Bellatrix

Baldhead Island, NC

9 October 2014

Wilmington was very nice, we had dinner at the Black Sea Mediterranean Grill. We met Cere, the owner, he helped us with our meal and wine selection. Great assorted platter appetizer, Robin had Kofta and I lamb, dessert was a fried philo with a honey sauce a la mode, with Turkish coffee. If you like coffee and not had Turkish coffee you’re missing something, it makes expresso taste like decafe.

Wednesday morning we visited the Battleship North Carolina. I have a huge respect for the men and women who fought in WWII. The ship is really impressive, 9 16” guns, 20 5” guns, 60 40mm’s, and 53 70 cals. A 16” gun can fire a 2100 lb explosive round 21 miles with rifle accuracy. You can go into many spaces below decks and get a feel for what life was like. You can also climb in the 16” gun mounts, it is amazing how much technology was available in the early 1940’s and the amount it took to fire these guns.

30 knots, 166 gals/mile, carries 2 million gallons

The breach of a 16" gun, the bags are 6 powder bags loaded behind the shell

We left Wilmington around 1200 and with a strong tide pushing us, we averaged ~ 6.5 knots to Baldhead Island on Cape Fear. Baldhead Island is an exclusive community of beautiful beach homes. The shoals extend off shore 20-30 miles making passage from the north hazardous. We met a group of guys last night, Andy Swain, his dad Glenn, Mark, and about 4 others. They own vacation homes here but were here for a guys weekend. They were all gentlemen even though drinking and having fun, not one foul word. “Toad” (Andy, his father named him that after he wrecked his first car) was most gracious, he lent us a golf cart so we could tour the island and his membership card to the “Shoals Club” so we could enjoy a lunch or dinner. He even told us to put the tab on his account, (of course we didn’t) what friendly warm people.