Bob and Gail's Next Adventure: Days 18-23 - Wrapping Up Our Shake Down Cruise

Current Position: 33° 55' 18" N 78° 3' 40" W

So happy to be back to Southport and all our new friends. Feels so welcoming. Due to the marina being dredged, we are tied up to the "Transient Dock". This is the dock for traveling boaters and the one we will be staying at frequently when in a marina (we will anchor out most of the time). It is subject to more wind and wakes from passing boats, but is closer to the laundry and restrooms. Talking about wind....we arrived just prior to the thunderstorm of all thunderstorms! When it began, I sat outside on the bow trying to catch a thunderbolt on camera, as there was no rain to begin with. The lightening was too far away so I finally gave up and came inside. Two minutes later the skies opened up and the rain came down in sheets! We couldn't even see anything out the windows. The wind kept us pinned against the dock and made our fenders (bumpers) squeak all night. Thank goodness the thunder and lightening did not continue the next day. The wind, on the other hand, was fierce for 2 days - up to 40mph. It was on the cool side - around 65 - but sunny.

We rented a car for the weekend - Enterprise has a nice weekend deal for $30 as long as you don't travel farther than 300 miles. We got our grocery shopping done on Friday, sightseeing and boat errands on Saturday, and church and visiting on Sunday, squeezing in as much visiting time with our new friends as possible.

We learned first hand how helpful "Harbor Hosts" are. AGLCA (America's Great Loop Cruisers Association) has volunteer "Harbor Hosts" at many cities around the Great Loop as well as other cities where people would like to learn about The Great Loop. Southport has 3 Harbor Hosts. We did not realize how to find them until we met with the director of the Association in Charleston. She put us in touch with the 3 in Southport. Patsy met us within an hour of our docking and offered us transportation shopping or what ever we needed. Robert and Kay came over on Friday and gave us much information on the marinas, anchorages, and waterways around us, then invited us to come to their home on Sunday for more information. They introduced us to a wonderful set of books about the waterways and even gave us a spare copy! We toured their boat and received more information to help us on our wonderful adventure. We will definitely check in with the Harbor Hosts in future cities.

Reminiscing about our 2 1/2 weeks going south, we decided it was a success. Ups and downs but we learned a great deal about our boat and ourselves. We are much more comfortable at anchor now as well as taking the dinghy out for a spin. Bob is getting more proficient in docking skills and I on the lines. We are looking forward to more adventures as we go north!

Here are some pictures from our week in Southport:

We went to the Azalea Festival in Wilmington. The Azalea's were mostly done but the street fair was fun. New and different foods: