Sneads Ferry to Carolina Beach, NC

By Debbie

We left Sneads Ferry at 6:45 this morning continuing down the ICW. We arrived at the Surf City Swing Bridge at 8:15 only to find out it opens “on the hour!” Great, we get to cruise up and down the channel for 45 minutes with a few of our closest friends ;( until the next opening. We have an air draft of 25 feet so adding 1 foot for a comfort zone, we needed a bridge clearance of 26 feet. So basically, if it wasn’t a 65 foot fixed bridge, we needed an opening. I guess I shouldn’t say that, a few bridges have clearances of 30-40 feet that we can get under without an opening. All bridges are different: Some open on the hour; some open on the half hour; others open on the quarter hour; and best of all are the ones that open “by request or on signal.” Which means once you signal the bridge you only wait for the vehicle traffic to clear before the opening. I guess we were too busy with my navigation training to pay attention to that part of the navigating. Ha! Lesson learned! I vow, now that I’ve been named Navigator, to pay closer attention to that page in the Waterway Guide!!

Surf City Swing Bridge

Open open open!

Yay!

Waterway Guide – Bridges

We pass the American Star cruise ship by American Cruise Lines docked in Summer Haven/Wrightsville Beach. I didn’t know there was such a cruise on the ICW. The American Star offers cruising the Northeast (including New England), Hudson River and Southeast (including Florida rivers). “From charming small towns to gracious ports, the American Star will bring guests to places of historic interest and magnificent beauty.” American Cruise Lines also cruise the Mississippi River (paddlewheel riverboats) and the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. By the way, its still cold here