Osprey is so secluded and quiet place on this east side of the USA. Fresh water clear with rich tanins make up a portion of our journey today. The quiet tranquil area of the area quickly becomes a space with large homes along the banks of the narrows and no wake zones. There are several along this path as we make our way to Southport, NC. The homes and boat traffic increase throughout the morning. Instead of solitude we are surrounded by large and small boaters enjoying this beautiful spring day. We are lucky to have the tides with us most of the way but with no wake zones we do step it down. At least the scenery is fun to watch and keeps the Captain on his toes while he boat and people watches. It makes his day more entertaining.
We were originally going to go to Deep Creek Marina but Scott noticed that once we “turned the corner” into Cape Fear there would be a 4 knt push against us. So I attempt for a marina prior to that “turn”. Southport Marina could accommodate us which turned out to be the best decision. There were so many Loopers here. Off Leash, Orion, Make it So, Ryker, and so many more. The local harbourhost invited us all over to his place for porchtails. That’s a BYOB and a snack if you wish and enjoy each others tails. As it turns out there were 23 of us Loopers. We were one short of tying the largest porchtail record.
The marina has everything you need with well kept docks. Water, power, showers, laundry, a nice boat lounge. They were wiped out last year with Hurricane Isaias so docks and amenities are only a year old. We didn’t wander around Southport as we came in late in the day and then set up for the Looper party.
Scott plans out our route for the next day. I managed to get all our marinas booked to Norfolk, VI where we will get our windlass manual part. It came into our friend’s place and he has resent it to Tidewater in Portsmouth, VI directly across from Norfolk.
We did chat with a few of the Loopers on the dock once we got back but as everyone knows Loopers midnight is 9:00. It is always nice to meet new friends along the way. We come and go and always seem to cross paths again at some point. We still meet up with friends from the loop we completed in 2017.
