I Didn't Get Shot At Today!

SHIP'S LOG:

When I got up this morning and sat in the cockpit drinking my morning coffee and watching the other boats take off for the ICW, I happened to notice that I could see my breath. I flipped on a little temp gauge that I have adn it registered 37 degrees. I really didn't feel all that cold until I knew how cold it actually was. On went the layers for the day ahead.

Today's jaunt was intended to be to an anchorage known as "Mile Hammock." It is a little oxbow off the ICW, just south of the Onslow Swing Bridge and on the grounds of Camp LeJuene. The Marines dredged one half of the oxbow to a depth of 7feet MLW and it is a rather popular anchorage on this part of the ICW because, well, there are so few. To get there, you have to pass through the Camp LeJuene Firing Range which goes across the ICW. You come up to a sign, with big amber lights, which says not to proceed if the lights are flashing. I was lucky because there were no flashing lights. Then you have a 5-7mile run to the Onslow Bridge, just north of which is the end of the firing range. An you go along, there are signs warning of "unexploded ordinance" and "Stay off the banks." It is a bit unnerving to know that at any moment, someone, completely by accident, could blow you "to kingdom come!" It may happen some day but it didn't happen today!

Prior to arriving at the beginning of Camp LeJuene, I went along a strip of the ICW which had some beautiful houses one one side and sand dunes and salt marshes on the other, beyond which, not very far away was the Atlantic Ocean. This was not quite "beach front property," but it wasn't far from it. You could smell the salt air and when it was quiet enough, you could hear the surf. The houses along this stretch pretty much all qualify as "Mc Mansions," like the houses in the Solomons. More room than ten people need and the land and boat docks to go with it. Somewhere down here, some people are making piles of money. True, the same houses bought down here for $300,000 would go for two or three times or four as much back in Connecticut and Rhode Island, but they are everywhere along stretches of the waterway. There was even one painted Lavender! Well, there is no accounting for taste.

When I got to Mile Hammock, there was already one boat there. And not only was it there, it was right in the middle of the anchorage. Now this really honks me off. First of all, it is a small boat, 22-25ft and probably a centerboarder. This means that it can be anchored a lot closer to the shore that say for instance, me! And he was ridding a very short scope so that every puff of breeze swung him around. It took me three tries to get a spot where I would have plenty of swing room and wouldn't whack him. And then another boat came in and went through the whole procedure for themselves. Then another, and another, and there was a lot of yelling and screaming as captains and crews (husbands and wives) tried to fit themselves into what should have been a very accommodating anchorage, screwed up by one unthinking boat owner. I think that it must belong to a Marine or someone on the base, as no one was on it nor has shown up on it.

We did have a show. The Mile Hammock evidently is used by the Marines to train their small craft drivers. Five very fast 35-40ft rubber boast with much too much horsepower engines came roaring in, filled with personnel. They disembarked them on the docks, took on board five and went out a little ways from shore to practice their drill for the day. This evidently was to give each crew the opportunity to spin the craft around in its own length, first to port and then to starboard at top speed. This went on most of the afternoon. Eventually, everyone go on the boats and they roared away. But there was more! We were treated to an "OSPREY," the Marine tilt rotter aircraft, very strange looking craft,which can fly like a plane and land like a helicopter. It is a very strange looking aircraft especially when it has the engines pointed up and it is flying along. Sadly, they don't have a very good safety record and I cringed every time it came in for a landing. Thankfully, all were perfect.

The cruising guides mentioned specifically that if you anchor in Mile Hammock, that you use an anchor light as the Marines often conduct night exercises and they would want to avoid your boat. As I look out the port, the boats here to night have the place lit up like Broadway. No chance of an accident tonight I think!