Three Days at Joyner Marina

We left our anchorage rather early as we wanted to get to Joyner Marina before the day got too hot. We also knew that the beach was just over a sand dune from the marina and we hoped to be able to spend some time playing in the ocean.



I was really excited and on constant look out for the Cape Fear lighthouse as I knew that we would pass it during this day’s journey. All I could think about were the two Cape Fear movies that always scare the bee-geezies out of me no matter how many times that I watch them. Normally I do not like movie remakes, but I think both of these movies are excellent.


So as we approached Cape Fear I am looking all over for the creepy places where both Roberts (Mitchum and Di Niro) would have hidden. I could not see anything that looked scary at all…

The lighthouse at Cape Fear is no longer the Cape Fear lighthouse, so everything at Cape Fear was not as it seemed. The original Cape Fear lighthouse was built in 1903, replacing the Bald Head lighthouse as the main navigation aid for Cape Fear and the Frying Pan Shoals off the coast of North Carolina. It was a steel skeleton frame lighthouse, as opposed to the brick lighthouses usually associated with the state. It was painted red and white horizontal stripes: three white, two red. The Cape Fear Lighthouse was demolished in 1958 and replaced by the Oak Island lighthouse which is the black and white one that you see here.

With it being the 4th of July, the waterways were surprisingly not as crowded as they had been around Myrtle Beach. It will be interesting to see what effect the cost of fuel has on the boating community.

We arrived at Joyner Marina and were totally flabbergasted at the empty marina. With this being a holiday weekend we were concerned that we would not be able to get a transient slip. There was one other transient boat and three boats for sale in the marina. The staff was super helpful and friendly, the facilities were some of the cleanest and the best that we have seen, so it was a total mystery to us why the marina was vacant. Maybe it has to do with the following facts: the marina had recently changed ownership, there is no public transportation or courtesy car and no place to eat except for a sleazy beach bar about a half mile away. But these things were okay with us because we walked the beach, relaxed and I worked on the blog for the three days that we were in port.

Hours on the water: 4.75
Nautical miles traveled: 30.3
Number of bridges to be opened: 0
Time spent waiting at bridge: 0
Next Destination: Camp Lejeune Anchorage
What we're listening to: Eleven on Top by Janet Evanovich
What we watched: The Atlantic
Lesson for the day: Cape Fear is not scary at all
Obligatory knitting report: Hats & Scarves for the Wunder Kids