Day 20: December 5, 2008

Port: Carolina Beach (34.02N 77.92W)

Weather: Winds were 0-5 out of the North with seas less than 1 foot. The temperatures hit the 50’s again today, but with partially cloudy skies.

Leaving our anchorage early this morning, we headed down the ICW from mile marker 245. Coming into the anchorage in the dark, we weren’t able to see just where we were exactly. The morning light showed that we had a lot more room than we thought at first, and confirmed the military presence with ramps, boats, and several trucks. Taking turns steering, we passed through a lot of housing developments, seeing more of the North Carolina mansions today. We could not believe the sizes of some of these homes. Who can afford these places?

We saw a guy standing in the water with a stick today. We could not believe who would want to stand in that water. Turns out he was claming, and as the day wore on, we saw several more people doing the same thing. Again we were drooling with the thought of fresh seafood. Surprisingly, we have not had any yet. We also saw some kids standing on their surf boards with paddles. They paddle like this to keep up their balance during off-season. One kid looked like he had taken a dive already. He was wearing a wetsuit. His friend, on the other hand, was wearing shorts and t-shirt. I looked at him and then looked at myself (decked in full winter gear) and thought something was wrong here. Either I was dumb or he was.

For all you nature lovers, we have seen various kinds of pelicans and have come into seeing egrets. They are hard to miss, being so snowy white. We saw one stalking something in the tall grass. He would crane out his long neck then step and slide his neck in and repeat. It was a neat thing to actually observe. We cut the engine at one point today, allowing the staysail to maintain speed. A family of 3 dolphins, 2 larger adults and 1 baby, came up and swam all around the boat. They swam around us for the better part of an hour. It was pretty amazing. A testament to how smart dolphins are… every time I brought the camera out, they disappeared. When I would put it away, they would come out again.

So three bridges hailed, variably sunny skies, and several weird and strange houses later, we approached Carolina Beach. We have done 51 miles today and are calling it quits here. We have anchored and are taking the night off, hoping to hit South Carolina tomorrow.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAURIE!