Day 15 - Harbour Village to Homer Smith, Beaufort, NC

May 01, 2024

A new month, a new state (North Carolina). Life is good.

A couple of swimmers in front of the RV park at sunrise.

The slower swimmers with their kayak guide. They were friendly and said hello.

They stack the boats high in these racks.

The Onslow Beach Bridge Story

There is a big Marine Corps Base at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. I don't know how big it is, but it extends to the ocean across the ICW. Onslow Island is long and skinny. The north end is on the receiving end of live fire projectiles, the west end has a bathing beach and Welfare and Recreation activities for the families. There is a swing bridge crossing the ICW that is owned by and staffed by the Marines.

For years, the Onslow Beach Bridge has been one of those spots on the ICW that calls for planning and often frustration. It only opens on the top of the hour and they are pathetically strict on the timing. You late? You wait. I mean, there's a dude in that bridge 24/7/365 with nothing better to do than flip the switch. Countless times I have stressed my engine to make that bridge on time.

The bridge is old and low. Only 14 feet above the water. So, the Corps has decided to replace that bridge with a new bascule bridge that will be a whopping 16 feet when lowered.

The bridge is in the next picture.

Thus begins the story.

On the 24th of April, word spreads like wild fire that the construction of the new bridge is going to call for closure of the waterway to ALL traffic for over two months. What??! And this restriction is going into effect on the 28th of April!

You have got to be kidding me? That was one whole day before I would be passing the area. The only other alternative is to go out into the ocean at Wrightsville Beach and go 75 miles offshore to Beaufort Inlet. OK for some, impossible for others.

Ever the skeptic, I apply the standard military logic to the problem: 1) First reports are always wrong and 2) There is always more to the story.

Not completely satisfied with my own analysis, I called the US Coast Guard District headquarters. Me: Do you know that the Marine Corps is closing down the Intracoastal Waterway for two months at Onslow Beach Bridge? USCG: Huh?

I thought so. Somehow the builders and the Marines managed to forget to clue in the USCG about their plan. The Corps does not own the waterway, the Coast Guard does. You could almost see the smoke rising as the phone lines heated up. A couple hundred boaters were having heart attacks. The internet was going berserk.

A few days later and after several meetings, a new plan emerged. Yes, it is still going to suck, but the part I liked was that the whole program is delayed two weeks. The other little nugget, if you can get under the bridge, you are good to go any time, any day. I'm golden.

I never changed my dock reservation at Harbor Village Marina, miles closer to that bridge than Wrightsville Beach, if we had to go outside.

But, we did lower the bimini cover on the roof. That got us down to 12 feet before money started getting torn off the roof.

Thus, we embarked from Harbor Village and pressed on toward Onslow Beach. Approaching the bridge, I was surprised to see three boats hovering around on the far side of the bridge. This made little sense, since it was too early for folks to come down from any reasonable place up north, and also the springtime commute is going my way. I called the bridge tender on the radio to see if they had a good read on the water level. Then I got some news.

The firing range was active and the ICW would be closed until noon! Its 9:30 in the morning! It'll be dark before we get to the next stop!

Nonetheless, Cheryl went on the roof, lowered the radio antenna and posed with her camera at the highest gizmo on the roof and watched as we tip-toed under the bridge. Cheryl took these pictures from the highest point of the boat as we passed under the bridge.

We cleared it by about 2 feet.

Just as we emerged from that chilling event, we got word that the range control boat told us all that we could proceed up the ICW, in spite of the red flashing lights indicating live fire in progress.

Off we went, Off they went with their higher speed and we sedately motored on our way. At the North end of the range, we passed the other sign with the red lights.

Happy that the whole bridge folderol was behind us, we settled back into the cruising routine until we heard:

KAWHUMP!!....KAWHUMP!!....KAWHUMP!!.. and see plumes of dirty grey smoke from heavy artillery behind us.

Yipes! It scared the cat.