Mahi Mahi Day 2 – Wrightsville Beach North Carolina to Beaufort North Carolina

We left our beautiful anchorage in Wrightsville Beach heading north about 89 miles to get to Beaufort, North Carolina.

We had a very early 6:30 AM start because we had an long 89 mile voyage & we had to get to the Onslow Swing Bridge by noon. The Onslow Swing Bridge is currently undergoing maintenance and is only open between Noon and 1 PM every day. If we arrived after 1pm, we would have to wait a full day for the next opening. Our plan worked to perfection, we arrived at 11:45am 😃

Along our route to the bridge, we saw many Osprey nests above the channel Markers for the ICW. There is a light sensor in the picture above the nest, but you can see the bird in her little home.

During our ride, we could hear several loud bang/boom noises off in the distance. Then we saw this sign –

After a little research, it became apparent that we were passing thru the Camp Lejeune Military Base. We heard the loud bangs & booms, but the lights were not flashing, so we proceeded thru.

We had MANY Dolphin sightings during the day. Sorry no photos, too slow on the camera trigger.

About 3/4 of the way thru our voyage, we had a little scare. We began hearing a ringing noise that was gettin louder & louder. What could it be – stuffing boxes, trans bearing noise, cutlass bearings, an engine bearing – OMG 😲

After inspecting/listening to several areas of the boat, we decided to narrow down the issue. We slowed down, the noise was still there. We put the port transmission in neutral, the noise was still there. We slowed down & turned off the port engine & the noise got LOUDER.

OMG – As we had slowed the boat down to almost idle, we called the Vessel behind us and told them to pass. As they came by us we finally figured out that the loud ringing noise was coming from their boat 😃

This vessel was a beautiful, but very strange ship. He name was the Nellie Crockett. She was beautiful, but the boat had a VERY LOUD exhaust with a lot of clanging, ringing & whining noises.

We googled the name of the ship and found a wealth of history.

The Nellie Crockett is a Chesapeake Bay oyster buy-boat built for Andrew A. Crockett of Tangier, Virginia, in 1925. She is located at Georgetown, Maryland, USA. She was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1994.

Here is a link for a more detailed history on the Nellie Crockett.

https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftowndock.net%2Fshippingnews%2Fnellie-crockett&data=05%7C02%7C%7Cc17299060d614128bd4408dd93df74d9%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638829310125505167%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=DA6jAb37Mn2HzaGgXAgRa%2FJui8RVHIzZeVAca5edkgU%3D&reserved=0

We ended the night with a dinner at the Clawson’s 1905 Pub in Beaufort. This place has a lot of character & a lot of history itself.

Well it’s late after a very long day. We are wiped out and ready for bed. One last photo as we walk back to the Mahi Mahi in the Beaufort Town Creek Marina.