Mile Hammock to Wrightsville Beach, anchor

They said it would be windy and, boy-howdy, were they right. Winds around 18 knots with guts in the low 20s. All of it right on our nose.

That's why we even bothered to travel today. We're fairly protected this entire day. Besides, it was relatively warm out, around 77. Being comfortable always helps.

Not too many boats out other than the snowbirds. There are a number of sailboats from Canada who make this journey annually. Sail boaters love the wind, so that's never a deterrent for them.

Wrightsville anchorage. The land and houses
on the right is between us and the Atlantic.

Since we've been on anchor or at town docks for a while we needed to take on some water. Just after the Wrightsville Beach Bridge is a marina with a fuel dock. They let us dock there to fill the water tanks.

We do have a water maker but we've been reluctant to use it on the ICW. The depths are shallow and the water is filled with tannins. While what we'd get out would be drinkable it would also fill or clog the filters. This particular run might have been decent -- reasonable depts and clearer looking water. But we didn't think of it until it was too late.

We tried a couple of different places here to set the anchor. We always swing different than other boats, and we seem to use more rode. We found a spot far from the others, but at deeper depths -- around 20 feet. We've set the hook for a couple of blowing nights.