Cape Fear River - Keg Island

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's) 

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

We had a short overnight at Barefoot Marina in North Myrtle Beach, had coffee and toast, disposed of our garbage, topped up our water, fueled up, and headed out!  We had traveled 249.1 statute miles and burned 50.4 gallons since our prior fill for 4.9 statute miles per gallon. We were off a bit from our prior 5.0 statute miles per gallon, probably because of the miles we traveled at 2,200 instead of 2,000 RPM. We were still very pleased!

Hurricane Boat

Destroyed Pier

We are anchored at Keg Island up the Cape Fear River about 5 miles past the ICW.  On the way, we saw more of three things than we had seen anywhere before. First, hurricane boats - we saw about five in this stretch, and three of them were shrimp boats. Second, wrecked piers, floats and lifts - Matthew must have been particularly brutal in this stretch. Third, homes on stilts, both new and old homes - this is something I was only too familiar with from my time as Snoqualmie City Attorney. Snoqualmie is the second most flood prone town in Washington State, only after Hamilton, where the entire town was moved out of the floodplain.  I knew all too well what is going on with these homes!

Why are homes elevated on stilts?  The answer is in the requements of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) administered by the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA). NFIP is just an insurance program, right? Well, not exactly! First off, if you want a mortgage, you MUST have flood insurance. Second, most communities enact the minimum requirements of the NFIP into by ordinance into their building regulations. Why? Because FEMA requires that for a community's eligibility for NFIP flood insurance! What are the minimum requirements? First, all new construction in a flood zone must be constructed at or above the base (100 year) flood elevation. Second, any home that has been substantially damaged (more than 50% of its value before the damage) must also be elevated in order to be repaired. Prudent communities usually require elevation to a higher level than the base flood elevation, often three feet above the base flood elevation.

Stilt Houses

Elevated House

How that elevation is accomplished depends on the location and requirement of the local FEMA District Headquarters. In Snoqualmie, floodwaters back up behind Snoqualmie Falls, and the waters rise gradually and with little current. So elevation is accomplished by using crib walls on the existing foundation with openings to allow equalization of hydrostatic pressure, But where the flooding is accompanied by strong currents, elevation on pilings may be required. The one thing that is the same everywhere is that the space below the base flood elevation may not be used as habitable living space - it may only be used as a garage and for storage.So, while some homes along the ICW have some enclosed space below the main house, it is only a garage or storage area, not part of the habitable living space of the house (although we found some people cheat on this requirement after final inspection and sign off on their building permits!). Other homes are entirely on stilts (pilings). So all new homes post-Matthew need to be elevated in their original construction, and homes substantially damaged by Matthew need to be elevated to be repaired,  

Our cruise today was uneventful for the most part. When we passed Lockwood Folly Inlet, which opens directly to the North Atlantic, as the tide was going out we were getting a tidal push as we approached with speeds up to eight miles per hour. As soon as we were on the other side of the Inlet, the tidal currents held us down to under five miles per hour until we reached the mouth of the Cape Fear River where it flows to the North Atlantic Ocean. 

Entering the mouth of the Cape Fear River was like no other experience we have ever had. There we huge rollers like in the open ocean. The tide was still going out, so we made zero headway going up the river at our usual 2,000 RPMs, The tide soon turned, but we still had to bump the RPMs to 2,600 to make any significant headway at all. This was brutal on our fuel economy, but it was worth it for Baxter! Keg Island is one of those rarities - an anchorage next to a sandy beach where you can land a dog! 

We identified an anchorage for tomorrow during supper, and it seems our Canadian friends will also be going there. This should be fun, we'll just have to wait and see!