Cape Fear Revisited ... ugh

We had yet another exciting experience on the Cape Fear River again today.

Last fall while transiting the river down to the ICW going 9 knots with a 4.2 knot current on the stern, we snagged something on the prop.

We limped over to a marina where we tied up to the dock and Scott had to jump overboard in his wetsuit in the dark red water and cut away a piece of burlap or net sacking.

This morning we had a fuel tanker come off the ocean and up the Cape Fear River right up to our stern. If that wasn't worrisome enough, a machine-gun toting coast guard pilot boat ran over alongside of our boat with lights flashing and PA that we were within the 500-yard security zone around the vessel. Now, keeping 500 yards away from a ship is very difficult in a narrow channel on the river with shoals on either side. As soon as we could deke out, we did, into deep enough waters. We slowed down to let the big guy pass, as did our friends on Georgia E but wow, a bit shivery and it wasn't just the cold.

So now I'm downloading waypoints to try and avoid shoals up ahead while serving up breakfast and getting school going. We'd like to make 60 miles today, just 40 miles from Beaufort, NC.