Day 22 - Sat 18 Apr 2015
Docked - Southport, NC

[photo: just one of dozens of beautiful homes here]

We were happy to find that our host restaurant (Yacht Basin Provisioning Company) did not have a band or any loud music last night. It was easy for both of us to fall quickly asleep as long as we were buttoned up tight to keep the bugs out. Of course, three warm bodies in one stateroom let it get warmer than I prefer, so I slept on a sheet on the salon settee which was much more comfortable in temperature.

I awoke late, around 0600, and soon saw our dock neighbor, Joe, readying his boat for departure. Laura was nowhere in sight and when I asked if he needed help he accepted gratefully and remarked he would then not have to wake her up. Once on the dock with my land footwear, I tried the shoreside bathrooms outside the restaurant but they were padlocked. I should mention that Diane had a great idea that we have embraced - having a set of comfortable footwear that we only use on the boat. In order to step off the boat, we get our land shoes and try to make the transition without leaving too much grime on the boat.

Another first for me was taking a shower inside our separate shower stall. On this boat, I had so far only taken showers at the stern with a bathing suit on if people were nearby, but I really didn't think the restaurant patrons needed to watch that, so I used the inside facility and it is quite nice. The only negative is that the water heater is on the opposite corner of the boat, so you waste almost a half-gallon of water waiting for it to get warm in the shower. When you are doing the trip we are, and water is not hard to get or expensive, that is not so bad. Going to the Bahamas where water can be very expensive, it would be a waste, but we almost always shower outside there anyway.

I am happy to report that the house battery bank seems to be fine after all the connections were tightened. The inverter draws more current than I like, even when not doing much work, so I am in the habit of turning it off when we go to bed. All the devices we have are fully charged then and they don't draw their individual batteries down much at all overnight. With the refrigerator and anchor light using 'juice' all night, the battery voltage is about 12.5 after 12 hours, which is fine.

This morning, though, I did run the generator for almost an hour. They do like to be used on a regular basis, I wanted to use the microwave, and between percolating coffee and the hot breakfast I made, it steamed up the interior of the boat pretty much, so I needed to run the A/C for 15 minutes to dehumidify. We were the only people around on the docks, so no one was disturbed in the least.

At 0830, I used my binoculars to see if the free City Dock was open. I looked where I thought it should be and only saw a semi-dilapidated set of pilings and boards roughly cobbled together. There was a sign that was too far away to read, so I assumed it was the correct dock. We cast off and moved over, assessed the situation and decided it would work OK. It is not a floating dock, so we will need to watch the docklines as the tidal height changes by 6 feet or so.

We sat in the boat for a while after tying up as it drizzled. By 1130 it was letting up, so Diane prepared a light lunch and later we set off on foot to explore the downtown. On the way, we saw Andrew (the Brit) and his Pyrenees dog, Harry, and stopped to say hello. They will be headed to the same destination as us tomorrow. He will likely take a marina slip and I suspect getting a 145 pound dog ashore several times a day is the main reason.

Diane checked out all the shops while I took in the Maritime Museum. We/I have been to so many, but each is different and I enjoyed this one, as well. It was free admission, but I am always happy to drop something in the donations box. We met up an hour after separating and strolled through the park and waterfront areas.

Back on Diva Di, we opened up a number of windows and hatches to enjoy the somewhat dry, cool, bug-free air, but within an hour the bugs were back enough that we closed up again. We read and relaxed for a while, watching other boats pass by in the ICW. Just before supper, a few sailboats we had passed and greeted along the way pulled into the basin and after what seemed like a lot of deliberation, took the slips at the same place we had been.

We took a quick shower below with rather tepid water and then ran the generator for about 45 minutes to re-charge batteries and heat water. I guess we need to plan better when we will want hot water if we are not plugged in to A/C power or if we don't have hot water from recently running the engines for a while.

Supper was some leftover chili and some 'fresh' vegetables that were not so fresh after all. At 1830, we walked the ½ mile to the waterfront restaurant district and found the crew of the sailboats we saw arrive in earlier. We traded boat cards and found yet another set of cruising friends to visit in Nova Scotia. They retreated to their boats to get away from the bugs (I had sprayed liberally with highly potent bug repellant and it was marginally effective) and we tried to find which eatery our tour guide was playing that night.

We found the place, got a 2-top and ordered drinks. We were there for two rounds and maybe 12 songs. To be candid, we were not impressed at all. You can always debate the song selection, but whatever musical talent they had did not come across playing together. The vocals were equally uninspiring, so we were pretty disappointed.

Walking back to the boat, the street had flooded all the way across since we walked that way 1.5 hours ago with as much as a foot of water due to the new moon, producing a higher than normal tide (just like a full moon would). With the tide do high, we used the highest part of the dock we could and it was still a stretch to get up to the boat's deck. When the tide was low, it was quite a stretch to get up to the dock.

We can't complain because this is free, but this dock is in sad repair and none of the boats moored at it would be worth more than $100 to a wise purchaser (actually, a wise purchaser would realize they would be overpriced by far even if offered free). I can't remember seeing a bunch of more neglected, filthy wrecks in a long time. When it was low tide, a third of them were sitting in the mud with not a trace of water near them. I am surprised they all still float.

It will be an early night again with us casting off before 0700 to ride the tidal current up the Cape Fear River to Wrightsville Beach.