The Cape of Three Oceans
You <*«in have» if calm, moderate or rough
— all within a few hundred yards at Cape
Lookout.
By BILL SILABPL
The irip 10 Lookout turned out to be
more of ;i chore than it had appeared.
When young Jimmy Marker cranked
up his skiff at Marker's Island, he
offered rubber boots, But the Sunday
was warm and the water calm, and
the landlubber» rejected the assistance.
Jimmy said nothing, but he glanced
out toward the reef and whistled to
himself.
Л
half-mile out we were ex¬
posed to a lively breeze, a heavy spray
flew over the boat and everyone was
soaked from head to foot before reach¬
ing the banks. Jimmy said nothing
except :
"If this was fresh water, you’d have
pneumonia."
Me was always reassuring. Later,
when we started back and the motor
balked, he remarked hopefully:
“I'm almost sure this motor will start.
Anyway, we're drifting toward the
Coast Guard Station."
Heretofore I had always landed up
on the beach near the pony pens and
had never been down to the hook.
This is a remarkable place, and the
trip is recommended for those who
like a little geographical adventure.
From Marker's Island you follow
the channel which leads into Barden's
Gut (or Inlet or Drain). It was named
for our congressman who fathered its
cutting. However, in olden times there
have been natural inlets at or near the
same place.
We hate to report to Rep. Hap that
his gut is misbehaving. If we had fol¬
lowed those markers, we would have
landed up on shoals. Jimmy Marker,
knowing how to disregard the markers
like a good bridge player learns to
disregard his partner’s lead, told me
how to steer around this shoal and
that one. The Inlet is badly in need of
"drudging" as they say down there.
After crossing Core Sound, tin boat
entered the narrow Gut, and emerged
in Lookout Bight, the first of our three
oceans. The Bight is formed by the
hook of the cape, which has been
artificially extended by the Break¬
water.
We crossed this first ocean and on
the far side. Jimmy threw an anchor
into the shallow water and we waded
easily ashore — if wading in ice-cold
water can be called easy. We landed
on the unique beach of the Bight.
There is no surf on this sheltered
seashore, and when the tide goes out,
it uncovers a flat, tremendously wide
beach. When the tide comes lapping
in. it provides hundreds of feet of
wading and swimming water —
shallow, with firm, sandy bottom,
gently shelving toward deep water. An
outdoor sheltered swimming pool.
The Bight is a practical, natural
harbor. Aycock Brown once said, in
a burst of poetic enthusiasm, that all
the navies of the world could find an¬
chorage in its deep water.
And a lot of ships have, loo. During
World War II, it was a rendezvous for
merchant ships, gathering here to
make up convoys for the dangerous
trips ahead. Submarine nets were
strung across the channel. Buoys
which held these nets in place later
were cut loose, and some of them
washed up on Lookout Beach.
10
THE STATE. December IB. 1954
