Wrightsville Beach to Swansboro, North Carolina – 51 nautical miles sailed
The torturous winds finally relented and we were able to leave Wrightsville Beach at 7:15 am. Our first stop was at an interesting anchorage called Mile Hammock Bay, which was about halfway between our starting point and Beaufort. We had to stop for a few hours as the nearby Onslow swing bridge was under repair and only opened at 7 am and 5 pm.
Mile Hammock Bay is a staging area for Camp Lejeune, a huge military training facility, specializing in training for amphibious assaults as the area is rich in beaches, swamps, marshes, and ocean landings. The bay we anchored in seemed to be a staging area as we saw several camouflaged amphibious vehicles moving around from shore to water and much activity on shore with military and civilian vehicles coming and going. One large camo boat with four uniformed soldiers motored close to us simply to ask how we were and said we were welcome to anchor.
According to Google, Camp Lejeune is infamous for three terrible events. First, the contamination of well water from improperly handled toxic solvents that affected close to two million people, some experience horrible birth defects and various cancers. Second, a massive racial barfight between 150 black Marines and 100 white Marines in the camp clubhouse that left 15 injured and one dead. Lastly, the sexual assault and murder of a young female Marine who was pregnant at the time. But I’m sure some good things have happened there too.
The trip through the area was interesting as we saw many signs warning of potential live fire and the beaten-up shells of vehicles, containers, and all sorts of junk riddled with bullet holes, obviously used in the military exercises. Above us was a steady parade of loud military helicopters and airplanes. It was actually a bit of a shame as the landscapes were very beautiful and it was one of the prettier parts of the ICW we’ve traveled through.
We arrived to the anchorage at Swansboro around 7pm after a very long day on the water. I think I’d started to lose a bit of my sanity when I answered Ana’s question of Should we make broccoli with the chicken?, with a loudly belched “NO THAAAAAAANKS.”
She looked at me, stunned. “Are you like twelve years old?”
I am not (at least not on the outside), but if I were and had the required burping skill and power I would have belched, “BROCOLLI SUUUUUUUCKS.”
If you’re like me you probably haven’t belched an answer to a question for a long time. Give it a try. It’s really fun and people might be joyfully shocked to hear it. My brothers and I used to belch entire conversations. One time my youngest brother threw up from doing it all day so we had to slow it down a bit after that. It wasn't just us - all the neighbourhood kids were in on burp-speak. If you couldn't say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious in one belch, you lost whatever credibility you may have had. Some months later that neighbour hobby was replaced by crafting ninja throwing stars out of the tops of tomato soup cans and throwing them into the sides of wooden buildings. That was way more fun.
I'm going to try to reinvigorate burp-speak around the marina this summer and see if it catches on.
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