We arrived at the St James Plantation Marina around 1230 on Monday 27 November. A big milestone on our journey.
We stayed an extra day for Thanksgiving at the Dowry Creek Marina due to the weather still being nasty. Ted and Mary, the owners, always have a big turkey day dinner for the cruisers that are staying for the holiday, so we thought we would share in the feast. It was an interesting crowd. We had the a 35' sailboat from Canada named "Mysterious Ways" with two adults, two kids; the 37' sailboat "Contented Turtle" with two adults, one kid, two cats, one dog; the 57' Motortrawler "True Romance" with Richard from Texas; and even a little 26' trawler "S.S. Digby". The Digby was a couple in their mid-sixties that were driving to Annapolis to trade in for a bigger boat of the same make. There were also folks from the local area that always attend the meal. If was a nice thing for the folks that were away from home. Thanks Ted, Mary, and Michelle for your hospitality.
After leaving Belhaven we proceded down the ditch to Swansboro NC. It was a great little town right off of highway 24. We stayed at a marina called Caspers. Nice facilities with the whole town within walking distance. Met a gent onboard "Sundancer" that introduced himself as Crazy John from Mississippi. I was going to say I was Black Jim and Curley Haired Pat was in the head, but I thought that the joke would be lost. John turned out to be quite a character with a boat that was also designed by Ted Brewer. He was on his way back to Ole Miss. Solo.
We had dinner in town at the "Ice House" and retired early.
Dawn came and we were on our way. The day ended in Wrightville, NC. A pretty good size town with a surprising number of power boats. It was a surprise to see that many people in a little town on the Carolina coast. We stayed at a the Dockside marina. Two dollars a foot and there was no restroom. Interesting.
The next day took us down the Cape Fear River and finally to Southport. Along the way we finally had our first dolphin sighting. There were at least four schools of Bottlenose dolphins just playing in the channel and saying hello as we passed. Pat got some nice pictures, but our bandwidth is a little low, so we can't do any pictures at this time. St. James Plantation was just a few more miles up the river and was the destination that we were longing to reach. Now we could have a little downtime at Pat's parents house while doing some work on the boat. By 5 pm that night we had taken baths in the hot tub and were wearing our pajamas. It was a nice change.
The plan is to lighten up the boat with unused stuff, do a little maintainance, wash the boat, and head south for Charleston. Of course, there is a new Bond movie to see and a super Walmart just up the road. And once again, did I mention there is a hot tub?
Thats it for now. Cheers,
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