Score, 1 hit, 0 balls, 1 strike

Mile Hammock Bay

34 33.076 N 077 19.476 W

Out first full day of cruising, and it was a very very nice one. (The hit) It started at 0630 with a lovely dawn seen through morning fog. I can't say that we've ever seen a dawn quite like that.

The day was sunny and just a tad on the cool side. Traffic was light, being a week day. The tides were more against us than with, but we are here at our anchorage 3 hours before dark.

We find that our skills are still rusty, so a few days on the sheltered ICW won't hurt at all.

The strike? We ran aground just north of the Onslow Bridge. Darn. It was in a spot that I used to have marked with a skull and crossbones danger symbol on my GPS, but for some reason, I erased that mark last year. Anyhow, it was on a rising tide. We were ready to wait until high tide, but right away along came a trawler that towed us off. The trawler was The Suzette, a vessel we met some years ago in Labelle, Florida. Once again, the community of cruisers proves its worth. Thank you The Suzette.

One day, one grounding. Hmmmm, this could be an interesting trip.

P.s. Mile Hammock Bay is on Camp Lejune property. Once before in this place we saw a show of marines rappelling down from helicopters, both day and night. Who knows, maybe we will have some marine entertainment tonight also.