Day 212 - Your Name Is Mudd — Captain Father John

Miles cruised 55, fuel purchased 138 gallons, fuel purchased $240, slip fee $61, daily high temperature 75°f

It turned out to be a quiet night on the dock in front of the Bluewater Grill. Priscilla and I ate there on the patio with a beautiful view of CL. I have searched the world over for the best New England clam chowder. The winner has always been Legal Seafood in Boston. However, the Bluewater Grill is a contender for the top spot. The chow-dah was outstanding.

This section of the ICW is a bit more challenging due to the low bridges. We had to pass four bridges to get from Wrightsville Beach to Swansboro. We were transiting at high tide so there was no “extra” height for us to pass under. The Wrightsville bridge claims a height of 20′ but the Waterway Guide warns not to trust that height. The real limitation is the opening times. Some bridges open only once and hour and some open on the hour and the half hour. The challenge is to time your arrival to be five minutes before the scheduled opening not five minutes after and have to wait an hour.

This chart provides bridge location, bridge height and scheduled opening time.

We arrived 15 minutes early for the bridge opening and had to wait in the channel with two other boats. We “touched bottom” for the second time. Just soft mud but a touch. We were in the channel waiting for the Surf City swing bridge to open. Dale was taking over the helm after we passed the bridge. He changed the GPS to plot the location of the next bridge. Since we were stopped in the middle of the channel I did not immediately switch the GPS back to our location. There was a slight current that pushed us to the side near the green channel marker at 0.0 mph. It looked fine until I felt that little something different. I moved us off the mud. In checking the GPS, if I had put it back on our location I would have seen where the deeper water was. It was my fault. No overheating and no vibrations. I will check the raw water strainers tonight.

Samuel Alexander Mudd (December 20, 1833 – January 10, 1883) was an American physician who was imprisoned for conspiring with John Wilkes Booth in the assassination of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. The common phrase you name is Mudd refers to Samuel Mudd.

The swing bridge is open.

I did my penitence in the bilge and cleaned out the five raw water strainers. (Penitence – the state or condition of regretting sins or offenses and being willing to atone for them). I could have waited until tomorrow when the engines were completely cooled down but I could use a sauna. There was a little mud in the two engine strainers. All is clean again.

I am sitting on the upper deck of CL writing the blog and watching a squall line roll in. There are a few boats anchored just a few hundred yards north of us. We are plugged into the dock at Casper’s Marina in Swansboro, NC. A 44′ yawl just arrived and is anchoring in the high winds. Their stories are different from ours. Who knows the difference between a ketch and a yawl?

As Priscilla shopped in downtown Swansboro. I sat on a bench outside the store and made friends with the local Muscovy ducks.

This is my Muscovy duck buddy.

On Sunday we will cruise 25 miles to Beaufort, NC and spend two nights so we can do some sight-seeing in this historic seaport city.

Bonus photo

Carl (Chef) Wooden – quote of the day..

“Our knowledge is a little island in a great ocean of nonknowledge.”
Isaac Bashevis Singer