It seemed as if our passage from Wrightsville Beach to
Southport was all uphill. We were
fighting current and a strong wind for the entire trip. In a few places, the best speed we could make
was 3.4 knots with the throttle wide open.
Normally we should be making 6 knots under those conditions. Fortunately, the distance we had to travel
was a bit more than 20 miles, so we arrived at about 13:30 after an 08:30
start.
 |
| White ibis in flight |
We have been about a week in 15 to 20 knot winds from the
southwest, every day. And finally,
today, the wind changed. First, it was
calm all morning, and then the wind started blowing from the northwest and moved
to the northeast by early afternoon. Of
course, this was also punctuated with occasional rain showers. But most of the time, the day has been cloudy
with light winds. We have been taking
care of a few chores before departing tomorrow for an overnight passage in the
ocean to Charleston, SC; laundry, some baking, cleaning the boat, draining the
rain water from the dinghy. But we also
had time to enjoy the wildlife around this marina. There seems to be a migration of white ibis
birds going on and they are all flying just over the marina. And of course the usual assortment of sea
gulls, mocking birds, swallows, blue jays, egrets and an occasional heron. Peter enjoys just sitting in the cockpit
watching (and photographing) the birds go by.
 |
| Live oaks shading the yards of homes |
After completing our chores and eating lunch, we decided we
were ready for ice cream cones, and by coincidence, Spike’s ice cream shop was
a short walk from the marina into town.
It was drizzling rain, but we went anyway, and it stopped raining
shortly after we started walking. The
walk took us through the Historic District of Southport, featuring houses built
around 1890. They were nicely restored,
although 130 years is not really very old for a building. Many homes are surrounded by the majestic old
live oak trees that that we only see in this latitude or farther south.
Spike has a walk up window at his ice cream shop, and a side
yard with nice tables under the shade trees to sit down and enjoy your
cone. Next door is a gallery of copper
art work. We considered stopping there
too, but decided against it. Three
blocks up the road was the Side Street Bakery, on a side street that would take
us right back to the marina. We decided
to stop there and couldn’t resist the chocolate almond bars, which we brought
back to use as an energy food to revive us as we are entering Charleston harbor
on Friday after 24 hours at sea.
No comments:
Post a Comment