ICW – Carolina Beach, North Carolina

On Thursday, November 13th we departed Mile Hammock Bay in Camp Lejeune and traveled 51 miles to Carolina Beach anchorage.  This trip took us almost 10 hours due to a number of restricted bridges that only open on the hour or half hour.  It is very tricky to arrive at the bridge when it opens due to the tides, currents and the number of miles.  When the bridges do finally open, there is a parade of boats wanting to pass through to get to the next one.  There is a number of interesting landmarks on this segment – a very pink house, a giraffe, mermaid sculpture and a palm tree with a parking meter in the water.  We have to be cautious at all the inlets that open from the ICW to the ocean.  We anchored in this small anchorage and during the night the winds picked up to 15-25 mph, but our Mantus anchor held us!