One of our favorite places to go while at Barefoot Landing is The Flying Fish for Happy hour... we made there but missed happy hour by minutes... but we did have a beer and a couple of shots... My pleasure was an Oyster Shooter and Susan had Fireballs. We did not see anything on the menu that we really wanted so we went walking around to find someplace different to try... we came upon Bully's Pub and Grille... Susan got her burger fix and tried a buffalo chicken sandwich... it was good but we probably will not go back real soon.

When we got back the dock and SAILS we ran into another couple Mike and Cathy... they had been out to dinner at Greg Norman's and had a great meal... maybe we should of went there... anyway, we stood on the dock talking with them for about 30 minutes or so and eventually ended up aboard SAILS to enjoy a nightcap together. They are doing the loop and started in Florida... their boat is named... TRAWLER LIFE. They are super people and hope we get to see them again along the waterway.

We departed Barefoot Landing at 0745... several boats that had been docked had already left... ahead of us our new friend Cathy and Mike were getting ready to leave as well... shot a photo of them as we pulled away.

The forecast today was for 10-15 knot NE winds shifting to 15-20 E winds in the afternoon... forecast was slight off... winds were E 20-30 knots all afternoon... saw a few gusts to 35 knots... really tired of the wind... had a couple of nice days before today... let's hope the wind goes away soon.

Today the excitement was at Lockwoods Folley Inlet... heard a vessel aground hailing TowBoatUS... as we approached we could see them listing a little to one side... they were trying to get off and had the boat in reverse... you could see the prop wash rushing towards the bow of the boat. Just as we arrived we saw them jump backwards... they had ungrounded themselves... YEAH! Well... then they proceeded to back up towards the channel right in front us... I had slowed to near idle speed luckily as they were 100 feet in front of... they whipped it around and took off forward and what did they do again but go on the wrong side of the marker and nearly ran aground again... they pushed through it throwing up mud and sand behind them... they continued north and we followed at a safe distance... was not sure what they were going to do next but I wanted to well behind them... :) And I was glad I did stay back... next day mark we came to they suddenly veered to port heading right toward shore... aground again... saw the dry stack puffing black exhaust smoke and they were backing in front of us again... this time they stopped and waved us on... I slipped past them and continued north... they followed us all the way to
Southport... nice boat... 47-50 foot Nordhaven... just a little less bottom paint now... :)

All day we were up and down in current... one minute pushing over 8 knots and the next back to 6 knots... then we came to the Cape Fear River at Southport... as we turned into it... I watched the speed drop... 6.5... 6.0... 5.5... 4.5... 4.0... 3.8 knots... :( Never saw it go over 5.1 knots all the way up the river to our stop for the night... Carolina Beach State Park Marina.

We were secure at the dock with power on at 1615. Our location for the night N34°03.014', W077°55.153'. We traveled today for 8 hours and 30 minutes covering 49.4 nautical miles averaging 5.8 knots.