DeLaMer Aground – Not Once But Three Times!!

Mile Hammock to Wrightsville Beach

ICW 244.5 to 283.1

As we left Mile Hammock at 6:30AM we went aground in the channel going back to the ICW. Bob was able to back off using full power on the Yanmar.

Once in the ICW, we were in a long line of sailboats heading south. Kairos, three boats ahead of us, went aground at an inlet. We’ve noticed the inlets along the ICW are often accompanied by shoaling and tides. This one had a particularly strong incoming tide, pushing Kairos out of the channel and aground. We transited the area without a problem by crabbing the boat into the tide.

Once again this morning we had a pod of porpoise playing on our bow.

The Surf City Bridge one of the four bridges we’ll transit today, opens on the hour. There were well over 30 boats in a queue waiting to go though – and more stacked behind that didn’t make the 9 o’clock opening with us. We are trying to make Wrightsville Beach by early afternoon to visit with Barbara, Andy, and the boys.

Last night we read shoaling was reported between markers 24 and 25 at the entrance to Mott’s Channel – the last ½ mile on our way to Barbara and Andy’s. They were right! We went hard aground in the middle of the channel at neap low tide! Boats.US Towing arrived in 15 minutes. He pulled and tugged, with his two 150 hp engines, pulling from one side to another for 25 minutes trying to free us.

In the meantime, we provided lunchtime entertainment for a hotel across the way on the ICW. When I first noticed folks watching us from their balconies, there were about a dozen. By the time we were off the shoal, balconies on all four stories of the hotel had people watching!! It must have been a bus tour to have news spread that fast!

As we continued down Mott’s Channel, with Boats.US beside us making out our bill, we went aground again!! This one required only a slight pull to get us off.
Our Boats.US card says “$50 per incident for towing.” Bob thought it meant we would be responsible for $50 -- another hard lesson learned. It cost us $380 minus the $50 per incident paid by Boats.US. We also discovered had we upgraded our Boats.US card for an additional $60, which we have now done, towing is free.
On a positive note – we have no more barnacles on the bottom!

After we went aground we received calls from several other sailboats:
“Welcome to the club! We’ve been aground twice already today.”
“You’ve joined the ranks of ICW cruisers!”
“You’re not a virgin anymore.”

Our day ended with a wonderful dinner and an enjoyable evening with Barbara and Andy. They made us feel most welcome.

I haven’t mentioned the boat cards most cruisers carry. I’ve collected a number of cards as we’ve met some very interestiing folks along the way. Like business cards, they have contact info -- the vessel's name, owner's name, cell phone, email, and hailing port. The one I made for DeLaMer has the website for Great Island Boat Yard along with our hailing port.