Slow and fuzzy start

There was every intent of seeing Kintala on her way at first light with hopes of getting to Barefoot Marina in N. Myrtle Beach as early as possible. Friends last seen in Oriental awaited and we wanted to spent as much time as we could catching up with events. But "first light" was very, very fuzzy. I'm not sure I have ever seen fog quite as thick as this morning's offering of visibility just barely enough to see the bow from the cockpit. With the tidal current running at full and all shores, markers, and other boats obscured, trying to make our escape on chart plotter alone would have been trying too hard. So we didn't.

By 0930 or so the day was turning nice, most of a cup of coffee was gone, the deck was ready and the anchor stowed. Kintala turned the corner, bulled through the current flowing through the Shallotte Inlet the settled into an easy lope down a seemingly endless line of big, and some really big, houses. At the Little River Inlet we eased past a couple of Casino boats, big things that looked out of place on the Little River; like a G scale model train on an HO scale layout. But other than a couple of over sized wake encounters today was low key; even after clearing the Little River Swing Bridge and entering the "Rock Pile". This stretch has a bit of a reputation because it is seriously narrow (which is saying something on the ICW), sharped edged, and lined with rock. Meeting a commercial tow could easily turn ugly and about half a boat length was the difference between smooth going and a hull busting crunch. We saw nary another boat, obviously avoided any hull busting, cleared the Barefoot Landing Swing Bridge, and idled back the Wester-Beast in preparation for docking; at which point the motor quit cold. It started right back up again, then quit once more just as I shifted into reverse to stop the boat at the dock. Bump. Kintala now sports a black "racing stripe" on the starboard hull where we rubbed to a stop against the fuel dock. Guess I'll need to do something about that low idle speed. Oh, and the dinghy motor worked for two whole days before taking another break, and the Honda Gen got a slug of water and quit as well. Three for three in the engine department in Kintala world.

But we are here, had a great day talking and shopping and eating with good friends, spent some time in the hot tub, (Barefoot Marina is a nice place for a good price) emptied this, filled up that, and charged up the other things. Plans for tomorrow are still unmade but some weather is moving in, we would like to get further south, and we need to get back off the dock.