Capt. Hardhead and his pals

One of the bridges we must contend with today is a floating pontoon bridge at Sunset Beach, NC. The bridge only opens for boats on the hour and if there is a very low tide, it cannot open at all. We adjusted our speed down so as to arrive at the bridge when it would open. When we were about 2 miles from it, with the bridge in sight, and a half hour remaining, we noticed the bridge had opened to allow a north bound tug boat to pass (bridges are required to allow all commercial vessels to pass when ever requested) and we lamented that we hadn’t kept our speed up. With the tug coming at us, we called them to arrange a passing and learned the tug’s name was “Capt. Hardhead” out of Miami. Soon after talking to “Hardhead” she seemed to stop and mill about, and then, she turned around and called the bridge for an opening so she could go back south to Myrtle Beach to pick up a part that had arrived there for them. We pushed to throttle up and snugged right up to her stern (we could read the lettering on the tires she had hanging over her sides) to slide through the bridge with her. We tagged along behind Hardhead for an hour or two until she slid off to starboard at a restaurant dock where it looked like she picked up some lunch that must have been called ahead for. As we came to the next swing bridge there were two tugs moving a large raft of dredge pipes that must have been 60’ long. One tug was pulling and the other pushing and as we passed, we continued to watch them, behind us, and saw Capt. Hardhead stop next to them for a chat – it seems they must all have been from the same company.