inlet, and docked at another of our favorite spots, Morehead City Yacht Basin. We had a delightful dinner at nearby Floyd's Restaurant, and after a couple of days we moved up the Neuse River to New Bern, NC. New Bern, and Edenton, NC which we visited a couple of years ago, are where just about all of "pre-Revolutionary War" Carolinas history took place. We actually stayed in a more remote marina across the river from New Bern in the small town of Bridgeton. It is a great facility, but not much is going on in Bridgeton. Since we retrieved the car from Jacksonville, that didn't pose too great a limitation, and we were able to adequately sightsee the area and the city of New Bern. While there, I had engaged a brightwork expert, Harald Christianson, to refresh Texas Ranger's cap rails. After riding out the rather non-eventful Tropical Storm Ana, we headed home to Texas for family reunion, visits with kids and grandkids, weddings, etc., while Harald tried to work between all of the rainy days that the New Bern area endured during May and June.
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| On Watch |
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| On Patrol |
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| I See You! |
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