Observer

Thursday 4/19   We are headed to Atlantic Yacht Basin where we will leave OBSERVER and get some maintenance work done while we travel home for a week.  It was a 5 hour run over here and we are settled into a pretty secure spot until we get hauled for our work list.  It will be great to get home for a bit with different people, surroundings and responsibilities and get charged up for our last month of the Great Loop as we close on on our home waters.  We will suspend the blog til we return. The outer face dock.  We are tucked around back in the large basin. The view from our slip for the week We had reserved a Nissan Sentra or something comparable through Enterprise.  When we arrived, all they had available was a Chevy Silverado dual cab.  No problem, a major upgrade at the same price as the much smaller Nissan. The drive home was long (13 hours),  though otherwise uneventful.  Henry and a few of his friend's were there to greet us before they all headed out

Wednesday 4/18   We have a good weather window and a really long run today.  It's about 86 miles and part of it is across Albemarle Sound.  You can't do it with a heavy North wind.  We got a great crossing window just when we needed it without waiting.  We ran with a number of boats on and off.  We watched for shoaling areas and underwater deadheads.  We arrived at Coinjock Marina about 3:30 and got settled in for the night.  Word on the ICW is their restaurant draws high marks especially for their prime rib.  Our experience did not fall short.  In fact it was great.  We also got seated and conversed with Gold Looper Herb Seaton (heading around for his second time). The marina is one long face dock along the ICW Millie made a friend!  It was like looking in a mirror. This was the small portion of the prime rib Tim was a renegade and ordered fish

Tuesday 4/17         We awoke to 42 degrees and wind and it's not supposed to be windy today. We pushed off a bit after 8:00 and encountered some sloppy seas.    It would have been much worse had we left yesterday.    Observer arrived at River Forest Marina about 1:15.    The dockmaster helped us secure Observer.    It's a bit exposed here and we are rockin' & rollin' a bit but the wind is supposed to lay down later.    We borrowed the marina golf court and did some errands in Belhaven; it's a small rural town.    We then toured the abutting mansion restored by local investors who use it as a wedding venue.    It's a beautiful property.   River Forest Manor Wind finally died down at sunset Our view

Osprey in her nest Sunday 4/15    Up early again and off the dock at 6:30.   We are trying to get to our destination before some nasty weather rolls in.   We experienced some heavy rain on the trip over but didn't see the thunderstorms.   We arrived at River Dunes @ 10:15.   The storm is abrewin' The winds were whippin' This place is so perfect. . . I'm surprised it even rains here.   It's a high-end residential community with an emphasis on boating (no golf).   There are beautiful homes, pool area,   fitness room, church, restaurant, cafe, lovely shops and a general store.   They have cottages to rent as well. A few of the single family homes on the property another one and another pool fitness center Adorable church The interior of the church Restaurant  Shops and cafe on the left and the general store on the right A close of of the general store.  It's a very protected

Sat 4/14    Today, we will be going by Camp Lejeune, a military training camp. Travel on the ICW can be restricted if they are conducting military firing exercises.  Fortunately, a phone call to the Range Control Officer confirmed that there were no activity at the base today and we were free to transit through the area.  We left Harbor Village at sunrise (6:40).   The dock master suggested leaving at 6:45 to make the first bridge opening.  We did but somehow ended up getting there a 1/2 hour early - no worries.  We ended up timing for 3 bridges today. . . The last being at 3:30 in Beaufort Yacht Basin.  Our buddies Kim & David of Skinny Dipper (recent Gold Loopers) met us at the dock and helped with our lines.  We caught up a bit with them before they had to meet some other folks.  We borrowed the dock master’s truck and made a quick run to the Piggly Wiggly for some provisions.  Chef Alice served Shrimp scampi to the crew and we called it an early night. Camp Lejeune restr

Friday 4/13   Up and off the dock at 8:00.   It's a little warmer today, 65 degrees and sunny.   We got held up at the Wrightsville Beach Bridge; they open on the 1/2 hour and the clearance was too close to chance of our air draft - better safe than sorry.   More beautiful scenery This is all one house, including the cream colored portion on the left hand side.  It was huge! More large homes along the waterway We arrived at Harbor Village Marina at 2:30. We have never been so well prepared by any dockmaster on our trip so far.   We received 3 text messages: 1) an arial view of the marina channel entry 2) a drone video of the marina approach 3) 6 lines of written instructions detailing side to 'drop fenders and line', dock location and when to contact the dockmaster - this guy has his act together.   Thank you Mike.   Screen shot of Mike's 3 texts Tim set off on the bike and Alice / Millie set off on foot to do some exploring.   A