Wrightsville Beach Circuit

I braved beach traffic down to Southport last week. I have got to remember to travel at night during the summer. Not only is there a bit less traffic but it is cooler too. Some how I managed to get sunburned in my car, through my clothes. And my eyeballs felt all scorched and sandy after the drive.

Wednesday morning we got out and headed up the coast to Wrightsville Beach. We caught an NC Ferry from Southport to Ft Fisher and then drove up 421 on the barrier coast, stopping in Kure Beach at the donut place Wake and Bake. Oh my goodness! Stop there and get some insanely addictive donuts and coffee with espresso shots.

Wait in line for the 0915 ferry

Riding the ferry, crossing the Cape Fear River

We stopped at Ft Fisher to check out the ocean. Incredible color.

We put in at about noon at a free public ramp on the Intracoastal Waterway. The tide was going to be going out from 11 am to around 5 pm. We planned to paddle north on the ICW, out through the Mason Inlet, then south, and back in through the Masonboro Inlet. We knew off the bat that we would have to fight our way through the outgoing tide at the Masonboro Inlet to get back to our launch.

We followed our plan, we took a break just inside the Mason Inlet to look at the conditions on the ocean. There was a several clean lines of break at this location. Mental note *we'll be back.*

The water was Caribbean blue. It did not feel like North Carolina

Then we paddle south to the Masonboro Inlet. There were fairly large rollers, ocean swell, out on the ocean. The breeze was off shore somewhere around 12 mph. Between the rollers and the wind we were kept a bit further off shore than I usually like.

We had to fight the tide back in, just as we knew it. Having been there a couple of times before, we knew to hug the right hand shore going back in. So it was not as bad as it could have been. (I once sat in that inlet on the "wrong side" paddling for all I was worth for an entire hour with out making even a 100 yards progress.)

Once we got just around the head land we landed for a quick break, water and a snack. Here I observed a colony of Black Skimmers, sitting on their eggs and generally loitering on the beach. I felt grateful that their nesting area had been roped off to protect their nests.

Loitering Black Skimmers gif:

https://goo.gl/photos/TrfAu2Z6tNR3WJ666

We had a tough paddle in against the tide but we finally made our late lunch spot at the Dockside, a restaurant with dock-and-dine accommodations. Fish helped me out of my Romany. I really suck at getting out on high docks. We split a beer and a fish sandwich with sweet potato fries.

This particular interlude felt pretty much like heaven. Except for maybe the last mile before the Dockside. My neck was burning when we got there but the cold beer, a bag of ice on my neck, and a half-sandwich fixed me right up. Do get their sweet potato waffle fries, they were perfect! Also the view, one of those "million dollar" views.

13.5 miles. And beauty everywhere we looked.