Bad choice of screen name
I am guessing that you don’t know it, but as JackL says liv2… was the screen name of a long time, highly respected pnet participant. I should also add that he more than earned that name. He passed away after a long illness and was much missed.
Fascinating Discussing the Tides
So if the tides aren’t right you don’t paddle???
I looked at Swansboro and bear island on google earth. The whole route is behind Bear Island Paddling through a salt marsh. There is a ferry running the route which would imply deep water and it looks like deep water on google earth. The tidal range is about 3’ which would suggest that the currents should not be that strong. The route does not go past an inlet so no fears of a big chop generated by current versus tides. The water is warm this time of year. The air temperature is warm. Heck the gators are still out this time of year in NC. If I am on vacation with one day to paddle I am going to paddle unless there are extreme conditions. I guess that some paddlers are so weak that they require absolutely perfect conditions but a 3 mile paddle through a salt marsh should be fun!!! And given the choice of waiting in the motel room for perfect tides I would go paddling. But to each their own.
You are missing it
A lot, but you have acquired an attitude about what people are suggesting and it’d just be bickering to try and straighten it out.
tides
google earth didn’t mention that the ferry was a pontoon boat, did it? requires less water,the ferry channel is the deepest part, but it goes to the center of the island, the little inlet that goes to the back of the island has very little water at low tide, some places none, you walk and drag. i go there frequently and don’t always hit it just right both ways, so expect to walk.
I don’t recommend following the Ferry.
Use the paddle trail.
http://www.ncsu.edu/paddletrails/southerncoast/sc12.html
sorry I was not trying to argue!!!
I was just saying that you can have a good time even when the tides are not favorable. Even in high winds you can have fun playing in the waves. nuff said!!!
fyi
I have had this name ever sinced I started playing platform tennis in the late 80’s . It happens to be my email address as well. Sorry about your friend. Fyi the nickname for platform tennis is “paddle” and its where the name liv2paddle originates …for me at least!
bear island followup
Here’s a followup to my earlier message about tides and Bear Island, NC. I also sent a trip report w/ photos to Places2Paddle here, but it hasn’t been posted yet.
We followed the advice of the ranger at Hammocks Beach State Park and left a couple of hours after high tide, while the tide was falling. It was a very easy paddle out to Bear Island going with the tide, plus it was a calm day with very little wind. We made it out to island in one hour paddling very easily, and didn’t encounter any opposing tidal currents until we reached the lagoon at the east end of the island. We paddled about half way into the lagoon but turned around at that point because the water was getting shallow and I was afraid we would run aground with the tide still falling.
From there we paddled around the back side of the island to the ferry dock. As some posters noted, we did encounter some opposing tides on the back side of the island but the current wasn’t enough to cause any trouble. We just went a little slower.
Bear Island is fantastic. Totally undeveloped except for park facilities – a boardwalk, picnic tables, shower building, campsites. Very nice broad beach with little slope and high dunes covered with sea oats. The campsites were among the first line of dunes and looked great. We will be back another time to camp there. You can actually paddle very close to some of the campsites if you come ashore through the lagoon.
We waited until about 30 minutes after low tide to head back to the mainland. So we had the rising tide on the return and did not encounter any opposing currents that I was aware of. However, the water was very shallow in a few areas and passage would have been easier if we had waited a little while longer for the tide to rise more. We were fortunate to have very light winds the entire day. Most of the trail winds through salt marshes, although there are alternatives routes that could take you closer to inlet channels.
If live in or close to NC, Bear Island/Hammocks Beach State Park is a great destination either for a day trip or more extensive outing.